by Jon Malings

From The Hampshire Telegraph, February 16th 1878

The Admiralty Transport Department have engaged the steamship Bonnie Kate, Captain Henry Samman, to convoy ammunition and stores to the Mediterranean. She is a fine vessel of upwards of 1000 tons burden, and has for some time past been engaged trading in the Black Sea and Mediterranean. She arrived at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, on Saturday evening last from the Victoria Docks and since then a temporary magazine to hold 150 tons of ammunition has been partially constructed. Several barge-loads of naval stores for Malta arrived at the Royal Arsenal from the Royal Victoria Victualling Yard, Deptford, and are being shipped in the Bonnie Kate. The stores comprise many hundred cases of provisions—tea, chocolate, preserved meats, vegetables, and milk, and various necessaries for the engineers and artificers on board the Fleet. The only freight which has up to the present been taken from the Royal Arsenal consists of some hundreds of 800lb. shells for the 38-ton guns in the casemates at Malta