Other Docks Gallery

SS St Julien at the Banana Dock in Dieppe c.1939

SS St Julien is pictured here at the Banana Dock in Dieppe during her service as a hospital ship. St Julien was built in 1925 as a vessel to serve the GWR's Weymouth route, which she did until requisitioned by the government on the 9th September 1939 to work as a troop ship. During the following month the steamer was sent to Southampton to be converted into Hospital Ship No. 29 and she began work ferrying casualties from France back to Britain, from where they would be taken by train to hospitals around the country. St Julien took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk, crossing the channel 6 times in an attempt to reach troops, where, despite being clearly identified as a hospital ship, she came under enemy fire. She survived Dunkirk and subsequent service as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean, and at the end of the war SS St Julien returned to operation on the Weymouth Service

© STEAM Museum of the GWR