Hospital Ship war diaries 1915

[kjharris]

Hi one and all,

I am looking for the hospital ship diaries for HS at the Dardanelles campaign in 1915. At Kew, there seems only to be the records from 1916 or 1917 onwards. Anyone know if the war diaries for the 30 or so hospital ships involved in 1915 still exist - and if so where please?

many thanks

Kirsty Harris

[Peter J]

Hello Kirsty,

An obvious question, but I presume you have searched the NA's archives by individual HS names?

Regards,

[kjharris]

Hi Peter,

Yes, I've searched in the NA for hospital ships and transports by name - as I mentioned most of the files start in 1916 or 1917 and don't cover the 1915 period - I only found one that did.

cheers

Kirsty

[Peter J]

Kirsty,

Don't suppose you could provide a brief list of the vessels you are particularly interested in, at all?

Regards,

[JoMH]

Hello Kirsty,

I would be very interested to see a list of Hospital Ships working in the area (Gallipoli, Egypt, Lemnos, Malta) at that time as well.

Joanna

[kjharris]

Kirsty,

Don't suppose you could provide a brief list of the vessels you are particularly interested in, at all?

Regards,

Hi Peter

For starters, Sicilia and Gascon which were present on 25 April. Also Oxfordshire.

many thanks

Kirsty

[kjharris]

Hello Kirsty,

I would be very interested to see a list of Hospital Ships working in the area (Gallipoli, Egypt, Lemnos, Malta) at that time as well.

Joanna

Hi Joanna,

I do not have a complete list of hospital ships - I was hoping that a trip to the National Archives at Kew would provide the answers but it doesn't look like it! There is a book that lists ships in support of the Gallipoli campaign

Hospital Ships and Ambulance Trains; John H. Plumridge; Seeley, Service & Co., 1975

but some of them were only in Egypt like the Australian ships Karoola and Kanowna.

cheers

Kirsty

[mhifle]

Hi,

Maybe these links to NA might help.

The attached picture is an example someone sent me of these records.

Regards Mark

MT 23/434

MT 23/398

MT 23/360

[CGM]

Hello Kirsty,

In 1916 The Friends Ambulance Unit was asked to provide hospital ship staff for firstly the Western Australia and then the S.S. Glenart Castle.

A small piece from the book THE FRIENDS AMBULANCE UNIT 1914 - 1919, introducing the S.S. Glenart Castle, says:

"The S.S. Glenart Castle - previous to the war the S.S. Galician - of the Union Castle Line, was a ship of 6,700 tons. Early in the war she was captured by the Germans, and later had been in commission as a hospital ship during the attack on the Dardanelles.................( and continues ......but recently had been dismantled to bring home a valuable cargo from the East. etc)"

Maybe this little snippet gives you another ship's name to add to your list.

Regards,

CGM

[mhifle]

Hi,

This is a list of Hospital Transports from a book which was posted on the GWF a while ago.

I can't find the original post, I hope who ever posted it does not mind if I post the list again.

Regards Mark

[frev]

Hi Kirsty

Do you have a copy of Sister Elsie Gibson’s diary? As you probably know, she was on the Gascon.

She states on the 8/8/1915:

“We now have Hosp Ships – Gascon, Sicilia, Sondan, Delta, Somali, Dongala, Nuralia (sic, Neuralia), Galeka, Divania (? Devanha), Seang-choon, Assaye, Dunluce Castle, Gloucester Castle, Rewa, Grantully Castle & Clan McGillivray. There are a few French ships but I know only the ‘Fermosa’ (sic, Formosa)."

She also mentions Lord Brassey’s Hospital Yacht ‘Liberty’

Then of course you have all the other transports that also carried the wounded from Gallipoli & Lemnos, to Malta & Egypt. I'll try & put together a list of the ones I've recorded.

Cheers, Frev

[JoMH]

Hello Kirsty,

Thank you for the information about the book. This is quite a complex subject!

Mark, were those ships listed all operating from Gallipoli, or was it a general list? It seems enormous...

Joanna

[bobgraham]

Can you contact me at bobgraham@talktalk.net ?

Bob Graham

Hi one and all,

I am looking for the hospital ship diaries for HS at the Dardanelles campaign in 1915. At Kew, there seems only to be the records from 1916 or 1917 onwards. Anyone know if the war diaries for the 30 or so hospital ships involved in 1915 still exist - and if so where please?

many thanks

Kirsty Harris

[kjharris]

Dear all,

Many thanks for all your suggestions - I was confident that the knowledge was out there. Thanks Mark, I will look at those MT 23 files.

I am only looking for hospital ships and carriers that actually went to the peninsula - to Cape Helles, Chanak, Anzac Cove or Suvla Bay, ie. Sicilia, Gascon - and those on the list that Nurse Elsie Gibson gave (thanks Mrs Frev). So this covers the period April 1915 to January 1916 when the peninsula was evacuated.

Plumridge's list includes many ships that sailed between Alexandria and Malta or England, or Alex and Australia and New Zealand.

cheers

Kirsty

[mhifle]

Mark, were those ships listed all operating from Gallipoli, or was it a general list? It seems enormous...

Hi,

Yes its a general list of Hospital Ships.

Mark

[frev]

Then of course you have all the other transports that also carried the wounded from Gallipoli & Lemnos, to Malta & Egypt. I'll try & put together a list of the ones I've recorded.

Some of those I've extracted from my records:

These 3 definitely carried wounded from the first days of the landing back to Alex:

Ionian (April 1915)

City of Benares (Apr 1915)

HMTS Derfflinger (Apr 1915) (later renamed Huntsgreen – by 3/5/15)

Have wounded taken off Gallipoli in the first days dying on these ships (haven’t definitely traced them back to Alex or Malta)

HMNZ Goslar (Apr 1915) (later renamed Huntsfall)

SS (NZ) Lutzow (Apr 1915) (later renamed Huntsend)

HMS Itonus (Apr 1915)

HMS Mashobra (Apr 1915)

HMT Maihalia (May 1915)

Also:

Port Lincoln embarked Mudros Harbour 28/7/1915 – sailed via Suez 3/8/1915 – to Melbourne 2/9/1915 , carrying wounded

Caledonia embarked Anzac 17/12/15 – to Mudros Harbour where transferred wounded to Lanfranc 20/12/15 – Alex 25/12/15

Clacton embarked Mudros 4/8/15 – for Egypt

Franconia embarked Mudros 23/8/15 – arrived England 9/9/15

Will add more as I come across them.

Cheers, Frev

[grantmal]

AG Butler's AIF Medical History details the ships (with casualty numbers & destinations) sailing from Gallipoli with casualties from the Landing on p191 -- the relevant chapter can be downloaded here: http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/first_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67898 -- and provides more info on subsequent 'sailings' in the following pages.

Good on you,

Grant

[seaJane]

Kirsty,

There may be extracts in the Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service: if you contact me at jane.wickenden732[at]mod[dot]uk I can arrange for you to see these if you are in reach of Gosport/Portsmouth.

best wishes

Jane

[kjharris]

Hi everyone,

Again, thanks for everyone's contributions. I have the 30 British hospital ships on my list already. One NZ ship the Maheno was also there.

Again, what I'm really looking for is the war diaries or ships' logs of these vessels in 1915. It's one thing knowing that these ships were there but another to know what they actually did and where they went. I heard today that these files may be either a. in with the Dardanelles Commission papers, or b. destroyed many years ago! My actual interest is ships that had female nurses on them.

cheers

Kirsty Harris

[kjharris]

Thanks Frev - didn't have City of Benares or HMT Maihalia. cheers K

Some of those I've extracted from my records:

These 3 definitely carried wounded from the first days of the landing back to Alex:

Ionian (April 1915)

City of Benares (Apr 1915)

HMTS Derfflinger (Apr 1915) (later renamed Huntsgreen – by 3/5/15)

Have wounded taken off Gallipoli in the first days dying on these ships (haven't definitely traced them back to Alex or Malta)

HMNZ Goslar (Apr 1915) (later renamed Huntsfall)

SS (NZ) Lutzow (Apr 1915) (later renamed Huntsend)

HMS Itonus (Apr 1915)

HMS Mashobra (Apr 1915)

HMT Maihalia (May 1915)

Also:

Port Lincoln embarked Mudros Harbour 28/7/1915 – sailed via Suez 3/8/1915 – to Melbourne 2/9/1915 , carrying wounded

Caledonia embarked Anzac 17/12/15 – to Mudros Harbour where transferred wounded to Lanfranc 20/12/15 – Alex 25/12/15

Clacton embarked Mudros 4/8/15 – for Egypt

Franconia embarked Mudros 23/8/15 – arrived England 9/9/15

Will add more as I come across them.

Cheers, Frev

[melliget]

Again, what I'm really looking for is the war diaries or ships' logs of these vessels in 1915.

Hi Kirsty.

From searches on NAA RecordSearch, the AWM hold records in relation to some of these ships during that period. Unfortunately none of them appear to be digitised and online, so perhaps a trip to Canberra?

GASCON:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, GASCON, April 1915 (Part 7 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 7

Item barcode 690135

GALEKA:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, GALEKA, May 1915 (Part 2 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 2

Item barcode 690129

Title [Medical Organisations:] Hospital Ships and Transports April 1915 in the Mediterranean, includes table showing movements of hospital ships at Mudros and Galeka - Correspondence (Apr-Nov 1915)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM27

Control symbol 371/98

Item barcode 1157193

Title Routine Orders. HMT GALEKA. April 1915

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 707/20 PART 157

Item barcode 703956

Title [Medical Records - Dardanelles/Gallipoli/Egypt, 1914-1923:] GALEKA (transport ship) - correspondence (incident concerning wounded Australians during ship's stop at Mudros)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM45

Control symbol 4/34

Item barcode 511649

Title Operations - Dardanelles campaign: GALEKA [temporary hospital ship]

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM252

Control symbol A47

Item barcode 1011985

Title [Official History, 1914-18 War: Records of Charles E W Bean, Official Historian:] Notebook, Apr-May 1915; includes references to the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 12th Battalions, Helles, the transport, GALEKA and the 28 June sortie. [Translation of item 3DRL 606 26A [1] which was written shorthand, original - 1st set]

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM38

Control symbol 3DRL 606/26B/1

Item barcode 486646

Note: Digital copies of C.E.W. Bean's original records available on AWM site:

http://www.awm.gov.a...aries/cew_bean/

DEVANHA:

Title DEVANHA: Alexandria 2 March 1915 - Mudros 4 March 1915 / Mudros 24 April 1915 - Gallipoli Peninsula 24 April 1915.

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM7

Control symbol DEVANHA 1

Item barcode 527469

Title Routine Orders. Troopship SS DEVANHA. March-April 1915

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 707/20 PART 122

Item barcode 703853

The Devanha lifeboat at the AWM

http://www.awm.gov.a...onservation.asp

IONIAN:

Title Routine Orders. Troopship HMAT IONIAN. March 1915

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 707/20 PART 128

Item barcode 703864

(CITY OF) BENARES:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, BENARES, April 1915 (Part 6 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 6

Item barcode 690134

DERFFLINGER:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, DERFFLINGER, April-May 1915 (Part 3 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 3

Item barcode 690130

LUTZOW:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, LUTZOW, April 1915 (Part 5 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 5

Item barcode 690132

ITONUS:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, ITONUS, April-May 1915 (Part 1 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 1

Item barcode 690128

Title Troopship movement cards, 1914-18 War: HMAT ITONUS (A50)

Contents date range 1915 - 1916

Series number AWM244

Control symbol ITONUS

Item barcode 920841

MASHOBRA:

Title Gallipoli - Phase 1. Hospital ships, DEVENAH, MASHOBRA, April 1915 (Part 8 of 8)

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 367/102 PART 8

Item barcode 690136

Title Routine Orders. HMT A13 MASHOBRA. April 1915

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM25

Control symbol 707/20 PART 18

Item barcode 703547

MAHENO:

Title Transports, Hospital Ships etc Other than Australian - New Zealand Hospital Ship, MAHENO

Contents date range 1915 - 1917

Series number AWM36

Control symbol BUNDLE 39/13

Item barcode 653459

Title Transportation of Australian Troops - General - R Stuart Wortley, Director of Movements. Letter re transport of Australian and New Zealand wounded on hospital ships KANOWNA (A61), KAROOLA (A63), and MAHENO 24/8/1915

Contents date range 1915 - 1915

Series number AWM36

Control symbol BUNDLE 23/3

Item barcode 653299

A slight correction to the spelling of CLAN MacGILLIVRAY.

I have a copy of the war diary of one transport, HMAT ZEALANDIC (post war diary really, 1919-20), and it's quite detailed, but I'm not sure exactly what you would find in the above documents.

regards,

Martin

[kjharris]

Hi Martin,

You are a legend! Apologies for the delayed thank you but I've had lots of GWF log in issues now resolved! My original request was because I thought all the files would be in London and I couldn't find them there. Will plan a trip to Canberra. Again, many thanks. Kirsty

[melliget]

No problem, Kirsty. Happy hunting if you do manage to get to Canberra.

Martin

[BG2012]

I am writing a simple account / diary for my Great Granfathers time at Gallipoli. He was wounded on the 6th May 1915 and is on casualty list No 6, he was in the 2nd Hampshire Regiment. What I would like to find out is what would have happened to him from being wounded to returning to the UK.

Does anyone know what Hospital ship he may have been on and where would he have gone ?

Cheers

Ben

[PJS]

4 hours ago, Tim959 said:

I am currently transcribing the diary of my late grandfather Raymond Barker who served as a medic on HMHS Rewa during the Gallipoli campaign.

 

 

I would be very interested to see your transcription once it is done. I suspect many others would be interested too.

 

Peter

P.S. Welcome to the forum.