British transport Mohawk sent with Boer prisoners of war to Ceylon according to the Dutch newspaper De Zeeuw dated 26 July 1900

An item reported that the British transport Mohawk was send to Ceylon with on board 235 prisoners of war including 16 officers men. Among the prisoners were 100 from Transvaal, 55 Dutch, 22 Irish Americans, 33 Germans and the other 25 had several other nationalities.(1) The edition dated 9 August reported that she still did not arrive.

The newspaper Goessche Courant dated 25 August 1900 published a letter written by doctor Koster on board of the Mohawk on 20 July to the chairman of the Dutch Red Cross. At that moment was the ship still at Durban and just 24 hours after his arrival on board he heard that his destination was Ceylon. He described her a passenger ship on the line San Francisco and Hong Kong and excellent fitted out. The doctors travelled as 1^st class passengers, the rest of the personnel was treated as soldiers. He expected to arrive at Ceylon around 1 August after a voyage of two weeks.

Note

1. The Second Boer War found place between 11 October 1899 and 31 May 1902 and ended in a defeat of the Boers and regaining British sovereignty of the Orange Free State and South African Republic (Transvaal). In 1920 became the Union of South Africa part of the Commonwealth.