HMT Mamari
From Our Contribution
 StateLibQld_1_144547 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMT Mamari |
| Builder/Built | 1904 Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Type | passenger / refrigerated cargo ship |
| Displacement | 6,689 tons tons |
| Speed | 13 knots |
Contents
Remarks
Built for the Shaw Savill & Albion Line. Used on the New Zealand to London route, and later Antwerp to New York. Sold to Bernstein Red Star Line, Hamburg in 1928 and renamed Gerolstein. Later names were Consul (1939)and Consul Horn (1939)when owned by Horn HC - Dampfschiffs - Rhederal Horn - Fruchtdampfer AG of Lubeck. Sunk by mine of the coast of the Netherlands (NE of Borkum) on 20 Jul 1942, and lies in 14m of water.
Soldiers carried
Liverpool to Fremantle 21 December 1918 - 27 January 1919
Extracts from the diary of Melvin James Sawtell Harrigan
Copied from a Facebook page maintained by descendants in honour of his memory. He shared this journey with Reg and Fred.
21 December Up at 1am this morning had breakfast and after roll call the first mob of 450 got away per hoof for Warminster. Our party was very lucky in having a fine night to march out. The “Saxon” and “Nestor” mob marched out in pouring rain. We kicked up a big noise enroute to the station singing and yelling all the way. The YMCA shouted us tea and biscuits. After an hours wait, our train arrived and we boarded amidst a big hubbub. We went via Swindon, Crewe and Birmingham to Liverpool. Ran right on to the boat. A band played us off. We pulled out to midstream to await for some firemen.
22 December Went to bed in hammocks early last night. The morning broke dirty and foggy. Our firemen came along early so at 1.30pm we set off for home. We passed a big wreck just outside of a battleship that had been torpedoed. We soon ran into rough weather. We had a rough spin all night.
23 December We passed the Isle of Ogman and Welsh coast last night and pitched and tossed all day.
24 December We passed the Scillies and lighthouse early this morning. The sea is still rough though the gale has subsided a bit. We ran into the Bay of Biscay today. It was pretty rough also.
25 December The sea was a bit calmer today in fact much calmer than the Irish Sea. No sight of land today.
26 December A very nice day. We ran into calmer waters during the day and much warmer. We passed Cape St Vincent at daylight. It was fine to see the sun rise over the mountains of Spain. It was an uneventful day but nice and warm. There is not much shipping to be seen. I suppose most of it is at the bottom.
27 December Pretty chilly this morning. We passed Gibraltar on the left shortly after sunrise. On our right is the rugged coast of Morocco with a town right on the sea front opposite the gib. At the rear of the gib is the high Spanish mountains. The Mediterranean Sea here opens out from 3 miles at the neck to a vast expanse on the left. We left the snow capped mountains of Spain. We had a great run today averaging 12 knots. The sea was calm. Every day gets warmer.
28 December We skirted the coast of Algeria today and saw some fine views. The high snow capped mountains set well back with the grassy low ridges running down to the sea. We passed the City of Algiers that looked well from the sea set back on a big bay. The sea was choppy, the weather warm.
29 December Pretty calm today and very uneventful. We had a church parade in the forward part of the ship and played cards during the rest of the day. I am eating like a horse now and can hardly get enough but we are fed well. Had a life buoy parade today. Passed islands on the left today.
30 December The sea was choppy today and the sky was cloudy and overcast, a little rain fell. We passed Malta this morning, it was a good way off.