The Wellington Infantry Battalion had a company from Taranaki, Wellington West Coast, Hawke's Bay and the Ruahine area (southern Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa). Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone commanded the battalion, with Carterton's Major Herbert Hart as his second-in-command. The Wellingtons were distinctive with their lemon-squeezer felt hats, initially suggested by Hart and strenuously encouraged by the forceful Malone.
Training was cursory -- time was of the essence and it was expected the men would receive additional training somewhere overseas before going into the war zone. The new soldiers drilled, route-marched and had a couple of overnight bivouacs, while the mounted riflemen practised squadron drills. Civilians in towns near training camps feted the soldiers -- officers and men were invited to afternoon teas and dances.
In late September, ships leased as troop-transports began bringing the men from the South Island to Wellington. Ten ships had been hastily fitted out to carry soldiers and horses. The largest was the Athenic, a passenger ship of about 12,000 tons.
The plan was for the New Zealand contingent to sail across to Albany, Western Australia. There it would join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and sail together for the Northern Hemisphere.
The Wellington area men went by train to the capital on September 23 and boarded their allocated ships. At this point events well beyond New Zealand began to assert themselves. A revolt in South Africa suggested that Australasian troops might go there to help stabilise the situation. A more pressing danger was the German East Asian Squadron, at loose in the Pacific. This force had left its Chinese naval base at war's outbreak and was a potential threat to allied warships and troopships.
The New Zealand Government became concerned about the proposed escort for the 10-ship convoy to Australia, which was to be two old Royal Navy cruisers. One cruiser, Philomel, capable of about 17 knots and carrying old 4.7-inch guns, was no match for any modern enemy ship.
Two troopships which sailed from Auckland were recalled to their home port while the troops in Wellington slept on board or at temporary camps around the capital.
Eventually the British sent a powerful armoured cruiser, Minotaur, which had been searching for the German ships without success. After looking for the German cruiser Emden during her disruptive campaign in the Indian Ocean, Minotaur was diverted south to New Zealand.
The other heavy unit of the escort was the Japanese battle cruiser Ibuki which had also searched for the elusive Emden. These two heavy cruisers were more than a match for the German Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, at least on paper.
With the arrival of the Auckland ships, the convoy finally sailed from Wellington on October 16, 1914. After a short stop in Hobart the New Zealand convoy met 28 Australian ships at Albany and the huge convoy, with 20,000 men and 7500 horses, began its traverse of the Indian Ocean on October 29.
Most of the Wairarapa infantry travelled in the Arawa while those of the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles squadron were in Orari which also carried the largest number of horses.
On October 18, Herbert Hart wrote in his diary: "Sea moderating. Sickness moderating. One officer went jokingly around the men enrolling men for the navy after the completion of the war but met with little success. We are receiving war news by wireless; all lights are screened at night."
The South African situation had been resolved internally and the combined New Zealand-Australian force now aimed for Egypt. They would join Imperial troops protecting the Suez Canal from the Ottoman Empire, which had just entered the war as a German ally. The most dramatic incident of the voyage was the encounter between escort HMS Sydney and the raider Emden at Cocos Island which ended when the outgunned German cruiser was driven ashore, a total loss.
Several soldiers died during the voyage, one after an accident during festivities to celebrate crossing the Equator (Neptune's Day). The convoy coaled at Colombo, Ceylon, then sailed through the Suez Canal to reach Alexandria on December 3. This ended the journey by sea of the largest single group to leave New Zealand.
Although more than 90,000 New Zealanders followed the main body, they came in smaller groups. Never again did such an impressive convoy take New Zealanders to war.
The New Zealand (His Majesty's New Zealand Transport) ships were:
Maunganui HMNZT3 566 men, 204 horses
Tahiti HMNZT4 641 men, 282 horses
Ruapehu HMNZT5 816 men, 244 horses
Orari HMNZT6 285 men, 728 horses
Limerick HMNZT7 516 men, 348 horses
Star of India HMNZT8 682 men, 395 horses
Hawkes Bay HMNZT9 970 men, 569 horses
Arawa HMNZT10 1318 men, 215 horses
Athenic HMNZT11 1314 men, 339 horses
Waimana HMNZT12 1461 men, 496 horses
