The white ships : New Zealand's First World War hospital ships / Gavin McLean.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface and acknowledgements -- Principal players, terminology and technical matters -- Introduction -- -- 1. The White Ships' green days -- Re-engining the 'Terrible Turk -- -- 2. Fundraising and fitting out -- 'Able to do my little bit' or 'hospital ship cadging'? Lord Liverpool's appeal -- -- 3. 'My Maheno Maid'- to Gallipoli, hell and back 1915 -- T cannot write what I had to do as it is too awful' - horror off Anzac -- 'The rumour persists that the vessel did not carry a strikingly happy family -- 'The worst slap in the eye since leaving' - homecoming -- 'His Exc's pet patriotic hobby, the hospital ship 'Maheno -- -- 4. 'A mission more urgent than the sailing of summer seas -- The Mâfahïâ joins the white ships 1915 -- 'One continualWn' ^ after the Somme -- -- 5. 'The tinned fowls were the best quality procurable' - shipboard daily life -- 'The worst crowd of men'? - the ships' crews -- 'No place on which to dump weaklings' - the personnel -- Heroes and 'hospital ship birds' - the patients -- 'Fish on board has a peculiar smell' - grub, gripes and grog -- -- 6. The war on the hospital ships - later service 1917 -- 'German barbarity' - U-boats and hospital ships -- Flu, frustrations and planters' wives - final voyages -- 'Rich enough to make it bilious' - bean counting and bickering -- -- 7. 'The voices of the gale sounded her requiem' - last days and legacies -- Appendix 1: Hospital ships' movements 1915 -- Appendix 2: Peacetime careers -- Select bibliography -- Index.

"In 1915 the government chartered the trans-Tasman liners Maheno and Marama for use as our first hospital ships. For the next four years, starting with the Maheno off the beach at Gallipoli, they travelled the globe, staffed by Kiwi seamen, doctors and nurses. Back home, thousands of New Zealanders made items and raised money to support these 'mercy ships' and followed their movements closely as they transported the sick and wounded from many countries"--First World War Centenary Project website.