SO YEARS ON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 485, 15 October 1928, Page 1

SO YEARS ON

“May Queen” Pioneers Arrange Celebrations ANNIVERSARY OF ARRIVAL On October 19. IS7B, a trim barque of 736 tons register came bowling up Hauraki Gulf and nosed her way into the Waitemata Harbour after a voyage of 90 days. The vessel was the May Queen, commanded by Captain R. Tatchell. She had completed her second voyage from England to Auckland, and from her decks a group of pioneer passengers obtained their first view of the province that was to become their home. A goodly company of May Queen settlers are residing in Auckland today, and on Friday next they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their landing. A committee has been formed to arrange the functions, Mr. C. Norgrove, of 33 Cumberland Avenue, Grey Lynn, being chairman, and Mr. J. E. Rawlinson, of Onehunga, secretary. It is expected that from 30 to 40 of the passengers who made the voyage in 1878 will be able to attend. A reunion will be held on Friday afternoon and the committee is organising a function for May Queen descendnts, to be held on Friday evening.

May Queen was a popular passenger vessel and made, in all, 16 trips to various New Zealand ports before being wrecked at Lyttelton in 1888. Her first arrival in Auckland was on January 7, 1878, and her last appearance in Waitemata Harbour was on December 16, 1881, when the command had been taken over by Captain Colville. v She ran to Dunedin from 1871 to 1876 under charter to the Shaw Savill Company, and made two voyages to Lyttelton, two to Nelson and one to Napier. In 1881 she sailed from London to Tauranga with passengers for the Vesey Stewart Settlement, and later came to Auckland to land passengers and cargo. ILL-FATED VOYAGE Captain Colville was master on the ill-fated voyage when the May Queen left London on October 26, 1887, and arrived off Lyttelton on January 27 1888 There the pilot took over the ship, but in coming toward the harbour she ran on a reef off Red Head. An attempt was made to tow her off, but she held fast, and after the passengers and some of the cargo had been removed, she was abandoned. The barque was owned by W. Shirris, of Aberdeen, and built by A. Hall and Co., at a cost of £22,000. On being abandoned at Lyttelton she was sold by public auction to Messrs. Wood, Sinclair and Co., for £275. After further salvage operations the hull was again sold for £7.