USAT McClellan USAT " McClellan " was a United States Army transport ship that saw service during the Spanish - American War and World War I . She also participated in the occupation of Veracruz in 1914 . " McClellan " was originally SS " Port Victor " , a steel - hulled passenger - cargo screw steamer built for Anglo - Australian service in the 1880s . Eventually converted into an early example of a refrigeration ship , " Port Victor " continued in Australian service until shortly before her sale in 1898 to the United States government for use as a transport during the Spanish - American War . After the war , she was renamed USAT " McClellan " and employed as a U . S . Army transport for more than twenty years , supplying the garrisons in Cuba , Puerto Rico and the Philippines . Sold in 1919 , she briefly returned to mercantile service under the name SS " Hastier " , until being damaged by a fire in 1920 and subsequently scrapped . Construction and design . " Port Victor " was built by Andrew Leslie & Co . at Newcastle - on - Tyne in 1885 for W . Milburn & Co . , a company which operated a fleet of ships between Britain and Australia under a subsidiary known as the Anglo - Australian Steam Navigation Company . " Port Victor " was the Milburn Line ' s first steel - hulled ship , as well as being the first of the company ' s ships to have a clipper bow and be fitted with a triple expansion engine . Like most of the Anglo - Australian Line ' s ships , " Port Victor " was named after an Australian port , in this case that of Port Victor , South Australia ( now known as Victor Harbor ) . " Port Victor " was a passenger - cargo ship of 2 , 793 tons ( 1 , 828 tons gross ) . She was fitted with triple expansion steam engines and her auxiliary sails were barque - rigged . With her fine , " yacht - like " proportions , she was considered to be " out of the ordinary run " of tramp steamer s and " one of the handsomest " of the Milburn fleet . In addition to her cargoes , she could carry both cabin - class and steerage passengers . Service history . Australian service . " Port Victor " entered service in 1885 . For the next dozen years , she would operate from her homeport of London to a host of Australian ports , including those of Melbourne , Sydney , Hobart and Darwin , as well as other Pacific and Far Eastern destinations such as New Zealand , Singapore , Hong Kong and Batavia . " Port Victor " s initial service period proved eventful . Her first recorded voyage to Australia took place in December 1885 , carrying eight cabin - and six steerage - class passengers in addition to her cargoes . Upon arrival in Australia , the ship immediately became embroiled in controversy when " The Argus " newspaper in Melbourne accused a company responsible for providing some of the ship ' s cargoes of falsely describing a consignment of 13 tons of bisulphate of carbon , " a chemical of a most volatile and combustible nature " , as sheep dip . The firm in question quickly sued the paper for libel , and in August 1887 , won damages of £250 in a split jury decision . " The Argus " however maintained that it had been correct to publish the story , citing public safety and noting that public pressure had since forced the shipping firm in question to reduce the amount of the chemical shipped in individual vessels . Shortly before the resolution of this court case , in July 1887 , " Port Victor " again became the source of " considerable excitement " when one of the ship ' s passengers arriving in Sydney from Hong Kong turned out to have smallpox . The passenger was quickly quarantined while the Sydney Board of Health took steps to have Hong Kong declared an " infected port " . In June of the following year , " Port Victor " was again in the news , this time as the result of a rough passage from London to Sydney . On 28 May , the ship had run into a gale which tore away the topsails , while heavy seas smashed the port side of the upper bridge , wrecked the forward house on the bridge , and damaged one of the lifeboats . Sheep pens , hen coops , dog kennels and livestock on the ship ' s deck were swept overboard , and the passenger quarters , including the saloons and cabins , were flooded . A little over a year later , on 8 July 1889 , the ship suffered a second accident when she ran aground on a reef off Restoration Island , northwest of Brisbane , on a coal - carrying voyage from Newcastle , NSW to Batavia . The ship was refloated without damage a few days later after the removal of about 200 tons of cargo . In October 1889 , " Port Victor " sailed from London bound for Sydney with relieving crews for the Royal Navy ships HMS " Royalist " and , arriving at her destination after a rough passage in mid - December . " Egoria " s discharged crew , which had been engaged in a survey mission for a cable - laying project to Vancouver , New Zealand , exchanged places with the relieving crew aboard " Port Victor " for the return voyage to Britain . " Port Victor " was back in Melbourne by May 1890 , with a cargo of ammunition and railway rolling stock for the government , in addition to four draught horse s presumably brought out for breeding purposes . Refrigeration ship . The exact date on which " Port Victor " was converted into a refrigeration ship is not known , but it is known that ships of the Anglo - Australian Line , including " Port Victor " , began to transport apples and pears from Tasmania to Britain in about 1891 , suggesting the conversion took place around this time . As marine refrigeration was still in its infancy , this particular venture seems to have been something of a hit - and - miss affair , with some fruit shipments arriving in Britain in good condition and others not . In 1894 , " Port Victor " sailed from London bound for Western Australia with a passenger complement of fifty female emigrants , handpicked by the United British Women ' s Immigration Association , for placement in the colony as female servants , for whom there was much demand . The girls were said to be " much pleased " with the accommodations arranged for them aboard ship . A couple of voyages to London reported on in 1895 give an idea of the kind of exports produced in Australia at the time . In a June 1895 voyage , " Port Victor " sailed with 73 " specially selected bullocks " , although 17 died before reaching their destination . Upon arrival in Britain , it was decided to slaughter the animals as the ship had made a port of call at Malta during its voyage . The carcasses yielded an average of 122 stone each ( 976 lb ) , which was sold wholesale at between 3s . 2d . and 3s . 4d . per stone . The cargo on this trip also included a number of emus , although the reason for their export is not disclosed . In November , " Port Victor " sailed from Melbourne for London with a cargo of 2 , 100 bales of wool , and 440 cases of rabbits from the Hamilton Preserving Factory . " Port Victor " s last known voyage between Britain and Australia took place in 1896 . In February 1897 , after twelve years of Pacific service , the refrigerated vessel was shifted to the Caribbean , where she appears to have carried the first - ever cargo of Jamaican fruit direct to London , in a move her owners hoped would " create a revolution in the foreign fruit trade " . Shortly afterward however , on 7 July 1898 , " Port Victor " and another ship of the Anglo - Australian Line , " Port Chalmers " , were purchased for £31 , 500 and £70 , 000 respectively by the United States government , for use as transports following the outbreak in April of the Spanish - American War . U . S . Army transport . A few days after the purchase by the U . S . government of " Port Victor " , an " infernal machine " — a bomb consisting of 30 lbs of dynamite — was reportedly discovered and disarmed on board the vessel . " Port Victor " was thereafter quickly put into operation , transporting Red Cross ambulances and mules to Cuba ; unfortunately , the shipment came too late to assist the wounded after the battles for Santiago . In August , the ship also transported 150 tons of ice to Santiago for use in the hospitals . After the war , " Port Victor " was retained by the U . S . Army and converted into a transport by the removal of her refrigeration equipment . Renamed USAT " McClellan " , the ship would spend the next two decades in Army service . Cuban and Puerto Rican service . From the end of the Spanish - American War in August 1898 through to May 1901 , " McClellan " and several other Army transports were engaged in the supply and rotation of U . S . occupation troops in the newly conquered territories of Cuba and Puerto Rico . " McClellan " maintained a regular monthly service to the islands at a cost of about $ 13 , 000 per voyage , transferring troops , government officials , civilians and supplies to and from the outposts . On several occasions , the ship was also used to return the remains of U . S . soldiers and others who had died during the occupation from illness and other causes . 76 bodies were returned in this manner in January 1900 , followed by 101 in March of the same year and another 39 in February 1901 . Most of the deceased were apparently victims of yellow fever . In August 1899 , " McClellan " became the subject of a test case after a dispute at Gibara , Cuba , between two of the ship ' s officers , the quartermaster and the sailing master , the latter of whom resigned after having his advice to put to sea before the onset of a hurricane overruled by the former . The sailing master was later dismissed from government service over the episode , thus settling the " vexed question " of which officer exercised ultimate authority on an Army transport . Not long after " McClellan " s departure from Gibara , a hurricane devastated Puerto Rico , and " McClellan " spent the next two months carrying relief supplies to the island , provided by both the government and private donors . On August 24 , for example , the ship sailed with 1 , 600 tons of supplies including a wide variety of foodstuffs , clothing , medicines such as quinine and building materials . Another voyage in mid - September carried 352 , 800 pounds of rice and a substantial quantity of beans , in addition to more medicine . By the end of the month , " McClellan " was back in New York to take part in the grand naval parade on 29 September , arranged in celebration of Admiral George Dewey s return to the United States following his victory over Spanish forces in the Philippines the previous year . The parade , then the biggest in the city ' s history , was more than seven miles long and consisted of hundreds of ships and boats of all types , including both naval and private vessels . " McClellan " was one of three vessels in the parade representing the Army transport service . More than a million people watched from the shore , after which a land parade of five to six hours duration — received by Dewey himself — took place through the streets of New York . Philippines and Far Eastern station . In June 1901 , " McClellan " s service to Cuba and Puerto Rico was terminated after corporate lobbyists succeeded in having the work transferred to private contractors . " McClellan " and the other transports formerly engaged in this service were instead switched to supplying the U . S . garrison established in the new American protectorate of the Philippines , seized from the Spanish during the recent Spanish - American War . For " McClellan " s new role , the Army considered reinstalling the ship with refrigeration equipment , but it is not known if this modification was carried out . " McClellan " would spend the next several years in service to the Philippines , carrying troops , supplies , officials and civilians between New York and Manila . Although a small transport , " McClellan " , with her two stateroom - fitted decks and extra bathrooms , had better accommodations than some of the other small transports , as a result of which she not infrequently carried officers and their families along with other dignitaries . One of her first such voyages to Manila occurred in July 1901 when she carried a party of U . S . Congressmen on a fact - finding mission . In February of the following year , " McClellan " carried 200 teachers to the same destination , including 80 females . In November of the same year , the Army ' s Engineering Dept . proposed the conversion of " McClellan " into a dredge to assist with work in the Ambrose Channel in New York Harbor , which had fallen well behind schedule , but this proposal was successfully resisted by the Quartermasters ' Dept . , and " McClellan " continued in service as a transport . In February 1906 , " McClellan " was transferred to the Philippines station , and would not return to the United States for more than two years . Her precise duties during this period are not recorded but she is known to have made voyages to Far Eastern destinations , in one instance being slated to return to his post the Governor of the Philippines , William Howard Taft , from a mission to China . " McClellan " would finally return to the United States after a two - year absence in April 1908 , carrying a number of officers and their families including General Leonard Wood . Return to Latin American service . After her return from the Philippines , " McClellan " returned to Latin American service . In 1909 , she participated in the withdrawal of occupation troops and officials from Cuba following the termination of Charles E . Magoon ' s governorship and the restoration of the island ' s independence under José Miguel Gómez . In 1913 , " McClellan " participated in a military buildup of 3 , 000 troops at Cuba in response to a war scare with Mexico . In April 1914 , " McClellan " took part in the United States occupation of Veracruz , Mexico , following the Tampico Affair earlier that month . " McClellan " sailed from Galveston , Texas with a destroyer escort and three other transports carrying a total of 4 , 000 troops , arriving off Veracruz on the 27th . After a brief battle , U . S . forces established control of the port and remained in occupation for six months . The incident precipitated a considerable worsening of relations between the two countries , and is said to have brought them to the brink of all - out war . In August 1915 , a hurricane at Galveston left " McClellan " stranded half a mile inland . In spite of this incident , she would later return to service . World War I and after . During World War I , " McClellan " saw service in European waters . In 1918 , the Navy was authorized to take her over , but declined to do so . USAT " McClellan " was sold by the Army to Belgian company Lloyd Royal Belge SA , in December 1919 , and re - entered commercial service for a short time as SS " Hastier " . On 27 October 1920 , " Hastier " arrived at Antwerp , Belgium , with a fire on board , sinking a few days later on 3 November . She was raised in 1921 and laid up . " Hastier " was sold to Société Métallurgique de Merxem for scrapping on 11 December 1922 .