History – Nurse Upton and the Maheno

Although Florence Winifred Upton, born in 1876, probably had an uncomplicated childhood growing up in the small Kaipara Harbour community at Whakapirau, World War I soon changed all that. After finishing school, she trained as a registered nurse and when the war broke out two years later, she successfully applied to be one of 14 nurses to serve on the Maheno.

As news of the devastating number of soldiers wounded at Gallipoli reached New Zealand, the public was horrified and a public campaign raised money for the conversion of two passenger steam ships into modern hospital ships. The Maheno and the Marama were New Zealand’s first official hospital ships.

Upton left New Zealand on the Maheno’s second charter in January 1916. She was part of a medical contingent comprising seven doctors, 14 nurses (the only women on board) and around 65 orderlies.

The Maheno had nursing capacity for 600 wounded soldiers, but in action they often carried 1600 patients.

The Battle of the Somme broke out two days before the Maheno was due in Southampton. The ship was diverted into the mined English Channel to collect the first contingent of wounded from the battlefield.

While Winifred was on the Maheno, it made 14 dangerous crossings of the channel, transporting more than 14,000 men from the front line.

Life on the ship was not easy or pleasant. Each voyage was over-capacity, cramped, unsanitary and dangerous. Many of personnel became ill due to the conditions on board. The wounded came straight from the fighting and were covered in mud, blood, gore and vermin, which spread to the personnel on board. The injuries the wounded suffered were horrific and a putrid stench pervaded the ship from the severe wounds, intensified by the over-crowding and confined space.

The working conditions were difficult and the medical staff worked hard. After four months, there were enough wounded Kiwi soldiers in England to fill a ship, and the Maheno set sail for home.

After her war service, Upton returned to nursing at the Whangarei Hospital. She later became matron at Kawakawa’s Bay of Islands Hospital and this remarkable woman retired around 1933.

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