HMAT Warilda

The HMAT "Warilda" (His Majesty's Australian Transport) was a 7713 ton vessel, built by William Beardmore and Company in Glasgow for the Adelaide Steamship Company [ [http://members.iinet.net.au/~dodd/gail/memorial/hughie/warilda.html Memorial to the Warilda] ] . She was designed for the East-West Australian coastal service, but following the start of the First World War, she was converted into a troopship and later, in 1916, she was converted into a hospital ship.

Time as a troopship

* 5 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 9th Battalion embarked from Brisbane heading to Egypt [ [http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=974 Bede Septimus Connell's obituary] ]

* 8 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 1st Infantry Battalion embarked from Sydney heading to Egypt [ [http://gunningnsw.info/index.php/articles/386 Private Cecil Henry obituary] ]

* 8 November 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 1st Brigade of the AIF, embarked from Liverpool, NSW, Australia. The ship arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on October 15, 1915, and reached Suez on November 5, a Friday, where the troops were disembarked. [ [http://www.library.uow.edu.au/archives/pdfs/d55.pdf A history of John Robertson Hawke, AIF] ]

* 25 May 1916: Tunnelling Companies, 2 Reinforcements embarked Melbourne [ [http://home.iprimus.com.au/kymh/horgan_hayes.htm Corporal ARTHUR WILLIAM JAMES MAGGS' obituary] ]

* 1 June 1916: Tunnelling Company 6, 3rd Tunnelling Company embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia June 1, 1916. Disembarked Plymouth, England, July 18, 1916. [ [http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au:8080/showPerson?key=ALLEN/J/4224 Sgt Joseph ALLEN obituary] ]

Sinking

On August 3, 1918, she was transporting wounded soldiers from Le Havre, France to Southampton when she was torpedoed by UC-49, a German submarine. [ [http://www.adventuredivers.co.uk/Wrecks/Warilda.html Adventuredivers.co.uk, Warilda] ] This was despite being marked clearly with the Red Cross - as with a number of other hospital ships torpedoed during the war, Germany claimed the ships were also carrying arms. [ [http://www.adventuredivers.co.uk/Wrecks/Lanfranc.html Adventuredivers.co.uk, Lanfranc] ]

The ship sank in about 2 hours, and of the 801 persons on board, a total of 123 lives were lost. [ [http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/war-wrecks.html War Wrecks at netspace.net.au] ] Amongst the survivors was her commander, Capt. Sim who was later awarded the OBE by King George. [ [http://perso.orange.fr/cdasm.56/dictionnaire/751.pdf Dictionary of ship names] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/b/3/6/doc/b36884.shtml WARILDA picture by Green, Allan C.]
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-HTTP%253A%252F%252FWWW.SLV.VIC.GOV.AU%252FPICTORIA%252FB%252F4%252F1%252FDOC%252FB41080.SHTML Photo at Picture Australia]