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HMHS Marama

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HMHS Marama
HMHS Marama.jpg
HMHS Marama 1.jpg
History
Name HMHS Marama
Owner Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Ltd., Dunedin
Builder Caird & Co, Greenock
Yard number 313
Launched 27 Jun 1907
Completed November 1907
In service November 1907
Out of service 1937
Fate scrapped 1938
General characteristics
Type Passenger / cargo ship
Tonnage 6,437 tons
Length 420 ft 3 in (128.09m)
Beam 53 ft 2 in (16.20m)
Depth 31 ft 2in (9.50m)
Propulsion twin screw
Speed 17 knots (31.48 km/h)
Capacity 140 crew & 488 passengers



Remarks

Owned by the Union Company of New Zealand, she was initially built for the Trans Tasman service, but was transferred to the Vancouver and San Francisco mail routes. SS Marama was able to accommodate a total of 488 passengers being made up of: 270 Saloon Class; 120 Second Class and 98 cabin passengers.


During WW1 she was converted to become a hospital ship in 1915 (New Zealand Hospital Ship No. 2). Medical Staff strength was 12 Medical Officers, 24 Nurses and 62 Others. She was equipped to look after 21 injured Officers, 72 enlisted men in cots and 507 in berths.


After war service she was refitted (1920) for the trans-Pacific services to San Francisco and Vancouver. In 1925 she was converted to burn oil, and employed on the Tasman run. She was sold to Shanghai shipbreakers (Lunghua Dock & Engineering Works, Shanghai) in 1937, then resold to Kobe shipbreakers where she was broken up at their Osaka shipyard in 1938.

Soldiers carried

Alexandria to England 10 -15 May 1915

Le Havre to Southampton 29 July 1916

Southampton to Fremantle 31 August - 10 October 1916