Previous name:                     Hampstead

Subsequent name:               HMS Aquarius,  Santi  

Official Number:                     112768                                                   

Class:                                      Stores and Distilling Ship

Pennant No:                           N 13 / N06

Laid down:
Builder:                                   Austin & Son, Wear Dock, Sunderland
Launched:                              25 September 1900
Into Service:                           1905
Out of service:                       1920 Sold out of service
Fate:                                        Wrecked

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  Soon after the turn of the 20th Century, the Admiralty acquired a number of small tankers and store-ships and from the experiments conducted with these tankers was obtained the experience which resulted in the building of a large number of tankers of various sizes which were especially designed for their task of refuelling warships. None of these early ships were sister ships, and they became the first Admiralty vessels to fall into the new RFA category on its inception in 1903

25 September 1900 Launched by S.P. Austin & Son Ltd, Wear Dock, Sunderland as Yard Nr 211 named HAMPSTEAD for Wm Cory & Son Ltd, London

October 1900 completed

1901 purchased by the Admiralty

January 1902 was renamed AQUARIUS and was used as a stores and distilling ship

29 May 1903 at Portsmouth

25 February 1904 at Weymouth Police Court eighteen stokers from the ship were charged under the Merchant Shipping Act with refusing to do their work. Mr Howard Bown, Admiralty Solicitor prosecuted. Evidence was given that on 20 February 1904 at Portland the men had requested to go ashore but the machinery being dirty - the ship had just returned in rough seas from Vigo - they were told to continue to do their work. They refused and the matter was reported to the Flag Captain who directed they be prosecuted. The men were civil and not disorderly and some had since expressed regret. The defendants pleased in extenuation that the ship had been at sea four days since leaving Vigo and some had not been ashore for a month. The Bench considered the evidence and ordered the men to pay a fine of 5/- each. Reported in the Times of the 26 February 1904

29 July 1904 in Parliament the Government advised the new Ships Bill then passing through the chamber was needed due to fleet auxiliaries such a the Hospital Ship Maine and the distilling ship Aquarius were not part of the Royal Navy (The Times of 30 July 1904)

1905 grounded on Kimmeridge Ledge, 2 miles West of St Alban’s Head, in thick fog while proceeding at 9 knots

1906 transferred to the White Ensign as a Repair and Distilling Ship

3 July 1907 with other ships of the Fleet was inspected in the Solent by H M the King

6 August 1907 arrived at Portland from Portsmouth

1 September 1907 was transfered from the Home Fleet to the Channel Fleet

11 March 1908 sailed Portland for Bantry

29 March 1908 when at anchor in Oitir More Bay, near Oban, was struck by a heavy squall, dragged her anchor and ran ashore, remaining there for four hours and then coming off under her own steam. An examination of the vessel was made in dock and it was ascertained that it was necessary as the result of grounding to effect some repairs to outer bottom plates, frames and bilge keel. - Hansard 14 May 1908

March 1909 was in the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet

14 September 1909 sailed Sheerness for Scapa Flow for manoeuvers

30 January 1912 sailed Sheerness for Harwich

1914 to 1915 served with the 8th  Destroyer Flotilla, Forth

25 December 1914 Officer's Steward 2nd Class Clarence Herbert Flatman discharged dead - drowned - he is buried in Queensferry Cemetery

1915 served Mediterranean submarines, then as a Water Carrier and Depot Ship

31 August 1915 ERA 4th Class Mark Aitchinson Tarn discharged dead at Mudros. He is buried in East Mudros Military Cemetery in Grave 11 K 186. He died of dysentery

16 November 1917 Lieutenant Charles W Bray RNR discharged dead at Mudros. He is buried in East Mudros Military Cemetery in Grave 111 H 219. The original headstone for Lieutenant Bray's grave was removed from East Mudros Military Cemetery and can now be found in Ipswich Old Cemetery, Suffolk on his father's grave.

Courtesy and © of The War Graves Photographic Project

6 August 1918 Officer's Steward 2nd class Ernest W Hoskin discharged dead at Corfu. He is buried in Corfu British Cemetery in Grave 27

20 November 1919 berthed at Malta

1920 placed on the Sales List by the Shipping Controller

14 May 1920 sold by the Ministry of Shipping (Directorate of Ship Purchase) and purchased for £60,000 by Cia Naviera Amaya (C de Zabala, Manager) Bilbao, Spain on the Spanish registry and was renamed SANTI

18 November 1922 stranded on rocks on Plana Island off  Cape  Santa Pola while on passage from Huelva to Alicante and her holds became full of water

22 November 1922 she broke amidships, making salvage impossible, and became a total loss