RETIRING FROM THE SEA

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 13

RETIRING FROM THE SEA

GOODBYE TO NEW PLYMOUTH CORINNA MAY BECOME COAL HULK ONCE A SMART PASSENGER SHIP. After sea service extending over 48 years, more than 30 of which nave been * spent in trading between New Plymouth and other ports and. Wellington, the Union Steamship Company’s Corinna is at last to be retired. Probably she will end her days as a coal hulk in Welington harbour. Yesterday she sailed from New- Plymouth for the last time , to pick up coal at Westport for | Wellington. It is understood her place in the° New Plymouth trade may be taken by the Kahika. In more ways than one the Corinna has been a' remarkable ship. She was known as “the Union Company’s gold, mine.” Up till about 10 years ago, when direct shipping of produce was commenced on an extended basis from New Plymouth, the vessel carried nearly all the butter and cheese from North Taranaki for Home transhipment, and even in recent years she has taken a very large share of the reduced quantity of transhipments. Hundreds of thousands of boxes or crates have been carried in the ship’s holds. It is said, she has paid for herself many times. Because it is of iron, which though heavier, docs not corrode so quickly as steel, the Corinna’s hull is still remarkably well preserved. Built in 1882 by David and William Henderson and Co., Ltd., Glasgow, she was engaged in Continental shipping before becoming the property of the Tasmanian Steamship Company. The vessel was a show boat in those days. She was only 235 feet long and 32 feet wide; nevertheless she was a favourite passenger steamer between Launceston and Melbourne. The quarters for the passengers were aft, the cabins ranging on either side of a saloon resplendent in choice panellings and furnishings. She rode the seas steadily and could average 11 to 12 knots under favourable conditions.

BROUGHT FROM AUSTRALIA. Then the Union Company bought out the Tasmanian Company and transferred the Corinna to New Zealand, where she was engaged in a cargo and passenger trade chiefly between Dunedin, Oamnru, Timaru, Wellington and Greymouth. Sometimes, indeed, she relieved in the Wellington-Lyttelton service. Travellers liked her as a seaboat. . • The Corinna has been a good training ship for many masters on the Cook Strait run. It .was about 1885 that Captain William Waller, now harbourmaster at New Plymouth, took charge of the ship for a period. She was then running between Wellington and various coastal ports. Then it was decided to insulate her holds for the New Plymouth trade, and most of the passenger fittings were taken out to make room .for extra cargo. She kept a most regular timetable. Arriving at New Plymouth at midnight on a Sunday with 1000 tons of cargo or more she would unload, and fill up again with dairy produce in time to sail on Monday night. She was usually a full ship both ways. Captain Cameron was in command for a long time. In the early years of the war the ■ Corinna was very actively employed in ta’J m produce destined for consumption in Great Britain, said Captain Waller. Sometimes her cargoes to New Plymouth from southern ports would amount to 1500 or 2000 tons. Like most ships, the Corinna has had her share of incidents that remain in the memory. One of the earliest was during the period Captain Waller was in command. She had just navigated Jackson’s Passage in Cook Strait, on the way from Wellington to Westport. It was between 3 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon and the carpenter was fitting the light screens. The captain had just come off the bridge and was sitting on the hatch when he heard a commotion and a cry of “Throw a buoy overboard! ’ The carpenter had fallen into the sea and was floating astern. There was a strong nor’-west wind and a ehoppy sea and the man was hampered by heavy boots. Nevertheless he was able to tread water while preparations were made to rescue him. . RESCUED FROM THE SEA. Captain Waller immediately sent men aloft to keep a look-out, the engines were put full speed astern and a boat whs made ready for launching. It was a ticklish business because the strong wind was carrying the carpenter further away. Eventually, the ship steamed almost alongside him, while a life-boat was rowed up to the man, who was pulled aboard. “He had shipped a good deal of water,” said Captain Waller, “but we gave him some brandy and sent him to his bunk. Next morning I was surpriseci to see him oiling the steering gear as though nothing had happened. He was no shirker was Kinnahan.”

Probably the most serious mishap to the Corinna occurred about 20 years ago when she went ashore at Timaru, but she was refloated. Six or seven years ago she broke her propellor shaft' when off Cape Egmont. She was not eqiiipped with wireless then, so a boat was sent away on a long row of 15 miles to obtain assistance from New Plymouth. The officer in charge of that boat was Mr. J. Berryman, now an inspector with the Labour Department at New Plymouth. Arriving at New Plymouth he informed the harbour board authorities, who dispatched the dredge Paritutu to tow the ship to port. Th' Corinna was subsequently taken to Wellington by a tug. Some years later she again came to grief on the coast, her plates being dented when she struck a rock off the Sugarloaves. The Corinna has a gross tonnage of 1319 tons and a net tonnage of 791 tons. Though her hull is good for many years of life yet her engines have aged. To recondition the vessel it would be necessary to replace the engines and the entire superstructure, a work that is not considered worth the cost. Therefore the officers and men will be paid off at WelF’ngton and transferred to other ships and tho old Corinna will be given what may be termed a quiet “shore job.”