HMT Royal Edward

Royal Edward, c. 1910–14 Royal Edward, c. 1910–14
Career
Name:	1907: RMS Cairo 1910: RMS Royal Edward
Owner:	1907: Egyptian Mail Steamship Company 1910: Royal Line
Operator:	1914: Admiralty
Port of registry:	1907: London 1910: Toronto
Route:	1907: Marseilles–Alexandria 1910: Avonmouth–Montreal–Quebec
Builder:	Fairfields Govan, Scotland
Yard number:	450
Launched:	July 1907
Completed:	January 1908
Fate:	sunk by Template:SMU, 13 August 1915
General characteristics
Type:	ocean liner
Tonnage:	11,117 GRT
Length:	160.3 m (525 ft 11 in) (oa)
Beam:	18.4 m (60 ft 4 in)
Propulsion:	3 × propeller shafts 3 × steam turbines
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h)
Capacity:	Passengers: 344 first class 210 second class 560 third class
Troops:	1,367
Crew:	220
Notes:	two funnels, three masts

HMT Royal Edward was a passenger ship belonging to the Canadian Northern Steamship Company that was sunk during the First World War with a large loss of life while transporting Commonwealth troops. She had previously been known as RMS Cairo when she was launched in 1907 for a British mail service to Egypt.

Design and construction

Cairo and sister ship Heliopolis were built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Scotland. Cairo was launched in July 1907 and entered service after her completion in January 1908. As built, Cairo was 160.3 metres (525 ft 11 in) in length (overall) and 18.4 metres (60 ft 4 in) abeam. The ship was powered by three steam turbines that drove three propeller shafts, and moved the ship at up to 19 knots (35 km/h). Cairo could accommodate up to 1,114 passengers in three classes of service: 344 in first class, 210 in second class, and 560 in third.

Prewar career

Cairo entered service for the Egyptian Mail Steamship Company, a British-owned company that provided a fast mail service between Marsailles and Alexandria. The mail service was not successful and Cairo and sister Heliopolis were laid up in 1909 when the service was ended after a year.

Both ships were sold to the newly established Canadian Northern Steamship Company, a subsidiary of the Canadian Northern Railway, in 1910. The Toronto-based steamship company operated the ships under its Royal Line brand. The pair of ships were renamed upon purchase—Cairo became Royal Edward and Heliopolis became Royal George— and refitted for travel on the North Atlantic. In Royal Line service, Royal Edward sailed from Avonmouth to Montreal in the summer months and to Halifax in the winter months. At the outbreak of World War I, Royal Edward and Royal George were both requisitioned for use as troopships.

World War I

On 28 July 1915, Royal Edward embarked 1,367 officers and men at Avonmouth. The majority were reinforcements for the British 29th Infantry, but also included were members of the Royal Army Medical Corps. All of the men were destined for Gallipoli. Royal Edward was reported off the Lizard on the evening of the 28th, and had arrived at Alexandria on 10 August, a day after sister ship Royal George which had departed from Devonport. Royal Edward departed Alexandria for the harbour of Moudros on the island of Lemnos, a staging point for the ships in the Dardanelles.

On the morning of 13 August, Royal Edward passed the British hospital ship Soudan, which was headed in the opposite direction. Oberleutnant zur See Heino von Heimburg on the German submarine Template:SMU was off the island of Kandeloussa and saw both ships. Von Heimburg, seeing the properly identified hospital ship, allowed Soudan to pass unmolested, but soon focused his attention on the unescorted Royal Edward some 6 nautical miles (11 km) off Kandeloussa. Von Heimburg launched one of UB-14's two torpedoes from a about a mile (2 km) away and hit Royal Edward in the stern. The ship sank by the stern within six minutes.

Royal Edward's crew was able to get off an SOS before losing power. Soudan, after making a 180° turn, arrived on the scene at 10:00 and was able to rescue 440 men over the next six hours. Two French destroyers and some trawlers that responded were able to rescue another 221. According to authors James Wise and Scott Baron, Royal Edward's death toll was 935 and was as high as it was, they contend, because Royal Edward had just completed a boat drill and the majority of the men were belowdecks re-stowing their equipment. Some other sources report different numbers of casualties, ranging from 132 on the low end, to 1,386, or 1,865 on the upper end.

References

HMT Royal Edward, Old Postcard

Bibliography

• OLIFF Richard, Fastest to Canada, The Royal Edward, From Govan to Galipolli. Published 2004
• Bonsor, N. R. P. (1975). North Atlantic Seaway: An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (Enl. and rev. ed.). New York: Arco Pub. Co.. OCLC 1891992. 
• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9780870219078. OCLC 12119866. 
• Gilbert, Martin (1996) [1994]. The First World War: A Complete History (1st Owl books ed.). New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 9780805076172. OCLC 34792651. 
• Hendrickson, Robert (1984). The Ocean Almanac (1st ed.). Garden City, New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385140775. OCLC 8532256. 
• Tennent, A. J. (2006) [1990]. British Merchant Ships Sunk by U boats in the 1914–1918 War. Penzance: Periscope Publishing. ISBN 1904381367. 
• Wise, James E.; Baron, Scott (2004). Soldiers Lost at Sea: A Chronicle of Troopship Disasters. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781591149668. OCLC 52182511.