100 Kiwi Stories: Trooper put his mates first

James Magnusson was on the RMS Transylvania when it was hit in the Gulf of Genoa.

No 49 Salty soldier, who had no time for authority, died after maritime act of bravery

49
Trooper James Magnusson was hard to miss.

The Auckland Mounted Rifles soldier was Swedish, covered in tattoos and somewhat mulish. He was also missing the tip of the middle finger on his right hand. His service record is notable for his indiscretions.

From the time he enlisted in December 1914 until he died a hero three years later, Magnusson was forever getting offside with authority figures.

In a few months in late 1915 in Cairo and at the nearby New Zealand camp at Zeitoun, Magnusson was in trouble for being absent without leave, creating a disturbance and getting drunk.

Then things went from bad to worse for the 24-year-old. He washed in a water trough set aside for horses, dressed improperly and failed to obey an order. His pay was docked and he twice endured field punishment number one - being tied to a post for two hours a day and required to undertake hard labour for the rest of his week-long sentence.

In 1916 Magnusson appeared to push his luck too far. Assigned as a sentry on guard duty on the night of May 13, he was challenged by Lieutenant Walter Ruddock as the officer did a sweep of the camp.

Magnusson answered "improperly" and threw his rifle and bayonet to the ground. Lieutenant Ruddock ordered the soldier's arrest, at which point Magnusson, a seaman in civilian life, directed some salty language at the officer.

A court martial report, included in Magnusson's records at Archives NZ, notes that the trooper called Ruddock a "cold-footed bastard" and said he "was only fit to be pissed up against".

Magnusson suggested the pair go "a round or two" but the offer was not accepted. Instead soldier 13/927 was arrested and put before a military court at Tel el Kebir, 100km north of Cairo. Corporal John Hanham spoke out in Magnusson's defence.

Magnusson "did good" as a bomber at Hill 60, scene of the last major assault of the Gallipoli campaign, Hanham told the hearing.

"His weakness is lack of self-control," conceded Hanham. The court sentenced Magnusson to a year's imprisonment, then knocked three months off the term. He served his term in Dunedin jail.

But he was not discharged, and in January 1917 Magnusson was sailing back to war. In March, backed with the Auckland Mounted Rifles, he reported to Sling camp on the Salisbury Plains.

NZ Archives records show that in early May 1917, Magnusson was on board the 14,348 ton Transylvania, a twin-funnelled ship requisitioned for war service. Designed to carry 1000 passengers, the War Office determined the ship could take 200 officers and 2860 men, besides her crew of over 100 officers and men.

On May 4 the fully-laden Transylvania left Marseilles for Alexandria. Two Japanese destroyers, the Matsu and Sakaki, provided an escort.

As the three ships took a zigzag course in the Gulf of Genoa, a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-63 smacked into the troopship's port engine room. As panic erupted, soldiers assembled on deck and helped female nurses into lifeboats. A survivor recalled a nurse calling out "give us a song boys" and her plea was met by the troops breaking into Tipperary and Take me back to dear old Blighty.

Trooper Magnusson saw a man in trouble in the water. Despite rough seas, he leaped into the Mediterranean and got the injured soldier into a boat. He swam back to his vessel and was still on the ship when it was hit by a second torpedo.

The Swedish New Zealander was one of 414 men who lost their lives when the ship went down.

Nearly a year later, the London Gazette recorded that Magnusson had posthumously been awarded the Albert Medal, an honour granted to those who performed "daring and heroic actions" to help others "in danger of perishing, by reason of wrecks and other perils of the sea".