Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Hi,
I wonder if you have information on the above ship. My grandfather ws a survivor from this ship it was torpedoed August 6th I think 1918. It was  a hospital ship full with survivors and wounded from the front. My grandfather told me of how he had survived the sinking. I have found an article from the Argus 7th August page 8 a Melbourne paper reporting on the sinking. If you have more information I would be pleased to hear of it.

Many thanks 
Paul Perry.

Paul,

I think the ship you are looking for is most likely the Hospital ship Warilda, sometimes noted as an Ambulance Transport.

The date of her loss was 3rd. of August 1918. The number lost is reported differently.

ss WARILDA
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built by Wm Beardmore & Company Dalmuir,
Yard No 505

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Last Name: HMS WARILDA
Propulsion: steam 16 knots
Built: 1912
Ship Type: Passenger Cargo Vessel
Ship's Role: East-West Australian coastal trade
Tonnage: 7713 grt
Length: 412.2 feet
Breadth: 57 feet
Owner History:
Adelaide Steamship Company
Status: Torpedoed & Sunk - 03/08/1918

Remarks: In 1915 she became a troopship and in 1916 a hospital ship for the Admiralty for duties between Southampton and Le Havre. Torpedoed and sunk by Uboat in English Channel with the loss of 123 lives

Hospital Ship Warilda

The book The Roses of No Man's Land by Lyn MacDonald describes the sinking of the Hospital Ship Warilda that was torpedoed after leaving Le Havre on its passage to Southampton on 3 August 1918 at 1:30am. There is an account by Sister Jean Calder of the QAIMNS(R) who knew many of the patients on board having nursed them at No. 2 General Hospital, Quai d'Escale, Le Havre and then settled them onboard the HS Warilda.

115 patients, one Nursing Sister and one RAMC Orderly were lost at sea when the Hospital Ship Warilda was sunk.

The British ambulance transport Warilda is sunk by a submarine (123 lives lost). August 3rd. 1918

Best regards. 
Mackenzie.

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