TOPIC:

Another freight ship that carried troops ..

The Tintagel Castle, Southampton, 10 Mar 1900
Castle Mail Packets Co., Ltd.

"OFF TO THE FRONT: THE SAILING OF THE TINTAGEL CASTLE FOR THE CAPE" (The Graphic, 17 Mar 1900, p. 374)
“The Castle Company’s steamer Tintagel Castle sailed on Saturday afternoon from Southampton with thirty-eight officers and 1,171 men and seven horses. The troops consisted of detachments of the 1st Middlesex, Newcastle, 2nd Yorkshire, Tower Hamlets, Durham, 1st Yorkshire, Devon and Somerset, Hampshire, London, and Sussex Volunteer Engineers, the Royal West Surrey, Somerset Light Infantry, East Surrey, Royal Sussex, South Stafford, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and Middlesex Volunteer Service Corps, as well as part of Lord Lovat’s Corps. Our illustration is from a photograph by Stephen Cribb, Southsea”.


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 12 Dec 1899
32nd Freight Ship to be engaged by the Admiralty for UK / South Africa service.

16 Dec 1899, Southampton to Cape Town, 42 officers / warrant officers and 1,308 men + 6 horses, cost: £23,131
10 Mar 1900, Southampton to Cape Town, 38 officers / warrant officers and 1,164 men + 7 horses, cost: £25,021
25 May 1900, Cape Town to Southampton, 50 officers and 1,031 men, 1 woman & 3 children, cost: £18,231
16 Jun 1900, Southampton to Cape Town, 2 officers / warrant officers and 135 men, cost: £2,168
30 Nov 1901, Southampton to Cape Town, 12 officers / warrant officers and 248 men, cost: £4,348
13 Jan 1902, Cape Town to Southampton, 17 officers and 709 men, cost: £8,860
22 Feb 1902, Southampton to Cape Town, 7 officers / warrant officers and 230 men, cost: £3,508
21 Jul 1902, East London to Southampton, 80 officers and 1,548 men, cost: £25,348




.Dec 1899 - Jun 1900









..

No.10 - Trojan (Hospital Ship)

Union-Castle Mail Steam Ship Co.

Master: C.S. Cassidy / N.R. Neilson
Chief Officer: W.F. Stanley / L.D. Wainwright
Chief Engineer: A.L. Smith
2nd Officer: R.C.W. Wilson
3rd Officer: E. Penny
2nd Engineer: F.J. Vannyvel
3rd Engineer: E.A. Charles

N.B. After the Hospital Ship Trojan was discharged from service, "No. 10" was reissued to the Staffordshire


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 22 Sep 1899 (same day as No. 11, Hospital Ship Spartan )
6th Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty.

Period of engagement: 27 Sep 1899 to 18 Oct 1900
Total days at sea: 53
Total numbers transported to South Africa: 13 officers, 4 warrant officers, 39 men
Total numbers transported from South Africa: 12 officers, 113 N.C.O.'s & men
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £43,704



.Oct 1899





Navy & Army Illustrated, Vol. IX, 14 Nov 1899, p. 183









..

No.1 Assaye - except it should be No.5!- a photo of No.5 Assaye was posted some time ago - they look the same ship but the No.1 version is a lot whiter.
Afraid the website where I found this photo gave no further information.

Transport Ship No 93 Montrose. Built on Teeside in 1897 for the African Steamship Co Ltd who became the Elder Dempster Line. she receives 42 mentions in the ABW forum Shipping Records - the first in March 1900 and the last in December 1902.



She shot to fame in 1910 when she carried Dr Crippen & Ethel le Neve on their escape attempt to find a new life in North America. The Captain recognised them and radioed home. The police caught a faster ship and arrived in Canada in time to board the Montrose in the St Lawrence seaway and arrest them. The photo below shows Dr Crippen being escorted off the Montrose when she docked.

No. 19 - Cephalonia

Cunard Steam Ship Co., Ltd.

Master: George Herbert Pierce
Chief Officer: F. Robertson
Chief Engineer: T. Duncan
1st Officer: W. Johnson
2nd Officer: E.C. Johnson
2nd Engineer: H.C. Paterson
3rd Engineer: R. Rae

Cephalonia was built in 1882 at Birkenhead by Laird Bros for the Cunard Line. Throughout her career she served between Liverpool and Boston. In 1900 she was sold to the Chinese Eastern Railway and renamed Hailor. LOA 430.6ft. Beam 46.5ft. Displ. 5517tons gross ( Historic New England )


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 1 Oct 1899 (but did not enter into pay until 13 Oct 1899)
34th Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty.

Period of engagement: 13 Oct 1899 to 5 May 1900

Total days at sea: 135
Total numbers transported to South Africa: 106 officers, 7 warrant officers, 2,874 men, 15 horses
Total numbers transported from South Africa: 18 officers, 424 N.C.O.'s & men
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £63,237



.Oct 1899 - Feb 1900




.Navy & Army Illustrated, Vol. IX, 20 Jan 1900, p. 465




. With thanks to Tinus le Roux




.4th Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) boarding the SS 'Cephalonia' for South Africa, 1900
.Courtesy of the National Army Museum, London (NAM. 1971-11-18-1-20)




. Historic New England (photograph by Nathaniel L. Stebbins, 1884).






..

No. 40 - Orcana

Pacific Steam Navigation Co.

Master: W. Styer
Chief Officer: G.C.M. Oakley / A.T.D. Pearson
Chief Engineer: T. Gowans

Operated both as a Transport and as a Hospital Ship

Note atypical typeface used for the number and the lack of the prefix "No.", which would normally indicate that a ship had been engaged in India (but not in this case).


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 4 Oct 1899 (but did not enter into pay until 12 Oct 1899)
32nd Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty.

Period of engagement: 12 Oct 1899 to 31 Dec 1902
Total days at sea: 556
Total numbers transported to South Africa: 132 officers, 7 warrant officers, 1,557 men, 5 horses
Total numbers transported from South Africa: 217 officers, 2,372 N.C.O.'s & men
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £244,683
Remarks: Discharged from H.M. Service on 2 Feb 1903


SEE ALSO: No. 40 - Orcana



.Oct 1899 - May 1900








The images below are from Navy & Army Illustrated, Vol. IX, 13 Jan 1900, p. 446; The Anglo-Boer War Album (500 photographic engravings), p. 137; and an earlier post by dunnboer ( Hospital Ship Orcana )




The Orcana, while engaged as a Transport, which landed the 1st Bn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders at Durban on 24 Nov 1899









After conversion into a Hospital Ship, in white livery.





..