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Nikau
 Sourced from NZ Ship & Marine Society
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Built as a twin screw coal-burning steamship by Mackie & Thomson in Glasgow, she arrived in Nelson at the end of her delivery voyage on 25 July 1909 and was unleashed on the Wellington - Motueka - Nelson service, dropping the Motueka leg soon afterwards.
She spent seventeen years operating the overnight ferry service between the two islands, carrying up to 35 passengers at a time in two cabins, one for men, one for women.
No matter the weather through that area of the country, she rarely missed a sailing, although she did have a few mishaps over the years - a grounding here, a lost propeller there, etc..
Sailing under the command of Captain Robert John Hay, a Shetland Islands native, she came to be known as the "Cook Strait Ghost" because of her long white funnel. On a wild night, the funnel, growing faintly from the glow of a deck lamp, presented an eerie appearance to other ships.
Hay himself, made over 9000 crossings of Cook Strait while in command of Anchor Company vessels, many of which were at the helm of "Nikau", his charge for thirteen years.
 A pre-conversion picture of "Nikau", sourced from Nelson Museum, ref 8553
She was withdrawn from the passenger-carrying trade in 1926 and converted into a cargo-carrying vessel. In 1935, the decision was made to convert her into a motorship with the installation of a generator and two five-cylinder oil engines, and powered by these she served Anchor Shipping in this capacity for nigh on twenty years before she was sold to the Kiwi Shipping Company in 1954.
A year later, she came to be owned by the Northern Steamship Company, but this, too, was short-lived, as in 1956 she was acquired by Burns Philp (New Hebrides), whom she served for ten years until being wrecked during a storm while loading copra off Loasia, Tanna Island, New Hebrides, on 5 December 1964.
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Sourced from Ships of NZ Facebook page