ENGINEER CHARLES TENNANT.
Mr Charles Tennant, the engineer who died early this month from the malady which so disastrously ravaged a New Zealand troopship at sea, was born at Timaru on September 1. 1894. He served his apprenticeship with the Union Steam Ship Company at the Port Chalmers works, and went to sea on June 1, 1915, as eighth engineer of a special service steamer. He was a promising young engineer, and was promoted through the various grades to fourth engineer, which position he held up to the time of his untimely death. -Evening Star, 23/9/1918.
The troopship "Tahiti" left New Zealand in July, 1918, with troops of the 40th Reinforcements aboard. Stopping at Freetown, Sierra Leone, to join a convoy for Britain, they picked up the second wave of the Spanish flu pandemic from local workers supplying the ship. Of the 1217 people aboard, 90% caught the disease.
Seventy seven people eventually died, including a delirious victim who jumped overboard. All were buried at sea except for the nine who died after arrival in Britain.
The "Tahiti" arrived on September 10th; the remains of Charles Tennant lie under the waters.
Timaru Cemetery.
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