THE NEW ARAWA

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21809, 15 June 1936, Page 18

THE NEW ARAWA

FORMER VESSELS RECALLED Further particulars are available of the liner Arawa, formerly the Esperance Bay, which the Shaw, Savill, and Albicn Company has acquired, and which will replace the lonic in the Hew Zealand trade. An oil-burning twin-screw vessel of 14,176 tons gross register, she was one of the five well-known Bay liners built for the Commonwealth of Australia 14 years ago, and she has a service speed of 15 knots. She has been extensively remodelled to meet the requirements of the New Zealand service, and her carrying capacity has been limited to 320, whereas on her former run she carried more than 600. She is a modern vessel in every particular, and the accommodation is commodious.

The First Arawa The Arawa is the third ship engaged in the New Zealand trade to bear the name Arawa. The first Arawa was built in 1883, and she was a sister-ship of the first Tainui, another histone name in the New Zealand shipping trade. Both were remarkably handsome ships with twin funnels, clipper bows, and a large spread of canvas that gave them a good turn of speed. After some years in the New Zealand- ■ London trade, and in the San Francisco run, she. together with the Tainui, was chartered by the Spanish .Government to carry troops to the Philippine Islands and Cuba, When those colonies were in open revolt in 1896. After the end of the SpamshAmerichh War. the two ships, which had in the meantime been named the Colon and the Covodogna, resumed their old names, but she changed nands and nafries several times in later years, and was finally sunk by a German torpedo in the Great War, when she was in Italian hands. The Second Arawa The second Arawa became well known to several generations of travellers, but was most widely knowm as a troopship, for she was one of the transports for the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, from Wellington to Egypt. The vessel had a wonderful career while in the New Zealand trade, the only mishap which ever occurred to her being the loss of one of her propellers after leaving Cape Town when outward bound for New Zealand. Even then she completed the voyage to New Zealand on her remaining propeller at 10 knots.

Built by Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson at Newcastle-on-Tyne, the Arawa was launched in February, 1907, and made her maiden voyage from London to New Zealand in that year. Soon after the outbreak of war the

Arawa was taken over and fitted out as one of the 12 transports that carried the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to Egypt The Arawa and the Corinthic carried the Thirtieth Reinforcements from New Zealand to Liverpool in 1917. The Arawa also brought several drafts of soldiers back from England to New Zealand in 1917-19. She was commanded throughout the war by Captain H. Clayden, who was subsequently appointed marine superintendent in the South Island for the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company. The Arawa was afterwards commanded by Captain R. S. Lewis, and later by Captain W. G. Summers.

In August, 1928, the Arawa left New Zealand on her final voyage under the Shaw, Savill, and Albion flag, and she made the trip at the same average speed, 13 knots, as she did on her maiden voyage to New Zealand 21 years before. She was then sold to a German firm, who renamed her Konigstein. She was stripped of all her accommodation, and fitted for the carnage of motor-cars between the United States and Germany. In October, 1934, she was reported as being on fire at sea, 400 miles east of Boston.