RFA Manica

RFA Manica

 

 

 

Previous name:
Subsequent name:                    Huntball,  Phorus

Class:                                           Kite Balloon ship

Official Number:                         112782

Pennant No:                                 4.17

Laid down:                             
Builder:                                         Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd., Deptford Yard
Launched:                                    25 September 1900

Into Service:                                 20 August 1917

Out of service:                              1920
Fate:                                              Sold commercially

 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

24 December 1900 sailed Middlesborough

17 June 1901 sailed Algoa Bay for Table Bay

21 September 1902 arrived at Simon's Bay 

22 September 1903 sailed Delagoa Bay

5 December 1903 sailed Algiers while on passage from Boston to Calcutta

28 October 1904 berthed at Singapore from London

30 December 1904 berthed at Singapore from Hong Kong

16 May 1905 sailed Singapore for Hong Kong

12 July 1905 berthed at Singapore from Hong Kong

2 November 1905 sailed Singapore for Hong Kong and Japan

17 April 1906 arrived Singapore from London

31 December 1906 sailed South Africa (port not listed) to Port Pirie, Australia to load

22 February 1907 sailed Sydney, NSW, Australia for Dunkirk and London

17 April 1907 berthed at Dunkirk

19 April 1907 berthed at the Port of London to discharge

9 February 1908 sailed Singapore for Taku, Muroran and Otora

15 September 1909 sailed Beira for London

28 August 1910 berthed at Port Adelaide, Australia

3 September 1910 prior to sailing from Port Adelaide a crew muster revealed two of the crew were missing - one from Colombo, Ceylon and the other an African American who had jumped ship

13 September 1910 sailed Sydney, NSW, Australia for other Australian and South African ports

22 September 1910 the Master, Francis O Potts appeared before Port Adelaide Police Court charged with having allowed the two missing crew members - prohibited immigrants - to enter Australia. He was fined £100 in respect of each prohibited immigrant and 20/- costs

22, 23 and 24 September 1910 the details of the two crew members who had jumpted ship were advertised with the offer of a reward of £10 each in both The Register and The Advertiser - two newspapers in circulation in Adelaide, South Australian over three days

24 September 1910 both former crew members and as such probibited immigrants arrested some distance from Adelaide on a farm.  

26 September 1910 the two former crew members who had jumped ship - Frank Dean and Pitchary Kandiah appeared before Port Adelaide Police Court charged with desertion - they both pleaded guilty and were sent to prison for seven days

16 December 1913 berthed at Sydney NSW from Natal

21 February 1914 arrived at Colombo from Melbourne

6 March 1914 arrived at Suez from Colombo

12 February 1915 arrived at Port of London from Port Natal, South Africa

11 March 1915 hired as a Kite Ballon ship by the Admiralty  - at a time she was unloading a cargo of manure from Australia

22 March 1915 commissioned as HMS Manica with RNR Officers and MMR crew

25 March 1915 Chief Steward J C Dent discharged dead. He is buried in Birkenhead (Flaybrick Hill) Cemetery and remembered on a screen wall

 

Courtesy and © of The War Graves Photographic Project

28 March 1915 sailed the UK for the Eastern Mediterranean

13 April 1915 arrived off Lemnos

14 April 1915 ballon raised in a trial ascent to 2,000 feet

 

A 'Drachen' type balloon is held steady aboard while its observer waits to climb into the basket, off the Gallipoli coast, summer 1915.

 

19 April 1915 spotters from Manica's ballon directed shelling onto a Turkish encampment

24 April 1915 spotters directed fire onto Gaba Tepe, where the Turkish Barracks were destroyed

25 April 1915 the balloon, with its two observers, was in the air from 0521 to 1405 hours constantly reporting on the activities associated with Anzac Cove for almost nine hours, while the ANZAC troops were scrambling up the cliffs, one of the observers sighted the Turkish battleship TURGUD REIS (ex-German SMS WEISSENBURG) in the Narrows. HMS TRIUMPH was contacted by wireless, and it's balloon-directed fire forced the Turkish warship to withdraw

26 April 1915 the ships balloon made seven ascents  in support of the ANZAC operations 

27 April 1915 the observers was also spotting for HMS TRIUMPH and HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH the Royal Navy's newest and most powerful battleship, and the first in the world to mount 381 millimetre (15 inch) guns - during the afternoon QUEEN ELIZABETH blew up an armament store at Kojadere. The same day  the balloon's crew sighted Turkish transport ships near Najara, apparently heading for Maidos or Kilia Liman. QUEEN ELIZABETH was put on to the largest ship, the SCUTARI which was hit and sunk after three shots, at a range of 11.3 kilometres (7 miles)

28 April 1915 while spotting for British battleships - two field batteries silenced and several guns destroyed 

30 April 1915 while spotting for British battleships - Chanak shelled which burnt for two hours

2 May 1915 while spotting for British battleships - battery of 8" guns shelled - three direct hits

8 May 1915 while spotting for British battleships - four batteries silenced

12 May 1915 while spotting for British battleships - a house reported to be the Turkish headquarters destroyed

12 August 1915 while supporting the landings at Suvla was subject to a torpedo attack by UB 8 which missed. The torpedo was fired from 500 yards and passed under the ship, two days later a similar attack also failed

27 November 1915 with the ship in refit the First Sea Lord was planning for her deployment off German East Africa - this was at the request of General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien GCB etc who had been chosen to lead an expedition against German East Africa and did not have sufficient equipment. 

23 February 1916 at Birkenhead under repair in shipyard basin

6 March 1916 moved by 3 tugs from the basin. Anchored mid stream

10 March 1916 sailed Birkenhead to Gibraltar carrying a small seaplane in addition to her kite balloon arriving 16 March 1916

19 March 1916 sailed Gibraltar with RFA Lady Cory Wright and RN escort to Port Said arriving 27 March 1916

28 March 1916 at Port Said commenced coaling - 411 tons received. At 14:00hrs commencing unmooring ship - port anchor fouled another ship's anchor - 17:20hrs cleared port anchor - starboard anchor weighed - entered Suez Canal - transitted the Canal

30 March 1916 at Suez

31 March 1916 sailed Suez for Mombasa arriving 11 April 1916 when she took on a local 'Native' crew. (To quote the wording of the ships Official Log for the period)

14 April 1916 sailed Mombasa to Zanzibar

15 April 1916 at Zanzibar - collier 'Anglier'  came alongside to commence bunkering

21 April 1916 sailed Zanzabar on operation duties to deploy balloon off German East Africa

1 May 1916 at  Zanzibar 

20 May 1916 while on patrol off German East Africa ran aground. On being towed off by RN ships the towing cable fouled the propellor - cleared in 32 minutes.

11 July 1916 at Zanzibar moved alongside collier 'August Belmont'  to coal ship. Cast off to anchorage the next day

6 August 1916 Fireman Hugh Patrick  Foy. MMR discharged dead. On returning to the ship via the liberty boat  he fell between the boat and the ship and was drowned.  He is buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery

 

Courtesy and © of The War Graves Photographic Project

26 August 1916 collier "Queen Alexandria" alongside at Zanzibar to re-coal ship all day

29 August 1916 water boat alongside at Zanzibar received 40 tons of water

27 September 1916 while berthed at Zanzibar a court of enquiry held onboard into the death of Fireman Hugh Patrick Foy (see above)

17 October 1916 a member of the native crew died of typhoid malaria - buried at sea at 7° 50S. 39° 40E.

23 October 1916 a member of the native crew died of typhoid malaria - buried at sea off Mafia Island, German East Africa

4 November 1916 off Rufugi - diver from Flagship employed to clear obstructions to hull

13 Movember 1916 off Rufugi - seaplane propeller damaged through rough water - seaplane recovered and housed.

14 November 1916 off Rufugi - received stores and water from collier

20 November 1916 at Zanzibar - received 263 tons of water from a water boat

21 November and 22 November 1916 at Zanzibar - collier alongside re-coaled ship

December 1916 the ships company produced a sods opera -

 

 

21 March 1917 Air Mechanic 1st Class J D Woolger RNAS discharged dead. He is buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery

13 May 1917 General Servant Edward Hewitt Buckley MMR 489728 discharged dead - having died from heat stroke. General Servant James Barton MMR 384357 discharged dead - having died from typhoid fever. Both are remembered with pride on the Plymouth Naval Memorial

August 1917 converted into a tanker and renamed Huntball at Bombay

15 April 1918 purchased by the Admiralty and placed under commercial management.

1919 sold to Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd 

5 May 1920 in Kings Dock (Dry Dock) at Singapore

14 May 1920 alongside at Singapore

1920 renamed by Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd as Phorus

 

ss Phorus

2 April 1921 berthed at Singapore from Bombay

16 November 1922 in dry dock at Singapore

31 July 1925 in dry dock at Singapore

19 July 1927 berthed at Singapore with a cargo of 'liquid fuel' from Tarakan - information from the Singapore Free Press

14 June 1928 arrived at Wellington, New Zealand to discharge a cargo of petrol - Captain V R Trigg in command

30 December 1928 sailed Melbourne for Tarakan to load

14 March 1929 sailed Port Freemantle to Tarakan to load

24 April 1929 sailed Singapore for Auckland New Zealand  - due 13 May 1929

14 May 1929 berthed Wellington from Auckland, New Zealand

16 May 1929 sailed Wellington, New Zealand for Borneo

27 May 1929 passed Thursday Island while on passage from New Zealand to Balik Papan

5 June 1929 berthed at Balik Papan

3 September 1929 berthed at Port Freemantle from Tarakan to discharge crude oil

5 September 1929 sailed Port Freemantle to Tarakan to load

8 January 1930 berthed at Port Adelaide from Tarakan and discharged 3,000 tons of crude oil

12 January 1930 berthed at Melbourne from Port Adelaide

5 May 1930 passed Thursday Island while on passage to Sydney, NSW

10 May 1930 berthed at Sydney, NSW from Tarakan

13 May 1930 sailed Sydney, NSW to Balik Papan

24 May 1930 while on passage from Sydney, NSW to Balik Papan stood by midway between Atamboea and Darwin on the route that Miss Amy Johnson's flight from the UK to Australia was taking - the aircraft passed the ship at 11am South Austrlian time.

3 July 1931 arrived Osaka to be broken up.