Ship’s sad new role

Press, 22 August 1979, Page 21

Ship’s sad new role

By

JOHN LESLIE

Television viewers in New Zealand may have seen recently the pitiful sight of a moderate-sized ship crammed with 3000 Vietnamese refugees. The vessel was named Skyluck. However, few would know that the Skyluck was none other than a former Union Steam Ship Company’s inter-colonial trader Waimate (3506 tons gross) which like so many Union Company vessels was sold to Asian buyers. The Waimate, which was once well known at

Lyttelton, was a motor vessel built in 1951 by Henry Robb, Ltd, of Leith. She was designed purely as a cargo carrier, but as the Skyluck 3000 refugees rode in her like sardines in a tin.

According to recent reports the Skyluck ran aground on one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands. The refugees wanted to

land at Hong Kong, which is already bursting at the seams. Those who -remember the Waimate must wonder how she could carry 3000 distressed refugees at once. Under her former Union Company ownership the vessel carried steel, timber, and bulk and general cargo but no passengers.