HMS Manica was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1901 and was scrapped in Japan in 1931. She was built as a dry cargo ship but spent the latter part of her career as an oil tanker.
She is most notable for her service in the First World War. In 1915 she was converted into the Royal Navy's first kite balloon ship. Later in the war the Navy had her converted into an oiler. The Admiralty sold her back into civilian service in 1920.
She was renamed Huntball in 1917 and Phorus in 1920. Her original owner was Bucknall Steamship Lines Ltd, which in 1914 became part of Ellerman Lines and was renamed Ellerman & Bucknall. After the First World War she was owned by Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, which is part of Royal Dutch Shell.
Building
In 1900 and 1901 Bucknall Steamship Lines Ltd took delivery of a set of four new sister ships from two shipbuilders in North East England. In 1900 Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd at Sunderland on the River Wear launched Manica on 25 September and Barotse on 22 December. In 1901 Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd at Low Walker on the River Tyne launched Bantu on 16 July and on 12 September. All four ships were named after peoples or places in southern Africa, where Bucknall traded.
The four ships were built to almost identical dimensions. Manicas registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were and . T Richardson & Sons of Hartlepool built her engine, which was a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine rated at 530 NHP.
Sir James Laing completed Manica on 21 December 1900. Bucknall's registered her in London. Her UK official number was 112782 and her code letters were SDGP.
Crew
In Bucknall's service, Manica was crewed by a mixture of white and Lascar seafarers. In October 1907 one of her Lascars was hospitalised in Suez and died of pneumonia. In May 1908 three of her Lascars died of beri-beri and were buried at sea. Later that month another she lost another Lascar at sea, believed drowned. In July 1908 she arrived in the River Tyne, where another four Lascars were taken ashore to hospital with beri-beri.
At the end of August 1910 Manica docked in Port Adelaide, South Australia. Two members of her crew jumped ship there. One was from Ceylon and the other was African American, which made them "prohibited immigrants" under the White Australia policy. The South Australian authorities held her Master, Francis Potts, responsible. On 22 September he was convicted at Port Adelaide Police Court, fined £100 for each man and charged 20 shillings for court costs.
Details of the two fugitives were published in South Australian newspapers, and £10 reward was offered for their capture. On 24 September they were arrested on a farm some miles from Adelaide. On 26 September Port Adelaide Police Court convicted them of desertion and sentenced them to seven days in prison.
Manica lost two more Lascars listed as missing at sea: one in February 1914 and the other in January 1915. Each was believed to have drowned.
Kite balloon ship
On 12 February 1915 Manica arrived in the Port of London with a cargo of manure. On 11 March the Admiralty requisitioned her. She was converted to carry a kite balloon for naval observation. She was fitted with long sloping deck from her forecastle to her waist, a hydrogen compressor to inflate her balloon, a dynamo to drive the compressor, and a winch to raise and lower the balloon. In civilian service she had lacked wireless telegraph, so a deckhouse for a W/T installation was added. She would need a larger complement as a kite balloon ship than as a cargo ship, so accommodation for more officers and men was added.
On 22 March she was commissioned as HMS Manica, with the pennant number Y4.17. She was manned by Royal Naval Reserve officers and merchant marine reserve crew. On 25 March Manicas chief steward died of natural causes. He is buried at Flaybrick Hill Cemetery in Birkenhead.
Gallipoli
On 16 April Manica reached Lemnos in the Aegean Sea, which was an Allied base for the Gallipoli campaign. She spent the next few days making test flights of her balloon. She was assigned to the Second Squadron to support the Landing at Anzac Cove. On various dates Manica directed the fire of Royal Navy battleships including , and .