"THE PRINCE OF WALES.”

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 6 (Supplement)

"THE PRINCE OF WALES.”

HULK T'Sill) LX HAY AS FR.EHZiXG STORK.

For two periods oi about a couple of years a familiar sight in Poverty Bav was the freezer and store ship, "The Prince of Yvaics.” ( p till the ovc of the 90’s, Auckland had proved the b’g maikot for this district’s fat stock. Kvcry year, many thousands of sheep and lambs and hundreds upon hundreds of lat cattle were sent North to assist in meeting the requirements of the butchery trade. From 1579 ior a number of years Mr. llwen Cameron, for instance. exported an average of ‘2OOO sheep yearly to Ihe Auckland market, in addition to 125 iat cattle and a number of horses.. The Union C'o. charged 50 s per head freight on the bullocks and 3s per head on the sheep. In 1883 Mr. Cameron won with a white steer,first prize at the Auckland .Christinas meat show for the best ship-borne animal. Much more fat stock would have been exported if more shipping space could have been guaranteed. The advent of the freezing industry was, of course, hound to bring changes. On February 2, 1884, the “Telephone” contained this very interesting item; “As an experiment—which is likely to prove of great importance to this district—the Loan and Mercantile Co. has shipped 500 sheep per the Wairarapa to Wellington for freezing purposes. They will be scut Home per! direct steamer and if the venture proves successful

larger lots will follow. It is understood that the consignment was sent on behali ol Mr. A. C. Arthur, who, m the early days, owned The Willows property. The shipment was made by the Mataura, but her cargo was a partial failure. Tie, too, exported, with Mr. Cameron and others, largely to the Auckland market, sending forward luni-eli in 1883 no fewer than 2GOO sheep, although the number would have been doubled il sufficient shipping space had offered. Prior to 'the advent of Messrs. Nelson Bros.’ freezing works at Taruheru, that company sent tlie ‘Prince of Wales’ here in November, 1889, to freeze and store meat. Captain Cunrniing, who is living in retirement here, was in charge. The had a pair of 30 h.p. engines, and could freeze two hundred sheep per day. In those days there were, of course, no shore freezing works. The pioneer refrigerated vessel, the Dunedin, it may he recalled, had to freeze her own cargo of meat.

The -‘Prince of Wales” remained in Poverty Bay till January, 1891, when she was sent to Pieton to inaugurate the frozen meat trade of Marlborough. Eight years later, she returned to Gisborne and again acted as storeship until July 1901, when she went to Pert Chalmers,, remaining there 1 ns a store-ship untii IUC3. J* rom the Otago port she went on to W ellington and was eventually sold for use as a coal'hulk.

Built in 1830, at Southampton. im the Hudson Bay trade, the “Prince of Wales” was .specially constructed for encountering the ice-strewn Arctic seas. . She was built of oak and over her planking —as a sheathing of green-heart, with zinc sheathing outside all. In IS-56 she was selected as one of the Franklin relief expedition vessels. She was later in the emigrant trade and her staff witnessed the famous fight between the Ivearsage and the Alabama. At the time the -‘Prince of Wales went south the Russian scare was on and it is said when the people of Lyttelton saw her they judged by her clumsy build that she was some sort of Russian filibuster making a descent upon the colony.