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Arapawa
 Sourced from Alexander Turnbull Library, reference 12129 1/2
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Built as a steamer by J. Fullerton in Paisley, she was first owned by a J. Williams of Wellington before being sold to the Coastal Steam Ship Company in 1912.
The Northern Steamship Company acquired her two years later, and within the year she had two close calls in the Waitara River, followed by another in 1919 - her career was certainly not without incident!
One such event occurred while crossing the Manukau Bar - she had a few rough crossings in her time, with this one seeing a big sea come down through the engine room skylight and flood the area, nearly putting out the fires in the process.
That was small beer compared to events on 26 October 1928, and another crossing of the Manukau Bar. She came in over the rollers and was just inside the entrance when the bolts securing one of the engine's connecting rods to the crank pin sheered.
The connecting rod swung out from the cross-head, and with the valve gear intact, the piston's up-and-down motion smashed the cylinder before the steam could be shut off, sending hot shrapnel flying everywhere and filling the engine room with scalding wet steam.
Remarkably, second engineer H. Budge and fireman on watch C. Lambden both escaped inury as they managed to shut off the steam before the main engine was destroyed.
The calamity forced the ship to anchor immediately, and many a nervous hour was spent on the precipice of the sandbanks until help arrived in the form of the "Alexander", which towed her into port.
When "Arapawa" arrived in port on 1 June 1932, it was for the final time. But she didn't actually sail from Onehunga for a further thirteen months! Five years later, she was withdrawn from service and laid up in Auckland, where she became a home to flocks of pigeons before being stripped of her gear and beached on Rangitoto Island in 1941.
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