NEW VESSEL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19042, 16 June 1936, Page 9

NEW VESSEL

NEW ZEALAND TRADE

STEAMER lONIC REPLACED

A NEW ARAWA

One of the best-known ships on the London run, the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's lonic, will be withdrawn from service next March and replaced by' the 14-000-ton vessel Arawa, which was formerly engaged in the Australian trade as the Esperanee Bay.

The Arawa has been extensively remodelled to meet the requirements of the New Zealand service, and- her carrying capacity has been limited to 320," whereas on her former run she carried over (500. She is a modern vessel in every particular, and the accommodation is commodious. She has largo public rooms, and her diningroom will accommodate all the passengers at one sitting. There is .a special playroom for children, and numerous other alterations have been made that should make the Arawa the most comfortable of liners.

The Arawa will make her first trip from New Zealand in March, arriving at Southampton on May 2, in time for the Coronation ceremonies.

An oil-burning twin-screw vessel oi 14,170 tons gross register, she was one of the five well-known Bay liners built for the Commonwealth of Australia 14 years ago, and she has a service speed of 15 knots. THIRD TO BEAR THE NAME

She is the third .ship engaged in the New* Zealand trade to bear the name Arawa. The first Arawa Was built in I§B3, and she was a sister-ship of the first Tainui, another historic name in our shipping trado. Both were remarkably handsome ships with twin funnels, clipper bows, and a large spread of canvas thai gave them a good turn of speed. After some years in the New Zealand-London trade, and in the .San Francisco run, she, together with the Tainui, was chartered by the Spanish Government to carry troops to the Philippine Islands and Cuba, when those colonies wore in open revolt in 1890. After the end of the -Spanish-American War, the two ships, which had in the meantime been named the Colon and the Covodogna, resumed their old names, but she changed hands and names several times in later years, and was finally sunk by a' German torpedo in the Great War, when she was in Italian hands.

The second Arawa, which was built on tho Tyne in 1907, w,as a twin-screw steamer 'of just under 10,000 tons. After the outbreak of the Great War, she was converted .mo a transport and was one of the 10 vessels that, carried the Main Body of the N.Z.E.F. to Egypt in 1914. She remained in the New Zealand trade, after the war, and only eight years ago she was sold to German owners rind renamed the Konigstein.

The lonic will make her last voyage to New Zealand towards the end of this year, sailing from London on September ■!, and she will leave'New Zealand for the last time on November 11, having concluded a long and honourable service in the London-New Zealnnd trade.