SS Maheno

The New Zealand hospital ship Maheno

During World War I Maheno was converted into a hospital ship using money raised by an appeal by the Earl of Liverpool, the Governor-General. It was fitted with eight wards and two operating theatres, and had a medical team consisting of five doctors and 61 orderlies from the Army Medical Corps, a matron, thirteen nursing sisters, from the newly formed New Zealand Army Nursing Service and chaplains.[4] In accordance with Article 5[5] of the 1899 Hague Convention it was repainted white overall, with a broad green stripe along its sides, and large red crosses on the sides and funnels.[6]

HMNZHS Maheno arrived at Moudros, the naval base of the Gallipoli Campaign, on 25 August 1915, and the next day was off ANZAC Cove, loading casualties from the Battle of Hill 60. Over the next three months, it carried casualties from Gallipoli to Malta. They were cared for by members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service including Evelyn Brooke.[7] Maheno arrived back at New Zealand on 1 January 1916 to refit, then returned to Egypt in February to collect patients for transport back to New Zealand. It then sailed to the UK, arriving at Southampton on 3 July 1916, just after the start the Battle of the Somme. Until October 1916 it operated in the English Channel, returning large numbers of wounded and sick troops from the Western Front to England.

Maheno sailed back to New Zealand in December 1916, and then made six more voyages between New Zealand and the British Isles, bringing back patients.[4] There were criticisms of the Maheno making several trips to New Zealand to refit or to transport wounded soldiers home when most could have gone in a troopship; and also that the ship has been run by the Governor (Liverpool) as "His Exc’s pet patriotic hobby." The Chief Medical Officer was William Collins on its first voyage and James Elliott on its second and third voyages. In 1915 Collins "raised hackles by denying nurses their officer status and deluding himself that he could command the ship’s commander, the master" (Captain McLean). In 1917 British Major Gretton was critical of the staff and said “he (Liverpool) puts his friends on the ship when they want soft jobs”. The ship’s nickname is “Liverpool’s yacht”. The complaint got as far as the Secretary of State for the Colonies; Liverpool said Gratton behaved like a cad.[8]

At the War's end in November 1918 Maheno was released from military service and returned to its business owner, whereupon resumed its commercial life.

At the end of its commercial life, on 3 July 1935 Maheno left Sydney under tow[9] by the 1,758-ton ship Oonah, a former Tasmanian Steamers Pty. Ltd. Bass Strait ferry, built in 1888, which along with the Maheno had been sold to the shipbreaker's yard Miyachi K.K.K. in Osaka, Japan.[10] The ships were linked by a 900-foot (270 m) 6.75-inch (17.1 cm) wire rope.[9]

On the afternoon of 7 July,[10] about 50 miles from the coast,[10] the towline parted in a cyclone. Attempts to re-attach the towline failed in the heavy seas, and the Maheno, with a skeleton crew of eight men aboard, drifted off and disappeared.[9] The Oonah, with its steering gear temporarily disabled, broadcast a radio message requesting assistance for Maheno, whose propellers had been removed.[11] Maheno was subsequently found on 10 July by an aircraft piloted by Keith Virtue, beached off the coast of Fraser Island.[12] The crew had set up camp onshore, waiting for the Oonah to arrive, which it did on 12 July.[13] The wreck was also the location of the marriage of Dudley Weatherley and Beatrice McLean (instead of at Townsville), at the invitation of Captain Takaka, to notes from the ship's Bechstein piano.[14][15][16] The stranded ship was also used as a venue for an experiment in 'rocket mail' in August 1935.[17]

The ship was subsequently stripped of its fittings,[18] but attempts to refloat her failed. The wreck was subsequently offered for sale, but no buyers could be found for it.[19]