Skip to main content
Advanced Search
HMAT EURIPIDES troopship 1st AIF - World War I
HMAT EURIPIDES troopship 1st AIF - World War I

HMAT EURIPIDES troopship 1st AIF - World War I

Photographer (Australian, 1899 - 1953)
Date1914 - 1917
Object number00024832
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionHMAT EURIPIDES as a troopship, 1st AIF, in Sydney Harbour.HistoryThe SS EURIPIDES was a triple-screw steamship built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast for the Aberdeen Line. Her maiden voyage to Australia began on July 1, 1914. On arrival she was one of 28 vessels requisitioned by the Australian government and fitted out as a troop ship. She was equipped to carry 136 officers, 2204 other ranks and provided stabling for 20 horses and took part in the first Australian troop convoy to the Dardanelles. During the First World War she carried more than 38,000 troops, and in 1919 she returned to the London-Australia run via the Cape of Good Hope. During the Second World War she remained on commercial service although under general requisition, usually with Government cargo and service passengers. In 1932 she was acquired by the Shaw Savill and Albion Company and renamed AKAROA. Her boilers were converted from coal to oil burning, and extensive alterations were made in her passenger accommodation. The ship was finally scrapped in 1954. The Akaroa was unusual in having both steam piston engines and a steam turbine for driving her three propellers. http://swallow.brucesmith.info/HistoryPages/SSEuripides.htmlSignificanceThe Samuel J Hood photographic collection records an extensive range of maritime activity on Sydney Harbour, including sail and steam ships, crew portraits, crews at work, ship interiors, stevedores loading and unloading cargo, port scenes, pleasure boats and harbourside social activities from the 1890s through to the 1950s. They are also highly competent artistic studies and views - Hood was regarded as an important figure in early Australian photojournalism. Hood’s maritime photographs are one of the most significant collections of such work in Australia.