Galeka (ship)
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The Galeka was a passenger steamer put into service in 1900, which was used by the British shipping company Union-Castle Line in passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and South Africa . During the First World War , the ship served as HMHS Galeka (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) as a hospital ship until it ran aground on a German sea mine near La Hague on October 28, 1916 . She was the first ship of the Union-Castle Line to be lost in the war.
The ship
When in March 1900 the shipping companies Union Steamship Company Ltd. ( Union Line , founded 1857) and Castle Mail Packet Company Ltd. ( Castle Line , founded 1862) merged and formed the new Union-Castle Line, the ships of both companies became the property of the Union-Castle Line. The last ship the Union Line put into service before the merger was the 6772 GRT passenger steamer Galeka , which was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The ship was launched on October 21, 1899. It was completed on December 23, 1899.
She was the second of three sister ships , all of which were built by Harland & Wolff. This was the last trio to be commissioned by the Union Line. The other two were the German (Bj. 1898, later Glengorm Castle ), which was in service until 1930, and the Galician (Bj. 1900, later Glenart Castle ), which was also sunk by a German submarine in 1918 as a hospital ship has been.
All three ships were twin screw express steamers with a measurement of over 6700 GRT, which were equipped with a chimney, two masts and triple expansion steam engines. They were used in passenger traffic from Great Britain to South Africa and were able to carry 70 passengers in the first, 105 in the second and 91 in the third class. The top speed was 12.5 knots (23.2 km / h).
After the outbreak of World War I, the Galeka was requested by the British government and used as a troop transport to bring soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to Gallipoli . Then it was converted into a hospital ship with 366 beds and painted in the corresponding colors white and green.
On Saturday, October 28, 1916, the Galeka , which had no patients on board, wanted to enter the port of Le Havre . Five nautical miles northwest of Cap de la Hague at the position 49 ° 34 ' N , 0 ° 5' E , it ran into a mine that had been laid by the German submarine UC 26 (Kapitänleutnant Matthias Graf von Schmettow). The ship could be put aground on the beach of La Hague, but was a total loss. 19 members of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) were killed in the incident.
