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I am trying to find out the names of hospital ships and possibly troops ships bringing back soldiers and wounded soldiers from Bombay back to England in 1917 Many of the wounded would have been from the campaign in Mesopotamia Is there any list of these ships which can be accesed online ? Thank you Michael McDonnell

Hi Michael Not that I can help much.....so FWIW >campaign in Mesopotamia. Is there any list of these ships which can be accesed online ? I'm not aware of one, but if its not well indexed then it might be easy to miss, and I doubt it would be very long, and might be mixed up with other material on the War ? Whilst looking through the National Archives Index : http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk for "hospital AND ships AND Bombay," I came across the following article which includes extracts from letters from an officers who served on the Western Front, followed by a period in Mesop., where he was wounded : http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/bb25552d-06ca-4cde-afea-ad0eeee3a4a4 Doesn't answer your question, but may be of interest ? The National Archives would appear to have something on the topic according to a search for "Mesopotamia AND hospital AND ships" : http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/advanced-search Various searches of the NA archives suggest that the Ministry of Transport, Shipping Division, War Office, and Admiralty, were all involved when it came to Hospital Ships, as well as the Cabinet occasionally. The War Office had a surprisingly large number of vessels under their control......so since your question is regarding Army personnel and may be vessels that the War Office may have acquired vessels, whether by hire or purchase to remove casualties, but being as there were both British and Indian troops involved I think I can probably see why you are looking for shipping from India ? Some passing thoughts garnered following a bit of Googling prior to a week or so out of circulation .....so you may have already been there : If you can borrow it I gather that you might find the book "In the Company of Nurses: The History of the British Army Nursing Service in the Great War " useful, as it says on the blurb on Amazon containing "surprising, fascinating facts about the military nursing services and the complex management of casualty care," which I guess, would include the removal of patients from the scene of the conflict ? And, perhaps more usefully, it contains "an excellent index and bibliography to assist further research," Would suggest that you have a look at sites like the following : http://www.mespot.net/mespot/page15.htm which includes photos of some of the hospital ships and ancillary craft that were used in the movement of casualties. These might perhaps give you some clues as to the names you should be looking for, perhaps in searches of the newspapers, although the release of wartime news was often much restricted during the war, and I gather that the handling of casualties may have been much hindered by in-fighting amongst the officials involved in their management? I should think that reading of some of the histories written about this period, and since you appear to be interested in the Indian end of things, those, like the "Battles on the Tigris," which might include some helpful snippets, N.B. I've not read any of these books ! Plus, of course, personal stories, if you can find them, might include references to Hospital Ships etc. : I think the Imperial War Museum might be the place to start ? And then there are the various army unit diaries which might note the sort of info you are looking for, especially after heavy fighting ? I'm not familiar with English language newspapers for Bombay, but should there be some on-line wouldn't be surprised if the local editions were less heavily censored and might make reference to Hospital Ships leaving for Blighty ? Regards Paul On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:44:13 +0930, pyd_zac7 via <mariners@rootsweb.com> wrote: >I am trying to find out the names of hospital ships and possibly troops >ships bringing back soldiers and wounded soldiers from Bombay back to >England in 1917 >Many of the wounded would have been from the campaign in Mesopotamia >Is there any list of these ships which can be accesed online ? > >Thank you > >Michael McDonnell > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message 50° 33' N, 2° 26' W http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html