Two diaries kept by ordinary seaman and later Petty Officer Joseph Albert McGill, HMS ALBION, 1914-1916. McGill and the battleship ALBION particiated in the Dardenelles campaign and the Gallipolli landings, including the bombardment of the Turkish forts on 18 March 1915 and in support of the main landings at V Beach at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915. The ALBION was damaged in April and May 1915 and retired to Mudros for repairs. On 22-23 May 1915 the ALBION beached on a sandbank off Gaba Tepe and came under heavy fire from shore batteries- but sustained no serious damage.

This is a lively, humourous and often poignant first hand account, giving details of naval support for one of the most important campaigns of the First World War. The first diary runs from the out break of the First World War, 4th August 1914 until the 17th February 1915 and the second diary from 18 February 1915 until the 18 March 1916.

Administrative / biographical background
Joseph McGill entered the Navy as a boy in 1897 and worked his way up from Ordinary and Able Seaman to Petty Officer (2nd class from 1903 and 1st class from about 1904). He died of typhoid later in the war, aged 40.