SS Medic – SS Hektoria

On 31 Oct 1899 the first contingent of SA men left nearby Queen’s Wharf on the tug “Yatala” to transfer to the “Medic” at anchor at Largs Bay. SS Medic (pronounced mee-dic) was built 1898 for White Star Line in Belfast, Ireland, first voyage from Liverpool to Australia arriving Port Adelaide Sep 1899, intended to transport Australian meat, diary & fruit. Requisitioned to take Australian troops to fight in Boer War in South Africa, departed 31 Oct 1899, carried troops until end of war 1902. Again used as a WWI troopship 1917-1919. Carrying troops to Europe, she was recalled when the Armistice was signed and was one of the first ships into Sydney with those on board infected by the so-called Spanish flu. Many troops & crew were quarantined, some died. The Medic resumed her peacetime role transporting exports & passengers Dec 1918. She was sold 1928 to Norwegian company, converted to a whale factory ship & renamed “Hektoria”. Used by polar explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins, for his 1928 Antarctic expedition. Norwegians transferred ownership to British 1932. Requisitioned as oil tanker in World War II, torpedoed & sunk by German submarine 12 Sep 1942 on Atlantic convoy, 1 crew member lost, 85 rescued. [Photo from State Library of SA: B 56372 (1914)]

 

“the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, better known as the White Star line, are building five steamers of 12,000 tons each for the purpose of establishing a monthly service between Liverpool and Australia. The steamship Medic will open the new service and will leave Liverpool on August 3.” [Advertiser 23 Jun 1899]

 

“The Medic, which will arrive at Port Adelaide to-day, is the pioneer vessel of this line, and inaugurates a monthly direct service between Liverpool and Australia, via the Cape. The Medic. . . is 550 ft. in length by 63 ft. beam, and carries 326 passengers. . . no saloon acommodation [sic], but can offer special advantages for third-class passengers, who will enjoy comforts on the long sea voyage superior to those offered by any other line. The general room is fitted with a piano, and a large library, and the state rooms are similar in design and upholstering to those of the best ships of the line. The steamers are intended to cater for the carriage of Australian meat, dairy produce, and fruit, and for this purpose complete refrigerating machinery has been installed.” [Advertiser 12 Sep 1899]

 

“It has been decided that the White Star line of steamers shall touch at Port Pirie for shipments of ore, and the Medic is the first vessel expected.” [Advertiser 14 Sep 1899]

 

“The steamer Medic, the largest vessel that has yet entered Hobson's Bay, came up to Williamstown this morning. She is the first of the White Star liners intended to run to Australia via the Cape. She has 66 passengers for Sydney. There is not here sufficient draught of water to enable the Medic to carry away a full complement of cargo within 9,000 tons.” [Advertiser 16 Sep 1899]

 

“The Victorian Government, acting also on behalf of the South Australian, Western Australian, and Tasmanian Governments, succeeded in coming to terms to-day with the agents of the White Star Line for the transport of the contingents from these colonies to South Africa by the Medic. This steamer, the largest which has visited Australia.” [Register 11 Oct 1899]

 

“The Victorian Government is arranging for the transport of the contingent from that colony by the steamer Medic, which will sail about the end of the month, and the South Australian Government is in communication with the Melbourne authorities with the view of seeing whether our contingent cannot proceed to South Africa in the same vessel, but nothing regarding the transport of the South Australian volunteers has yet been definitely settled.” [Register 13 Oct 1899]

 

“the mammoth Medic will take transports to South Africa, but no cargo for London.” [Register 16 Oct 1899]

 

“The steamer Medic will arrive at Port Melbourne on October 22. There will thus be ample time for all necessary alterations to be made in her passenger accommodation, as she does not leave for South Africa until the 28th. She will call at Adelaide on the 30th, and at Albany on November 4, and is expected to reach Port Elizabeth on November 22.” [Register 16 Oct 1899]

 

“No gold shipments were made by the Salamis for the Cape to-day. The Medic on October 28 will take a considerable quantity of compressed fodder and leather for the Cape. The two steamers will be placed on a loading berth on the Imperial Government account for the regular transport of supplies, fodder, and feed grains to South Africa. To-day there has been enquiry for shipments of oats to Cape Town and Durban, but freight space is scarce and supplies are difficult to obtain.” [Express & Telegraph 19 Oct 1899]

 

“The Acting-Commandant, Colonel Rowell, and Captain Hay have been in consultation with regard to the selection of horses and mules to be used for transport purposes. The animals will be forwarded to Melbourne for shipment by the steamer Medic, by which the contingent will sail, as their embarkation at Largs Bay would be attended by risk. . . Notwithstanding the offers received from nurses, and at least one medical man, to proceed to the seat of war in South Africa, the Government have decided not to send any doctors or nurses with the South Australian contingent of volunteers, as ambulance and nursing arrangements are left to the Imperial authorities. The South Australian Military Department have desired to comply with the wishes of the Home authorities as cabled, and therefore operations have been confined to the equipment of a company for service in the field.” [Register 21 Oct 1899]

 

“The institutes committee of the Public Library. . . decided to present to the contingent library 200 volumes of the books withdrawn from circulation. . . the necessity of contributions, both of money and literature, being sent in immediately, as the books must be placed upon the transport Medic on Saturday.” [Advertiser 25 Oct 1899]

 

“The appeal for books and periodicals to form a library for the use of the contingent has been heartily responded to. . . packed eight cases of magazines alone. . . All classes and branches of literature. . . a boon and a blessing to the Australian soldiers on the Medic's voyage, as well as to the unfortunate inmates of the military hospitals in South Africa. . . . another parcel, containing 50 volumes of periodicals. . . . Lady Davenport has presented to each member of the contingent a pocket hymn-book.” [Register 27 Oct 1899]

 

“Messrs. Dalgety &. Company, Limited, have received a cable advising the arrival of the s.s. Medic in London on the 13th inst.” [Register 23 Nov 1901]

 

“The s.s. Medic sailed from Albany at 8 o'clock on Monday morning, and is due to arrive at Largs Bay on Thursday afternoon.” [Register 20 Jul 1904]

 

“The troopship Medic is due in Sydney to-night with 100 influenza patients on board. The vessel left Australia a few weeks ago with troops for England by way of the Panama Canal. When the armistice was signed the steamer was ordered to return to Australia.” [Register 21 Nov 1918]

 

“The total number of cases on the Medic has now reached 205, including 178 troops and 27 members of the crew.” [Sydney Morning Herald 22 Nov 1918]

 

“There are now nearly 300 cases of influenza in quarantine from the transport Medic. According to Dr. Elkington, they are mostly doing well. Fifty-nine cases were landed yesterday from the vessel. Of that number, 16 are classed as serious cases.” [Sydney Morning Herald 23 Nov 1918]

 

“The deaths of three more of the Medic men accentuates the tragic story of several hundred patriotic Australians who were recalled while on their way to the front because of the signing of the armistice, only to find themselves in the throes of the dread influenza or epidemic pneumonia.” [Sydney Morning Herald 27 Nov 1918]

 

“The Medic has been cleaned up and disinfected, according to an official announcement. The point is emphasised that there is now no sick men on the Medic, only the healthy troops and the crew being on board; that all are under the closest medical supervision, and that upon the first indication of any sickness a sufferer is isolated and removed ashore.” [Sydney Morning Herald 30 Nov 1918]

 

“the men who returned by the Medic will arrive from quarantine this morning, and will land at No. 1 wharf, Woolloomooloo Bay, at about 11 o'clock. They consist of two officers and 132 others for New South Wales, and seven officers and 48 men from Victoria, and one officer and two others from South Australia. The men will be taken to Victoria Barracks. The local men will be given leave passes, and will be allowed to go to their homes. The Victorians and South Australians will leave by the Melbourne express at 7.50 p.m.” [Sydney Morning Herald 9 Dec 1918]

 

“The White Star liner Medic will sail from Dalgety's wharf, Miller's Point, at noon to-morrow, for London, via Durban. She will take a largo cargo, consisting of 21,684 bales of wool, 11,836 bars of lead, 13,651 bars of copper, 10,500 hides, 6700 boxes of butter, 57,500 carcases lamb and mutton, 46,000 crates of rabbits, 10,000 cases of jams and preserved meats, frozen sundries, and a quantity of War Chest and Red Cross goods. The passengers include. . . ” [The Sun, Sydney 18 Dec 1918]

 

“Two White Star passenger liners that have been trading on the Australian-United Kingdom route for nearly 30 years, have been sold to Norwegian whaling interests. The first vessel to be dismissed from the line was the Medic, which inaugurated the Australian service in 1899. She was built in 1899 by Harland & Wolff, Limited, at Belfast, and until last year was a regular trader to Port Adelaide. During the great war she served as a troopship. The Medic will be: transformed into a whaling station ship, and will shortly be known as the Hektoria. A Birkenhead [England] firm fitted her with a steel lining, which will form storage tanks for the reception of between 8,000 and 10,000 tons of whale oil. . . Confirmation of the sale of the vessels has been received by. Dalgety & Co., Limited, agents for the line.” [News 22 Oct 1928]

 

“No less than 112 vessels will participate in the coming season's whaling for Norwegian owners. . . The floating refinery Hektoria will operate off the South Shetland Islands.” [Western Mail, Perth 25 Oct 1928]

 

“Sir George [Hubert] Wilkins leaves Montevideo. . . the whaler Hektoria weighed anchor and began the second stage of her journey to the remote ice-hound Antarctic. . . The Norwegians manning the Hektoria are a splendid lot, strong, willing, and brave. They greatly assisted in the careful stewing of the aeroplanes and impedimenta.” [Advertiser 27 Oct 1928]

 

“Wilkins cabled from Port Stanley yesterday:— 'We bade good-bye to civilization when the Hektoria today sailed from the Falkland Isles, the last port of call, towards the Antarctic's scarcely charted seas. Our next landing point will be Deception Island, on the northern edge of the unexplored ice continent, where we will go into harbour and discharge our equipment.” [Register 2 Nov 1928]

 

“Captain Sir George Wilkins, Commander of the Wilkins-Hearst Antarctic Expedition. . . We had carried our two Lockheed Vega monoplanes to Deception Island, at the edge of the Antarctic, on board the Hektoria Whaling Company’s 15,000-ton transport ship Hektoria, and were comfortably established with the ship as our head quarters. There we lived in a degree of comfort not excelled in a crack ocean liner.” [Advertiser 9 May 1929]

 

“Cape Town. . . The British whaler Hektoria which arrived today reports that two catchers, Klem and Splint, were crushed in the ice a fortnight ago. They sought shelter during a terrific hurricane in pack ice which closed in. They tried to crash through and used dynamite. Eventually the sides collapsed. Their crews clambered over the ice and were eventually rescued by the factory ship.” [Advertiser 10 Apr 1935]

 

“the first British liner to bring passengers to New York since last November arrived at New York on the 27th January. The vessel was the Hektoria, 11,907 tons, and she carried 156 passengers. The Hektoria is, or was, a floating whale-oil refinery, and was formerly the White Star liner Medic, well known on the Australian run. . . converted into a whaling factory, and took part in the Antarctic whaling season in 1928-29, operating in the South Shetlands area. From then on, whaling . . . in the open sea (pelagic whaling). . . In 1932 she was transferred from the Norwegian flag (A/S. Hektor, Tonsberg) to the British flag (Hektoria, Ltd., London), although she continued to be managed from Tonsberg.” [Daily Commercial News, Sydney 27 Mar 1941]

 

SIR GEORGE HUBERT WILKINS

Born 1888 in South Australia, 13th child of Henry & Louisa Wilkins. Studied engineering & photography. Naturalist, photographer, war correspondent, explorer of Arctic & Antarctic, aviator, geographer. Knighted 1928. Died 1958 Massachusetts USA.

 

“The little hamlet of Mt. Bryan East to-day must be intensely proud that Sir George was born there (in 1888) and spent his early boyhood years in the district. Also that he received his first education in the little State School at Mt. Bryan East. Since then his rise has been both gradual and wonderful and today at not quite the age of 40 years, is now one of the most talked of men in the whole world. As an Arctic explorer his name will stand for ages. In the recent great war he also gained distinction as a member of the Australian Flying Corps and his work gained him the Military Cross and bar. He was also twice mentioned in despatches. Flying has a fascination for him and his love of adventure has beckoned him into many strange places. His last meritorious expedition was a most successful flight to the North Pole.” [Burra Record 6 Jun 1928]

 

Done