LAUNCHING NEXT MONTH

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32564, 25 March 1971, Page 10

LAUNCHING NEXT MONTH

Lady Blundell, wife of the New Zealand High Commissioner for New Zealand (Sir Denis Blundell) will launch the Union Steam Ship Company’s ship Rangatira at the Walker yard of Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne on April 26. The Rangatira is being built for the company’s Wellington-Lyttelton steamer

express service and is expected to be ready in time for the Christmas holidays this year. It is the largest ship to enter the Lyttelton run although she will carry fewer passengers—76 B—than her predecessors. Accommodation will be of a very high standard. All passengers will have a sleeping berth, and a large proportion of cabins will have private toilet facilities. Special attention has been given to the design of a funnel of distinctive shape to

meet the owner’s requirements to prevent smoke and soot from falling on the decks.

The main garage runs practically the full length of the main deck and is designed to carry lorries or four-wheeled trailers with a maximum headroom of 14ft weighing up to 10 tons on a single axle or 18 tons on tandem axles, all of which will enter by the stem through a hydraulicallyimpelled hinged door. A further garage to accommodate private cars is at

the forward end of the upper deck. More than 200 cars can be taken.

The arrangement of public rooms and their interior decoration has been given special consideration. The fullest use is being made of modem materials, with emphasis on the use of wool. On the ship’s arrival in the Dominion an oil painting by Mr J. McDonald depicting “Te Rangatira” which formerly hung in Rangatira I will be placed in the ship.