 Mackay assumed command on 4 April 1940, receiving the serial number NX363, and sailed from Melbourne for the Middle East on the ocean liner RMS "Strathaird" on 15 April.The troops nicknamed him "Mr Chips", after the title character of the best selling 1934 novel "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and the subsequent 1939 film, a reference to his peacetime profession, but also to the impression he gave of being cool, reserved and strict.Some of his staff had reservations about him.