Mavi Boncuk | Crammed full with wounded from the Gallipoli landing, the S.S. Ionian[1] made for 17th General Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt. The wharf at Alexandria, showing ambulances waiting to take from the steamship Ionian men wounded in the Gallipoli landing.
Australian War Memorial collection P01016.002
Pictured The Ionian as Government Transport No. 4 in WW1
[1] S/S Ionian, Allan Line[*]. 1914 Served as a troopship. Oct. 21,1917 sunk off Milford Have by mine, 7 lives lost. Details: 8,265 tons gross, 7,683 under deck and 5,337 net. Bridge deck 103 feet and forecastle 56 feet. Water ballast. 1901 at Belfast, Ireland by Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd.
She was constructed of steel, had twin screws and triple expansion engines, 2 x 3 cylinders of 23, 38 1/2 and 66 inches diameter each pair, stroke 48 inches, delivering 604 nominal horsepower. The engine was built by the same company as the hull.
She had one funnel and four masts, 3 decks and was fitted with refrigerating machinery. She had accommodation for 131 passengers first class, 160 second class and 800 on steerage. Call sign: SWLK. Official registration #: 113989.
[*] The Allan Shipping Line was started in 1819, by Captain Alexander Allan of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, trading and transporting between Scotland and Montreal, a route which quickly became synonymous with the Allan Line. Sir Hugh Allan, who spearheaded the second generation. In 1854, Hugh launched the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company as part of the Allan Line, and two years later ousted Samuel Cunard to take control of the Royal Mail contract between Britain and North America. By the 1880s, the Allan Line was the world's largest privately owned shipping concern. In 1917, under Sir Montagu Allan, who represented the third generation of the Allan family, the company was purchased by Canadian Pacific Steamships, and by the following year the Allan name had disappeared from the waves.