Tag: ANZAC

The Sinking of the Marquette, 1915

A little over 110 years ago, on Saturday 23 October 1915, the British transport ship Marquette was torpedoed by the German submarine U-35 as it entered the Gulf of Salonika. The ship sank within ten minutes. Of the 741 people on board, 167 died, including 32 New Zealanders – ten of whom were nurses.

Tram decorated with World War 1 propaganda, including unidentified tram conductor and passenger, Temperance and General Life Assurance Society building in background, Cathedral Square, Christchurch
A call to arms in response to deaths of nurses. Image source: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/29941985

The New Zealand Nurses

Most of the New Zealanders aboard were members of the 1st New Zealand Stationary Hospital. They had been serving in Egypt, treating casualties from Gallipoli, and were being transferred to support Allied operations in the Balkans. Among them was Staff Nurse Margaret Rogers, who had enlisted only months earlier in July. Indeed, The New Zealand Army Nursing Service was itself new and only established early in 1915.

Nurse Margaret Rogers.
Image source: Nurse Margaret Rogers, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/nurse-margaret-rogers, (Manatū Taonga — Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 28-May-2024

The Marquette, originally a cargo vessel, had been adapted for wartime transport.

SS Marquette of the Red Star Shipping Line, 1910
Image source: https://ww100.govt.nz/no-ordinary-transport-the-sinking-of-the-marquette

When it departed from Alexandria on 19 October, it carried medical personnel, British troops, over 500 mules, and ammunition. Although accompanied by a French destroyer during part of the journey, the escort departed the day before the attack.

Image source: https://www.cnmc.org.nz/resources/the-marquette/the-marquette-s-last-journey-vulnerable-to-atta/

At approximately 9:15 a.m., witnesses reported sighting a torpedo shortly before it struck the starboard side of the ship. The impact caused the vessel to list sharply. Despite the suddenness of the event, many accounts describe those on board as remaining orderly.

Efforts to launch lifeboats were largely unsuccessful. Inexperienced personnel, the angle of the sinking ship, and mechanical difficulties led to lifeboats capsizing or being damaged. Several nurses and soldiers were killed during these attempts. It is believed that Margaret Rogers lost her life in this phase of the evacuation.

Ten New Zealand nurses and 22 men from the New Zealand Medical Corps and No. 1 Stationary Hospital died.

Survivors spent several hours in the water, exposed to cold conditions and exhaustion. Some clung to wreckage; others assisted colleagues unable to swim. Rescue vessels, including British and French destroyers, arrived later in the day. Six days later,on the 29th October, all surviving nurses and some medical officers returned to Alexandria on the hospital ship, the Grantully Castle.

The surviving nurses.
Image source: https://ww100.govt.nz/no-ordinary-transport-the-sinking-of-the-marquette

Aftermath

The sinking of the Marquette led to outrage about the decision to transport medical personnel on a vessel carrying ammunition and troops rather than on a hospital ship. Marked with a red cross, hospital ships could sail with a much greater degree of safety with the protection of the Geneva Convention. The troopship was, for German submarines, a valid target.

One can only imagine the emotions of the survivors as they undertook the journey to Salonika again later in the year in order to establish a tented hospital at Lembet Camp. The hospital was in operation until March 1916, when it left for France.

1st New Zealand Stationary Hospital at Salonika
Image source: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/1st-new-zealand-stationary-hospital

In Memory

Margaret Rogers is buried at the Mikra British Cemetery at Kalamaria where there is a memorial to the loss of the Marquette.

Image source: https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/gre-mikra-memorial.html

Margaret is also listed on the war memorial at Akaroa where her father lived.

The unveiling of the Akaroa War Memorial, 1923
Image source: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/akaroa-war-memorial

Margaret and the other nine nurses lost in the Marquette sinking are remembered at the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel at Christchurch Hospital and at the Marquette Nurses’ Memorial at Waimate.

The events of 23 October 1915 are also dramatised in the Australian TV series, ANZAC Girls, which until December 31st, 2025 is freely available to view here.

The moment the Marquette is torpedoed, as depicted in ANZAC Girls.
Image Source: Episode 3, https://player.stv.tv/summary/all3-anzac

Footnote

Wreckage of the Marquette was found in May 2009 by a Greek dive team. It rests in 87 metres of water of the Thermaikos Gulf in the North Aegean Sea. A protection order for the wreck has been sought by The British Embassy in Greece.

Reference Links