USAT McClellan was a United States Army transport ship that saw service during the Spanish–American War and World War I. She also participated in the occupation of Veracruz in 1914.
McClellan was originally SS Port Victor, a steel-hulled passenger-cargo screw steamer, built for Anglo-Australian service in the 1880s. Eventually converted into an early example of a refrigerated ship, Port Victor continued in Australian service until shortly before her sale in 1898 to the United States government for use as a transport during the Spanish–American War.
After the war, she was renamed USAT McClellan and employed as a U.S. Army transport for more than twenty years, supplying the garrisons in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Sold in 1919, she briefly returned to mercantile service under the name SS Hastier, until being damaged by a fire in 1920 and subsequently scrapped.
Construction and design Port Victor was built by Andrew Leslie & Co."Wm. Milburn & Co. - The Fleet" , Merchant Navy Association website. at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1885 for W. Milburn & Co., a company which operated a fleet of ships between Britain and Australia under a subsidiary known as the Anglo-Australian Steam Navigation Company. Port Victor was the Milburn Line's first steel-hulled ship, as well as being the first of the company's ships to have a clipper bow and be fitted with a triple expansion engine. Like most of the Anglo-Australian Line's ships, Port Victor was named after an Australian port, in this case that of Port Victor, South Australia (now known as Victor Harbor).
Port Victor was a passenger-cargo ship of 2,793 tons"Expected Arrivals", The West Australian, 1894-07-24, p. 4. (1,828 tons gross)."Purchase Of Transports", The Brisbane Courier, 1898-07-09, p. 5. The ship had two decks, six watertight bulkheads,American Bureau of Shipping 1922. p. 886. two masts, barque-rigged, and a single funnel. Her powerplant was a 400 IHP, three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine with cylinders of 27, 42 and 70 inches by 48-inch stroke. With her fine, "yacht-like" proportions, Port Victor was considered to be "out of the ordinary run" of tramp steamers and "one of the handsomest" of the Milburn fleet."Shipping Reports: The S.S. Port Victor", The Argus, 1889-06-07, p. 7. In addition to her cargoes, she could carry both cabin-class and steerage passengers.
Service history Australian service Port Victor entered service in 1885. For the next dozen years, she would operate from her homeport of London to a host of Australian ports, including those of Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart and Darwin, as well as other Pacific and Far Eastern destinations such as New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Batavia.
Port Victors initial service period proved eventful. Her first recorded voyage to Australia took place in December 1885, carrying eight cabin- and six steerage-class passengers in addition to her cargoes. Upon arrival in Australia, the ship immediately became embroiled in controversy when The Argus newspaper in Melbourne accused a company responsible for providing some of the ship's cargoes of falsely describing a consignment of 13 tons of bisulphate of carbon, "a chemical of a most volatile and combustible nature", as sheep dip."Victorian Items", The Mercury, 1886-01-13, p. 4. The firm in question quickly sued the paper for libel, and in August 1887, won damages of £250 in a split jury decision. The Argus however maintained that it had been correct to publish the story, citing public safety and noting that public pressure had since forced the shipping firm in question to reduce the amount of the chemical shipped in individual vessels."Saturday, August 20, 1887", The Argus, 1887-08-20, p. 9.
Shortly before the resolution of this court case, in July 1887, Port Victor again became the source of "considerable excitement" when one of the ship's passengers arriving in Sydney from Hong Kong turned out to have smallpox."Intercolonial: New South Wales", The Argus, 1887-07-12, p. 9. The passenger was quickly quarantined while the Sydney Board of Health took steps to have Hong Kong declared an "infected port"."Palmerston, Saturday, August 27", Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 1887-08-27, p. 2.
In June of the following year, Port Victor was again in the news, this time as the result of a rough passage from London to Sydney. On 28 May, the ship had run into a gale which tore away the topsails, while heavy seas smashed the port side of the upper bridge, wrecked the forward house on the bridge, and damaged one of the lifeboats. Sheep pens, hen coops, dog kennels and livestock on the ship's deck were swept overboard, and the passenger quarters, including the saloons and cabins, were flooded."Shipping", The Mercury, 1888-06-28. A little over a year later, on 8 July 1889, the ship suffered a second accident when she ran aground on a reef off Restoration Island, northwest of Brisbane, on a coal-carrying voyage from Newcastle, NSW to Batavia. The ship was refloated without damage a few days later after the removal of about 200 tons of cargo."Queensland: The S.S. Port Victor", The West Australian, 1889-07-12.
In October 1889, Port Victor sailed from London bound for Sydney with relieving crews for the Royal Navy ships HMS Royalist and , arriving at her destination after a rough passage in mid-December."The S.S. Port Victor", The Argus, 1889-12-17."Special Telegrams: The Australian Squadron", The Argus, 1889-10-15. Egorias discharged crew, which had been engaged in a survey mission for a cable-laying project to Vancouver, New Zealand, exchanged places with the relieving crew aboard Port Victor for the return voyage to Britain."Survey Of The Proposed Vancouver Cable Route", The West Australian, 1889-11-27. Port Victor was back in Melbourne by May 1890, with a cargo of ammunition and railway rolling stock for the government, in addition to four draught horses presumably brought out for breeding purposes."Shipping Reports: The S.S. Port Victor", The Argus, 1890-05-13, p. 10.
Refrigeration ship The exact date on which Port Victor was converted into a refrigeration ship is not known, but it is known that ships of the Anglo-Australian Line, including Port Victor, began to transport apples and pears from Tasmania to Britain in about 1891, suggesting the conversion took place around this time. As marine refrigeration was still in its infancy, this particular venture seems to have been something of a hit-and-miss affair, with some fruit shipments arriving in Britain in good condition and others not."Conference Of Fruit Growers", The Mercury, 1897-07-24, p. 1.
In 1894, Port Victor sailed from London bound for Western Australia with a passenger complement of fifty female emigrants, handpicked by the United British Women's Immigration Association, for placement in the colony as female servants, for whom there was much demand. The girls were said to be "much pleased" with the accommodations arranged for them aboard ship."News and Notes", The West Australian, 1894-03-06, p. 4."News and Notes", The West Australian, 1894-02-27, p. 4.
A couple of voyages to London reported on in 1895 give an idea of the kind of exports produced in Australia at the time. In a June 1895 voyage, Port Victor sailed with 73 "specially selected bullocks", although 17 died before reaching their destination. Upon arrival in Britain, it was decided to slaughter the animals as the ship had made a port of call at Malta during its voyage. The carcasses yielded an average of 122 stone each (976 lb), which was sold wholesale at between 3s. 2d. and 3s. 4d. per stone. The cargo on this trip also included a number of emus, although the reason for their export is not disclosed."The Export of Australian Cattle", The Argus, 1895-06-11, p. 5."Commercial: The Live Stock Trade", The West Australian, 1895-06-12, p. 5."Colonial Produce", The Mercury, 1895-06-13, p. 2. In November, Port Victor sailed from Melbourne for London with a cargo of 2,100 bales of wool, and 440 cases of rabbits from the Hamilton Preserving Factory."Direct Shipment From Portland", The Argus, 1895-11-29, p. 6.
Port Victors last known voyage between Britain and Australia took place in 1896."Shipping Telegrams", The Argus, 1896-01-28, p. 4. In February 1897, after twelve years of Pacific service, the refrigerated vessel was shifted to the Caribbean, where she appears to have carried the first-ever cargo of Jamaican fruit direct to London, in a move her owners hoped would "create a revolution in the foreign fruit trade"."Jamaica in Covent Garden", The Mercury, 1897-02-20, p. 2. Shortly afterward however, on 7 July 1898, Port Victor and another ship of the Anglo-Australian Line, Port Chalmers, were purchased for £31,500 and £70,000 respectively"Reported Sales", The Mercury, 1898-08-11, p. 2. by the United States government, for use as transports following the outbreak in April of the Spanish–American War."American Transports: Anglo-Australian Steamers Purchased", The Argus, 1898-07-09, p. 9.
U.S. Army transport A few days after the purchase by the U.S. government of Port Victor, an "infernal machine"—a bomb consisting of 30 lbs of dynamite—was reportedly discovered and disarmed on board the vessel."Attempt To Blow Up American Steamer: Discovery Of Infernal Machine", The Mercury, 1898-07-27, p. 2."Dynamitards And The War", The West Australian, 1898-07-27, p. 5. Port Victor was thereafter quickly put into operation, transporting Red Cross ambulances and mules to Cuba; unfortunately, the shipment came too late to assist the wounded after the battles for Santiago.American National Red Cross Relief Committee, p. 27. In August, the ship also transported 150 tons of ice to Santiago for use in the hospitals.American National Red Cross Relief Committee, p. 75.
After the war, Port Victor was retained by the U.S. Army and converted into a transport by the removal of her refrigeration equipment."Transport Service To Cuba Ends June 30", The New York Times, 1901-05-07. Renamed USAT McClellan, the ship would spend the next two decades in Army service.
Cuban and Puerto Rican service From the end of the Spanish–American War in August 1898 through to May 1901, McClellan and several other Army transports were engaged in the supply and rotation of U.S. occupation troops in the newly conquered territories of Cuba and Puerto Rico. McClellan maintained a regular monthly service to the islands at a cost of about $13,000 per voyage, transferring troops, government officials, civilians and supplies to and from the outposts. On several occasions, the ship was also used to return the remains of U.S. soldiers and others who had died during the occupation from illness and other causes. 76 bodies were returned in this manner in January 1900, followed by 101 in March of the same year and another 39 in February 1901. Most of the deceased were apparently victims of yellow fever."Brings Bodies of Soldiers", The New York Times, 1900-01-21."Soldier Dead Arrive", The New York Times, 1900-03-04."Transport Brings Many Dead From Cuba", The New York Times, 1901-02-20.
In August 1899, McClellan became the subject of a test case after a dispute at Gibara, Cuba, between two of the ship's officers, the quartermaster and the sailing master, the latter of whom resigned after having his advice to put to sea before the onset of a hurricane overruled by the former. The sailing master was later dismissed from government service over the episode, thus settling the "vexed question" of which officer exercised ultimate authority on an Army transport."The McClellan Arrives", The New York Times, 1899-08-04."Capt. Brickley Dismissed", The New York Times, 1899-08-19.