HMAT Anchises

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

I have reference to this ship evacuating sick & wounded from Mudros to Alexandria during December 1915, but conflicting use of "HMAT" - some say His Majesty's Auxiliary Transport and others His Majesty's Australian Transport.

Anybody know which is correct ?

thanks - Tom

[sotonmate]

Tom

AWM says the latter.

Sotonmate

[Krithia]

Both appear correct. His Majesty's Auxiliary Transport is used a fair bit and I suppose this has been similary adopted by the Australians as His Majesty's Australian Transport

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

I've now seen reference to her ref Dec 1915 as "HT" Anchises (Hospital Transport ?), and looking for her in the Board of Trade indexes (BT at TNA) she seems consistently to appear pre / during / after WW1 as the "SS" Anchises, as she does in an Admiralty file regarding her sinking in 1941. There are in fact BT files for passenger lists during 1915 and 1916 which appear to show her running commercially between OZ and the UK, so I suppose she must have been requisitioned fairly briefly for duty at Gallipoli (?)

Suppose the answer to the original question must be - she was called whatever the person referring to her decided to call her at that particular time.

Maybe better leave it at that.

thanks - Tom

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Her designation changed depending on how she was operating. As a civilian ship she would be referred to as Steam Ship (SS) Anchises.

The Admiralty had a long existing process for hiring transport, which could be for a single voyage or a period. Then she could be referred to as Hired Transport (HT) or His Majesty's Transport, depending upon the contract. If she had been hired by Australia then she could be designated His Majesty's Australian Transport.

[Ricahrd Maskiell]

Anchises was certainly taken up as an Australian transport, with the number A68. Don't know when (the number would suggest 1915, given that A69 Warilda was taken up in August 1915) but was under Australian control until 12 Oct 1917. I think that AT can also refer to Ambulance Transport.

[johndavidswarbrick]

Anchises was certainly taken up as an Australian transport, with the number A68. Don't know when (the number would suggest 1915, given that A69 Warilda was taken up in August 1915) but was under Australian control until 12 Oct 1917. I think that AT can also refer to Ambulance Transport.

I have a reference as follows:

Service Record WO 364 / 4047

Swarbrick Henry, A.S.C. Private, M2/104976

.. embarked on the “Anchises” on the 7th November 1915 from Devonport and disembarked at Alexandria on the 20th January 1915.

He was then posted to 597 Company RASC, based firstly at Alexandria then Salonica.

So it would seem that in 1915 this ship was being used as a troop transport

Regards,

Dave Swarbrick

[kjharris]

Anchises had at least 3 return trips to Australia - one at the end of 1917, and two others in 1919 bringing troops home. It left Australia on 8 Aug 1917 and 24 Jan 1917 so must have made more voyages than I have records for. All records are as a troop transport. cheers, Kirsty Harris

[frev]

Details I've gathered on the Anchises whilst she was in use by Australia:

Anchises – HMAT A68 – SS

The Anchises first carried Australian troops as part of the 10th Convoy in Aug 1915 (5 ships). Prior to this she had delivered a shipment of Australian apples to England in April.

Embarked Melbourne 26 Aug 1915 – Fremantle 2/9/1915 – 26/9/1915 Suez (carrying 8th R 6th, 7th, 8th, & 11th, 12th & 16th Bns; 3rd R 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 28th Bns)

Embarked Melbourne 14 Mar 1916 – Adelaide 16/3/1916 – 15/4/1916 Suez (carrying 15th & 16th R 14th Bn; 4th & 5th R 29th Bn)

Incoming Fremantle 6/8/1916

Embarked Sydney 24 Aug 1916 – Adelaide 28/8/1916 – 11/10/1916 England (carrying 20th R 10th Bn; 15th R 27th Bn)

Inwards for Port Sydney 5/1/1917

Embarked Sydney 24 Jan 1917 (sailed 1.30pm) – 27/3/1917 Plymouth (carrying nurses returning to units)

Inwards for Port of Fremantle 8/7/1917

Embarked Sydney 8 Aug 1917 – 2/10/1917 Liverpool

Embarked Devonport, England 1/11/1917 – 25/12/1917 Fremantle – 3/1/1918 Melb

Embarked England 28/2/19 – 13(or 18)/4/19 Melb

Embarked Devonport 22/8/1919 – 5/10/1919 SA – 13/10/1919 Sydney (carrying AIF Edu Serv Pers)

Embarked England 13 Feb 1920 – 6/4/1920 Sydney

[Various reports in the Argus of homecoming troops in 1919]

Cheers, Frev

[colinalsbury]

With reference to dating the handover of SS Anchises as HMAT, my maternal grandfather was part of the crew ( a steward ) that sailed to Australia as follows:

SS Anchises
Arr 7 Sep 1914 at Sydney from Glasgow and Melbourne
Arr 21 Sep 1914 at Sydney from Brisbane

Arr 6 Feb 1915 at Sydney from Glasgow via Adelaide and Melbourne
Arr 22 Feb 1915 at Sydney from Brisbane

By Dec 1915 he was back in Glasgow and enlisting for service in the Army.

It would look likely that he was part of the crew that delivered the Australian apples to England in the above response by 'frev' during April 1915

The website at http://www.flotilla-australia.com/hmat3.htm#A68

states that between 9th and 14th August 1915 Anchises was

"refitted at Cockatoo Island Drydock, Sydney to transport 1520 troops Carried 15th Reinforcements 4th Light horse Regiment & Medical Officers from Melbourne on 14 March 1916. Troops from Adelaide 16 March 1916. From Sydney Troops & Medical Officers 24 August 1916 and Melbourne August 26 1916. Further units & Medical Officers embarked from Sydney on 24 January 1917. 8 August 1917 29th Reinforcements 4th Light horse Regiment & Medical Officers from Sydney.
Greater details available at Australian War Memorial webpages. (Private Roy Longmore, 3rd Reinforcements, 21st Battalion, of Bannockburn, Victoria enlisted on July 13, 1915; and he embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Anchises on August 26, 1915, his fame, as well as being an ANZAC, is that he died 2001 at 107 yo being the 2nd last Anzac trooper alive at the time). HMAT Anchises was released from War service 12th October 1917."

[Guest]

The book "The 337th Field Hospital in North Russia, 1918-1919" by Godfrey J. Anderson, on the third page, indicates that the 337th Field Hospital Company crossed the Atlantic to England on the Anchises; presumably from New York City to Liverpool.  It seems the voyage left New York City in late July 1818.  The unit they would support was the 339th Infantry Regiment which departed New York City for England on 22 July 1918.  Both units were from the 85th Infantry Division.  I'm not sure if the 339th and the 337th crossed the Atlantic together on the same ship.

[MKC]

A couple of points to continue from the posts above. HMAT A68 Anchises did five trooping voyages from Australia, the first two to Suez, the next three to the UK. The voyage commencing 24 January 1917 (voyage 4 outbound) was via Cape Town, while the 5th and last outbound trooping voyage was via the Panama Canal. I'm interested to know more about the nurses on the 4th voyage, as I have not come across any records indicating that, but a number, members of No.6 Section, Sea Transport Staff, were embarked on the 5th voyage, along with a contingent of civilian munitions workers and a range of AIF reinforcements (Inf, Pnr, Sigs, Light Horse, tunnelers etc).

 

In 1919, the two voyages to Australia that Dr Kirsty Harris refers to in post 8 above, left the UK on 28 January 1919 and 22 August 1919, both with a small number of returning nurses among the personnel aboard. 

 

The troop capacity is listed in the OH as 1,781 troops (45 officers, 1,736 others, 0 horses).

 

The statement that Anchises 'was released from war service on 12 October 1917' would appear to be a misunderstanding of the transfer of Anchises from Aust Commonwealth control to British Admiralty control, under whose management the ship's 'war service' continued. 

 

Mike

 

[frev]

On 12/17/2017 at 10:31, MKC said:

The voyage commencing 24 January 1917 (voyage 4 outbound) was via Cape Town, while the 5th and last outbound trooping voyage was via the Panama Canal. I'm interested to know more about the nurses on the 4th voyage, as I have not come across any records indicating that, ............

 

 

Mike - The NAA have a Nominal Roll of the nurses (not digitized):

 

Item details for: AWM332, 111

Request copy

Title [Nominal Roll - Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force - Nurses returning to unit- Embarkations at Sydney on HMAT A68 ANCHISES 24 January 1917 - Compiled at Sydney - Original copy] Contents date range Jan 1917 - Feb 1917 Series number AWM332 Click to see which government agency or person created this item. Control symbol 111 Citation Consult Australian War Memorial Item barcode 8729446 Location Australian War Memorial Access status Open Date of decision 24 Nov 2008 Physical format PAPER FILES AND DOCUMENTS (allocated at series level) Date registered 16 Nov 2005

Cheers, Frev

[MKC]

Thank you Frev, you've saved me a lot of looking and wondering!

 

Mike

[Guest]

On 8/29/2017 at 6:15 PM, Edward R. Garrity said:

The book "The 337th Field Hospital in North Russia, 1918-1919" by Godfrey J. Anderson, on the third page, indicates that the 337th Field Hospital Company crossed the Atlantic to England on the Anchises; presumably from New York City to Liverpool.  It seems the voyage left New York City in late July 1818.  The unit they would support was the 339th Infantry Regiment which departed New York City for England on 22 July 1918.  Both units were from the 85th Infantry Division.  I'm not sure if the 339th and the 337th crossed the Atlantic together on the same ship.

I am researching Charles Milam of company G of the 338th Infantry Regiment, 85th Division.  I found him on sheet 8 page 57 of the manifest for the Anchises (no prefix).  The date of the manifest is 21 JUL 1918 leaving New York, NY / Hoboken, NJ.  21 JUL 1918 is likely the day they boarded if you found that they sailed on 22 JUL 1918.  So, I still can't answer for the 337th.  But, at least part of the 338th seems to have been aboard.

 

What an interesting history this ship has.  Transporting multiple nations' troops all over the world.  Including the controversial invasion of our former ally Russia.