fifthfleet.net - Ships of the Fifth Fleet

Ships of the Fifth Fleet

The list

This list of ships which brought Displaced Persons to Australia between 1947 and 1951 is based on Appendix 1 of Egon Kunz's "Displaced Persons: Calwell's New Australians" (publication details here). Amendments have been made in the light of examination of the original files on the ships in the National Archives of Australia.

Hyperlinks (blue text, underlined) indicate that a click will access a passenger list, mostly digitised (scanned) Nominal Rolls held by the National Archives. The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild would love you to type out a passenger list or two, so that a searchable copy can be posted to the Web.

Order of arrival	Date of arrival	Name of ship	No. of DPs	Port of arrival
1	28-Nov-47	General Stuart Heintzelman	839	Fremantle
2	12-Feb-48	General MB Stewart (partial list)	857	Fremantle
3	27-Apr-48	General WM Black	860	Melbourne
4	14-May-48	General SD Sturgis	860	Sydney
5	29-Jun-48	Svalbard	898	Melbourne
6	06-Sep-48	Wooster Victory	883	Sydney
7	29-Sep-48	Protea	897	Melbourne
8	11-Oct-48	Kanimbla	429	Fremantle
9	29-Oct-48	Charlton Sovereign	725	Sydney
10	29-Oct-48	Svalbard	900	Sydney
11	16-Nov-48	Wooster Victory	893	Melbourne
12	19-Nov-48	Castel Bianco	879	Sydney
13	23-Dec-48	Protea	903	Melbourne
14	15-Jan-49	Svalbard	899	Sydney
15	24-Jan-49	Volendam	500	Sydney
16	23-Feb-49	Nea Hellas	1525	Melbourne
17	15-Mar-49	Wooster Victory	893	Sydney
18	20-Mar-49	Castel Bianco	900	Melbourne
19	20-Mar-49	General Omar Bundy	842	Sydney
20	24-Mar-49	Mozzafari	902	Melbourne
21	25-Mar-49	Protea	894	Sydney
22	13-Apr-49	General MB Stewart	816	Melbourne
23	16-Apr-49	Dundalk Bay	1028	Sydney
24	19-Apr-49	Amarapoora	617	Fremantle
25	20-Apr-49	Svalbard	907	Melbourne
26	20-Apr-49	General Stuart Heintzelman	822	Melbourne
27	27-Apr-49	General CC Ballou	876	Sydney
28	02-May-49	Goya	907	Adelaide
29	11-May-49	Mohammedi	900	Melbourne
30	21-May-49	General SD Sturgis	843	Sydney
31	21-May-49	Mozzafari	902	Fremantle
32	24-May-49	Wooster Victory	885	Melbourne
33	25-May-49	Oxfordshire	672	Adelaide
34	27-May-49	Castel Bianco	908	Sydney
35	30-May-49	Skaugum	1700	Melbourne
36	06-Jun-49	Protea	869	Sydney
37	09-Jun-49	Fairsea	1896	Melbourne
38	17-Jun-49	General WC Langfitt	826	Melbourne
39	22-Jun-49	Anna Salen	1503	Sydney
40	22-Jun-49	Goya	899	Fremantle
41	25-Jun-49	General WM Black	826	Melbourne
42	27-Jun-49	Svalbard	819	Melbourne
43	08-Jul-49	General Omar Bundy	842	Sydney
44	15-Jul-49	Nelly	1500	Melbourne
45	22-Jul-49	Amarapoora	614	Fremantle
46	20-Jul-49	General MB Stewart	816	Adelaide
47	21-Jul-49	General Harry Taylor	864	Sydney
48	29-Jul-49	Skaugum	1700	Melbourne
49	31-Jul-49	Wooster Victory	885	Sydney
50	03-Aug-49	Castel Bianco	900	Sydney
51	08-Aug-49	Oxfordshire	675	Fremantle
52	18-Aug-49	Goya	898	Sydney
53	20-Aug-49	Fairsea	1896	Newcastle
54	24-Aug-49	Anna Salen	1566	Fremantle
55	07-Sep-49	Marine Jumper	844	Sydney
56	14-Sep-49	Dundalk Bay	1024	Melbourne
57	15-Sep-49	Nelly	1500	Melbourne
58	22-Sep-49	General WC Langfitt	826	Melbourne
59	28-Sep-49	Skaugum	1792	Sydney
60	05-Oct-49	Canberra	766	Sydney
61	06-Oct-49	Wooster Victory	855	Adelaide
62	08-Oct-49	Svalbard	819	Melbourne
63	12-Oct-49	General AW Greely	1281	Newcastle
64	19-Oct-49	Fairsea	1890	Melbourne
65	20-Oct-49	Amarapoora	617	Sydney
66	23-Oct-49	Goya	890	Sydney
67	24-Oct-49	Castel Bianco	900	Sydney
68	25-Oct-49	Anna Salen	1566	Fremantle
69	09-Nov-49	General AW Greely	576	Sydney
70	11-Nov-49	General RM Blatchford	1219	Sydney
71	14-Nov-49	Nelly	1564	Melbourne
72	15-Nov-49	General WG Haan	1303	Melbourne
73	21-Nov-49	Dundalk Bay	1019	Melbourne
74	23-Nov-49	Oxfordshire	675	Adelaide
75	24-Nov-49	General Stuart Heintzelman	1301	Sydney
76	29-Nov-49	Skaugum	1707	Newcastle
77	05-Dec-49	Hellenic Prince	997	Sydney
78	07-Dec-49	General ML Hersey	1319	Melbourne
79	13-Dec-49	General WM Black	1314	Sydney
80	18-Dec-49	General RL Howze	1105	Melbourne
81	26-Dec-49	Goya	899	Melbourne
82	27-Dec-49	Castel Bianco	900	Melbourne
83	31-Dec-49	Fairsea	1852	Sydney
84	05-Jan-50	Anna Salen/Skaugum	1543	Fremantle
85	12-Jan-50	Nelly	1570	Sydney
86	14-Jan-50	General WC Langfitt	1282	Melbourne
87	30-Jan-50	General MB Stewart	1262	Melbourne
88	31-Jan-50	Dundalk Bay	1018	Melbourne
89	03-Feb-50	General Harry Taylor	1265	Newcastle
90	13-Feb-50	Hellenic Prince	974	Melbourne
91	15-Feb-50	General WC Langfitt	1118	Fremantle
92	19-Feb-50	General RM Blatchford	1222	Sydney
93	20-Feb-50	General WG Haan	1301	Melbourne
94	28-Feb-50	Goya	898	Melbourne
95	02-Mar-50	Castel Bianco	885	Sydney
96	03-Mar-50	General Stuart Heintzelman	1302	Melbourne
97	03-Mar-50	Fairsea	1898	Fremantle
98	12-Mar-50	Oxfordshire	675	Newcastle
99	16-Mar-50	General CH Muir	1278	Sydney
100	03-Mar-50	Nelly	1563	Sydney
101	23-Mar-50	General CC Ballou	1266	Sydney
102	26-Mar-50	General RL Howze	1316	Melbourne
103	27-Mar-50	Skaugum	1839	Melbourne
104	29-Mar-50	Dundalk Bay	1019	Fremantle
105	13-Apr-50	General WM Black	1316	Melbourne
106	17-Apr-50	General MB Stewart	1292	Sydney
107	17-Apr-50	General SD Sturgis	1309	Sydney
108	24-Apr-50	Amarapoora	631	Newcastle
109	25-Apr-50	Hellenic Prince	1000	Melbourne
110	27-Apr-50	General ML Hersey	1335	Melbourne
111	12-May-50	General AW Greely	1271	Melbourne
112	23-May-50	Fairsea	1878	Melbourne
113	24-May-50	Castel Bianco	885	Newcastle
114	25-May-50	Goya	900	Melbourne
115	11-Jun-50	Oxfordshire	881	Fremantle
116	17-Jun-50	Nelly	1570	Melbourne
117	26-Jun-50	Dundalk Bay	1018	Newcastle
118	12-Jul-50	Skaugum	1824	Fremantle
119	29-Jul-50	Anna Salen	1561	Melbourne
120	16-Aug-50	Goya	900	Newcastle
121	18-Aug-50	Fairsea	1890	Melbourne
122	15-Sep-50	Amarapoora	634	Newcastle
123	24-Sep-50	Nelly	1570	Melbourne
124	24-Sep-50	Skaugum	1848	Fremantle
125	30-Sep-50	Castel Bianco	1003	Melbourne
126	17-Oct-50	Dundalk Bay	1018	Newcastle
127	26-Oct-50	General CH Muir	1280	Melbourne
128	02-Nov-50	General ML Hersey	1370	Fremantle
129	07-No-50	Goya	924	Melbourne
130	07-Nov-50	Fairsea	1884	Melbourne
131	18-Nov-50	Brasil	1112	Sydney
132	09-Dec-50	Protea	1096	Melbourne
133	10-Dec-50	Skaugum	1860	Melbourne
134	16-Dec-50	Castel Bianco	1010	Melbourne
135	18-Dec-50	Roma	946	Newcastle
136	30-Dec-50	Nelly	1540	Sydney
137	31-Dec-50	Anna Salen	1522	Fremantle
138	10-Jan-51	Hellenic Prince	953	Melbourne
139	22-Jan-51	Fairsea	1902	Melbourne
140	24-Jan-51	Liguria/Nelly	917	Melbourne
141	13-Mar-51	Castel Bianco	1019	Melbourne
142	01-Apr-51	Skaubryn	1222	Melbourne
143	24-Apr-51	Fairsea	1393	Melbourne
144	25-Jun-51	Skaubryn	1221	Melbourne
145	17-Jul-51	Castel Bianco	703	Melbourne
146	05-Sep-51	Skaubryn	757	Melbourne
147	12-Nov-51	Skaubryn	767	Melbourne
148	07-Dec-51	Goya	446	Melbourne
149	27-Dec-51	Castel Bianco	1090	Melbourne

Note: Sometimes the dates of arrival in Australia differ from those I have used. If the difference is only a day or two, this can be explained by the ship berthing before officials were available to complete the immigration and customs procedures to allow the travellers to formally enter Australia.

If the difference is larger, I have relied on the dates given by the National Archives of Australia in the Series Notes for the files of papers on each traveller for the voyage in question. These Series Notes are based upon an examination of the “correspondence file” compiled by the Department of Immigration for each voyage. These Department of Immigration files are the most authoritative sources of information on conditions and events during the voyages.

More ships

More ships that brought Displaced Persons from Europe are being added to the list below as they are brought to attention:

Date of arrival	Name of ship	No. of DPs	Port of arrival
5-Nov-48	Derna	219	Melbourne
8 Apr-49	Cyrenia	190	Melbourne
6-Nov-50	Cyrenia	4	Melbourne
6-Oct-51	Roma	10-12	Melbourne
5-May-52	Nelly	507	Melbourne
19-Jun-52	Cyrenia	42+	Melbourne
15-Mar-53	Roma	44	Melbourne
13-Apr-53	Surriento	3	Fremantle

Some interesting facts

The ship that made the most trips to Australia with displaced persons was the Castel Bianco, with 13 voyages. Next were the Fairsea and the Goya, with 10 voyages each, followed by the Nelly and the Skaugum, with 9 trips.

Carrying between 703 and 1,090 passengers on its voyages, the busy Castel Bianco brought a total of 11,982 displaced persons to Australia. The larger Fairsea, carrying between 1,393 and 1,902 passengers, normally with more than 1,800 on board, brought a total of 18,379. The Nelly brought 13,307 and the Skaugum brought 15,819.

Ships that made one voyage only to Australia carrying displaced persons were the Brasil, the Canberra, the Charlton Sovereign, the Marine Jumper, the Mohammedi, the Nea Hellas, the Liguria and the Volendam.

A special case in the single voyage category is the Kanimbla. It became the only Australian-flagged ship ever to carry migrants to Australia when it brought 332 former British naval ratings from England and 432 male migrants from Genoa to Fremantle on 11 October 1948; 429 of those who boarded at Genoa were displaced persons. Ten months earlier, the Kanimbla has also brought the 839 passengers from the the First Transport, the Heintzelman, who had been allowed to stay in Australia from Fremantle to Melbourne.

The Kanimbla's 429 displaced persons from Genoa was the smallest number on any one voyage. The largest number was the 1902 on the Fairsea. The average number over all the 149 voyages was 1116.

While the General Stuart Heintzelman was the First Transport, reaching Fremantle with 843 passengers on 28 November 1947, the Castel Bianco became the final Transport. It arrived at Melbourne with 1090 passengers on 27 December 1951.

It's not a surprise to any Australian that the title of busiest port goes to Sydney or Melbourne. Sydney was the destination of 42 of the voyages; Melbourne received 70 arrivals--71 if you count the First Transport passengers being transferred from Fremantle on the Kanimbla. This means that Melbourne received 83,990 displaced persons while Sydney received only 43,920.

The three other ports used were Newcastle, Fremantle and Adelaide.