HMS Avoca: Armed Merchant Cruiser, hired merchantman, previously as SS Avon (naval-history.net)

“HMS Avoca, a British armed merchant cruiser at Port Stanley, might have taken Shackleton to Punta Arenas…”

— Roland Huntford, Shackleton

“The Avoca cannot remain waiting on Shackleton’s convenience…men o’war cannot be delayed in war time for matters not connected with the war.”

— British Admiralty, from the minutes

HMS Avoca Captain’s log, 4 June 1916 (naval-history.net)