MISSION STEAMER

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 171, 15 April 1932, Page 3

MISSION STEAMER

Southern Cross Leaves on Last Island Trip

HISTORIC LINK ENDED

Tim .Melanesian Mission steamer Southern Cross left Auckland yesterday on her last voyage to the ,south-west Paeilie Islands. When she returns in June the mission will relinquish a direct service between Auckland and Melanesia, after a connection lasting for about 85 years.

The first vessel used by the mission was the schooner Uudene, an Aucklandbuilt vessel of 20 tons displacement, which was purchased in 1847 by Bishop Selwyn for £320. says the “New Zealand Herald” in a review of the mission’s ships. She was uot Hie exclu- ■ sive possession of I he Northern Mission, as the Melanesian Mission was then called, but was used by ilie bishop for other work on the New Zealand coast and in voyages to adjacent islands. She made two voyages to the Melanesian Islands, one iu 1849. and the second one in the following year. Afterwards she was sold for £250. After a visit to Sydney by Bishop Selwyn in 1850. (be Dioceses of Sydney and Newcastle contributed £lOOO and £225 respectively, and the Northern Mission was presented with a vessel of 100 tons, called the Border Maid, which cost £l2OO. She made two voyages to the Melanesian Islands, ami was afterwards sold, in 1852. for £lOOO. which was given back to ’ the Australian Dioceses. First Southern Cross. Bishop Selwyn visited England in 1854, aud while there the first Southern Gross was built for the mission. She also was a vessel of 100 tons, aud was built at Blackwall, London, at a cost of £lBOO. She reached New Zealand on July 19, 1855, ten days after the arrival of the bishop. She continued the service until June 18, 1860, when ■she was totally wrecked on the Hen and Chickens, near Whaugarei, during a heavy easterly gale. For three years the mission had to depend on chartered ships, three of which were the Zillah, Dunedin, and Sea Breeze, vessels that were unsuitable for missionary work. The second Southern Cross was a two-masted schooner purchased by the mission in 1863. Like her predecessor she was not fitted with engines, and consequently the voyages to Melanesia were considerably prolonged. After being used for a number of years she was replaced by the third Southern Cross, which was afterwards known for many years as the Ysabel.

The Southern Cross Na 3 was built at Auckland in 1874 by Messrs. Nlccol and Sons, and was an auxiliary barquentine fitted with steam engines. She was an exceptionally fast type of vessel, and bad a number of smart passages to her credit. After 19 years’ service with the mission she became too small for tbo work, whch was extending every year. In 1893 she was sold to Captain Ross, of Auckland, who had the engines taken out, and then used pie vessel for many years in his trading between Niue Island and Auckland, having ehanged her name to Yeabel Successor to YsabeL In 1914 the Ysabel was soSfi to Messrs. G. 11. Scales and Company, Wellington, who continued to use her iu the island trade until she was sold again in 1925 to buyers iu the Eastern Pacific. Her end came In 1927, when she was destroyed by fire after a sea career of 53 years. The successor to the Ysabel, Southern Cross No. 4, was also an auxiliary barquentine fitted with steam engines. She was built in England to the order of the mission. A few days after she left London on her maiden voyage she was damaged by a severe storm in the English Channel and bad to return to port to refit. It was found that she was overmasted and that she had been badly strained in the storm.

After her arrival in New Zealand it was discovered that she was very unsuitable for the work, and she was eventually sold to an Australian buyer. Still retaining the name of Southern Gross, she made a number of trips between New Zealand and Australia, and between Australia and the Islands. Later she was in the Tasmania-Aus-tralia trade. Her ultimate fate was similar to her predecessor’s, but with fatal results. YVhen on a trip from Sydney to Hobart with a cargo of benzine, she caught fire and blew to pieces. All on board perished. Tbe present-Southern Cross is a steamer of 680 tons, and is classed as a yacht, flying the flag of the Royal Thames Yacht Club. She was built in England in 1903 by Armstrong, Whitworth, and Company. During her 29 years’ career she has made many vovages to the Islands, and has always proved a fine sea boat, her seaworthiness having been tested in five hurricanes and numerous storms of less violence. Each voyage she has covered about 8000 miles and visited between 100 and 200 places.

New Vessel’s Itinerary. The new Southern Cross is only about half the length of the present steamer. She will be stationed in the islands and will not come to Auckland. She will be used to transport members of the mission, and also stores, which will reach the islands from Sydney. Sailing by the Southern Cross yesterday were Dr. L. M. Maybury; medical officer of the mission, and Nursing Sister Piers, recently arrived from England, both of whom are proceeding to the mission hospital at. Malaita: the Rev. B. C. Nottage. who is taking np work in the New Hebrides under tbe Presbyterian Church, and will leave the ship at Vila : Mr. A. H. Fletcher and Mr. A. J. G. Smith, who will supervise work on the new hospital; Miss Fagan, who is returning after a short furlough to Banks Island; and Sisters Margaret: and Y’eronica. who have been spending their furlough in New Zealand.