SRS Posted 9 February , 2020 Share Posted 9 February , 2020 I am trying to determine which troop ships might have sailed from Southampton on or around the 10th October 1915. The ship of interest would have reached the 'Peninsula' (Cape Helles, Gallipoli) on or around the 19th October. However it is possible that it the ship disembarked its troops at Mudros and they then used a second ship to get to the front. This search is connected to separate post concerning Pte Arthur Smith No.60010 RAMC elsewhere on this website. Here I am only interesting in the Troop Ship or, because of the RAMC connection it might have been a returning Hospital Ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 9 February , 2020 Share Posted 9 February , 2020 (edited) There is a file at Kew for trooping and supply ships from UK to various overseas destinations. The relevant file is WO25/3537 (Home to Abroad Oct to Dec 1915). Vessel manifests are filed by date of sailing from any home port. You will get a list of units showing the number of troops embarked, viz RAMC (number of NCOs and ORs). What you won't get is a list of names, unless they are Officers ! I see from your previous here that you think your subject served with 19SH. The way I read it is that he was admitted to that hospital on 30 Oct and discharged on 4 Nov. Edit: meant to mention that I have a list from the file but headed "For Egypt" and I don't remember (it was 2012 when I looked !) if I only extracted those vessels which landed in Egypt. There is no ship which left Southampton on 10th October specifically for Helles but there are some which left a few days either side and could have had their last UK port as Devonport even though they also loaded at Southampton. On the 8th the ships AQUITANIA and DEVANKA sailed from Southampton. On the 10th the Hospital Ship EGYPT sailed from Southampton. On the 11th SCOTIAN and the 13th NILE both sailed from Devonport, though it might have been a bit of a stretch to expect NILE to arrive within your man's disembark date of 19th. To be sure you will need to leaf through WO25/3537 again ! Edited 9 February , 2020 by sotonmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRS Posted 10 February , 2020 Author Share Posted 10 February , 2020 Thanks Sotonmate, I believe that it was the 17th Stationery Hospital he was at for about 4 days before being admitted to hospital on the 24th October and discharged on the 30th. There are a number of threads to follow up on at Kew so I will need to arrange a visit, probably in April. I presume I have to make a request prior to the visit to view certain records? In the meantime I will look into the ships posted in your response. Kind regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 Pre-ordering will certainly speed up the process. You can do it here: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/order-documents-in-advance/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 Hi Steve, The war diary for the Embarkation Officer (Mudros) names ship arrivals. On Ancestry, October 1915 starts here. From the ships that sotonmate identified, the only one I saw arriving in that month was the Scotian. Image sourced from Ancestry The diary for September shows that 17 Stationery Hospital left Mudros for Cape Helles on... Image sourced from Ancestry I think that this then reads - 19.10.1915 joined 17 Stationery Hospital at Cape Helles, from reinforcements Image sourced from Findmypast Looking at the breakdown of his dates... Image sourced from Findmypast ...I think that 10.10.1915 to 19.10.1915 may read as - en route Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. That would imply that he left the UK on 10.10.1915 and arrived at Mudros and stayed there for a short, unspecified period of time, before joining 17 Stationery Hospital on 19.10.1915 as a reinforcement. Their war diary (Ancestry link) for that date reads as..."...Reinforcement - 1 Sergt and 50 privates arrived to replace sick casualties and in lieu of nursing sisters". Ignoring the Scotian which arrived outside of the timeframe, and ships arriving from Alexandria and Malta, that would seem to leave... Image sourced from Ancestry Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kath Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 Chris, I can't see the war diary of the Embarkation Officer (Mudros) for 1915 January to May. Does it exist? Thanks, Kath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJS Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 12 minutes ago, Kath said: Chris, I can't see the war diary of the Embarkation Officer (Mudros) for 1915 January to May. Does it exist? Thanks, Kath. It is here: click Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRS Posted 11 February , 2020 Author Share Posted 11 February , 2020 Chris, Very many thanks for the information provided. The dates you have used from the second picture of Arthurs Casualty Form, correlate with those just discernible on the rhs of the front page which lists Southampton on the 10th and the Peninsula on the 19th. If the Megantic arrived on the 15th then that will work with the speed calculator found at Sea-distance.org. At ten knots the ship would have reached Mudros in 11 days 12 hours for a 2750nm distance travelled. This would have given her time to bunker in Gibraltar if required. I haven't had a chance to look at the Embarkation Officers diary yet but that looks like a very interesting source of information. Hopefully I can now add further details to my Grandfathers WW1 history. Kind regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kath Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 20 minutes ago, PJS said: t is here: click Peter - that is the same link Chris gave with the date from JUNE 1915. I need 1915 January to May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJS Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 2 minutes ago, Kath said: Peter - that is the same link Chris gave with the date from JUNE 1915. I need 1915 January to May. Sorry! The original link that I clicked on earlier today pointed to the Stationary Hospital war diary and I "assumed" that was your issue. I really shouldn't try to do more than two things at once ... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 Hi Steve, The Embarkation Officer diary is worth a look at. Given that Arthur appears to be evacuated/ 'en route [?] Egyptian Expeditionary Force' 12.1.1916, it looks like he may have been on the Asturias. Image sourced from Ancestry Hi Kath, 1 hour ago, Kath said: Chris, I can't see the war diary of the Embarkation Officer (Mudros) for 1915 January to May. Does it exist? Thanks, Kath There might be one buried away somewhere, but unfortunately I didn't see anything obvious for your timeframe when I searched the National Archives/Ancestry. Regards to both. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kath Posted 11 February , 2020 Share Posted 11 February , 2020 Thank you, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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