New Zealand Shipping Company
Industry | Transport |
---|---|
Founded | 1873 |
Defunct | 1973 |
Successor | P&O |
Headquarters | , |
Products | Passenger and Cargo Shipping |
The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973.
A group of Christchurch businessmen, including Hugh Murray-Aynsley[1] and John Coster,[2] founded the company in 1873. There were seven initial directors, including George Gould Snr., Coster, John Thomas Peacock, William Reeves, and John Anderson.[3] The company gradually established a fleet of vessels, using Māori names for each. From 1875 the livery consisted of black hulls, white superstructure and yellow funnels.[4]
In 1882, the company's ships were equipped with refrigeration.[4] and a frozen meat service began from New Zealand to England.
Company policy dictated a stop at Pitcairn Islands, in the Pacific, to break the monotony of the ocean crossing.
Federal Steam Navigation Company
On 3 January 1912 an agreement was reached whereby the New Zealand Shipping Company absorbed the Federal Steam Navigation Company, which at the time owned ten steamships trading between Australia, New Zealand and the UK.[5] Federal Steam ships retained their house flag, and continued to be named after English counties, thereby retaining their Federal Steam identity. Federal Steam was registered in England for tax purposes, whereas the New Zealand Shipping Company continued to be registered in New Zealand.
World wars
In the First World War the NZSC lost nine ships from a fleet of 32.[6] In the Second World War it lost 19 ships from a fleet of 36.[citation needed]
Closure
The services of both companies were absorbed into the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in 1973 after exactly 100 years of service.[4]
Ships
NZSC operated numerous ships, some purpose built, others acquired from other operators by purchase, lease or charter.
Ship | Type | Date launched | Date acquired | Date disposed | Fate/ next assignment |
Aorangi | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1883 | 1914 | Scrapped 1925 | |
British King | cargo and passenger ship | 1881 | chartered 1882[7] | 1884 | Scuttled at Port Arthur 1904 |
Coptic | cargo and passenger steamship | 1881 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Scrapped 1926 |
Doric | cargo and passenger steamship | 1883 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Wrecked 1911 |
Fenstanton | steamship | 1882 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Grounded and wrecked |
Hurunui | cargo and passenger sailing ship | 1875 | Collided and sank Waitara in 1883[8] | ||
Ionic | cargo and passenger ship | 1883 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Scrapped 1908 |
Kaikoura (1) | cargo and passenger steamship | 1884 | 1899 | Sold to British-India SN Co | |
Kaikoura (2)[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1903 | |||
Kaipara[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1903 | |||
Mataura (1) | barque | 1868 | 1874 (former Dunfinnan) | 1894 | Sold and renamed Alida. Wrecked 1900[9] |
Mataura (2)[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1896 | 1898 | Wrecked in the Strait of Magellan 12 January 1898[10] | |
Otaki (1) | sailing ship | 1875 | 1896 | Sold and renamed Dr. Siegert | |
Otaki (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1908 | 1917 | Sunk by the German raider SMS Möwe 10 March 1917 | |
Otaki (3) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1919 | 1934 | Sold to Clan Line and renamed Clan Robertson | |
Otaki (4) | refrigerated cargo motor ship | 1953 | 1967 | Transferred to Federal Steam Navigation Co | |
Otorama[9] | steamship | 1890 | former Sea King | Sold | |
Papanui[9] | steamship | 1898 | |||
Paparoa[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1899 | 17 March 1926 caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean | ||
Piako (1) | clipper | 1877 | Sold, lost 1900[9] | ||
Piako (2) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1920 | 1920 (former War Orestes) | 1941 | Sunk by torpedo on 18 May 1941 by U-107 |
Piako (3) | refrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1961 | 1962 | 1979 | Sold to Blue Ocean Compania Maritima SA. Scrapped 1984 |
Rakaia | cargo and passenger motor ship | 1944 | 1946 (former Empire Abercorn) | 1971 | Scrapped |
Rakanoa[9] | |||||
Rangitane (1) | passenger motor ship | 1929 | 1929 | 1940 | Sunk by enemy 26 November 1940 |
Rangitane (2) | passenger motor ship | 1949 | 1949 | May 1968 | Sold to CY Tung, Scrapped Taiwan, 1976 |
RMS Rangitata | passenger motor ship | 26 March 1929 | 1929 | 1962 | Scrapped |
RMS Rangitiki | passenger motor ship | 1929 | 1929 | 1962 | Scrapped |
Rangitoto | passenger motor ship | 1949 | 1949 | 1969 | Sold to CY Tung, Scrapped Hong Kong, 1976 |
Remuera (1) | passenger steamship | 1911 | 1940 | Sunk by aerial torpedo 26 August 1940 | |
Remuera (2) | steam cargo and passenger steamship | 1947 | 1961 (former Parthia) | 1964 | Sold to Eastern & Australia Steamship Company.[11] |
Rimutaka (1)[9] | steamship | 1884 | |||
Rimutaka (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1901 | |||
Rimutaka (3) | passenger steamship | 1922 | 1938 (former Mongolia) | 1950 | Sold to Incres Shipping Company |
Rotorua (1) | passenger steamship | 1910 | 1917 | Sunk by torpedo on 22 March 1917 by SM UC-17 | |
Rotorua (2) | cargo and passenger steamship | 1910 | 1936 (former Shropshire) | 1940 | Sunk by torpedo on 11 December 1940 by U-96[12] |
Ruahine (1) | steamship | 1891 | |||
Ruahine (2) | steamship | 1909 | 1949 | re-registered in Italy; scrapped 1957 | |
Ruahine (3) | passenger motor ship | 1951 | 1968 | re-registered in Hong Kong; scrapped 1974 | |
Ruapehu (10) | passenger and refrigerated cargo ship | 1901 | Sold to be broken up on 5 August 1931 | ||
Stad Haarlem | cargo and passenger ship | 1875 | leased 1879 | ||
Tekoa[9] | steamship | 1890 | |||
Tongariro | passenger and cargo steamship | 1883 | 1883 | 1899 | Sold to British-India SN Co |
Turakina (1)[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1902 | |||
Turakina (2) | steamship | 1923 | 1923 | 1940 | |
Waikato[9] | sailing ship | 1874 | |||
Waimate[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1896 | |||
Waitara | cargo and passenger sailing ship | 1863 | 1873 (former Hindustan) | 1883 | Wrecked following a collision with Hurunui[8] |
Wakanui[9] | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1899 | |||
Warrimoo | passenger steamship | 1892 | 1899 | 1901 | Sold to Union Steam Ship Co |
Whakatane[9] | steamship | 1900 |
See also
- NZ Shipping Co Ltd v A M Satterthwaite & Co Ltd, a leading case on contract law
- SS Cambridge
- Hertford
- MV Nottingham
- Isthmian Steamship Company
- Owen Cox
References
- ^ "Obituary". The Press. Vol. LIII, no. 15833. 23 February 1917. p. 3. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
- ^ "Obituary". The Star. No. 5804. 18 December 1886. p. 3. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ "Commercial". Lyttelton Times. Vol. XXXIX, no. 3748. 25 January 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ a b c "M V Rangitata". Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
- ^ Waters 1939, p. 59.
- ^ Waters 1939, p. 68.
- ^ "`". Otago Daily Times. No. 6577. 14 March 1883. p. 4.
- ^ a b "Collision And Loss Of 27 Lives". The Cornishman. No. 258. 28 June 1883.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cyclopaedia of New Zealand. 1906.
- ^ "`". The Press. Canterbury, NZ. 29 January 1898.
- ^ Mills, Elspeth (2004). The Fleet 1840–2010. ISBN 978-0-9542451-8-4.[page needed]
- ^ Green, Roger M (15 October 2014). "Loss of the SS Rotorua – 11 Dec 1940". WW2 People's War.
Bibliography
- Waters, Sydney D (1939). Clipper Ship to Motor Liner; the story of the New Zealand Shipping Company 1873–1939. London: The New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd. pp. 47–48, 74–78.
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External links
- RMS Rangitata Archived 8 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- Boyle, Ian. "New Zealand Shipping Company NZSC Page 3: 1915-1939". Simplon Postcards.
- Shaw, Jeffrey (2 November 2013). "New Zealand Shipping Vessels". Australian Trade & Shipping. – fleet list