RMS Dunottar Castle

For the castle in Aberdeenshire, see Dunnottar Castle. For the 1936 cruise liner, see MS Dunnottar Castle.

Dunottar Castle at Dartmouth, Devon
History
United Kingdom
Name	Dunottar Castle
Owner	Union-Castle Line
Builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
Yard number	348
Laid down	1889
Launched	22 May 1890
In service	1890
Fate	Sunk 35 mi (56 km) off Cape Wrath 27 September 1915
General characteristics
Tonnage	5,625 GRT
Length	433 ft (132 m)
Beam	49 ft 8 in (15.14 m)
Draught	25 ft (7.6 m)
Propulsion	Single screw
Speed	17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) service speed

Dunottar Castle, from an 1893 book

RMS Dunottar Castle was a Royal Mail Ship that went into service with the Castle Line (and its successor, the Union-Castle Line) in 1890 on the passenger and mail service between Britain and South Africa. In 1913 the ship was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company as the Caribbean. After the outbreak of the First World War she served as HMS Caribbean, first as a troop ship and then as an armed merchant cruiser, until she sank in a storm off the Scottish coast on 27 September 1915.

Construction and service

The Dunottar Castle was built at Govan Shipyards in 1889 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company for the Castle Line, passing to the Union Castle Line in 1900. She became famous in the 1890s for reducing the voyage from Southampton, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, from 42 to 17 days and 20 hours. In 1894 she grounded for two tides near the Eddystone Lighthouse. She was refitted in 1897 when the funnels were heightened, her yards were removed and she was given a wheelhouse.

Troop ship

In November 1899 Dunottar Castle was requisitioned as a troop ship in the Second Boer War. She carried General Redvers Buller and 1,500 troops to Cape Town for Boer War duties and on the following voyage carried Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. In the war she made frequent trips between Britain and the Cape Colony and carried some of the most famous Boer War warriors of the time, including two famous scouts, Major Frederick Russell Burnham and Col. Robert Baden-Powell, as well as a young war correspondent for the Morning Post by the name of Winston Churchill.

In 1904 Dunottar Castle was laid up at Netley in Southampton Water, but by 1907 she was being chartered to the Panama Railroad Co. for their New York to Colon (Panama Canal) service. In 1908 she was chartered to Sir Henry Lunn Ltd for cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean, and in 1911 she took guests to the Delhi Durbar of King George V.

Union-Castle became part of the Royal Mail Group in 1912, and Dunottar Castle was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in 1913 as the Caribbean. In 1914 she was requisitioned as HMS Caribbean for World War I, initially as a troop ship to bring soldiers from Canada to Europe and later as an Armed Merchant Cruiser. But after it was found that she was unsuitable to carry gun mountings, she was converted into a dockyard workers' accommodation ship in May 1915.

Loss

Caribbean sailed for Scapa Flow on 24 September 1915, but foundered at noon on 26 September, about 35 miles (56 km) south of Cape Wrath, Scotland. Several ships were despatched to assist when her SOS message was received, but most were obliged to turn back due to the poor weather. Some trawlers from Stornoway and the light cruiser HMS Birkenhead managed to reach the scene. An attempt by the Birkenhead to place the Caribbean under tow failed, but most of the crew were rescued in the night.

The Caribbean sank early on 27 September, and the 15 crewmen still aboard died. The ensuing Court of Enquiry later blamed the ship's carpenter for being insufficiently familiar with the ship and for failing to shut all the scuttles. Like most of the crew, he had joined the ship just 10 days earlier. The wreck was found in 2004, undisturbed except for fishing nets.

Second Boer War milestones

<imagemap> File:Burnham churchill jul1900.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=A formative photograph of 17 men. Eight stand, seven sit on chairs and two are on the floor.|Returning from the Boer War on the RMS Dunottar Castle, July 1900. Standing L-R: Sir Byron Leighton, Claud Grenfel, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, Captain Gordon Forbes, Abe Bailey (his son John would marry Diana Churchill in 1932), next two unidentified, John Weston Brooke. Seated L-R: Major Bobby White, Lord Downe, General Sir Henry Edward Colvile (a year later Churchill as MP would demand an inquiry over his dismissal from South Africa), Major Harry White, Major Joe Laycock, Winston Churchill, Sir Charles Bentinck. Sitting L-R: unidentified, Col. Maurice Gifford (who had lost his arm in the Second Matabele War).

poly 1 145 18 97 34 90 39 83 31 59 26 56 33 53 33 40 47 34 55 47 64 46 62 61 59 80 62 88 84 95 92 123 79 123 74 128 69 142 71 151 68 164 49 170 35 184 7 171 Sir Byron Leighton poly 98 122 101 102 123 93 124 88 120 66 114 61 124 56 131 46 135 48 141 47 145 59 153 62 149 73 144 89 149 92 169 100 171 108 154 112 147 122 152 135 157 145 157 157 130 169 96 161 109 136 Claud Grenfel poly 213 162 185 150 183 138 188 131 187 117 179 108 200 92 200 85 193 79 194 65 208 56 225 66 223 92 236 103 239 117 240 142 Major Frederick Russell Burnham poly 236 108 232 97 250 89 249 58 267 47 283 58 277 78 276 93 293 100 293 105 285 150 266 144 274 109 257 101 Captain Gordon Forbes poly 288 163 315 145 309 112 328 103 345 112 342 145 363 155 372 93 353 77 356 44 344 32 329 35 326 57 330 61 327 71 301 84 290 122 Abe Bailey poly 365 156 370 158 400 142 394 113 425 104 425 146 446 164 479 141 477 113 510 111 518 121 543 94 532 56 507 43 503 13 485 12 480 50 455 73 447 83 431 72 429 57 430 29 400 32 396 51 401 62 402 71 384 81 379 90 unidentified poly 539 121 550 73 576 56 562 27 584 19 596 20 597 49 606 61 604 160 572 133 Lord Brooke poly 19 225 46 169 70 160 70 152 69 128 93 125 107 134 96 163 92 176 109 186 110 228 121 240 114 295 35 268 Major Bobby White poly 147 260 164 226 191 211 193 199 192 183 212 180 212 163 185 153 182 137 187 132 184 112 174 109 154 113 152 123 158 144 158 155 136 167 124 215 124 251 134 265 Lord Downe poly 213 181 217 156 244 144 237 110 258 102 270 112 264 143 287 155 285 202 285 226 255 259 236 225 226 223 235 189 228 184 Major-General Sir Henry Edward Colville poly 286 223 289 160 316 145 309 112 331 99 348 113 341 142 370 157 368 183 351 200 350 219 Major Harry White poly 367 181 373 158 394 150 399 142 393 108 410 103 426 109 423 148 449 165 439 203 444 221 409 194 390 181 Major Joe Laycock poly 443 221 440 193 452 163 480 149 475 128 478 113 504 113 508 133 501 150 524 166 534 219 513 272 465 246 462 229 Sir Winston Churchill poly 549 265 539 216 531 185 553 175 547 165 542 146 561 136 581 145 579 171 600 190 606 214 604 271 Sir Charles Bentinck poly 470 308 437 347 350 350 323 322 335 313 351 298 359 239 375 225 366 211 353 209 347 201 369 185 388 183 409 196 401 216 427 235 442 280 441 297 Colonel Maurice Gifford poly 142 272 163 228 192 209 191 187 215 179 230 189 234 200 227 205 224 224 238 230 269 280 244 311 171 324 unidentified

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• 3 July 1899, "at a few days" notice from Lord Wolseley, Col. Robert Baden-Powell left Southampton on Dunottar Castle and arrived in Cape Town on 25 July. On 10 October 1899 the Second Boer War began and three days later Baden-Powell was cut off by the Boers in the Siege of Mafeking
• 14 October 1899 Winston Churchill sailed from Southampton aboard Dunottar Castle and reached Cape Town on 31 October.
• November 1899, General Redvers Buller and 1,500 troops were carried by Dunottar Castle to Cape Town to reinforce British Army forces at the start of the Second Boer War.
• 23 December 1899, Lord Roberts quickly departed Southampton on his way to South Africa on the Dunottar Castle where he took command of the British forces in the Second Boer War. En route, Lord Kitchener joined Lord Roberts on Dunottar Castle in Gibraltar to become the second in command.
• July 1900, Winston Churchill and Frederick Russell Burnham left South Africa and returned to England on 20 July as war heroes. On the voyage home, Churchill wrote the following letter to Cecil Rhodes:

My dear Mr Rhodes,

Abe Bailey has spoken to me about a plan to send a small private expedition from Cape Town to Cairo, and has suggested my coming with him. Of course I must think first of all of getting into the House of Commons, but I daresay the general election will be over before the expedition would start and were that the case I daresay I could get away.

I should personally like very much indeed to take part in such an interesting venture, and as I have to make my own living it would be a great advantage to me to do so, for what with a series of letters to a London newspaper and a good sized book to be published later, I should be able to earn a good deal of money.

Now it seems to me that this writing would help to attract public attention to the Cape to Cairo route and stimulate the interest taken in your railway scheme: so that perhaps you will think that our roads lie for some small distance in the same direction. If this be so and you would like me to go with this small expedition as Bailey's companion, will you write me - or have me written for I know you have many things to occupy you - a letter on the subject. This should reach me in about two months time, and I will then give you a definite answer without delay, for by then I shall know what prospect there is of my being able to play at 'the cup and ball trick' (to quote your expression) in the House of Commons.

I lunched and dined with Frankie at Groote Schuur and much admired your beautiful house. I am sorry not to have seen you in South Africa, but the Boers interfered with most peoples' arrangements.

Yours sincerely,
Winston S. Churchill.

12 July 1900

• In December 1900, her propeller shaft snapped and she had to be towed into Dakar. Galician went into service and in the same month went to Dakar to pick up passengers and mail from the disabled Dunottar Castle.
• On 25 November 1901 the Dunottar Castle was disabled and towed into Dakar by the Runic.

External links

• Media related to Dunottar Castle (ship, 1890) at Wikimedia Commons