TCD MS 10515 folio 17r
Wednesay: March 8th 1916: Shatt-al-Arab
During the night the rising tide floated us off the bar and we steamed ahead into deep water. The navigation lights not being visible, the pilot was unable to continue his course until daylight. The tide was then ebbing and we again grounded on a mud bank close to the mouth of Shatt-al-Arab. At 10.30a.m. we floated off the bank and proceeded without any further accident up the river to Basra. On entering the Shatt-al-Arab, the scenery became more interesting. Luxuriant and stately groves of date-palms fringed the shore, giving to the country an aspect of African scenery. Amongst the palms, and sometimes beneath their dark shade, the ground was cul-