GASCON (1) was built in 1892 by Armstrong
Mitchell & Co. at Newcastle with a tonnage of 5305grt, a
length of 421ft, a beam of 47ft 10in and a service speed of
13 knots. She was launched as the Ruthenia for the City of Liverpool
S.N. Co. managed by D & W MacIver. On 4th November 1892
she was renamed Mariposa when the company was sold to Ocean
Transport Co., with Elder Dempster & Co. as managers, for
their North Atlantic service. In 1894 she was chartered to the
Atlantic Transport Co. of Liverpool for their Liverpool - Canada
routes. and in 1895 was acquired by Union S.S. Co., subject
to delivery at Liverpool, for their Intermediate cargo service
and to be renamed Gascon. However, on 27th September 1895 she
was wrecked on Forteau Point in the Gulf of St. Lawrence whilst
en-route with general cargo and cattle from Montreal to Liverpool
where she was to have been handed over. Consequently, in reality,
she never served with the Union S.S. Co. fleet nor bore her
intended name.
FALCON was built in 1896 with a tonnage
of 41grt as the company tender at Southampton, replacing the
Seagull. She joined the Union-Castle fleet following the merger,
her brass funnel being given a red livery. In 1922 she was converted
to petrol and with the funnel removed, looked like a launch.
By 1942 she was no longer in service.
GASCON
(2) was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 6287grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in
and a service speed of 12.5 knots. The first of three ships
she was an improved Gaul Class ship with three masts and delivered
for the Intermediate service which was, by then, strongly supported
with further ships on order. She transferred to the Union-Castle
fleet in March 1900 and in June 1905 was the first Union-Castle
ship to call at the new port of Lobito in Angola which had a
rail link to Elizabethville. In 1910 she was moved to the East
Africa service and in August 1914 went on the mail run when
the larger ships were requisitioned for war service. On 25th
November of that year she was commissioned as a hospital ship
with a capacity for 434 patients, her first task being to take
the surviving wounded from HMS Pegasus, which had been sunk
by the Koenigsburg on 20th September, back to Simonstown in
South Africa. During 1915 she served in the German East African
campaign and spent the remainder of the war in that area. She
returned to Union-Castle on 15th February 1920 and was immediately
refurbished and put back into service. In 1928 she was laid
up in the East India Dock in London before being sold to Thos.
W. Ward for scrapping. (Photo: from UCPSC 09/96)
GAIKA
was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage
of 6287grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service
speed of 12.5 knots. Her career paralleled that of the Gascon
with the exception that during the war years she remained defensively
armed on the Africa service but under Government control, her
accommodation being used mainly by Civil Servants. She returned
to the Intermediate service in 1919 where she remained until
1926 when she was laid up at Netley in Southampton Water before
being broken up by Thos. W. Ward in 1928.
(Photo: from UCPSC 02/47)
GOORKHA
was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage
of 6287grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service
speed of 12.5 knots. Sister of the Gascon (2) she was built
for the Intermediate service and transferred to Union-Castle
on 8th March 1900 when the companies merged. In 1910 she was
moved to the East Africa service where she remained until 20th
October 1914 when she was commissioned as a hospital ship with
408 beds. On 10th October 1917 she was mined off Malta and all
362 patients and medical staff including 17 nurses were evacuated
without any casualties in 35 minutes. She was then towed into
Malta where on 18th October she was decommissioned and returned
to the company for repairs and resumption of commercial services.
She was laid up at Netley, Southampton Water in 1926 and eventually
broken up by Thos. W. Ward in 1928. (Photo: from UCPSC 08/63)
GERMAN
(2) /GLENGORM CASTLE was built in 1898 by Harland & Wolff
at Belfast with a tonnage of 6763grt, a length of 440ft, a beam
of 53ft and a service speed of 12.5 knots. An enlarged sister
of the Gascon (2) she was delivered as the German for the Intermediate
service but on transferring to Union-Castle in 1900 served as
a troopship during the Boer War. In August 1914 she was renamed
Glengorm Castle following the outbreak of war with Germany and
in the September was commissioned as a hospital ship with 423
beds. With British India's Vasna and Varela she was one of the
last hospital ships to be decommissioned in 1921 when they were
replaced by the permanent hospital ship Maine, formerly PSNC's
Panama. She continued to operate as a troopship in the Far East
until 1922-23 when she carried British peace-keeping troops
to Turkey. Returning to Union-Castle in 1925 she served on the
Intermediate service until 1930 when she was broken up in Holland.
(Photo: from UCPSC 05/48)
GALEKA was built in 1899 by Harland
& Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 6772grt, a length of
430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service speed of 12.5 knots.
Sister of the Gascon she was the last ship to enter service
with the Union Steam Ship Company before the merger. In September
1914 she was requisitioned for troopship duties to France and
on 22nd June 1915 began operating as a hospital ship with beds
for 366 patients. On 28th October 1916 she was mined off Le
Havre in heavy seas. As she was entering port from England there
were no patients on board but 19 Royal Army Medical Corps personnel
were killed by the explosion. Although she was beached at Cap
la Hogue she became a total loss.
GALICIAN/GLENART
CASTLE was built in 1900 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 6576grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in
and a service speed of 12.5 knots. During construction she was
transferred to Union-Castle following the merger and was never
registered as being owned by the Union Steamship Co. In December
1900, the last of the ten 'G's, went into service and in the
same month went to Dakar to pick up passengers and mail from
the disabled Dunottar Castle. On 15th August 1914 she was stopped
and boarded by the Armed German Merchant Cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm
der Grosse south of Tenerife. After several anxious hours the
commander of the German vessel, Max Reymann, signalled ' I will
not destroy you because of the women and children aboard, Good-bye'.
Two days later the German raider was sunk by HMS Highflyer.
When the ship returned to Southampton she was diplomatically
renamed Glenart Castle and became a hospital ship for 453 patients.
In March 1915 she took part in the Gallipoli campaign and served
in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean during 1916. On 1st March
1917 in calm weather she struck a mine laid by UC-45 off the
Owers Lightship between Le Havre and Southampton. All 520 sick
and wounded were saved by destroyers and other ships in less
than an hour before the Glenart Castle was towed to Portsmouth
where she was repaired. On 26th February 1918, while travelling
from Newport in South Wales to Brest, she was torpedoed and
sunk by the German U-boat U-56 20 miles west of Lundy Island.
Only 38 people survived out of a total crew an medical staff
of 206. The picture is of a painting of the intermediate steamer.
(Photo: from UCPSC 01/25)
SABINE was built in 1895 by Harland
& Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 3809grt, a length of
371ft, a beam of 43ft 2in and a service speed of 9 knots. She
was launched on 10th November 1894 as the Marino for Ocean Transport
Co. with Elder Dempster & Co. as managers for deployment
on their Liverpool to Canada run. She was acquired by the Union
Steam Ship Co. in 1898 for their joint cargo service with Clan
Line between Cape Town and New York and renamed Sabine. Joining
the merged Union-Castle Line in 1900 she was placed on collier
duties. In September 1909 she was chartered to the South African
Government as part of an expedition to sail to the Antarctic
in a desperate final attempt to find the Blue Anchor Line's
Waratah which had left Durban on the previous 26th July bound
for Cape Town and completely disappeared. It was believed that
the Waratah had broken down and drifted out of the shipping
lanes down to the ice shelf in the prevailing current. No trace
of her was found and she returned to Cape Town on 7th December.
In 1921 she was transferred to the associate company Bullard,
King & Co. of London and renamed Umzinto. She was sold for
scrap in June 1925, initially to a Dutch company but then to
Cantieri Navali ed Acciaieria de Venezia and broken up at Venice.
SUSQUEHANNA was built in 1896 by Barclay,
Curle & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3711grt, a length
of 350ft, a beam of 45ft 4in and a service speed of 10 knots.
With a profile similar to that of the Sabine she was completed
for as the Mount Sephar for Smith & Service of Glasgow.
She was acquired by the Union Steam Ship Co. in 1898 and renamed
Susquehanna for their South Africa to USA service. As part of
the Union-Castle line she was sold to Denaby Shipping &
Commercial Co. of Southampton in 1921 and renamed London City.
In 1922 her owners changed their name to Denaby & Cadeby
Main Collieries Ltd and the London City was relegated to a coal
depot ship at Brixham in Devon.
SANDUSKY was built in 1891 by Harland
& Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 6315grt, a length of
430ft, a beam of 47ft and a service speed of 13 knots. She was
launched on 31st October 1891 as the Ionia for the City of Liverpool
Steam Navigation Co. with D & W MacIver as managers but
as the company were taken over by Elder Dempster's Ocean Transport
Co. during completion she entered service as the Montezuma employed
on their North Atlantic services. During 1893 she was chartered
to Atlantic Transport Co. for a short time before reverting
to Elder Dempster's St Lawrence service for African Steamship
Co. In July 1898 she was acquired by the Union Steam Ship Co.,
renamed Sandusky and employed on the South Africa to USA service
which was referred to in South Africa as the Union-America Line.
She was sold to Mississippi & Dominion Steam Ship Co. of
Liverpool, with Richards, Mills & Co. as managers, and renamed
Englishman in 1899. In 1915 she was taken over by the British
& North Atlantic Steam Navigation Co's, Dominion Line. On
24th March 1916 she was sunk after being captured by U-34 30
miles north-east of Malin Head during a voyage from Avonmouth
to Portland, Maine with 10 persons lost out of a total complement
of 78.
BRITON
(3) was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 10248grt, a length of 530ft 3in, a beam of 60ft
3in and a service speed of 17.5 knots. When she entered service
she was first Union vessel to exceed 10000grt and the largest
ship operating between Great Britain and any of her colonies.
Only the Transatlantic liner were larger. In June 1898 she grounded
on the Shambles at Portland Bill without incurring any serious
damage. When the Boer War broke out in October 1899 she raced
to Cape Town with 1500 troops to reinforce the stretched British
garrisons in 15 days. On 8th March 1900 she transferred to Union-Castle
ownership and when she sailed from Southampton on 31st March
was the first Union ship to sport the new livery. In August
1914 she was one of six Union-Castle vessels in a troopship
convoy carrying 4000 troops from Cape Town to Europe. The other
vessels were Balmoral Castle, Dunluce Castle, Goorkha, Guildford
Castle and the Kenilworth Castle escorted by the cruisers HMS
Astraea and HMS Hyacinth. During 1915 she made several northbound
troop carrying voyages as well as serving in the Mediterranean
in the Turkish campaigns. In February 1918 she carried Nigerian
troops from Mombasa to Lagos and then to New York to carry US
troops to Europe. In 1919 she made voyages to New Zealand via
the Panama Canal on behalf of the Government until, in 1920,
she resumed commercial services. She was classed as a 'reserve
steamer' and laid up at Netley in January 1925 but re-entered
service during October and November as an effect of the seamen's
strike. She made her final sailing from Cape Town on 13th November
and was laid up again until broken up in Italy in April 1926.
TITAN was built in 1898 by Day, Summers
& Co. at Northam near Southampton with a tonnage of 151grt,
a length of 100ft and a beam of 21ft 1in. She was built as a
tug and tender for disembarking passengers at Durban and became
part of the Union-Castle fleet in 1900 when the companies merged.
In 1902 she was sold to African Boating Co. Ltd. for continued
service at Durban but with port of registry remaining at Southampton.
By 1912 she was owned by Beira Boating Co. Ltd of Southampton
, with W. Borders as managers, undertaking similar duties at
Beira in Mozambique. Her managers became W. Barr in 1918 and
she was finally broken up locally in 1930.
SAXON
(4) was built in 1900 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 12385grt, a length of 570ft, a beam of 64ft and
a service speed of 17.5 knots. She was launched as the last
vessel for the Union Steam Ship Co. but delivered to the newly
formed Union-Castle Line. Consequently, until she underwent
her first re-paint, she operated with a white hull and cream
masts but with Union-Castle's red funnel. In August 1902 she
arrived at Southampton with three Boer generals, Botha, de la
Ray and de Wet, the Boer War having ended on 31st May with the
establishment of three Boer republics within the British Empire.
When the First World War was declared in August 1914 she continued
operating the mail run but often carried contingents of troops
in third class. By this time London had become the temporary
terminal port as Southampton had been designated a military
port. In January 1917 she became a full troopship in both directions
and then used to ferry troops between Alexandria and Marseilles.
She then made one voyage from Alexandria to Basra, anchoring
in Koweit Bay and in November 1918 carried troops to Australia
before resuming commercial service in 1919 after a refit at
Harland and Wolff's in Belfast. In September 1920 she had a
minor mishap when she lost her rudder after hitting a barge
at Cape Town. On 14th August 1921, shortly after leaving Madeira,
a fire was discovered in her bunkers and with it under control
she made her way to Freetown in Sierra Leone escorted by British
India's Waipara. The Kenilworth Castle then took of the passengers
and the mail whilst the Armadale Castle escorted her to Cape
Town. She made her final sailing on the Intermediate run on
2nd January 1931 and in the following June was replaced by the
Warwick Castle and laid up at Netley as a reserve steamer. The
last remaining Union vessel, she was sold for scrap in 1935,
realising £27,500, and was broken up at Blythe, Northumberland
by Bolckow & Co. (Photo: from UCPSC 23/31)
GASCON
(2) was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 6287grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in
and a service speed of 12.5 knots. The first of three ships
she was an improved Gaul Class ship with three masts and delivered
for the Intermediate service which was, by then, strongly supported
with further ships on order. She transferred to the Union-Castle
fleet in March 1900 and in June 1905 was the first Union-Castle
ship to call at the new port of Lobito in Angola which had a
rail link to Elizabethville. In 1910 she was moved to the East
Africa service and in August 1914 went on the mail run when
the larger ships were requisitioned for war service. On 25th
November of that year she was commissioned as a hospital ship
with a capacity for 434 patients, her first task being to take
the surviving wounded from HMS Pegasus, which had been sunk
by the Koenigsburg on 20th September, back to Simonstown in
South Africa. During 1915 she served in the German East African
campaign and spent the remainder of the war in that area. She
returned to Union-Castle on 15th February 1920 and was immediately
refurbished and put back into service. In 1928 she was laid
up in the East India Dock in London before being sold to Thos.
W. Ward for scrapping. (Photo: from UCPSC 09/96) 
GAIKA
was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage
of 6287grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service
speed of 12.5 knots. Her career paralleled that of the Gascon
with the exception that during the war years she remained defensively
armed on the Africa service but under Government control, her
accommodation being used mainly by Civil Servants. She returned
to the Intermediate service in 1919 where she remained until
1926 when she was laid up at Netley in Southampton Water before
being broken up by Thos. W. Ward in 1928.
GOORKHA
was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage
of 6287grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service
speed of 12.5 knots. Sister of the Gascon (2) she was built
for the Intermediate service and transferred to Union-Castle
on 8th March 1900 when the companies merged. In 1910 she was
moved to the East Africa service where she remained until 20th
October 1914 when she was commissioned as a hospital ship with
408 beds. On 10th October 1917 she was mined off Malta and all
362 patients and medical staff including 17 nurses were evacuated
without any casualties in 35 minutes. She was then towed into
Malta where on 18th October she was decommissioned and returned
to the company for repairs and resumption of commercial services.
She was laid up at Netley, Southampton Water in 1926 and eventually
broken up by Thos. W. Ward in 1928. (Photo: from UCPSC 08/63)
GERMAN
(2) /GLENGORM CASTLE was built in 1898 by Harland & Wolff
at Belfast with a tonnage of 6763grt, a length of 440ft, a beam
of 53ft and a service speed of 12.5 knots. An enlarged sister
of the Gascon (2) she was delivered as the German for the Intermediate
service but on transferring to Union-Castle in 1900 served as
a troopship during the Boer War. In August 1914 she was renamed
Glengorm Castle following the outbreak of war with Germany and
in the September was commissioned as a hospital ship with 423
beds. With British India's Vasna and Varela she was one of the
last hospital ships to be decommissioned in 1921 when they were
replaced by the permanent hospital ship Maine, formerly PSNC's
Panama. She continued to operate as a troopship in the Far East
until 1922-23 when she carried British peace-keeping troops
to Turkey. Returning to Union-Castle in 1925 she served on the
Intermediate service until 1930 when she was broken up in Holland.
(Photo: from UCPSC 05/48) 
GALICIAN/GLENART
CASTLE was built in 1900 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 6576grt, a length of 430ft, a beam of 52ft 2in
and a service speed of 12.5 knots. During construction she was
transferred to Union-Castle following the merger and was never
registered as being owned by the Union Steamship Co. In December
1900, the last of the ten 'G's, went into service and in the
same month went to Dakar to pick up passengers and mail from
the disabled Dunottar Castle. On 15th August 1914 she was stopped
and boarded by the Armed German Merchant Cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm
der Grosse south of Tenerife. After several anxious hours the
commander of the German vessel, Max Reymann, signalled ' I will
not destroy you because of the women and children aboard, Good-bye'.
Two days later the German raider was sunk by HMS Highflyer.
When the ship returned to Southampton she was diplomatically
renamed Glenart Castle and became a hospital ship for 453 patients.
In March 1915 she took part in the Gallipoli campaign and served
in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean during 1916. On 1st March
1917 in calm weather she struck a mine laid by UC-45 off the
Owers Lightship between Le Havre and Southampton. All 520 sick
and wounded were saved by destroyers and other ships in less
than an hour before the Glenart Castle was towed to Portsmouth
where she was repaired. On 26th February 1918, while travelling
from Newport in South Wales to Brest, she was torpedoed and
sunk by the German U-boat U-56 20 miles west of Lundy Island.
Only 38 people survived out of a total crew an medical staff
of 206. The picture is of a painting of the intermediate steamer.
(Photo: from UCPSC 01/25) 
BRITON
(3) was built in 1897 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 10248grt, a length of 530ft 3in, a beam of 60ft
3in and a service speed of 17.5 knots. When she entered service
she was first Union vessel to exceed 10000grt and the largest
ship operating between Great Britain and any of her colonies.
Only the Transatlantic liner were larger. In June 1898 she grounded
on the Shambles at Portland Bill without incurring any serious
damage. When the Boer War broke out in October 1899 she raced
to Cape Town with 1500 troops to reinforce the stretched British
garrisons in 15 days. On 8th March 1900 she transferred to Union-Castle
ownership and when she sailed from Southampton on 31st March
was the first Union ship to sport the new livery. In August
1914 she was one of six Union-Castle vessels in a troopship
convoy carrying 4000 troops from Cape Town to Europe. The other
vessels were Balmoral Castle, Dunluce Castle, Goorkha, Guildford
Castle and the Kenilworth Castle escorted by the cruisers HMS
Astraea and HMS Hyacinth. During 1915 she made several northbound
troop carrying voyages as well as serving in the Mediterranean
in the Turkish campaigns. In February 1918 she carried Nigerian
troops from Mombasa to Lagos and then to New York to carry US
troops to Europe. In 1919 she made voyages to New Zealand via
the Panama Canal on behalf of the Government until, in 1920,
she resumed commercial services. She was classed as a 'reserve
steamer' and laid up at Netley in January 1925 but re-entered
service during October and November as an effect of the seamen's
strike. She made her final sailing from Cape Town on 13th November
and was laid up again until broken up in Italy in April 1926.
SAXON
(4) was built in 1900 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 12385grt, a length of 570ft, a beam of 64ft and
a service speed of 17.5 knots. She was launched as the last
vessel for the Union Steam Ship Co. but delivered to the newly
formed Union-Castle Line. Consequently, until she underwent
her first re-paint, she operated with a white hull and cream
masts but with Union-Castle's red funnel. In August 1902 she
arrived at Southampton with three Boer generals, Botha, de la
Ray and de Wet, the Boer War having ended on 31st May with the
establishment of three Boer republics within the British Empire.
When the First World War was declared in August 1914 she continued
operating the mail run but often carried contingents of troops
in third class. By this time London had become the temporary
terminal port as Southampton had been designated a military
port. In January 1917 she became a full troopship in both directions
and then used to ferry troops between Alexandria and Marseilles.
She then made one voyage from Alexandria to Basra, anchoring
in Koweit Bay and in November 1918 carried troops to Australia
before resuming commercial service in 1919 after a refit at
Harland and Wolff's in Belfast. In September 1920 she had a
minor mishap when she lost her rudder after hitting a barge
at Cape Town. On 14th August 1921, shortly after leaving Madeira,
a fire was discovered in her bunkers and with it under control
she made her way to Freetown in Sierra Leone escorted by British
India's Waipara. The Kenilworth Castle then took of the passengers
and the mail whilst the Armadale Castle escorted her to Cape
Town. She made her final sailing on the Intermediate run on
2nd January 1931 and in the following June was replaced by the
Warwick Castle and laid up at Netley as a reserve steamer. The
last remaining Union vessel, she was sold for scrap in 1935,
realising £27,500, and was broken up at Blythe, Northumberland
by Bolckow & Co. (Photo: from UCPSC 23/31) 
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