FAMOUS FLAG

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 120, 15 February 1932, Page 19 (Supplement)

FAMOUS FLAG

Federal Steam Navigation Company

SOME EARLY HISTORY English County Names i ■ ( The steamers of the Federal Line ( are the lineal descendants of, and sev- . eral bear the same names as, the once ' famous sailing ships of the Blackwall Line, owned during the first half of last century by Money Wigram and Sons, of London. They fly the same house flag as has been in use since 1824—a square white flag with a red St. George’s cross carrying a blue square in the centre. These colours are also borne on the funnels of the Federal liners. Money Wigram waone of the 23 sons of Sir Bobert Wigram, who, as one of his many interests, was the principal owner of the famous Blackwall Yard, on the Thames, once the greatest private dockyard in the world. Sir Bobert was a director of the Hon. East India Company, which “took up” many of his ships. In 1819 he retired and sold the yard to Bobert Green and two of his sons, one of whom was Money Wigram. The yard continued for some years to build sister ships in pairs, one for Green and one for Wigram. In 1843, they dissolved partnership, dividing the yard between them and becoming ever keener rivals. ■t Money Wigram was one of the first of London owners to transfer ships from the Indian to the Australian trade, which he entered in 1837, and

to which he later turned entirely with such well-known ships as the Suffolk, Norfolk,. Kent, and others. His ships were occasional visitors to New Zealand ports during the immigration boom of the “seventies.” Like . many other enterprising shipowners, the flrm disposed of its sailing ships in favour of auxiliary steamships, the first of which, the London, 2500 tons, met a disastrous end in the Bay of Biscay in 1864. In 1867 the Somersetshire, 2342 tons, was built and was followed by the Northumberland, 2170 tons, in 1871,. and the Kent, 2484 tons, in 1873. Three years later the Durham was built, and in 1879 the Norfolk. The latter was barquerigged, of 3254 tons, with two funnels. She was 332 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth and was.. built of iron. These ships maintained a regular service between England and Australia, out via the Cape of Good Hope and home via the Suez Canal. The Norfolk (two voyages) and the Durham and Northumberland visited New Zealand in 1880,81 to the agency of the N.Z. Shipping Company. After many changes of ownership and name the Norfolk was still trading in 1905-06 as the Argonaut. In 1884, after having her engines removed, the Northumberland was bought by the Shaw Savill Company, for whom she made several voyages to New Zealand. She was wrecked on May 10, 1887, with loss of life, at Napier, where, on the day of the great earthquake last year her remains were forced up into view of those on board the present Federal liner Northumberland. The Durham and the Somersetshire were also sold by Money Wigram and converted into sailing ships. Advent of the Federal Line. The rapid development of steam shipping during the “eighties” and the growth of the Australian trade saw the

passing of the old firm of Money' Wigram,, whose interests were acquired by the Federal Steam Navigation Company, Limited. The first steamer built for the new company was the Maori > King, 3807 tons, launched in IS9O, and, fitted for the carriage of frozen meat. The fleet grew rapidly, ten. steamers ranging from 5500 tons to over ’7OOO tons register being built between 1896 and 1903. These were the Cornwall, Devon (wrecked at' Pencarrow in August, 1913), Kent, Surrey,. Sussex (scrapped only two years ago), Essex, Somerset, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Dorset. Several of them were lost during the war, as was also the new steamer Cumberland, mined off the Australian coast. A remarkable feat was accomplished by the Norfolk in 1910. Fourteen days out from Durban, the ship lost her propeller. She was fitted with a suit of improvised sails on her four pole masts and sailed over 1009 miles to the anchorage at Fremantle. , The Norfolk was beached on fire on the Victorian coast in November, 1914. For some years these steamers were engaged in the New Zealand-West of England trade as part of the Federal-Houlder-Shire Line. The Houlder ships were the Drayton Grange, Everton Grange, Haversham Grange, Oswestry Grange (on board of which Mr. Seddon died in 1906), and the Bippingham Grange. The Scottish Shire Line, which was started in 1884, with the Elderslie, ' owned such well-known steamers as the Perthshire, Banffshire, Buteshire, Fifeshire, Morayshire, Nairnshire, Ayrshire, and Argyllshire. The last-men-tioned ship, of 12,000, tons, was acquired by the Federal Line about two years ago. It is interesting to record that the Elderslie, 2751 tons gross „

register, was still afloat in 1906, and trading as the Ellamy, of London. The Elginshire, the second steamer built for the Shire Line, was wrecked near Tiinaru in March, 1891. The Perthshire was noted for her long drift in the Tasman Sea in 1898, when she broke her tail-shaft. She was picked up by the Union steamer Talune and towed into Sydney. In 1912 the Federal Line became associated with the New Zealand Shipping Company, and the two fleets have since traded in conjunction with each other.; During and since the war a number of large steamers have been built for the Federal Line, whose biggest unit is: the Northumberland, 11,555 tons. Five large German ships were also "bought and named Huntingdon, Norfolk, Cumberland, Hertford and Cambridge, all of them being about 10,900 tons register. The purchase of five other German steamers, renamed Pareora, Puriri, Papanui, Pakipaki. and Pipiriki, increased the Federal fleet to 19 steamers, totalling 180,000 tons gross register, with an insulated cargo capacity of over 5J million cubic feet. Three of the Federal steamers, including the Northumberland, carry cadets In training as the future officers of this fleet, and that of the New Zealand .Shipping Company.