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. On
22 April 1922 she briefly ran aground near Green Point
Lighthouse, Cape Town. In 1926, she was laid up in Southampton
Water but did a trip to Mauritiusin 1927. The vessel
was laid up in East India Dock, London in 1928 but sailed
to Savona, Italy in 1929 for scrapping.
Union Castle had a practice until 1939, of keeping at
least two older vessels "in reserve" usually
off Netley, Southampton Water with a skeleton crew and
in reasonable readiness, due to a very strict mail contract.
(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. On
22 April 1922 she briefly ran aground near Green Point
Lighthouse, Cape Town. In 1926, she was laid up in Southampton
Water but did a trip to Mauritiusin 1927. The vessel
was laid up in East India Dock, London in 1928 but sailed
to Savona, Italy in 1929 for scrapping.
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) 
