1. Oh happy band of pilgrims,
Look upward to the skies,
Where such a light affliction,
Shall win so great a prize.
1. This was Erskine Childers, author of The Riddle of the Sands, who subsequently became involved in Irish nationalist politics. He was executed by the government of the new Irish Free State in 1922. His son later became President of the Republic of Ireland.
2. At that time, Bulgaria’s southern borders included a stretch of the northern Aegean coastline. Dedeagach is now the Greek town of Alexandropolis.
3. HMS Russell, a Duncan-class battleship, struck two mines laid by a German submarine off Malta on 27 April 1916; 125 officers and men were lost.