27 August 1940. The Third Echelon of 2 NZEF (365 officers and 6078 other ranks) embarked for the Middle East in Mauretania and Empress of Japan at Wellington and in Orcades at Lyttelton.The ships from Wellington and Lyttelton met in the Cook Strait the next day, and were escorted by Achilles.The convoy was joined on 31 August by Aquitania and HMAS Canberra from Sydney, and reached Bombay on 15 September.The troops in Mauretania and Orcades were then trans-shipped at Bombay and continued the voyage to Egypt in the Empress of Japan, Ormonde and Orion, which reached Port Tewfik on 29 September. 14 and 15 Forestry Companies, bound for the United Kingdom, trans-shipped at Bombay from Empress of Japan to Orcades.They disembarked at Gourock on 7 November.Some troops of the Third Echelon (6 Field Ambulance and infantry reinforcements) remained in India from 17 September to 9 October (spending part of that time at Deolali), before embarking at Bombay in Felix Roussel for Egypt.They disembarked at Port Said on 27 October. From 'CHRONOLOGY New Zealand in the War 1939-1946' compiled by R Kay, 1968 AWMM