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Fijian

Built
1970
LR No.
7030420
Gross
1459
Net
689
Dimensions
86.87m x 14.43m
Registered
Gibraltar
First Arrival
29 April 1979
18 January 1983
Last Sailing
17 November 1981
20 May 1989
Names
Cotswold Prince
Fijian
Onehunga
Fijian
Cotswold Prince
Years
1970-79
1979-81
1981-82
1983-89
1989-2004

Built in Wallsend, she is powered by one 2460hp English Electric diesel, producing a service speed of 13.5 knots.

She has one 20 tonne derrick, one 10 tonne derrick and two 5 tonne derricks.
She was acquired from Prince Line in the UK, named "Fijian" and after arriving in Napier on 23 April 1979 she was unleashed on the Onehunga-Suva-Lautoka run.

When she arrived at Onehunga from Suva on 27 November 1980, it was with the burden of a ten degree list - her cargo shifted in heavy seas off the North Island's west coast.

At the end of 1981, she was taken off the Fijian service and, under the management of Coastal Shipping, she operated the NZ coast as "Onehunga" for a year, the name change taking place at Onehunga on 3 December.


This venture proved unsuccessful, so at the start of 1983 it was back to "Fijian" and island trading again for six more years. In July 1989 she was renamed "Cotswold Prince" but was employed on the same run.

One of her saddest days came on 30 September 1984, when a Manukau Bar crossing in heavy weather resulted in the Third Engineer being washed overboard - he was up on deck closing hatches and skylights. His body was washed ashore three days later.

Also that year, while berthing at Onehunga, she struck a sandbank while turning, and had to wait six hours before she could be floated off on the incoming tide.

And in 1985, she had two mishaps in Fiji, the first of which saw her aground on a reef for two days in August. Three months later, she spent twelve hours aground off the Fijian coast.

When the coup in Fiji took place in 1987, "Fijian" and her crew were unsuspecting victims of the unfolding events, which included a waterside workers' ban on handling Fijian cargoes.

This meant "Fijian" was effectively laid up at Onehunga from the thick end of a fortnight from 25 May, eventually sailing on 6 June laden with potatoes and onions for her usual destinations of Suva and Lautoka. It didn't help matters that she had 300 tonnes of molasses in her holds during her enforced spell sitting idle, with the crew only able to carry out regular maintenance work during this time.

A little later that year, on 22 August, "Fijian" grounded on a reef near Navula Point, en route from Lautoka to Onehunga. She was refloated without leaks, and was able to resume the voyage after repairs.

In mid-1989, she reverted to her original name, "Cotswold Prince", under which title she continued to visit Onehunga over the next three years before being laid up in Nelson.

She was eventually sold and broken up in Mumbai in October 2004 - refer also to "Onehunga" and "Cotswold Prince".


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