Sinking of the SS Marquette

On October 23, 1915 the HT Marquette was torpedoed and sank within 15 minutes with the loss of 167 lives, including ten New Zealand nurses of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS) and 22 New Zealand Medical Corps staff. The 7000 ton transport was transferring the No 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital from Alexandria in Egypt to Salonika (modern-day Thessaloniki) in northern Greece and was torpedoed less than 50 kilometres from the safety of Salonika Bay and anti-submarine nets.

The nurses lost were Marion Brown, Isabel Clark, Catherine Fox, Mary Gorman, Nora Hildyard, Helena Isdell, Mabel Jamieson, Mary Rae, Lorna Rattray and Margaret Rogers. Of the nurses only two bodies were recovered and only one was identified. The body of Margaret Rogers was found in a lifeboat and identified by Royal Navy crew from her name engraved on her wristwatch. She was given a naval funeral and is buried in Mikra British Cemetery in Kalamaria, in the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. A second body reportedly found in the lifeboat with Margaret Rogers has never been identified but may have been that of Helena Isdell. There is a grave in Mikra British Cemetery of  "A nursing sister of the Great War. Known unto God."

An irony reported at the time was that the 552-bed British hospital ship Grantully Castle sailed on the same day from Alexandria, taking the same course to Salonika and was empty. The tragedy caused a change of policy to require all medical staff in future to be transported by hospital ships where they might well be less likely to be attacked. On the day, the Grantully Castle picked up many Marquette survivors from the water.