An item reported that the medical service during the British expedition in Egypt did not work.(1) But the same was also in force for transporting the sick and wounded men back to England. A journalist of the British newspaper Daily News described the situation on board of the Malabar. (2) Although she was really not over loaded were the sick and wounded men left hungry, neglected by the medical practitioners and commonly worse nursed. Sick men needing good and healthy food did get just dry bread, porter-beer, weak tea and tough meat, all worse and too little in the morning at 06.30 o’clock and in the afternoon at 15.30 o’clock that what was they got. Although there were vegetables and poultry on board they got nothing of it. Seven hospital attendants did everything possible but their number was such insufficient that some officers which were on board as passengers voluntarily helped. Wounded had to refresh their own bandages and two men died lacking sufficient help.
Notes
1. The Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 was fought between the United Kingdom supporting the Egyptian and Sudanese Khedive Tewfik Pasha against the rebelling army officer Ahmed Orabi or Urabi.
2. A screw steam troop transport of the Euphrates-class of which the building was ordered in 1865. She was launched at the shipyard Thames Shipbuilding Company at Leamouth, London on 8 December a year later with as yard number 120. Renamed on 1 May 1905 Terror was she sold in January 1918. With a displacement of 6,186 tons or 4,189 tons builders measurement were her dimensions 360 (over all) x 49’0.75”x 22’4” or 109,7 x 15,0 x 6,81 metres. Her armament consisted of just 3-4pdr guns. Her original 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion engine supplied 4,893 ihp allowing a speed of 15 knots and she was barque-rigged. In 1873 was she fitted out with a Napier 2-cylinder compound expansion engine.
Notes
1. The Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 was fought between the United Kingdom supporting the Egyptian and Sudanese Khedive Tewfik Pasha against the rebelling army officer Ahmed Orabi or Urabi.
2. A screw steam troop transport of the Euphrates-class of which the building was ordered in 1865. She was launched at the shipyard Thames Shipbuilding Company at Leamouth, London on 8 December a year later with as yard number 120. Renamed on 1 May 1905 Terror was she sold in January 1918. With a displacement of 6,186 tons or 4,189 tons builders measurement were her dimensions 360 (over all) x 49’0.75”x 22’4” or 109,7 x 15,0 x 6,81 metres. Her armament consisted of just 3-4pdr guns. Her original 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion engine supplied 4,893 ihp allowing a speed of 15 knots and she was barque-rigged. In 1873 was she fitted out with a Napier 2-cylinder compound expansion engine.
