MAKING SCRAP IRON.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 199, 23 August 1926, Page 8

MAKING SCRAP IRON.

ONCE PRIDE OF THE FLEET.

WRECKERS ON THE ROTOMAHAXA.

Once the pride of the Australian Mercantile Marine, the famous old Rotomahana is being rapidly demolished by ship-breakers at Railway Pier, Port Melbourne. For 15 months men have been engaged in the works of breaking up the ship. In her day -the Rotomahana was one of the finest and fastest ships afloat. She was built in 1879 by Denny and Sons at Dumbarton for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, and was the first vessel in the world constructed of steel plates-, and fitted with a propeller. Her displacement was 1770 tons, and her engines were, for that time, extraordinarily powerfjL Her splendid lines, clipper bow and bowsprit and lean funnel, gave her an exceedingly graceful appearance. On her maiden voyage she registered 15 knots —a wonderful speed for this period, and later easily surpassed this. She first ran in the Xew Zealand coastal trade, and later came to Australia. During the Xew Zealand gold rushes she carried thousands of gold-seekers.

Tn 1893 the Rotomahana went on the Launceston-Melhourne run. and for years held the record for this trip. When the Rotomahana was up for sale early last year she was bought by Messrs. Davis and Power, of Port Melbourne, for a very reasonable figure from the purchasers' viewpoint. Rumour in shipping circles has it that the new owners are "making a good thing out of her." She is built of English iron; her boilers (not the originals) are good, and the interior woodwork is in an excellent state of preservation. Up to date approximately 200 tons of iron has heen taken out of the interior. Some of the iron is going to Newport and some to the Broken Hill Proprietary. As the vessel is broken up she will float lighter, and it is probable that she will finally he beached.