troop transport ships

[DavidJ]

Seeing some of the responses to bootmaster's enquiry for pictures of ships made me wonder if it is possible to identify any of the ships which carried English soldiers across the Channel en route to the Western Front. Are there any records indicating which ships were used on which days for which regiment? And if so, is it possible to get pictures, or even descriptions of these ships?

I will be grateful for any advice or new knowledge on this topic.

Regards - DavidJ

[Tim]

The service records of two of my relatives, 5280 Spr Wilfred BERRY and 5281 Spr Cyril BERRY, both of 2nd Australian Tunnelling Coy showed the places of embarkation and disembarkation and the names of the ships used. A distant relative, 6551 Pte Charles J.B. NAIRN also sailed on SUFFOLK at the same time.

Both left Australia on HMAT SUFFOLK convoy number A23. Which is pictured below passing through the Suez Canal. The date of which this photo was taken corresponds with the time that both Wilfred and Cyril were travelling on her. Somewhat ironically, both Wilfred and Cyril were both born in Suffolk.

Once in England, both Wilfred and Cyril were transported across The Channel to France on S.S. ARUNDEL. A photo of her is below.

Here are the tech details I've been able to gather so far on both ships.

SS Arundel

Built: William Denny & Bros Ltd of Dumbarton

Owner/Operator: London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

Launched: 5th April 1900 on the Clyde

Length: 269ft 4in (82.10m)

Beam: 34ft (10.36m)

Tonnage: 1067 tonnes

Cargo Holds: 2

Hatches: 2

Speed: 18.5 knots (34.2 kph)

Screws: Twin screw, triple expansion

Propulsion: Coal (82 tons), 4.5 tons of coal per hour.

HMAT Suffolk

Built: John Brown & Co, Clydebank

Owner/Operator: Potter, Trinder and Gwyn of London

Launched: 1902

Length:

Beam:

Tonnage: 7573 tons

Cargo Holds:

Hatches:

Speed: 13 knots (24.07 kph)

Screws: Twin screw

Propulsion:

Commonwealth control ended 14 June 1917.

Fortunately there is a list of all Australian Transports, when they sailed and what regiments, battalions sailed on them. Comes in very handy.

Cheers,

Tim

[Aaron Nelson]

David.

Im unsure that there is one source of info for your qestinos on troop ships. Given the number of men involved in the conflict, you can imagine the number of ships invovled. Most War diaries of Battalions would record what ships they boarded for troop movements. I can tell you my Grandftaher boarded the SS manchester Importer on the evening of 3rd March 1917 for tansport across the channel. Another ship used ont he same evening by members of the 66th Division was the SS SW Miller. I have no photos of either.

if you did a googel search for those ships names you would get some good responses.

Best of luck with your search.

cheers Aaron.

[DavidJ]

Tim and Aaron -

Thanks guys for your replies - and my apologies for a delay in getting back to you. We've had a big family wedding this weekend that has taken up a lot of time in preparation, execution (perhaps not an appropriate word!), and enjoyment!

Tim - unfortunately, the service records have not survived for the soldier I am interested in, so that is no good as a source for me. But thanks for the great pictures you sent - I can tell how pleased you are that you have found that picture of the time that your relatives were actually travelling. That's the kind of result I was hoping for - but -

But as you say, Aaron - there was so much movement of men going on, that it is not surprising if we cannot track down what happened to a particular individual. Unfortunately, the war diary for my soldier's battalion does not record how he got out to the Western Front. My guess is that he was just one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of replacements for trench fodder, rather than going out in a clear regimental group.

Thanks again guys - and good luck with your ongoing research.

DavidJ