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Remembered Today:

Ships used to transport troops to Gallipoli


oak

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Pals,

The following five ships were among those used in the transport of troops to Gallipoli. I know the battalions they carried. I would be very grateful for any other information on any/all of them please.

Alaunia (B7), Ausonia, Caledonia, Marquette, Serangbee.

Regards,

Philip

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I've got two of your ships listed and I actually have two Caledonias listed and am not sure which one was at Gallipoli.

ALAUNIA

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built by Scotts Greenock,

Yard No 447

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Last Name: ALAUNIA

Port of Registry: Liverpool

Propulsion: Steam quad exp

Launched: Monday, 09 June 1913

Built: 1913

Ship Type: Passenger Vessel

Tonnage: 13405 grt

Length: 520 feet

Breadth: 64 feet

Owner History:

Cunard Steamship Co.Ltd

Status: Sunk - 19/10/1916

Web site: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~indigo/alaunia.htm

Remarks: War loss

struck mine Eng Channel

ALAUNIA_447.jpg

ss CALEDONIA

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built by D & W Henderson Ltd Glasgow,

Yard No 438

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Propulsion: steam, triple expansion, 16 knots

Launched: Saturday, 22 October 1904

Built: 1905

Ship Type: Passenger Vessel

Ship's Role: Transatlantic Glasgow - New York

Tonnage: 9223 grt

Length: 500 feet

Breadth: 58.3 feet

Owner History:

Anchor Line Glasgow

Status: Sunk - 1916

Remarks: Maiden voyage March 25th, 1905 Glasgow

Molville

New York. August 1914 requisitioned as a troop ship. On December 4th, 1916 sunk by enemy submarine 125 miles East by South of Malta

CALEDONIA_438.jpg

ss CALEDONIA

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built by Caird & Company Greenock,

Yard No 273

Engines by Shipbuilders

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Port of Registry: Greenock

Propulsion: Five cylinder triple expansion steam engine, 11000ihp, single screw, 18 knots.

Launched: Saturday, 19 May 1894

Built: 1894

Ship Type: Passenger Liner

Ship's Role: UK/India mail service

Tonnage: 7558 gross; 3529 net; 4234 dwt

Length: 486ft 0in

Breadth: 54ft 3in

Draught: 26ft 11in

Owner History:

Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company

Status: Scrapped - 1925, Bombay

Remarks:

19/05/1894: Launched by Miss Ethel Barnes, daughter of P&O Managing Director Mr F D Barnes. The largest yet P&O ship, and the 40th built for the Company by Caird’s.

21/08/1894: Registered.

25/08/1894: Ran trials (19.5 knots) and delivered. She cost £233,729 and received an auxiliary cruiser subsidy. She was a fine sea boat with considerable comfort but rather restricted cargo space. She could carry 365 First Class and 175 Second Class passengers. She originally had a white hull, yellow funnels and red waterline but reverted to conventional P&O black hull and funnels and khaki superstructure after about two years.

05/10/1894: Maiden voyage London/Bombay.

08/06/1895: Visited in the Royal Albert Docks by HH Nasrula Khan, Shahzada (Crown Prince) of Afghanistan.

1895: Broke the outward record to Bombay and homeward easily beat the Messageries Maritime’s ERNEST SIMON, a notable French rival.

1897: Present at the Diamond Jubilee Review.

1903: Became the first P&O ship to use Tilbury Docks.

1907: Broke the London/Calcutta record. Brought the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and their daughter Princess Patricia home from India.

1913: Made three Mediterranean cruises.

08/1914 to 12/1917: Bombay mail service with troops and passengers.

14/12/1916: Struck two mines 3 miles E of Planier Island Light, off Marseilles. Her passengers were discharged within fifteen minutes and a skeleton crew took her into Marseilles where she was repaired and returned to service.

29/12/1917: Commissioned as a troop transport (No. C.6021) in which capacity she carried over 104000 troops without loss.

1920: Refitted by Alexander Stephen and Sons Ltd, Linthouse, Glasgow and returned to commercial service.

1925: A routine examination at Bombay showed her propeller shaft was cracked.

25/07/1925: Sold for demolition to Goolam Hossein Essaji, Bombay, for £10000.

CALEDONIA_273.jpg

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Many thanks,

The first Caledonia sounds the more likely candidate.

Regards,

Philip

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Philip, I have the following on your ships:

Alaunia, 13,405 grt, sunk 19th October 1916, torpedoed by German submarine 2 miles S from Royal Sovereign LV (unconfirmed), carrying general cargo from New York to London, owned by Cunard Steam Shipping Co Ltd-Liverpool.

Ausonia, defensively armed, 8,153 grt, sunk 30th May 1918, torpedoed by German submarine SMU U62, 620 miles WxS¾S from Fastnet Rock, Ireland, in ballast from Liverpool to New York, owned by Cunard Steam Shipping Co Ltd-Liverpool

Their were two Caledonia's attacked during WW1:

Caledonia, defensively armed, 7,572 grt, damaged 14th December 1916, mined 3 miles E from Planier Island Lighthouse, Marseilles, Mediterranean Sea by mine laid by German submarine SMU U72, made port

Caledonia, defensively armed, 9,223 grt, sunk 4th December 1916, torpedoed by German submarine SMU U65, 125 miles ExS from Malta, Mediterranean Sea, carrying mail from Salonica to Marseilles, owned by Anchor Line (Henderson Brothers) Ltd-Glasgow

Marquette, 7,057 grt, sunk 23rd October 1915, torpedoed by German submarine SMU U35, 36 miles S from Salonika Bay, Aegean Sea, carrying government stores & ammunition from Alexandria to Salonika, owned by Atlantic Transport Co Ltd-London

Sorry, no info. on Serangbee

Best wishes

David

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Many thanks David,

Kind regards,

Philip

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There has already been a thread on the Marquette

 

Christine

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Thanks Christine,

I've just printed off the thread and look forward to reading it.

Regards,

Philip

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Many thanks Michael,

Regards,

Philip

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  • 4 weeks later...

oak - one of my relatives was a seaman on the Alaunia in early 1915. Kew have a selection of log/crew list documentation for the ship if that's of any interest.

alaunia-crew.jpg

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Many thanks Prhjty,

I'll look up the Australian War Memorial website.

Thanks Damien,

I didn't know that Kew kept crew lists.

Kind regards,

Philip

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ALAUNIA (1913-1916):

She was carrying 180 passengers and 166 crew on the 19th October 1916, only two were killed when the mine was struck.

AUSONIA ex-Tortona (1908-1918):

When she was torpedoed on the 30 May 1918, as mentioned earlier in David's post, 44 lives were lost, and the survivors spent eight days adrift in lifeboats before being picked up by the destroyer HMS Zennia.

CALEDONIA (1905-1916):

The Caledonia's master, Capt. James Blaikie attempted unsuccesfully to ram and sink U65 after being torpedoed, and was later taken prisoner for the rest of the war.

MARQUETTE ex-Boadicea (1898-1915):

On her voyage from Alexandria to Salonica (Thessaloniki), she was carrying 610 troops from the Royal Field Artillery, and 36 Nurses of the New Zealand Stationary Hospital, in addition to her crew. Also onboard was ammunition, and 541 animals (including horses).

The U35 under Lt-Cdr Waldermar Kophamel torpedoed her 36 miles from Salonica, she did not sink immediately, but 88 troops, 11 Nurses, and 29 crewmen were killed.

Regards

Paul

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Many thanks Paul,

Regards,

Philip

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  • 1 year later...

Good morning Phillip. I see that your topic was posted sometime ago but I've been researching my Grandfather's involvement (or perhaps not) in Gallipoli. His name was AHV (Arthur Hedley Victor Kotch) and he was in the Army Service Corps (Wessex Divisional Train, Horse Transport) I know that he arrived in Egypt on 21st March, 1915.

I will be going to Kew to follow up various research lines but I wondered if identifying the ship that carried him to Egypt and then to Gallipoli might help eg were there troop lists, or company lists.

Could you throw any light on this?

Thanks

David

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Philip, Award re Caledonia ;

BLAIKIE Frederick W N/E N/E RNR 80E087

H.M.T. Caledonia

31.05.16 Gazetted

Transport Duties Dardanelles Operations 1915 - 1916

Mentioned in Despatches

N/E

Regards Sadsac

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  • 5 years later...

Pals,

The following five ships were among those used in the transport of troops to Gallipoli. I know the battalions they carried. I would be very grateful for any other information on any/all of them please.

Alaunia (B7), Ausonia, Caledonia, Marquette, Serangbee.

Regards,

Philip

Hi,

At present I am cataloguing the Irish Soldiers wills.( there are 9000 of them ) I came across one for a Pte J Mc McCarthy 10849 RDF.

He has written a letter from the Ausonia.He has used the letter head paper from the Ausonia.

I thought I would contact you and tell you that you can down load it from the National Archives Irish Soldiers wills as you have an interest in the Ausonia

Regards

Gerry

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Many thanks Gerry,

I really appreciate that.

I hadn't looked at this thread in several years and really must apologise greatly to David for not answering his subsequent query and to sadsac for posting his subsequent information. David, as it happens I was not in a position to help you, as I don't know if there were troop lists. sadsac, many thanks for this information.

Kind regards to all,

Philip

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Good morning Phillip. I see that your topic was posted sometime ago but I've been researching my Grandfather's involvement (or perhaps not) in Gallipoli. His name was AHV (Arthur Hedley Victor Kotch) and he was in the Army Service Corps (Wessex Divisional Train, Horse Transport) I know that he arrived in Egypt on 21st March, 1915.

I will be going to Kew to follow up various research lines but I wondered if identifying the ship that carried him to Egypt and then to Gallipoli might help eg were there troop lists, or company lists.

Could you throw any light on this?

Thanks

David

The Kew series WO25 has detail on ships used for trooping. Files contain info on units and stores carried,names Officers but not men,so might say the Officers of a unit plus,say,140 Other Ranks. For Mar 1915 file WO25/3535 will have some info,it covers from Jan to Jun 1915.

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  • 1 year later...

Howard is my name does any one the names of transport ships left devonport uk on 19 July 1915 heading to Gallipoli..

It is easier to trace if you know which units they were carrying. There were dozens of ships doing the run.

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Thanks martin

Here is the details ..

1/5 (Flintshire) battalion.. As from 13 may 1915 became part of the 158th brigade (53rd welsh division ).

Sailed from devonport uk on 19 July 1915 via imbros then arrived at sulva bay and landed 9 august 1915.

So I am trying to find ship name and list of names of those from battalion who were on that ship.

As I doing some private research on a particular officer who was from this battalion and later killed in action on 12 august 1915.

Can u help out..

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Martin I was working on as hunts green but I think I was wrong as it departed earlier but arrived on same day and carried this battalion, brigade and division but was any other ship or ships around fits this description..

Thanks martin..

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Thanks martin

Here is the details ..

1/5 (Flintshire) battalion.. As from 13 may 1915 became part of the 158th brigade (53rd welsh division ).

Sailed from devonport uk on 19 July 1915 via imbros then arrived at sulva bay and landed 9 august 1915.

So I am trying to find ship name and list of names of those from battalion who were on that ship.

As I doing some private research on a particular officer who was from this battalion and later killed in action on 12 august 1915.

Can u help out..

The 1/5th (Flintshire) Bn RWF (TF) departed Devonport on 13th July on the SS Caledonia, sailed 14th July via Gibraltar on 17th and Malta 21st. Sailed for Egypt on 22nd arriving at Alexandria on 25th July. Then to Lemnos on 26th disembarking at Mudros on 28th and straight into bivouac.

For the nominal roll list you simply need to get the 1915 Star medal Roll for the 1/5th Bn. It will have the disembarkation dates. Held at the National Archives.

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Martin.

Sorry I am interested in 1/5 Flintshire batteton not 15.again I know offically departed on 19 July 1915 not 13 July 1915. Again thanks martin

Typo..this is 1/5th ...amended in original.

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