Military Adjutants on merchant passenger ships

[oak]

I would be grateful if anyone could give me any information/comment on the subject of military adjutants on merchant passenger ships. The R.M.S. Leinster, passenger ship and mailboat, had a military adjutant from late June 1918. An officer who had been wounded on the Western Front (and had little use of one of his arms) his duty was to liase with the captain of the Leinster. The Leinster was never assigned to troop carrying. During 1918 it carried troops as passengers along with its normal passengers on several occasions. But troops on board were the exception rather than the rule. (The troops were either Irish and returning from leave or British troops going on leave from Ireland). As it happened, when the Leinster was torpedoed on 10 October 1918 most of its passengers were military personnel.

Regards,

Philip