HMAT A35 Berrima

History
Name	HMAT A35 Berrima
Builder/Built	1913 Caird & Co, Greenock
Type	Passenger / cargo steamship (twin screw)
Displacement	11,137 tons
Speed	14 knots

Remarks

Built for Lund's Blue Anchor Line emigrant service. Could carry 350 third class passengers. In 1914 converted at Cockatoo island Drydock, Sydney to transport 1,500 troops and Officers. Fitted with four 4.7 pound guns, two forward, and two aft. Leased by the Commonwealth until 10 Oct 1917. Was a member of the second convoy from Albany.

18 February 1917, Struck by a torpedo or mine when 50 miles West of Portland Bill, with the loss of four lives. The majority of the crew were evacuated in the lifeboats and were picked up by the destroyer HMS FORESTER. A line was subsequently connected to the tug PILOT, and BERRIMA was towed into Portland Harbour the next day. In the absence of a dry dock she was repaired while still afloat with a 42 ton wooden patch built in three sections on the quayside, after which she was requisitioned by the Shipping Controller for the Atlantic stores and munitions ferry.

Completed duties, resumed normal service

Melbourne to Alexandria 22 December 1914 - 1 February 1915

• James Edward Laugher

Malta to Alexandria 15 - 19 October 1915

• Frederick Fancote

Fremantle to Port Suez 17 December 1915 - ? January 1916

• John Hugh Jones

Fremantle to Devonport 23 December 1916 - 16 February 1917

• George Albert Alford
• William Henry Baldwin
• Henry (Harry) Butcher
• Lancel Butcher
• Charles Henry Dohnt
• Walter Gaymer
• Maurice Francis Gustavis Hare
• Leslie Jeffery Harvey

England to Fremantle 31 October - 22 December 1917

• Arthur Candish
• Ellis Shackleton

England to Fremantle 2 January - 10 February 1919

• James Edward Grabham
• Bertram Ernest Powell
• Alexander Robinson