Name of Troopship?

[Guest]

Hello

Can anyone tell me if there was an SS (or HMT) Princess Abbas that operated in the Med in 1915..... Thanks

MG

[Gareth Davies]

 

A Prince Abbas gets a mention here:

and here: http://www.dublin-fusiliers.com/ships/prince-abbas.html

[Guest]

Thanks Gareth.

The diary in question is the 21st Sep and 2nd Bn Royal Fus (86th Inf Bde). The writing is a bit of a scrawl but SS Princess Ab---s is very clear

I have the 1st Bn Essex Regt allegedly sailing on the SS Princess Abbas (very clear capitals in the diary) on 8th Jan 1916 (War diary) and a scrawl in the 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers diary with SS Princess Ab--s. I have the Mudros Harbour list of ships that operated in the area at the time and the only Princess ships were the Princess Ena and Princess Alberta, as well as the Prince Abbas (1st Bn RDF 8th Aug 1915 and 2nd Bn SWB 22nd Sep 15, 1st Bn KOSB 21st Sep 15 etc..). I wonder if two separate diaries could confuse Prince with Princess and/or Abbas with something else.

I see 2nd Bn SWB also on Prince Abbas on 8th Jan and stating other units of 86th and 87th Inf Bdes on board.... unlikely there was a Princess Abbas and a Prince Abbas sailing on the same day ??

I suspect that SS Princess Abbas was in fact SS Prince Abbas and the confusion comes from associating ships with the female gender.

Still looking for confirmation there was no Princess Abbas. Lots of references to SS Prince Abbas in diaries as well as in the Mudros Embarkation Officers manifest.

[Gareth Davies]

I know nothing about ship names but there is a certain symmetry to having a Prince and Princess Abbas as ship names in the same shipping company, and if the Admiralty needed one of them it is not too far fetched to think that they might have wanted the other too.

That said, if I was GOC 29th Div or GOC of one of his Bdes, or perhaps more accurately if I was GSO1 in 29th Div, I wouldn't want 2 ships with very similar names, it would cause too much confusion.