Merchant Navy officers on board AHS MANUNDA

Images(2)

Merchant Navy officers on board AHS MANUNDA

Photographer Samuel J Hood Studio (Australian, 1899 - 1953)

Date1940

Object number00022397

NameNitrate negative

MediumCellulose acetate negative, black and white

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis photograph depicts AHS MANUNDA's Merchany Navy officers. From left to right, Third Officer Allan Scott Smith (died of wounds aboard MANUNDA 20 February 1942 en route from Darwin to Fremantle), Fourth Officer Eric Pyett, Second Officer Frederick Utting (wearing WW1 Service Ribbon), Master Captain James Garden, First Officer Thomas Minto, First Radio Officer Walter Shacklock and two unidentified officers. HistoryTSMV MANUNDA, Adelaide Steamship Company, was converted to a hospital ship in 1940. After carrying out four trips to the Middle East and Mediterranean MANUNDA was despatched to Darwin. On the morning of 19 February 1942, the Japanese executed air raids on Darwin, including ships in or near the harbour. MANUNDA was hit, despite wearing hospital markings. Twelve members of the ship's crew and hospital staff were killed, including the nurse Margaret de Mestre, AANS, who became the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF) nurse, killed in action in World War II. Despite its damage, MANUNDA became a casualty clearing station for injured personnel from other ships and sailed to Fremantle the next day. The remainder of the war saw MANUNDA make 27 voyages from Papua New Guinea to Australia as a hospital ship transporting wounded troops. The vessel also carried out duties in the wider Pacific and at war's end was dispatched to Singapore and Borneo to repatriate ex-POWs and civilian internees who had been imprisoned. MANUNDA was returned to its owner and resumed passenger voyages. Of the attack at Darwin, a newspaper reported: MANUNDA's Men Ignored Bombs Surrounded by oil tankers, naval corvettes and supply ships the hospital ship MANUNDA lay in Darwin Harbour on February 19, when bombs rained like hailstones as Japanese aircraft made their initial raid. The Japanese bombers came from inland and made a direct attack on the shipping in the harbour. There was a terrific detonation as a bomb tore through the MANUNDA's boat deck, wrecking part of the bridge, the smoke room and reception room. The ship was enveloped in smoke and one plane then dived and machine-gunned the MANUNDA on the port side. Armour-piercing bullets ripped through her plates above the waterline and several holes had to be plugged. Portholes on the upper deck were shattered. An officer and a corporal were killed instantly while several others were wounded. Feeling her way amid burning oil and shattered wreckage, and loaded with Darwin casualties, the MANUNDA put to sea. Throughout the attack, there was no panic on board. The captain was on the bridge throughout, and the crew stood at their posts. An officer said he did not believe the attack on the MANUNDA was planned. "The vessel was attacked by only one plane which appeared to be trying to get at two ships which were circling round the hospital ship. We were in the way so he attacked us. There were so many targets near us that to have escaped damage would have been a miracle", said the officer. - The Telegraph (Brisbane) 9th March 1942. SignificanceThe 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.