The saga of the Lyttelton-Wellington Ferry Service
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, WA-11080-F The t.s.s.Wahine at the Lyttelton ferry wharf in 1938. Tragic Shipwreck
The s.s.Penguin inaugurated the Union Steam Ship Company ferry service between Lyttelton and a rock off the Karori Stream outfall. Her four lifeboats as well as rafts were launched into a dangerous, Wellington in 1895. This proved successful and the Company increased her sailings to three times a week running sea but, of the 64 passengers and 41 crew aboard, 72 lives were lost. This is considered a worse the following year. However, in 1897, she was replaced by the more powerful and larger s.s.Rotomahana. maritime disaster than the sinking of the t.e.v.Wahine in Wellington Harbour in 1968.
Launched at Glasgow in 1864 by Tod & McGregor, the 824 gross ton Penguin ran for G&J Burns of Glasgow The Marine Court of Inquiry examined the evidence of a strong inshore current but finally concluded until 1879 when she was purchased by the Union Steam Ship Company. there had been human error. The Master’s certificate was suspended for twelve months for his failure to put the Penguin’s head to sea earlier when approaching a lee shore in deteriorating weather. Tragedy struck during her passage from Picton to Wellington on 12 February 1909. Caught in thick evening fog in Cook Strait while trying to find the Pencarrow Head Light, she is believed to have foundered on
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 1/1-00381-G The s.s.Penguin at Port Chalmers. Greyhound of the Pacific
After three years of successful operation, in 1878 the Union Steam Ship Company was able to order a new In October 1905, the Rotomahana was placed on the Lyttelton-Wellington run and remained in this 1727 gross ton vessel from the Denny Brothers yard at Dumbarton, Scotland. service until 1908.
Built of mild steel and fitted with bilge keels, she was named Rotomahana after the New Zealand lake in That year, the Union Company transferred her to the Melbourne-Launceston run since she was capable the central North Island. of carrying some 330 passengers. Then, in 1921, she went into the inter-colonial trade.
The Rotomahana was an attractive ship with a raked funnel and masts as well as a clipper bow which Now an aging single-screw vessel, the Rotomahana was broken up at Melbourne by Power & Davis in sported a figurehead and scroll work. She reached up to seventeen knots under sail during her delivery 1925. In May 1928, the hull was sunk in Bass Strait some 3.5 miles south-west of Port Phillip. voyage to New Zealand in 1879, to the delight of her master and crew.
With a compound engine powered by six boilers, her speed and elegance made her a popular ship and she was soon known as the ‘Greyhound of the Pacific’.
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 1/1-003408-G The s.s. Rotomahana Scuttled off the Wellington Coast
Built of mild steel, the 2466 ton s.s.Mararoa was launched from the Denny Brothers yard at Dumbarton, In 1899, the Union Company also placed her on the Lyttelton-Wellington run during the summer season. Scotland, in 1885. Equipped with a triple expansion engine, she was rated for sixteen knots and could She remained as an inter-island ferry until the s.s.Maori arrived in late 1907. The following year, the Mararoa carry some 270 passengers. was withdrawn for other duties.
The Union Steam Ship Company intended her for the Sydney-San Francisco run in 1886. However her coal After 42 years’ service, she was laid up at Wellington in June 1927. Subsequently dismantled with some bunkers proved too small for such a long passage and she was re-directed into the inter-colonial and fittings going into the s.s.Monowai, the Mararoa was finally scuttled with explosives in Palliser Bay, trans-Tasman trade. Wellington area, in February 1931.
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 1/1-025525-G The s.s.Mararoa at Dunedin. Popular Service
In 1905, the Union Steam Ship Company commissioned the Denny Brothers yard at Dumbarton, Scotland, A third grounding prior to her delivery voyage to New Zealand fortunately revealed no damage and the to construct a 3399-ton, triple-screw vessel for the Lyttelton-Wellington ferry service. Maori, rated for seventeen knots, berthed at Port Chalmers in November 1907.
Launched in November 1906 and named Maori (II) by Lady Ward, the wife of the New Zealand Premier Converted from coal to oil-fired boilers in 1923, she continued a successful career as an inter-island, Sir Joseph Ward, the ship was equipped with steam turbines and provided superior accommodation for overnight ferry until laid up at Wellington in January 1944. some 550 passengers. Renamed Hwa Lien after sale to Chinese owners in 1946, she sank in a storm in early 1951 in Keelung A long ship, during the initial launch the Maori touched the opposite bank of the River Clyde. Then she Harbour, Taiwan. Raised that year and broken up, part of the hull was converted to a floating crane barge grounded on the tidal Dumbarton Rock reef during trials and needed repairs. During her second trials, she in Keelung Harbour. collided with and sank the coaster s.s.Kintyre, Greenock to Campbelltown, and required further repair.
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 1/1-002236-G The t.s.s.Maori in Wellington Harbour. Peace and War
Increasing passenger traffic in the early 20th Century required a second inter-island ferry. In late 1911, A year later and with a naval crew, she laid mines off the Dover coast in the English Channel. the Union Steam Ship Company ordered a new vessel from the Denny Brothers at Dumbarton, Scotland. The Wahine returned to the Lyttelton ferry service in early 1920 and was converted from coal to oil in 1924. Larger than the s.s.Maori and offering similarly comfortable accommodation, the 4436-ton ship was An important transport link in World War II, as well as a Pacific troopship, the Wahine collided with and launched as the t.s.s.Wahine in November 1912. sank the minesweeper HMNZS South Sea in Wellington Harbour in late 1942. Equipped with steam turbines powering triple screws, she was rated for 21 knots and could carry 800 In August 1951 while carrying New Zealand troops to Japan for the Korean War, the Wahine was wrecked passengers in first and second class cabins as well as in steerage berths. on a reef off Masela Island near Timor in the Arafura Sea. There were no casualties but the ship became The Wahine entered the Lyttelton-Wellington ferry service in July 1913 but, in 1915, was taken up and a total constructive loss. converted into a Royal Navy despatch carrier at Millwall Dock, London. In her wartime camouflage as HMT Wahine, she operated in the Mediterranean as part of the Gallipoli Campaign.
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 1/4-100725-F The t.s.s.Wahine in Wellington Harbour, with the white-painted m.v.Matua in the background. Best-looking ship
In spite of financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression, in 1930 the Union Steam Ship Company In November 1940, the Rangatira delivered New Zealand troops to Fiji prior the entry of Japan into World ordered a new inter-island ferry, this time from Vickers Armstrong Ltd, Barrow-in-Furniss, Cumbria, England. War II. The following month, with 750 passengers aboard, she went aground in fog near Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula, but got off under her own power. The Maori again became the relief ferry while the Rangatira Launched in April 1931 as the 6152-ton t.e.v.Rangatira, this was the Union Company’s first turbo-electric was repaired at Port Chalmers. vessel and described as their best-looking ship. As the Pacific War continued, in late 1942 the Rangatira conveyed further troops to Fiji. The rail line to Picton was not completed until 1945. As a result, travellers from the southern towns and cities boarded the ferry at Lyttelton for the overnight passage to Wellington. While relieving the Tamahine on the Picton-Wellington run in late 1959, she grounded briefly in Tory Channel.
In 1934, this was known as the ‘Steamer Express’ service. However, it was not without incident. In February After 34 years’ service, the popular Rangatira was laid up at Wellington in December 1965. Following her 1936, the Rangatira grounded at Sinclair Head in heavy weather and was navigated stern-first, down by sale to Hong Kong shipbreakers in 1967, she was delivered by the tug Fuji Maru in November that year and the head, into Wellington Harbour. This required some two months’ repair in the Wellington floating dock broken up in 1968. and the Maori took up the Rangatira timetable.
-Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, DW-1465-F The t.e.v.Rangatira (right) berthed at the Wellington Overseas Terminal about April 1965, with the Southern Cross to the left.