The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home
From Matty Smith | Onehunga | Niuvakai | Manukau | Coasters Ahoy! | Double Entendre | Big Bay By Day | Big Bay By Night | From Brent Chambers | From Tony Skilton | Bougainville Arrival | NZTA Aerial View | From Duncan Montgomery | From Robin Scott | From Bill Cole | From David Shepherd | From Robbie McDonald | Sundry Anecdotes | From Michael Raynes | From Stephen Lasham | From Carol Cavit | From Saffron Webb, Holcim | From Andrew Beale, Pacifica | From Ted Scott | From Gordon Walker | From Brian Hodson, Panuku | From John Underhill
From Michael Raynes
I think it's safe to say Michael Raynes is the biggest fan of this Port of Onehunga tribute site!
He's a Northern Steam Ship Company afficionado, with records, data and information on NSSCo
dating back to before Noah built the ark! (At least, it seems like it!) :-)
With Onehunga having been a major hub for NSSCo's ships over the years, this site is manna
from heaven for him, and he's providing me with a raft of facts and titbits on many of the Northern
ships which tied up alongside over the years, adding further to the legend of the Port of Onehunga.
"Dawn", "Marakopa", "Te Kawau" and "Kotahi" (or possibly "Kototahi") were all small vessels that traded out of Waitara to Mokau, Tongaporutu, Awakino and Marakopa. Photos and info in the book "Little Ports of Taranaki" by Margaret de Jardine - great reading.
* * *
1916 was Onehunga's busiest year, and it was even busier if visits by "Waiuku", "Pono" and "Victory" were recorded. Records shows their first arrivals on the Manukau, but not subsequent calls at Onehunga Wharf while running between there and Waiuku.
"Waiuku" didn't come over the bar. She was shipped from England in sections and reassembled at Onehunga, being built in 1913 specially for the Waiuku passenger service for Northern Co, making six or seven trips weekly.
"Pono" and "Victory", both NSSCo were on the Onehunga to Waiuku & way ports cargo run, making two to four trips weekly. A very busy wharf.
* * *
"Rose Ann" and "Rothesay" were two small NSSCo vessels. "Rose Ann" was a passenger launch used on Raglan Harbour, but visited onehunga in 1893 for repairs after hitting rocks at Waingaro landing.
"Rothesay" was used on Kawhia Harbour, and served wharves at Waitere, Kinohaku and Oparau, and between Kawhia and Marakopa from 1907 to1916. She was at Onehunga in 1909, breaking down on the bar.
* * *
"Wetere" visited Onehunga many times from 1926 to 1928, and sadly caught fire at Wanganui on 14 December 1931 - she was burnt out.
* * *
"Ennerdale" visited Onehunga in 1915, and was purchased by the Union Steam Ship Company and renamed "Kahika". She visited Onehunga under that name in 1916 and in subsequent years.
* * *
There were two vessels named "Waiotahi". The first of them called at Onehunga three times in 1926, between 11 May and 9 June from Raglan, Kawhia and Hokianga. She was relieving for "Rimu", which was under survey at the time.
* * *
|
Bailey & Lowe, of Auckland, built ten auxiliary schooners and auxiliary ketches from 1902 to 1910.
The Northern Co owned three, including "Elsie" and "Victory", which were both on the Waiuku etc. run from Onehunga from 1902 to circa 1925.
One of the ten vessels was "Albatross", which visited Onehunga six times in 1916 when under charter to NSSCo, running between Onehunga and Waitara due to a big flood which silted the bar, rendering it too shallow for "Arapawa" to cross.
At the end of the charter, Captain Williamson, the owner, loaded cargo for Marakopa, NSSCo having advised him that the big 1916 floods had badly affected entrances at Marakopa, Mokau, Waitara and Patea.
On 6 August 1916, "Albatross" ran aground south of Kawhia and was washed ashore under cliffs. The cargo and engines were saved.
* * *
The auxiliary schooner "Aratapu" arrived at Onehunga in 1918 from Waitara and Mokau before being sold to Mr Graafstad. She was renamed "Zita".
Under both names she traded from Westport, where she loaded coal for Onehunga and the Waitara and Opunake dairy factories from 1916 to 1929.
Prior to 1916 she had been loading at Mokau, but that ceased after big floods blocked the upper river, restricting access to launches only, e.g. "Cygnet", which did a cargo and cream run plus coal and passengers, and was still doing cruises in 2016!
Graffstad went bankrupt in 1927. "Zita" was sold and renamed "Aratapu", and was still calling at Onehunga from 1927 to 1929 - there's a great photo and info in "Little Ports of Taranaki".
"Aratapu" ran aground at Waitara in 1929, and was refloated and laid-up there. She was sold to Mr Marslen in 1932, and was taken to Auckland, where she was to overseas interests. She went missing in a storm late that year on her way to Tahiti.
* * *
|
Wanganui was New Zealand's busiest coastal port throughout the 1950s until 1960, with 310 ships visiting at its peak.
Motueka had its busiest year in 1955, when 276 ships used the port - compare that with the 87 visitors to Onehunga that year!
Vessels from the 63 ton "Wakanui" up to the 1248 ton "Puriri" called there, but trade dropped away after that until 1976, when "Te Aroha" made the final call at Motueka.
* * *
"Waka", later known as "Clansman", was built to the 1929 order of Northern Steam Ship Company, and her maiden voyage was to the Pacific Islands. Why? From 1923 on, ships built in NZ went up to either Norfolk Island, New Caledonia or the Solomon Islands in order to claim back taxes and duty on the motors!!
* * *
|