Requisitioned Auxiliary – Palma

 

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Official Number:                      116009

Laid down:

Builder:                                  Workman, Clark & Co, Belfast

Launched:                              24 August 1903

Into Service:                            2 August 1914

Out of service:                         5 March 1915

Fate:                                      27 November 1924 broken up

 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –

 

Background Data:  One of an additional group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty during WW1 to augment the ships of the RFA

 

Career Data:

24 August 1903 launched by Workman, Clark & Co, Belfast as Yard Nr 202 named PALMA for the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co, London.

9 October 1903 completed as a passenger / cargo liner at a cost of £107,110. Sister to PESHAWUR (q.v.)

30 December 1904 arrived Penang

3 January 1905 arrived at Singapore

10 January 1905 arrived at Hong Kong

16 January 1905 arrived at Shanghai, China

18 September 1907 sailed Brisbane for Sydney, NSW

3 December 1907 berthed at Dunkirk. The voyage from Melbourne had taken 49 days

9 December 1911 in heavy seas in the Channel steering gear pipes and No 5 hatch cover carried away

2 August 1914 requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Stores Carrier, name unchanged

12 August 1914 Commander Henry W A Clark RNR (Retd) appointed in command and Engineer J E Beale RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer 

5 March 1915 returned to her owners

29 April 1917 fired on by a submarine west of the Scilly Isles

18 June 1917 attacked by two German submarines some 300 miles west of the Irish Coast when sailing in convoy from New York to Liverpool. Three torpedoes were fired at her but all missed and the attack was discontinued

7 June 1919 sailed Liverpool

18 April 1920 took in tow the disabled Australian Government steamer AUSTRALMEAD 1218 miles to Mauritius.
The tow line parted on the 18 and the 20 April 1920
27 April 1920 arrived Mauritius with her tow. Captain George A Lanphier of the Palma subsequently awarded the
Lloyds Medal for Meritorious Services in respect of his actions with regard to the tow

Lloyds Medal for MS

 Captain George A Lanphier’s Lloyds Medal

6 November 1920 while berthed at Woolloomooloo, NSW a fight broke out among the crew which resulted in nine having to be hospitalised – one with a fractured skull

21 December 1922 radioed her steering gear was broken while 350 nmails from St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands and she was putting back to St Vincent for repairs – source Lloyds Casualty reports

29 December 1922 sailed St Vincent, Cape Verde for New York 

29 March 1923 passed Gibraltar for Australian ports

2 May 1923 sailed Freemantle for London

31 October 1923 sailed London for Australian ports

1924 sold for £17,000 to Italian breakers

27 November 1924 arrived Genoa for demolition by Attilio Ardito