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HMAS Grantala

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Grantala before the First World War
History
Name
  • 1903: Grantala
  • 1917: Figuig
Namesake1917: Figuig
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
BuilderArmstrong, Whitworth & Co, Low Walker
Yard number737
Launched28 May 1903
CompletedDecember 1903
AcquiredFor RAN: 7 August 1914
DecommissionedFrom RAN: 22 December 1914
Identification
Honours and
awards		Rabaul 1914
FateScrapped, 1934
General characteristics
TypePassenger ship
Tonnage3,655 GRT, 1,787 NRT
Length350.0 ft (106.7 m)
Beam45.2 ft (13.8 m)
Depth27.2 ft (8.3 m)
Decks2
Installed power690 NHP
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity
  • Passengers:
  • 110 first class
  • 180 second class
Notessister ship: Yongala

HMAS Grantala was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1903 as a coastal interstate liner for the Adelaide Steamship Company. In 1914 the Commonwealth government requisitioned her as a Royal Australian Navy hospital ship.

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's British subsidiary, the Red Funnel Shipping Co, bought Grantala in 1915, and renamed her Figuig in 1917. She was transferred to the French parent company in 1920. She was scrapped in Italy in 1934.

Grantala was the sister ship of Yongala, which was lost with all hands off the Queensland coast in 1911, and is now a notable wreck diving site.

Building and identification

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In 1903 Sir WG Armstrong, Whitworth & Co built a pair of passenger and cargo steamships at its Low Walker shipyard on the River Tyne for the Adelaide Steamship Co. Yongala was built as yard number 736, launched on 29 April 1903, and completed that October.[1] Her sister ship Grantala was yard number 737, launched on 28 May 1903,[2] and completed that December.[3]

Grantala's registered length was 350.0 ft (106.7 m), her beam was 45.2 ft (13.8 m) and her depth was 27.2 ft (8.3 m). Her tonnages were 3,655 GRT and 1,787 NRT. She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine built by the Wallsend Slipway Company. It was rated at 690 NHP,[3] and on her sea trials on 31 December 1903 she achieved 16 knots (30 km/h).[4] She had accommodation for 110 first class and 180 second class passengers.[2]

The Adelaide Steamship Co registered Grantala at Port Adelaide. Her UK official number was 118370 and her code letters were VMHP.[3][5]

Australian service

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On 21 January 1904 Grantala left Southampton on her delivery voyage from England to Australia.[6] She sailed via Cape Town and Durban, and reached Fremantle on 29 February.[7] She continued via Adelaide[8] and Melbourne,[9] and reached Sydney on 10 March,[10] carrying about 200 passengers from England and South Africa. She then immediately joined her sister Yongala on the Adelaide Steamship Co's interstate route between Sydney and Fremantle.[11]

From 1908 until 1914, Grantala's route alternated seasonally. For part of the year she ran between Melbourne and Cooktown, Queensland, and the for remainder she worked her original route between Sydney and Fremantle.[12]

By 1911 Grantala was equipped for wireless telegraphy,[13] and by 1914 her call sign was VHJ.[14]

Grantala in hospital ship colours off Suva, Fiji in November 1914
Medical staff on board in August 1914

On 4 August 1914 the UK entered the First World War, and three days later the RAN requisitioned Grantala. She was fitted out at Cockatoo Island Dockyard and Garden Island Naval Base as a hospital ship, with capacity for up to 300 patients,[15] and 59 medical and nursing staff. The conversion was completed in 17 days.[16] She was Australia's only hospital ship in the First World War.[17]

On 30 August Grantala left Sydney to support the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landing at Rabaul in German New Guinea.[12] She was later recognised with the battle honour "Rabaul 1914".[17][18] However, Grantala proved too small for the purpose for which she had been requisitioned, so the RAN returned her to her owners[19] at Sydney on 22 December.[12]

Red Funnel and CGT service

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In November 1915 the Red Funnel Shipping Co Ltd bought Grantala at Sydney.[12] This company was a UK subsidiary that the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) established during the First World War. It should not be confused with the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co Ltd, which trades as "Red Funnel". Grantala left Sydney on 4 December 1915, sailed via Fremantle and Cape Town, and reached Naples in Italy on 25 February 1916.[12]

Figuig at Bordeaux

Red Funnel registered Grantala in London, but CGT managed her. By 1917 she was renamed Figuig, after the town of Figuig in Morocco. CGT ran her between Bordeaux and Casablanca.[12]

On 18 July 1921 Figuig was transferred to the direct ownership of CGT,[12] who re-registered her at Bordeaux. Her French code letters were OHED.[20]

Her regular route was across the Mediterranean between Marseille and Algiers.[17][21]

Figuig was scrapped in the second quarter of 1934[22] at Genoa in Italy.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Yongala". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Grantala". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Lloyd's Register 1904, GRA.
  4. ^ "The Grantala." Daily Commercial News and Shipping List. 2 January 1904. p. 4 – via Trove.
  5. ^ Mercantile Navy List 1906, p. 183.
  6. ^ "Steamers bound to Fremantle". The Daily News. 29 February 1904. p. 1 – via Trove.
  7. ^ "New steamer Grantala". The West Australian. 1 March 1904. p. 4 – via Trove.
  8. ^ "Arrival of the Grantala". The Evening Journal. 7 March 1904. p. 2 – via Trove.
  9. ^ "Another new interstate steamer". The Argus. 9 March 1904. p. 6 – via Trove.
  10. ^ "Steamers inward and outward bound". Daily Commercial News and Shipping List. 11 March 1904. p. 7 – via Trove.
  11. ^ "The Grantala". Daily Commercial News and Shipping List. 11 March 1904. p. 4 – via Trove.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Sauvaget 2009, p. 3.
  13. ^ Lloyd's Register 1911, GRA.
  14. ^ The Marconi Press Agency Ltd 1914, p. 346.
  15. ^ "Grantala". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 August 1914. p. 14. Retrieved 11 September 2010 – via Trove.
  16. ^ Goyne 2014, pp. 28–31.
  17. ^ a b c Wilson 1999, p. 50.
  18. ^ "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  19. ^ "Australian Hospital Ships". Naval Historical Review. Naval Historical Society of Australia. June 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  20. ^ Lloyd's Register 1921, FID–FIL.
  21. ^ "Sold to shipbreakers". The West Australian. 14 July 1934. p. 14. Retrieved 11 September 2010 – via Trove.
  22. ^ Lloyd's Register 1934, FER–FIM.

Bibliography

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