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On a lighter note, this appeared in "War Pictures", Feb 17 1900, p. 40



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Indian Transport No. 5 - India

British India Associated Steamers Ltd [parent company: British India Steam Navigation Co., Ltd]

Master: J.W. Robertson / H.B.C. Plommer
Chief Officer: L.Y. Archdeacon
Chief Engineer: A. McLennan
2nd Officer: B. Gulliver
3rd Officer: J.A. Coombe
2nd Engineer: W.M. Campbell
3rd Engineer: C. McDougall

Note: employed for one voyage only

"No. 5" was also assigned to the Admiralty Transport "Assaye" (UK service).


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

17th Indian Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty

Period of engagement: 29 Sep 1899 to 4 Nov 1899 [note: the commencement date does not match the embarkation date]
Total numbers transported to South Africa: 26 officers, 709 N.C.O.'s & men, 6 Natives, 7 horses
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £8,092

Shipping Returns:
"Calcutta, 15 Sep The transport Indian[sic] will sail on the 25th with the 1/Gloucester Regiment"
"Calcutta, 24 Sep The Transport India left here at 10 o’clock this morning with a further detachment of troops for SA"




The embarkation of officers of the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment at Calcutta on 24 Sep 1899 (Navy & Army Illustrated, 18 Nov 1899, p. 227; and Transvaal War Album, 1900, p. 72).

Navy and Army Illustrated, 18 Nov 1899, p. 226:
"Our next picture is of rather more mournful interest. It shows the officers of the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment embarking at Calcutta in the steamship “India” as part of the Indian contingent. The illustration was taken ten minutes before the ship, rechristened for the nonce “Transport No. 5”, sailed for Durban, and one can see that the prevailing note was one of happy anticipation of the glories of the coming campaign. Alas! for the vanity of human wishes. On October 30 the Glouceters, after having fought manfully at the action of Rietfontein some days previously, were associated with the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers and the 10th Mountain Battery in a detached column sent to occupy Nicholson’s Nek, near Ladysmith, with a view to turning the enemy’s flank. The story is told in detail elsewhere. It is sufficient here to say that the column was surrounded in the hills, and, after losing heavily, was forced to surrender. The melancholy interest lent to our picture by this unfortunate occurrence is heightened by the fact of casualties as to which we have at present no reliable return".







The S.S. India before / after the ABW (Wikipedia)







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Briton – not on the Neil Snowden list of Numbered Transports but receives 56 mentions in the ABW Forum Shipping Records.

“One of the last Union Steam Ship Company vessels, Briton was built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast. Launched in June 1897, she made her maiden voyage from Southampton to Cape Town on 4 December 1897. At the time she was the largest ship sailing from Great Britain to any of her colonies.
“In October 1899, when the Boer War began, Briton was converted to troop carrying. On her first trip, the month hostilities began, she made Cape Town in 15 days, carrying 1,500 troops to supplement the outnumbered British forces there. She also became the first Union Line ship to leave South Africa in Union Castle livery in March 1900, three weeks after the merger with Castle Line went into effect.
“Briton remained in commercial service during World War I, but her third class space was devoted to troops. She was used at various times to carry South African troops to Britain, British troops to the Mediterranean, Nigerian troops from Mombassa to Lagos and United States troops to Europe. She also made voyages on government service to New Zealand in 1919.
“Briton re-entered Union-Castle's mail service to South Africa in 1920, and remained in service through 1924. Except for October and November, she spent 1925 in lay-up, and made her final departure from Cape Town on 13 November. She was scrapped in Italy in 1926.”
Note: the October 1899 trip is not mentioned in the ABW Forum Shipping Records.



The photograph was found in the "Souvenir of South Africa" Album of J E Middlebrook (Kimberley & Durban) which just predates the Boer War.

The S.S. Briton was a freight ship, so did not receive a number.

She was the 19th freight ship engaged by the Admiralty and was first hired on 13 Oct 1899.

Embarkations (as listed in the Admiralty Return, dated 13 Aug 1903):

4 Nov 1899, Southampton to Cape Town, 31 officers / warrant officers and 878 men + 3 horses, cost: £15,990
24 Mar 1900, Southampton to Cape Town, 39 officers / warrant officers and 1,427 men, cost: £28,729
9 Mar 1901, Southampton to Cape Town, 11 officers / warrant officers and 823 men, cost: £15,786
9 Jul 1902, Cape Town to Southampton, 57 officers and 1,197 men, cost: £14,421
10 Sept 1902, Cape Town to Southampton, 68 officers and 1,039 men, cost: £13,152
12 Nov 1902, Cape Town to Southampton, 41 officers and 442 men, cost: £6,232

Neville

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Another freight ship that carried troops ..

The Braemar Castle
"off to the Cape with troops" (South Africa in War and Peace, 1900, p. 29)

6 Oct 1899, Southampton to Cape Town, 120 officers / warrant officers and 1,302 men, cost: £23,347
4 Jan 1900, Southampton to Cape Town, 40 officers / warrant officers and 1,327 men + 6 horses, cost: £23,260
18 Mar 1900, Tilbury to Cape Town, 34 officers / warrant officers and 1,474 men + 3 horses, cost: £26,130
27 Apr 1900, Durban to Plymouth, 12 officers and 311 men, cost: £4,904
26 Jul 1900, Durban to Flushing, 422 men & women and 128 children, cost: £14,903
8 Feb 1902, Southampton to Cape Town, 20 officers / warrant officers and 363 men, cost: £6,477
26 Apr1902, Southampton to Cape Town, 1 officer and 153 men, cost: £1,880
5 Aug 1902, Cape Town to Southampton, 77 officers and 1,429 men, cost: £22,933



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No. 26 - Roslin Castle

Union Castle Mail Steam Ship Co., Ltd.

Master: G.W. Armstrong / J. Rose
Chief Officer: S. Henderson / J.F. Hodsoll
Chief Engineer: G.H. Law / D. Ross
2nd Officer: R.W. Cooper / C.J. Duncan / H. Endall
3rd Officer: R. Coombes / J.O. Dolman / E.F. Gilbert / H. Sawyer
2nd Engineer: W. Haigh / J. Robertson
3rd Engineer: J. Kirkwood / H. McDougall / J.F. Pearcey
Purser: A.E. Kirton
Surgeon: E.S. Evans


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 1 Oct 1899.
10th Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty.

Period of engagement: 3 Oct 1899 to 3 Oct 1902
Total days at sea: 423
Total numbers transported to South Africa: 343 officers, 9 warrant officers, 5,474 men, 12 horses
Total numbers transported from South Africa: 330 officers, 6,019 N.C.O.'s & men, 15 horses
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £220,146

Film footage of the Roslin Castle leaving Southampton on 20 Oct 1899 (British Film Institute Archive), can be viewed here: ROSLIN CASTLE




“Filmed on 20 October 1899 and showing the ‘Roslin Castle’ bearing the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshires to the front, the catalogue entry for this film confidently claims it as “the best of the series of transports leaving Southampton for South Africa”. Seeing the departing troops in the background as their families wave from the foreground captures the scene’s emotional resonance and hectic atmosphere. Where other transport films of the Boer War focus on famous generals largely forgotten by history, these glimpses of the crowd create a greater resonance for contemporary audiences“





The West Yorkshires disembarking at Durban, 12 Nov 1899 (Navy & Army Illustrated, Vol. IX, 23 Dec 1899, p. 370)
“A very singular interest is centred in the picture showing the disembarkation of the West Yorkshires from the “Roslin Castle”. This was the first of the transports taken up for the conveyance of the Army Corps, and its arrival was awaited with extreme eagerness. It will be remembered that at that time matters were becoming critical in Natal, and reinforcements were of vital importance. On her arrival at Cape Town the “Roslin Castle” received instructions to proceed forthwith to Durban, and on disembarkation the West Yorkshires were immediately sent up to Estcourt, in the fighting round which place they were heavily engaged. The bright picture in which the old Prince of Wales’s Own is shown landing from the Castle liner will be very attractive to others besides those specially interested in the county of broad acres and its representative corps”







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