OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 23229, 18 June 1937, Page 4

OBITUARY

Captain David Todd

Captain David Todd, formerly commodore of the Union Steam Ship Company’s fleet, died at Sydney on Saturday last, in his seventy-first year. Captain Todd served for 33 years under the Union Company’s house flag at sea, and at the time of his retirement seven years ago, was commodore of the company’s fleet He had been master in the company’s ships for nearly 24 years without a single mishap. Bom at Dunedin on February 24, 1867, Captain Todd went to sea at an early age. He spent some years in sailing ships, in which he served as second mate and mate. He joined the service of the Union Steam Ship Company on November 4, 1897, his first appointment being as third officer of the Rotorua. In April 1899 he was promoted to second officer of the Flora, and in September 1901 to chief officer of the Te Anau. He served as chief officer of a number of the Union Company’s passenger ships, including the first Monowai, and was promoted master in December 1906, his first command being the Poherua. Captain Todd was in command of the Tofua, in the South Sea Islands service, when the Great War started. He retained command of the Tofua when she was taken over as a troop transport and in her he made three voyages from New Zealand to Egypt, carrying drafts of the 6th, Bth, and 10th Reinforcements of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, to Alexandria. After the New Zealand Division transferred to France, the reinforcement drafts went to England. In November 1917 Captain Todd left New Zealand for Suez in the Tofua, carrying a draft of 810 Mounted Rifles. On his return to New Zealand, he was in March 1918 appointed to the command of the Tahiti. She left New Zealand on July 10, 1918, with the 40th Reinforcements, numbering 1109 officers and men, and arrived at Plymouth on September 10, after a tragic passage because of an outbreak on board of influenza, which caused a number of deaths.

After the war, Captain Todd remained in command of the Tahiti, which resumed her running in the San Francisco service, until January 1921 when he went to England to superintend the construction of the Hauraki, the first motor-ship built for the Union Steam Ship Company. He was in command of the Waiotapu when he retired from the Union Company’s service under the age limit rule, on May 13, 1930. Since his retirement Captain Todd had lived in Sydney, making occasional visits to New Zealand. He leaves a widow, a daughter and three sons. One son, Captain D. M. Todd, is a member of the Wellington Harbour Board’s pilot staff, and another, Mr W. A. Todd, is chief officer of the Union Company’s steamer Ngatoro, in the Australian coast trade.