Series consists of files containing documents pertaining to soldiers and their dependents returning by ship from Europe to Canada following the end of the First World War. Most documents were created by the highest ranking medical officer on board the ship, and were directed to the Director of Medical Services and Director-General Military Services of the Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada in London, England. After initial problems involving a shortage of ships, and more importantly, a shortage of adequately clean ships, two- thirds of the overseas force reached home within five months of the Armistice, and within a year almost all had been returned to Canada. The Canadian Corps was returned by units while the rest of the Canadian Expeditionary Force followed the policy of "first in, first out".
In addition to nominal rolls of soldiers and dependents on board within each file, the series includes reports on medical examinations for contagious diseases, reports of death while at sea, passenger complaints and a War Diary describing the voyage from embarkation to disembarkation. The files in this series are grouped by ship name, file number and date.