LINERS FOR LONDON

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 10

LINERS FOR LONDON

Three Sailing This Morning From Wellington TWO HISTORIC SHIPS Fully laden with cargoes of frozen meat, dairy jiroduce, fruit, wool aud other produce, three liners will depart from Wellington at 7 o’clock this morning for the United Kingdom, via tlie Panama Canal. The ships are the Federal Line steamer Huntingdon, which is to call at Boston and Halifax on her way to London, aud the I’oit Line steamers Port Auckland and Port Melbourne. The last-mentioned ship loaded under the auspices of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, Ltd. The Blue Star liner Dunedin Star left Lyttelton on Wednesday for I,ondon, and the Federal liner Northumberland is scheduled to sail finally from Wanganui roadstead on Tuesday for London, and West Coast of United Kingdom ports. Special interest attaches to the 1 ort Melbourne, which is one of the only two'pre-war .steamers now loft on in tlie licet of tile Port Line, the othei being her sister-ship, the Port Sydney. The latter ship was at Wellington at the beginning of this week. The Port Melbourne was built at the beginning of 1914 as tlie Star of Victoria and tlie Port Sydney was launched three months later as tlie Star of England, both ships then being owned by J. B. Corry and Co., Ltd., Belfast and London. The Corry ships were regular traders to New Zealand under the Tyser Line flag and were taken over, with that Hue’s own ships when the Commonwealth and Dominion Line (now the Port Line, Ltd.) was formed. As the Star of Victoria and Star of England the two ships were taken up by the Commonwealth Government in August, 1914, and fitted out as troop transports, the former being Al 6 and the latter Al 5. Both vessels sailed with the great convoy of 28 ships carrying the Main Body of the Australian Imperial Force which left Albany on November 1, 1914, accompanied by the 10 transports carrying the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. It is of interest to recall that the Port Melbourne (ex Star of Victoria) sailed in the third division of the Australian convoy, led by the Euripides (now the Shaw, Savill liner Akaroa), other ships in this division being the Shropshire (now the \ Rotorua), Argyllshire, Hororata and the Shaw, Savill liner Rangatira (wrecked later near Cape Town). The Port Sydney (ex Star of England) sailed in the second division of the convoy led by the Wiltshire, which was wrecked on Great Bayrier Island some years after the war.