ADMIRAL CODRINGTON.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 302, 21 December 1926, Page 9

ADMIRAL CODRINGTON.

STEAMER REPORTED ASHORE, j A SCHEME THAT HFAIHLED. "THE FARMERS' OWN SHIP." A photograph in a recent issue of the "Bulletin and Scots Pictorial," a Glasgow paper, shows the s.s. Admiral Cod- j rington, once familiarly !*,iowii in this I part of the world as the "farmers'l i steamer," ashore in the Gareloch at Shandon. As no details of the steamer's j mishap were cabled to Xew Zealand, I where the ship became so well known six' years ago, it may be presumed that sheilas since been refloated. j Whether of a serious nature or other- : wise, the "Codrington's" most recent mis- i hap is another chapter in an interesting ! if yet young, career. A vessel of 4139 j tons net, she was built at Sunderland j by W. Doxford and Sous, Ltd., as i recently as 1918, her launch taking place I two months after her keel had been laid. Originally she was built for a Greek firm, but a hitch, occurred and in the following year she was purchased by the Poverty 'Bay Farmers' Meat Co., Ltd. Before this time, HMr. W. D. Lysnar, who was managing-director of the company, had been bitterly opposed to the methods of international shipping concerns in general and to those of companies trading to Xew Zealand in particular. His plan was for the farmers to have a ship of their own to carry their produce to the Home markets at the lowest rates and to return to the Dominion with general cargo. The purchase of the "Codrington" was made in October, 1919, the price given being about £318,000. Unfortunately for the shareholders of the company, the purchase was made at the top of the shipping market. Her First Visit to Auckland. During January, 1920, the Admiral Codrington reached Auckland. She had come out from Home via Australia, load-1 ing hardwood at Bunbury for Wellington and Auckland. After discharge of her cargo the work of converting the "Codrington" into a meat 'carrier was commenced, for up to this time she had not be fitted up for the carriage of refrigerated cargo. Machinery at n Hastings firm's freezing works was dismantled and brought to Auckland, where it was installed in the big steamer, which was later to prove a failure. Many shipping mon will remember that the "Codrington" occupied a berth at the Central Wharf for nearly three months before the insulation of her holds was completed. Mr. Lysnar, it is said, displayed a boyish enthusiasm over the company's purchase, which was commonly referred to as "Lysnar's baby." One shipping man, Avho was connected with the work on the ship, remarked this morning that Mr. Lysnar endeavoured to get the best work, out of the men by good treatment. On one occasione nine dozen enamelled mugs were sent on board for tho men to drink their tea out of, and two days later only five were still on board. "And I remember that he 6ent down a whopping big cheese and plenty of butter, but the fellows were bo well treated that they turned down the cheese and demanded jam," he remarked. From Auckland the ship went to Gisborne, where she lay in the roadstead ! for some days while the work on board j was completed. Finally, after the J advent of the "farmers' own steamer" had been celebrated by a royal feast on ! board, the Admiral Codrington loaded' her first meat cargo and sailed for Home. It is stated that the work of fitting the vessel up for her new trade cost no less than £103,000. A Prolonged Homeward Voyage. It was either on this or a later trip that the Codrington's coal supply rau low. Details of the occurrence are meagre, but the story goes that she limped into Durban at about one knot. Xot only had every ounce of coal been used in the fires, but, it is said, not a little of the ship's furniture had been chopped up and fed to the flames to keep the screw turning. She eventually arrived iv HLondon after a very prolonged voyage, as a result of which some of her cargo was condemned. The Codrington's only other visit to' Auckland was made in March, 1921. The , ship did not reap the profits it had been ; anticipated she would do, and after com-1 ing into prominence by a collision at! Gisborne she was taken off the Xew! Zealand trade. For some months after J j this she traded to The Plate, and later | was reported to have gone ashore in the Clyde. After being towed off she was' laid up, and since then has apparently been idle in the Gareloch. At the time the Admiral Codrington was withdrawn from the Xew Zealand trade it was admitted that the scheme of a "farmers' steamer" had failed, the attempt to bring about the project being likened unto Don Quixote's encounter with a windmill. Subsequently the Poverty Bay Farmers' Meat Company, which at that time, in common with all other freezing companies in the Dominion, was passing through a deflation period, was sold to Messrs. Vcstey Bros.