S.S. Ascanius, departing of the South Australian infantry of the first Australian expeditionary force. Image courtesy State Library of South Australia B10303

S.S. Ascanius, departing of the South Australian infantry of the first Australian expeditionary force. Image courtesy State Library of South Australia B10303

HMAT Ascanius

Originally known as the SS Ascanius and part of the British-owned Ocean Steamship Company or Blue Funnel Line (so called because of their distinctive black topped blue funnels), this passenger liner was requisitioned by the Commonweath in 1914 as a troop ship, becoming His Majesty’s Australian Transport (HMAT). It was one of a fleet of 28 Australian and 10 New Zealand transports under a convoy of warships that left Albany, Western Australia on 1 November 1914 carrying the First Detachment of the Australian and New Zealand Imperial Expeditionary Forces.

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