Official Number:                     112661

Pennant No:                          Y4.14

Laid down:

Builder:                                  Robert Napier & Sons Ltd., East Govan

Launched:                             19 September 1899

Into Service:                          6 March 1915

Out of service:                       20 September 1920

Fate:                                    February 1922 reported broken up at Rotterdam

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:

19 September 1899 launched by Robert Napier & sons Ltd., East Govan as Yard Nr: 467 named TRENT for Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., London

January 1900 completed. Carried 200 x 1st Class, 30 x 2nd & 250 x 3rd Class passengers

23 July 1907 sailed Kingston, Jamaica

26 July 1907 arrived Ellis Island, New York

6 January 1909 ran ahround on the Semedine Bank near Cartagena and was only refloated after 4 months

18 October 1910 during the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by air she rescued the crew of the airship AMERICA 410 miles SE off Sandy Hook

6 March 1915 requisitioned for Admiralty service as a Fleet Messenger and acted as Depot Ship to the monitors HMS’s HUMBER, MERSEY and SEVERN for the Gallipoli Campaign. She took their crew out to Malta while the monitors were towed out there in March 1915

at Malta with her monitors

11 March 1915 Commander Richard Hayes RNR appointed as Commanding Officer and Engineer Commander Arthur Hyman RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

15 May 1915 Engineer Henry Alexander Fullerton Beaton RNR discharged dead – he is buried in Maala Cemetery, Yemen in grave C128

June 1915 to July 1915 acted as Motor Ship for HMS’s MERSEY and SEVERN off the Rufiji Delta during the campaign to sink the German Cruiser Kongsberg

3 May 1916 Fireman G Hardy discharged dead – he is buried in the Naval Allotment Row A Grave 41 in Simonstown (Dido Valley) Cemetery, South Africa

13 March 1917 Seedie Boy Musa Bin Salih disharged dead – he is remembered with pride on the Bombay 1914-1918 Memorial, Mumbai

1 June 1917 Able Seaman Gordon Broughton Phillips MMR 754610 discharged dead – remembered with pride on the Plymouth Naval Memorial

1 October 1917 to March 1918 was renamed HMS ICARUS by the Admiralty and acted as the RNAS Depot Ship at Houton Bay, Scapa Flow for the Orkney Air Services flying anti-submarine patrols

11 January 1918 Lascar Wilayat Husain discharged dead – he is remembered with pride on the Bombay 1914-1918 Memorial, Mumbai

12 January 1918 Steward Shaik Belal Hassan discharged dead – he is buried in Durban (Umgeni River Mouth) Muslim Cemetery

20 September 1920 was returned to her owners as TRENT

February 1922 reported broken up by Sunderman at Rotterdam