Troopships and the Regiment

OHMS or How 1200 soldiers went to Table Bay

During the Boer War the Tintagel Castle carried 1200 soldiers from Southampton to Cape Town in March 1900.  A book recorded and illustrated by the ships surgeon, Dr W W L McClean, and the Third Officer E H Shackleton recorded the voyage.

SS Tintagel Castle..

She was a ship of 5531 tons.  Daily life on board is fully described from the departure at Southampton to arrival in Cape Town.  The voyage took 20 days 6 hours and 39 minutes, and the distance travelled was 5953 miles.

The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment and the East Surrey Regiment had drafts on board to join both 2^nd Battalions engaged in the war in South Africa.

A final wave to England, 10th March 1900.	HMS Himalaya
The main troop deck.	Sharpening bayonets.

The book is further invaluable in that it gives the Number, Rank and Name of all passengers; 3 Officers and 93 Other Ranks for the Queen’s and 3 Officers and 113 Other Ranks for the Surreys.

In the Chapter “How we were Fed” a weekly menu was published, which is reproduced below.  Also included is the list of stores loaded at Southampton for the outward and return voyages.

How we were Fed

It is no easy matter to provide a daily menu for a large body of troops on shore; the difficulty is far greater when they are afloat, and when it is necessary to lay in, before the voyage begins, a stock of food sufficient to last for a period of three weeks or longer, and of such quantity and variety as to ensure a liberal supply, with not too large remainder at the end of the voyage.  The purpose of giving in this article a short account of the quantities required to provision the Tintagel Castle for her 6,000 mile trip and with her 1,200 soldiers aboard, and also an outline of the arrangements for preparing the food supply, and copy of the bill of fare.

The whole of the catering was most ably superintended by our energetic chief steward, Mr E Young.  Our chef, R B Merryweather, upon whose shoulders fell the labour of preparing the daily food supply for such a larger number of men, carried out his onerous duties very thoroughly, his forces in the galley numbering four assistant cooks and two Tommies, lent for the occasion, one of whom was an embryo parson, and the other an Oxford undergraduate.  There were also two assistants in the vegetable locker and scullery.  No less than two tons of coal were consumed daily in keeping the galleys working.

The baking of our bread supply fully occupied, night and day, three ship’s bakers and two volunteers from the ranks and daily some 1,200lbs of flour were used in preparing the bread.

The butcher’s staff consisted of two ship’s butchers and two soldier assistants, and that they had their work cut out may be gathered from the fact that the daily consumption of meat was some 16 cwt.  The meat, and, in fact, all other perishable foods, such as fish, fruit etc, was kept in the large refrigerating chambers of which there were four, capable of holding 160 tons of provisions, and before using required to be thoroughly thawed for some hours.

The list of provisions
The stores placed on board in London for the voyage out and home included:-

10 tons fresh beef		1,300 lbs dried currants
3,000 lbs salt beef		1,700 lbs raisins
12 tons mutton		212 gallons pickles
3,700 lbs preserved meat		1,900 lbs suet
3,200 lbs pork		22 tons potatoes
1,400 lbs sausages		3 cwt pressed vegetables
1 ½ tons bacon		1 ton preserved carrots
1,350 lbs salt fish		1,600 lbs split peas
1 ton Findon haddocks		1 ton dried green peas
5,400 lbs fresh herrings		2,800 lbs calavances
1,350 lbs smoked cod		22 tons flour
1 ton canned salmon		2 tons biscuits
4,000 lbs butter		4,800 lbs oatmeal
4,000 lbs cheese		5,700 lbs rice
200 gallons fresh milk		1,200 lbs pearl barley
5,500 tins condensed milk		130 lbs semolina
2,000 lbs coffee		22,000 eggs
1,200 lbs tea		130 lbs pepper
93 cwt sugar		300 lbs mustard
2,800 lbs Golden Syrup		170 lbs curry powder
2,700 lbs jam		1,800 lbs salt
5 ½ tons marmalade		200 gallons vinegar
600 gallons apples		900 quarts lime juice
1,240 lbs prunes		170 lbs malt
1,200 lbs dried figs		24 lbs hops

 

The two latter articles mentioned were for baking purposes, whilst, in addition to the large supply of potatoes and other vegetables, no less than one hundred and fifty pounds worth of fresh vegetables were used on the voyage.

For lovers of the fragrant weed, there were 1,600 lbs of tobacco, 2,000 cigars and 25,000 cigarettes.  During the voyage 27,648 bottles of beer and 17,064 bottles of mineral water, including 3,000 of ginger ale, 5,500 lemonade, and 3,200 soda were consumed making a total of 44,712 or nearly two bottles per day per man.

No less than 84,000 gallons of fresh water were distilled during the voyage, in addition to 49,000 gallons received from the shore.  This allowed nearly five gallons per man daily, the average daily consumption being 6,650 gallons.

Four meals were served daily, and some idea may be formed as to the kind of fare provided from the weekly bill of fare, which was in use throughout the voyage.

Breakfast was at 7.30am
Dinner at noon
Tea at 5pm and
Supper at 8pm

	BREAKFAST		DINNER		TEA		SUPPER
Monday	Porridge & Golden Syrup. Stewed Steak Bread & Butter, Coffee		Soup, Roast Beef Boiled Mutton Cabbage, Boiled Potatoes, Compote Of Figs.		Cold Meat Pickles, Jams Tea, Bread & Butter		Bread & Cheese Biscuits
Tuesday	Porridge & Golden Syrup Findon Haddock. Bread & Butter, Coffee		Soup, Boiled Beef & Vegetables. Roast Mutton, Haricot Beans, Boiled Potatoes, Stewed Apples & Rice		Cold Meat Pickles, Jam Canned Salmon Tea, Bread & Butter		Bread & Cheese Biscuits
Wednesday	Porridge & Golden Syrup Grilled Sausages, Bread & Butter, Coffee		Soup, Braised Beef & Vegetables. Boiled Mutton, Blue Peas, Boiled Potatoes, Compote Of Prunes.		Cold Meat Pickles, Jam Tea, Bread & Butter		Bread & Cheese Biscuits
Thursday	Porridge & Golden Syrup Scrambled Eggs & Bacon Bread & Butter, Coffee		Soup, Roast Beef Roast Mutton, Pumpkin, Boiled Potatoes, PlumPudding.		Cold Meat Pickles,Canned Herrings Marmalade Tea, Bread & Butter.		Bread & Cheese Biscuits
Friday	Porridge & Golden Syrup Ling Fish & Egg Sauce Bread & Butter, Coffee.		Soup, Boiled Beef & Vegetables. Roast Mutton, Cabbage, Boiled Potatoes, Rice Pudding.		Coat Meat Pickles, JamTea, Bread & Butter		Bread & Cheese Biscuits
Saturday	Porridge & Golden Syrup Grilled Steak, Bread & Butter, Coffee.		Soup, Roast Beef Boiled Mutton Haricot Beans, Boiled Potatoes Compote of Figs		Cold Meat Pickles, Canned Salmon Marmalade Tea, Bread & Butter.		Bread & Cheese Biscuits
Sunday	Porridge & Golden Syrup Buttered Eggs & Bacon Bread & Butter, Coffee.		Soup, Braised Beef & Vegetables Roast Mutton, Blue Peas, Boiled Potatoes, Plum Pudding.		Cold Meat Pickles, Jam Canned Herrings Tea, Bread & Butter.		Bread & Cheese Biscuits

E G Young, Chief Steward.

Troops leaving the ship at Cape Town docks.

 

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