HMAT A7 Medic

HMAT A7 Medic

Medic departing from Sydney (State Library of New South Wales FL1160526.jpg)
History
Name	HMAT A7 Medic
Owner	White Star Line
Builder	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number	323
Launched	15 Dec 1898
Completed	6 July 1899
Out of service	1927
In service	1928
Out of service	12 Sep 1942
Fate	Sunk, 12 Sep 1942
General characteristics
Type	Passenger / cargo vessel
Tonnage	11,985 tons
Length	550 ft 2 in (167.69 m)
Beam	63 ft 3 in (19.28 m)
Propulsion	twin screw
Speed	14 knots (25.93 kph)
Capacity	320 passengers

Remarks

Built for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co Ltd (White Star Line), and used on the UK to Sydney via Cape Town route. Capable of carrying 320 cabin class passengers. Her first return voyage involved carrying Victorian, Tasmanian and Western Australian troops to the Boer War.

Leased by the Commonwealth at the outset of WW1, she made six journeys from Australia as a troop ship, after which her management was transferred to he British Admiralty. The Medic was a participant in the 1st convoy from Albany to Egypt. On her return to Australia she was converted at Cockatoo Island Drydock to transport 531 troops and 500 horses.

In 1928 she was renamed Hektoria by new owners A/S Hektor (N. Bugge), Tønsberg and converted to a whale factory ship by H. & C. Grayson, Liverpool Now 13,834 tons. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by U-211 and U-608, on 11 Sep 1942, at 48.55N-33.38W, while on a voyage from Liverpool to New York, in ballast as part of Convoy ON 127.

Soldiers carried

Adelaide to Alexandria 20 October - 5 December 1914

Note: Embarked from Fremantle on 31 October 1914 and anchored for two days before sailing on 2 November 1914, which is the date that appears on original records.

• † Alexander Barnett
• Walter Bell Blair
• James (Roy) Braidwood MM MID
• Leonard Henry (Lennie) Buckingham MM
• John James Lynes Chester
• † Edward (Ted) Harry Darby
• Frederick Fancote
• Cecil Arthur Hill MM
• Charles Richard Irvine MM & Bar
• James Anthony Parker
• Arthur Pilgrim
• Henry John Robert Saint
• Josiah James Skinner
• William Stephens
• † John Wesley Gladstone Turner

Fremantle to Alexandria 9 October 1915 - ??

• Walter Raymond Farnham as a stowaway

Sydney to Alexandria 30 December 1915 - 16 February 1916

Embarked in Fremantle on 18 January

• † Leonard Butcher
• † Herbert Goodman
• William John Howe
• † John Richard Lewis
• † Frederick Thornton Lindley
• William Mathews
• Aubrey Walter (Swazz) Mead
• Charles Robert Merchant
• Richard Edgar Riley
• † Albert Edward John Walls

Fremantle to Port Suez 31 March - 24 April 1916

• James Candish

Melbourne to Plymouth 20 May - 18 July 1916

• Herbert Ernest Baldwin
• Lennart Birger Wilander

Sydney to Halifax 1 August - 21 September 1917

• Albert Bishop
• Eugene Anthony Gillespie
• Harold Percival Martin
• Frank Myales

England to Fremantle 24 August - 15 October 1918

• George Henry Martin MM MID

England to Melbourne 10 April - 31 May 1919

• Leo Patrick Kane

Bombay to Fremantle 1 - 22 December 1919

• Arthur Reginald Barrett

Other Voyages

• 2 June 1915 from Brisbane
• 16 December 1916 from Melbourne
• 1 August 1917 from Sydney
• 2 November 1918 from Sydney