SS British Transport was a general cargo steamship that was built in England in 1910 and scrapped in Italy in 1933.

The Empire Transport Co ordered two sister ships to the same design from Sir Raylton Dixon and Company in Middlesbrough on the River Tees.

[9] In September 1917 British Transport left Brest, France with a cargo of munitions and other explosives for Archangel in Russia.

[citation needed] At noon on 11 September the U-boat SM U-49 sighted British Transport in the Bay of Biscay.

Half an hour later, British Transport sighted the phosphorescence of U-49's wake[citation needed] off her port bow.

Pope was commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve for three years from December 1917, back-dated to 10 September 1917,[13] to entitle him to the medal.

The Committee of Lloyd's and Houlder Brothers each added £250, the Ministry of Shipping gave Captain Pope £100 and a month's wages to each member of the crew.