The SS Mendi began its journey from Cape Town to Plymouth

In 1916, the South African government agreed to recruit Black people to assist the British in World War 1 by providing labour. There were to be 10 000 people to serve in the South African Native Labour Contingent sent to France. The troops were organized in battalions. They waited at the Rosebank depot in Cape Town to receive training till they were ready to be shipped off in batches. On the 16th of January, the Fifth Battalion boarded the Mendi ship. They sailed out of Cape Town at noon. The captain of the Mendi ship was Henry Arthur Yardley. The crew was numbered at 89. The South African Native Labour Contingent consisted of five white officers, seven NCOs and 802 Black troops. There were also some military passengers. The Mendi was a single screw steamer that weighed 4230 gross tons, measured 370 feet in length and 46 feet in the beam. Prior to serving as a troopship, it was in the service of Liverpool-West Africa. In 1916 the British Government chartered it. It is said that the ship is named after the Mendi tribe in Sierra Leone. The ship was equipped with 7 lifeboats that could carry 298 people, 46 life-rafts that could support 20 people each, 15 life-buoys and 1319 lifebelts.