SS Marquette (1897)
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 United Kingdom
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| Port of registry: | London |
| Builder: | Alexander Stephen and Sons, Glasgow |
| Yard number: | 373 |
| Launched: | 25 November 1897 |
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| Fate: | Torpedoed and sunk on 23 October 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | cargo steamship |
| Tonnage: | 7,057 GRT |
| Length: | 486 feet 6 inches (148.29 m) |
| Beam: | 52 feet 4 inches (15.95 m) |
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| Installed power: | 770 nominal horsepower |
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| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Range: | Bunker capacity: 1,100 tons |
SS Marquette was a British troopship of 7,057 tons which was torpedoed and sunk in the Aegean Sea 36 nautical miles (67 km) south of Salonica, Greece on 23 October 1915 by SM U-35, with the loss of 167 lives.
The ship was originally planned as the SS Boadicea, for the Wilson and Furness-Leyland Line, but was acquired by the Atlantic Transport Line shortly after completion to replace ships requisitioned during the Spanish–American War. She made a single voyage under the name Boadicea, and was renamed Marquette on 15 September 1898.
On 19 October 1915 the ship departed from Alexandria, Egypt, destined for Salonika (now Thessalonika) in Greece. The total ship's complement was 741: 95 crew, 6 Egyptians, the No 1 Stationary Hospital (36 nurses, 12 officers and 143 other ranks), and the Ammunition Column of the British 29th Division (10 officers and 439 other ranks). There were also 491 mules and 50 horses on board. Captain John Bell Findlay (born 1853 in Montrose, Scotland; died Essex 1938) was Master.
On leaving Alexandria, the ship was accompanied by a French destroyer escort, however the escort left the Marquette on the night of 22 October. At 9.15a.m. on 23 October, the ship was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side and immediately listed to port. Some on board were killed by the explosion, while others were killed by lifeboats which were inexpertly launched - one, for example, fell onto another which was already in the water. The ship sank within 10 minutes, with nurses, soldiers and crew still on board. Many survivors died in the water while waiting to be rescued.
A naval Court of Enquiry into the sinking was held on the protected cruiser HMS Talbot in Salonica Harbour on 26 October. The report, dated 3 November, found that no-one was at fault.
The Stationary Hospital had been allocated to a troop ship by the British authorities, despite an empty British hospital ship, the Grantully Castle having sailed on the same route on the same day from Egypt to the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki. The loss of nurses and medical staff led to the New Zealand government asking the War Office (via the Governor, Lord Liverpool) in November 1915 that transfers of medical staff be done by hospital ships where possible Subsequent voyages of the 1st New Zealand Stationary Hospital were made in hospital ships.
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