RMS ''Dunottar Castle'' was a

Royal Mail Ship Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel de ...

that went into service with the Castle Line (and its successor, the

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

) 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 The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by a Scot, James MacQueen. The line's motto was ''Per Mare Ubique'' (everywhere by sea). After a troubled start, it became the largest shipping group ...

as the ''Caribbean''. After the outbreak of the First World War she served as HMS ''Caribbean'', first as a

troop ship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

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 Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

Shipyards in 1889 by the

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy ...

for the Castle Line, passing to the

Union Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

in 1900. She became famous in the 1890s for reducing the voyage from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, from 42 to 17 days and 20 hours. In 1894 she grounded for two tides near the

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse that is located on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 ...

. 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 The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. She carried General

Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forc ...

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 The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

and carried some of the most famous Boer War warriors of the time, including two famous scouts, Major

Frederick Russell Burnham Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teach ...

and Col.

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the wor ...

, as well as a young war correspondent for the

Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...

by the name of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. 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 The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

) service. In 1908 she was chartered to Sir Henry Lunn Ltd for cruises to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, and in 1911 she took guests to the Delhi Durbar of King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

. Union-Castle became part of the

Royal Mail Group , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

in 1912, and ''Dunottar Castle'' was sold to the

in 1913 as the ''Caribbean''. In 1914 she was requisitioned as HMS ''Caribbean'' for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, initially as a troop ship to bring soldiers from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

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 south of Cape Wrath,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. 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 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

*3 July 1899, "at a few days" notice from Lord Wolseley, Col.

left

on ''Dunottar Castle'' and arrived in Cape Town on 25 July. On 10 October 1899 the

began and three days later Baden-Powell was cut off by the Boers in the

Siege of Mafeking The siege of Mafeking was a 217-day siege battle for the town of Mafeking (now called Mafikeng) in South Africa during the Second Boer War from October 1899 to May 1900. The siege received considerable attention as Lord Edward Cecil, the son of ...

*14 October 1899

sailed from Southampton aboard ''Dunottar Castle'' and reached Cape Town on 31 October. *November 1899, General

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

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 ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

to become the second in command. * July 1900, Winston Churchill and

left

and returned to England on 20 July as war heroes. On the voyage home, Churchill wrote the following letter to Cecil Rhodes: *In December 1900, her propeller shaft snapped and she had to be towed into

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the 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 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunottar Castle 1890 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Ocean liners Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Second Boer War Ships of the Union-Castle Line Maritime incidents in 1894 Maritime incidents in 1915 World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War I Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy