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Holmburn
 Sourced from Alexander Turnbull Library via www.shipspotting.com
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Built as a asteamship by G. Seebeck in Bremerhaven for Argentine interests, she served owners in Wales, Germany and Australia before capturing the attention of Captain Alexander F. Watchlin, who acquired her for his Watchlin Line company in 1932.
Before her sale, she was converted to a motorship, with twin Fairbanks-Morse diesels installed. She was renamed "Port Whangarei" in June 1932 and unleashed on the trans-tasman trade, as well as from Whangarei to Dunedin and all ports in between on the New Zealand coast.
The Union Steam Ship Company acquired Watchlin Line in 1934, and she was eventually chartered to Holm Shipping four years later, at which time she was put on their trade from Port Waikato to the South Island, with occasional calls to Tarakohe to load cement for Lyttelton.
World War Two meant another change of hands, with the Royal NZ Navy securing her services in 1942. Renamed "KG28", she carried supplies to US forces in the Pacific, primarily in New Caledonia, for two years.
After decommissioning, she was sold to Holm Shipping, and added the Wellington - Lyttelton service to the repertoire of trades she served from 1944.
Five years later, she was put on new trades, with visits to Raoul Island, Campbell Island, the Chatham Islands and Norfolk Island her new destinations.
It was to the last-mentioned location that she sailed from Onehunga on 27 June 1949, in doing so becoming the first foreign-going ship to sail from the port - until this voyage, all previous sailings from Onehunga had been on the coastal trade.
She was sold to New Caledonian interests in February 1954, but her new owners' use of her was shortlived - during a gale on 20 July that year, she dragged her anchor and was stranded on a reef near Lord Howe Island. She was abandoned as a total loss.
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