O.C. Troops HMHS VITA 1917

[PJS]

I'm having great trouble deciphering this signature. He was O.C. Troops on the HMS HS VITA in June 1917 ...

 

 

 

 

If anyone has any suggestions at all please let me know.

 

Thank You
Peter

[charlie962]

Samuel Herbert Lee Abbott, b 6/9/1877

IA List 1917 here

[PJS]

7 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

Samuel Herbert Lee Abbott, b 6/9/1877

IA List 1917 here

 

Charlie, you are a genius.

 

Thank You

Peter

[charlie962]

Peter, I suspect you are transcribing another interesting War Diary ? Charlie

[PJS]

I am trying to build a Nominal Roll for the VITA (Officers, ORs & Nurses) and also understand the command structure, which appears to be:

 

6th Poona Divisional Area
Bombay Brigade
A.D.M.S. (District) Bombay
Embarkation Commandant, Bombay
No 42 Embarkation Company, RAMC Bombay

 

At this point just trying to pull all the threads together ...

 

Peter

[seaJane]

The QARANC website describes HMHS VITA as a Royal Navy hospital ship (troop carrier before 1916) but I can find no trace of her in the Navy List, so am beginning to doubt them. That said, I can't find the hospital ships I know were commissioned by the RN in the Navy List either ... !

 

She seems to have made a very small dent on the National Archives: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/39154392863d44759fc3dc33a6d1c1e1.

 

Some pictures here if you scroll down: https://qaranc.co.uk/hospitalships.php

 

 

 

[PJS]

2 hours ago, seaJane said:

The QARANC website describes HMHS VITA as a Royal Navy hospital ship (troop carrier before 1916) but I can find no trace of her in the Navy List, so am beginning to doubt them. That said, I can't find the hospital ships I know were commissioned by the RN in the Navy List either ... !

 

She seems to have made a very small dent on the National Archives: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/39154392863d44759fc3dc33a6d1c1e1.

 

Some pictures here if you scroll down: https://qaranc.co.uk/hospitalships.php

 

 

Thanks sJ. I have the War Diary from the NA. That's what I'm going through to pull the Nominal Roll together.

 

The Internet says:

 

"Vita, was owned by British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd, and was completed in October 1914 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend.  She was 4,691 gross tons, 1,955 net tons, and 5,160 deadweight tons. Dimensions were 390.1 feet length, 53.3 feet breadth and 24 ft depth. She had twin props and two triple expansion engines giving 4,700 ihp and 12.5 knots. Her passenger capacity when new was 32 first class, 24 second class, and 2,694 deck. Immediately upon completion she was put into military service as a troopship (SS Vita), and her first voyage was from Bombay to the Persian Gulf with troops, and her next voyage was to France."

 

First reference I can find for VITA as a troop ship is here: http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM53-38068/ADM-53-38068-075_1.jpg

More interesting one here: https://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/edwinjones.htm

 

She carried on trooping duties until May 1916 when converted into a hospital ship (HM HS Vita) with 475 patient berths.

 

 

Peter