The naval hospital ship, HMHS Maine

Abstract

In historical naval tradition, HMHS Maine has been perpetuated in a long line of hospital ships. The earliest record of a hospital ship of that name comes from the South African War, when it referred to a vessel given by Bemard H. Baker, then President of the Atlantic Transport Company of Baltimore, New York. Her conversion cost more than £41,000 and was undertaken by a Committee of American ladies in London under the Presidency of Lady Randolph Churchill. Winston Churchill later wrote: 'While I had been busy in South Mrica my mother had not been idle at home. She had raised a fund, captivated an American millionaire, obtained a ship, equipped it as a hospital with a full staff of nurses and every comfort', and he noted the coincidence that 'she received her younger son as the very first casualty on board the hospital ship Maine'.