TOPIC:

The strangely named Jelunga appears as no. 7 on Neil Snowden’s listing of Transport Ships. She was built in Dumbarton and launched in 1890 for the British India Associated Steamship Co. Ltd. of Glasgow. I have found one mention of her carrying troops as early as 1897 (see second photograph) but she only receives a few mentions in the ABW Forum Shipping Records with the last being in January 1900. I think she may have got the “sack”.



This undated photograph, found on the Royal Museums Greenwich website, shows her moored on the River Thames (Tilbury on the far bank) with the paddle tug Lord Warden (1868) alongside.

After the Boer War she was sold several times and ended up being owned by a Chinese Company who renamed her the Wing Shin and managed to ground her in Hong Kong in 1926 and she was scrapped.

The following article appeared in the Civil & Military Gazette, Friday, 12 January 1900.

“THE BLACK HOLE OF JELUNGA”

“Grave allegations have been made against the authorities in connection with the treatment received by women and invalids on board the Jelunga.

“Men of all parties must regret the terrible occurrences on board the hired transport Jelunga. Leaving Capetown on November 18 she only reached Southampton on December 14, having taken twenty-six days to cover a fifteen days’ journey. In board her were some five hundred women and children, a score of invalided soldiers, and a few officers’ wives. “Every passenger on board was an invalid or refugee. The women had been turned out of Ladysmith at a bugle’s call, and the children had been called from their play to start their 7000 miles of purgatorial travelling to England. On board were no comforts for inavlids or for women and children – only tinned meat, plum-duff, milkless tea, and black bread, for ague shaken men and nursing mothers, with ricemilk for puling children, snatched from the 92 deg. of Ladysmith, to be plunged into the 32 deg of Southampton. Six babies died on the voyage, and three hundred of the miserable passengers were injuriously affected by the journey. It is horrible, more horrible than the sufferings of the Johannesburg refugees from the Rand to Capetown, and Durban. It is a disgrace not only to our transport authorities, but to our nation and our civilisation.

“One hundred pounds well spent in Capetown would have saved those six innocent mites from death on the voyage; a thousand pounds would have provided the women with food more fitting their condition and their sex. Home with pinched faces and ruined constitutions, with the thinnest muslins and the least serviceable shoes for their children in a spell of cold that has not had its counterpart since 1890.
“Five hundred women and children in a dank and musty hold, breathing each other’s exhalations and shivering with apprehension for the husbands and fathers they had left behind. What wonder that they awoke the active pity of stern policeman and easy-going railway porters on their arrival? What wonder that the hard-worked embarkation officer put his hand in his pocket to relieve their immediate necessities, and to save them from death before his eyes? No wonder. But what of the men who saw the start?

“How much of the blame lies with the authorities cannot now be estimated. That the Jelunga had no right to a place in the fleet of transports is undoubted, that it was absolutely unfit to convey so great a human freight is demonstrated. Six basins among five hundred human beings! Black bread and bully beef for mothers with children at the breast and husbands daring the death behind them.
“True, the authorities at Capetown are bound by the arrangements of the authorities at home. The Admiralty commissioned the Jelunga, and the Cape authorities had to send her back again freighted and equipped with invalids and refugees. But why send them home with Admiralty victuals, with the provisions of a century ago? Are the show transports at Southampton, in which the Press have been made welcome, mere blinds to hide the horrors of troopship conditions from the public?

“Arrived at home no provision was made for the conveyance of the forlorn women and children to their homes. They spent all night – a December night – on the waiting-room floor of Waterloo station, and thanked God it was no longer the Jelunga. Private charity paid their fares and railway porters’ pittances bought them food.
“The question also arises why send home invalids at all at this inclement season? Hundreds of the rich migrate every year to south Africa in search of health. Why, then having our country’s wounded in a natural sanatorium, should we hustle them northward to the deathly cold an English mid-winter? Common sense says keep them where they are, and use the transport expenses to buy them medicines. Is there anything in the regulations to obstruct the saving of valuable lives?

“At this time of year the climate of England is certain death to many who might live and grow strong in South Africa. Are they to die because neither the Government nor voluntary charity will contribute to their healing? Plum-puddings and tobacco for out Tommies are laudable objects of subscription, but more important is the supply of food to our soldiers’ wives and children, and the provision of healthy surroundings for our wounded.”

This voyage was reported in papers across Great Britain when it tended to be headlined slightly less dramatically along the lines of "The Scandal of the Jelunga". The ABW Forum Shipping Records quote from the London Times 15 December 1899 as follows: "The Jelunga, from Cape Town, arrived at Southampton yesterday bringing a wounded officer, Captain Rice, 1/Royal Irish Fusiliers and 20 wounded men. She also brought 114 women and 237 children, the wives and families of men stationed in SA 6 children died on the voyage home."



The 1897 voyage did not receive the same attention and the above photograph shows the Sergeants of the 1st Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment (found on their website) on board travelling between Malta and Hong Kong.

No. 7 - Jelunga

British India Associated Steamers Ltd [parent company: British India Steam Navigation Co., Ltd]

Master: H.P. Jones / T. Kerr
Chief Officer: E.J.P. Clowner
Supernumerary Chief Officer: R.J. Williams
Chief Engineer: J.B. Stevenson / A. Miller
2nd Officer: F. Johnson / W.E. Whittingham
2nd Engineer: J. Campbell
3rd Engineer: N. Macleod
Surgeon: G.G. Hay

Note: also seen as "No. 10", which appears to be an earlier "Indian Troop Service" number


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 11 Jul 1899 (but did not enter into pay until 20 Sep 1899).
4th Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty.

Period of engagement: 20 Sep 1899 to 22 Mar 1900

Total days at sea: 138
Total numbers transported to South Africa: 86 officers, 3 warrant officers, 2,525 men, 11 horses
Total numbers transported from South Africa: 260 women & children (adults)
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £46,948

After 22 Mar 1900, the Jelunga (still assigned Transport No. 7) carried troops to China. So she did not get the "sack"..! (see last post)



.Sep - Dec 1899





This image (The King, 7 Jul 1900, p. 28), shows the Jelunga sporting "No. 7" plates and in white livery, leaving Portsmouth on 30 Jun 1900, bound for China.
Note that the mast configuration is different to that shown in the pre-ABW image in David's last post, in that both visible masts lack "gaffs". The image of the Jelunga with "No. 10" markings (see below) also shows the ship with gaffs, which suggests that that too is a pre-war photograph.




Men of the Army Service and Army Pay Corps going on board the Jelunga at Southampton (Navy & Army, Vol. IX, 7 Oct 1899, p. 78). A second photograph taken on the same day shows "No. 7" plates on the lifeboats.






Another photograph of the Jelunga, this time with "No. 10" plates (this photograph reproduced in The Graphic, 30 Sep 1899, p. 459). During the war, No. 10 was first used by the Hospital Ship Trojan and later by the Staffordshire. Jelunga's use of No. 10 plates in this photograph indicates that it was taken before the ship entered into Admiralty pay for the ABW.

I believe the Jelunga was one of the ships that was engaged by the Indian Troop Service prior to the war. Although the Admiralty Return of 13 Aug 1903 does not mention this, the name "Jelunga" certainly suggests Indian service. Also, other ships owned by the British India Associated Steamers Ltd, such as the Dilwara, are known to have transferred from the I.T.S. (see following post). This would explain the two numbers and the conflict with Trojan and Staffordshire.









..

No. 82 - Nile

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., Ltd.

Master: J.D. Spooner
Chief Officer: F.M. Watson
Chief Engineer: J.K. Ritchie
2nd Officer: G.A. Mackenzie
3rd Officer: J. Watts
2nd Engineer: W. Jordan
3rd Engineer: G.V. Young
Purser: V.V. Hooley

Note the lack of "No." before "82", which, for earlier numbers, often indicates that a ship had been engaged in India (which the Nile was not). As only 41 ships were hired in India, there would have been no need to distinguish between UK and Indian Transports where a designated number was 42 or over.


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 21 Dec 1899
76th Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty.

Period of engagement: 22 Dec 1899 to 22 May 1900
Total days at sea: 83
Total numbers transported to S. Africa: 106 officers, 1 warrant officer, 2,595 men, 8 horses
Total numbers transported from S. Africa: 17 officers, 304 N.C.O.'s & men
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £61,602



.Jan - Mar 1900




Disembarkation of wounded troops at Southampton, 5 Mar 1900 (Navy & Army, 31 Mar 1900, p. 27)









Pipe rack, with engraving of the Nile, dated 1900. Note crossed Union and Royal Mail Steam Packet flags.








..

No. 3 - Dilwara

British India Associated Steamers Ltd [parent company: British India Steam Navigation Co., Ltd]

Master: A.W. Mann
Chief Officer: F.H. Askin
Supernumerary Chief Officer: Henry Manley / R.W. Wilkins
Chief Engineer: P. Boyd / J. Taylor
2nd Officer: L. Allen / E.E. Hare / H.C. Piggott
2nd Engineer: J. Campbell / J.D. Smith / H.J. Vose
3rd Engineer: S.B. Gornall
Purser: R.F. Quirk
Surgeon: D.C. Longden


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Taken over from Indian Troop Service: 26 Nov 1899 and 7 May 1901
68th Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty for UK / South Africa service.

Period of engagement (1): 26 Nov 1899 to 26 Nov 1900
Period of engagement (2): 7 May 1901 to 31 Dec 1902
Total days at sea: 556
Total numbers transported to S. Africa: 316 officers, 22 warrant officer, 7,493 men, 7 horses
Total numbers transported from S. Africa: 384 officers, 7,287 N.C.O.'s & men, 6 women & children (adults), 21 horses
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £206,075

Note: Neil Snowden assigns No. 3 to the S.S. Norman. However, the Norman never operated as a Transport, being engaged as an unnumbered Freight Ship instead. See: S.S. Norman .

The Dilwara's service is complicated by the fact that she was taken over from the Indian Troop Service for two periods of engagement. Between those two periods, from 27 Nov 1900 to 6 May 1901, she resumed work with the I.T.S. During her service with the I.T.S. she was assigned "No. 5".



.Dec 1899 - Jul 1900














.Dilwara while sailing as a Transport with the Indian Troop Service, with "No. 5" plates.







..

No. 101 - Tagus

Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.

Master: W.H. Milner / F.W. Powles / J.D. Spooner
Chief Officer: J.G.K. Cheret / H.P. Lewis / O. Lewis
Chief Engineer: W. Westland
2nd Officer: R.L. Daniel / C. Dowcett / G.A. Mackenzie
3rd Officer: C. Adam / J.P. Band / J. Watts / L.W. Creagh
4th Officer: Louis H.J. Tinney
2nd Engineer: J. Wright
3rd Engineer: W.J. Evans / D.J. Inglis
Purser: V.V. Hooley
Surgeon: J.D. Laidlaw


Admiralty Return, 13 Aug 1903

Date of Admiralty agreement: 3 Mar 1900
101st Transport to be engaged by the Admiralty for UK / South Africa service.

Period of engagement: 4 Mar 1900 to 2 Sep 1902

Total days at sea: 497
Total numbers transported to S. Africa: 282 officers, 23 warrant officer, 10,328 men, 10 horses
Total numbers transported from S. Africa: 262 officers, 9,637 N.C.O.'s & men, 5 women & children (adults), 10 horses
Total cost (hire, fittings, coal and port dues): £269,505

Note: this is one of the few Transports that was assigned a number that tallied with the chronology of the Admiralty engagements. She was the 101st ship to be hired and was assigned "No. 101".



.Mar - Jun 1900



Royal Humane Society Awards, 15th October 1900

At 3.30 p.m. on the 19th June, 1900, the hired Transport ‘Tagus’, carrying troops from England to South Africa, was in lat. 4, long. 15, when one of the crew, named Dawkins, accidentally fell overboard. Instantly the cry “man overboard” was raised, and a lifebuoy was thrown to him, while a boat in charge of the fourth officer was got ready for lowering as soon as the propeller ceased working. When this was done and the boat in the water, the propeller suddenly started working, and the boat being drawn under, was smashed to pieces, one of the crew named Nixon being badly cut, and owing to loss of blood, unable to retain his hold of the wreckage of the boat.

The officer in charge, Louis H.J. Tinney, at once swam to his help, and Private Robert Hamilton, 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, jumped overboard and assisted in supporting him till they were picked up by another boat which put off from the ship.

Extreme risk was incurred, not only from the rough sea and moving propeller, but from sharks, which infest that locality.


Royal Humane Society Awards, 15th May 1901

On the 12th March, 1901, the hire transport ‘Tagus’ was on her way to the Cape with troops on board. Four days after leaving St Vincent, while steaming at fifteen knots, one of the crew either fell or jumped overboard. Private G.H. Miller, 19th (Lothian) Squadron, Imperial Yeomanry, without any hesitation sprang after him, but did not succeed in overtaking him. The transport was quickly brought round, and a boat being lowered both men were picked up, after being fifteen minutes in the water. Although he did not reach his man Trooper Miller incurred great risk, three sharks being seen close to the boat as the men were being hauled in.












.Image originally posted by Smethwick






..

Neville - you beat me to it with your posting of 101 but I can add something.

SS Tagus: Built by Robert Napier & Sons, at Govan on the Clyde. Launched 27th June 1899.

Another view of her as Boer War Transport Ship No. 101 - unfortunately my source does not give a date or identify the troops on board.



She was requisitioned again in WW1 but as a hospital ship.



In 1920 she was sold to a Spanish firm and renamed Principe de Viana. she was scrapped in 1925.