Honouring the Men who gave their lives whilst serving in the Merchant Navy
and whose names are on the Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

S.S. MANITOU (West Hartlepool)  -  WW1

S.S. Manitou was intercepted on 16 April 1915 by a Turkish torpedo boat during the Dardanelles campaign during which three torpedoes were fired according to official accounts - but none of them did any damage. Several hundred people left the ship voluntarily expecting her to be sunk or blown up as she was carrying a large amount of ammunition. During the attack twenty soldiers who were on board were killed as well as some of the crew - this is due to one of the boats capsizing and a davit breaking as a boat was being lowered. The attacking vessel was driven off by the British cruiser Minerva.