HMAT A8 Argyllshire

HMAT A8 Argyllshire

Leaving Sydney harbour 1915 in dazzle paintwork .Fairfax archive of glass plate negatives picture 14884
History
Name	HMAT A8 Argyllshire
Owner	Scottish Shire Line Ltd - mng Turnbull, Martin & Co Ltd, Glasgow
Builder	John Brown of Clydebank
Yard number	399
Launched	27 Feb 1911
Fate	scuttled after a fire
General characteristics
Type	Passenger / Cargo
Tonnage	10,392 tons
Length	526.2 ft (160.39m)
Beam	61.4 ft (18.71m)
Depth	33.3 ft (10.15m)
Propulsion	twin screw
Speed	14 knots (25.93 kmph)

Remarks

Owned by the Scottish Shire Line Ltd of London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 24 Jan 1918. Se was converted at Cockatoo Island Drydock in Sydney to carry 845 troops and 392 horses. Its first voyage for the Commonwealth was to participate in the 1st Convoy from Albany to Alexandria carrying artillery units.

While under Commonwealth control she completed seven voyages from Australia, with the final one from Fremantle in late 1916. During that time she was attacked twice by U Boats. The first occasion was on 27 May 1915 when two torpedoes fired by submarine missed her, and the second on 2 Feb 1917 when she was hit three miles (5 km) off Start Point by a torpedo fired by U Boat UC-46, but able to reach Falmouth safely. Management transferred to the British Admiralty on 24 Jan 1918. During Aug - Sep 1919 she carried soldiers home to Brisbane.

Returned to normal service she was laid up for periods in 1927 and 1929 before being sold to the Clan Line and renamed Clan Urquhart. In 1936 she was sold for scrap, but before this was complete she caught fire and her hull was scuttled.

Staff

• Euphemia Weir Huntley Scott served as nursing staff on a voyage to Australia March 1916.

Soldiers carried

Sydney to Port Suez 10 April - ? May 1915

Embarked in Melbourne on 14 April

• Arthur Thomas Orton MM

Embarked in Fremantle on 19 April

• Ernest Ball DCM
• Thomas Hetherington
• Ernest Wright Holroyd
• Arthur Thomas Orton MM
• William Henry Shade
• John Grant Watt MM & Bar

Sydney to Devonport 5 November 1916 - 10 January 1917

Embarked in Fremantle on 9 November

• Hubert Maitland Armstrong MM
• George Henry Aspinall
• † William Atkins
• † Robert Prior Bailey
• † William George Ball
• Arthur Charles Barber
• † Beverley Loxton Bennett
• Robert Frank Bickford
• William Bingham
• Robert Henry Blake
• William Francis Combs
• Arthur Clarke
• † Albert Ernest Elkington
• Claude Eustace Herbert Evans
• John Feast
• Albert Helliwell
• Leslie Hetherington
• Robert Hastings Joyce
• Patrick Kiely
• William Wilfred Gerald Liddington
• Charles Leonard Lockhart
• Samuel Thomas Lowth
• George Emanuel Nettleton
• † Alfred Charles Newman
• Albert Nock
• Patrick Joseph O'Brien
• George Partington
• George William Piesley
• Isaac Robert Powell
• Ernest William George Reed
• Herbert James Reed
• † William Savage
• † Henry Seddon
• Ephraim Shepherd
• Norman Leslie Skewes
• Matthew Walsh
• Vernon Claude Witney

England to Fremantle 23 May 1917 - 9 July 1917

• John Hugh Jones

England to Fremantle 1 February - 6 April 1918

• Charles Fancote
• Ernest (Roy) William Sladden

England to Albany 9 December 1918 - 18 January 1919

Passengers then railed to Fremantle.

• Thomas Hetherington
• Stanley Thomas Marsh
• Thomas William Moore
• William Bertie Claude Moulden
• Edward Patrick Thomas O'Brien
• Nicholas Joseph Rosekelly

Other Journeys

• 18 October 1914 from Sydney, New South Wales, disembarking in Alexandria 8 December 1914
• 30 September 1915 from Sydney, New South Wales