MEMORIAL PLANNED TO SHIP TURAKINA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26842, 5 August 1948, Page 3

MEMORIAL PLANNED TO SHIP TURAKINA

NORTH OTAGO NEWS

The first of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s ships to be lost through enemy action, the Turakina, was sunk after a fierce engagement with the German raider Orion, in the Tasman Sea on August 20. 1940, in the course of her thirty-fourth voyage. The Turakina was well-known in Oamaru, having last visited the port from July 13 to 18, 1939, and in 1938, 1936, 1934, 1933, and dates prior to these. A large block of stone from the Oamaru Harbour Board’s quarry has been taken to the entrance of Holmes wharf, where it is to be

erected as a memorial to the Turakina, its commanding officer, Captain J.'B. Laird, and men of the merchant service.

The Turakina was a refrigerated cargo ship of 9691 tons gross register, built in 1923 by William Hamilton and Co., Ltd., Port Glasgow, for the New Zealand Shipping Company. Her length was 460 feet and beam 63 feet. Captain Laird commanded the Turakina from September. 1930, up until the time of his death when the ship was sunk. The first German raider to operate in the Pacific, the Orion (formerly the Ham-burg-America Line steamer Kurmark). mounted six 5.9-lnch guns, a number of smaller guns, and two twin torpedo tubes. She also carried a seaplane. Strange Ship Sighted

The Turakina left Australia on August 18, 1940, for New Zealand, where she was to have her insulated space filled with frozen meat for England. Late in the afternoon of August 20 a strange ship was sighted at some distance. It appeared to be steering a parallel course, but subsequently turned and approached the Turakina. This was found to be the Orion, which ordered the Turakina to stop instantly and not to use her wireless. Captain Laird at Once ordered maximum full speed, put the ship's stem towards the enemy, and instructed the radio office to broadcast the " raider signal, giving the ship’s position and indicating that it was being attacked. Thereupon the Oron opened fire, but the Turakina was able to make her signal several times (between 6.26 p.m. and 630 p.m.), and it was received on both sides of the Tasman. The Turakina s message gave her position as latitude 38 degrees 27 minutes south, longitude 167 degrees 35 minutes east, approximately 290 miles west by north from Cape Egmont, and about 480 miles from WellingtoAnd so, in the gathering dusk began the first engagement ever fought in the rasman Sea The odds were heavily in favour of the Orion with her Powerful armament and well-trained crew. The Turakina carried a single 4.7 in gun mounted right aft, and manned by he own merchant seamen, assisted by a naval eU Clearly silhouetted against the afterglow of sunset, the Turakina was target foi salvo after salvo of 5.9 in shells, which rapidly wrecked her upper works, nadlL her hull, and caused heavy Fires broke out in several parts of the ship, and defeated every effort of the crew to suppress them. The Turakina was turning stern-on to the raider as the latter fired a broadside. One shell brought down the fore topmast, with the lookout, One hit the bridge, one hit the galley, another burst in the officers quarters, and yet another hit the cadets room at the foot of the mainmast. The Turakina’s foremast was wrecked and the telephones dislocated. The raider continued to fire rapidly, some shells going over, some falling short, and others hitting. Turakina Opens Fire The Turakina’s own gun, on orders from Captain Laird, opened fire, and in the words of one of the survivors, ’I th nk we gave Jerry quite a shock. The Orion tried to blind the gun crew by turning on a searchlight, but when the gun opend fire the light was switched ,off> The Turakina was now swinging in a circle to starboard, and the Orion followed suit on an outer circle in an endeavour to- get forward of the Turakina s beam so that-the sole gun would not be able to bear on her. This, however, proved unsuccessful whil.2 the Turakina kept her v" Although the Turakina was ultimately sunk, Captain Laird had kept the vow he was said to have made that he would fight his ship to the last if he were attacked by a raider. In refusing to stop when challenged and in ordering a_ wireless message to be transmitted Indicating the presence of an enemy raider, Captain Laird carried out an obligation that was accepted and executed by thousands of British and Allied shipmasters during the war. The sending of such a message did not save the ship or her company, but it pinpointed the position of the enemy at the time, and so materially assisted to save other ships, and also aided the efforts of the naval authorities to compass the destruction’ of the enemy. In this case. the Turakina and her complement paid ; ,the extreme price, but the raider was compelled to' leave the Tasman Sea and did not sink another ship for two months. Captain Laird’s conduct might be regarded as quixotic, but he was a dour Scot. He had been given a gun with which to defend his ship, he was resolved to use it no matter what the odds, and in the event he was backed by his officers and men to the last. • It. was announced subsequently mat Captain Laird had been officially commended for good service in the defence of the Turakina against enemy attack. A Strong Personality Some idea of the nature and personality of Captain Laird can be gleaned from a letter written on July 14, 1940—a little over a month before his death, which stated: ‘I am confident that we will whip the Germans. They have never fought the British, they will never conquer the British spirit. Every man on, his own soil is as good as those fighting, off it. We are slow to anger away uom home, but quick to attack anyone at home, and (speaking for the Scots), I feel there will be little quarter given to MW one of the enemy who land on our icottish shores, particularly if they fall mto the hands of Scotsmen, and I imagine, the same goes for the English. What say the Anzacs! We are rushing round this coast at a dizzy rate; however, the sooner we are away the sooner we will be home.”