TWO STEAMERS SOLD

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 6

TWO STEAMERS SOLD

ANCHOR CO. NGAIO AND REGULUS. REMARKABLE MISHAP RECALLED. , By Telegraph—Press Association. .* Neison, Last Night. The Anchor Company has sold the steamers Ngaid and Regulus to F. E. Jackson and Company, Auckland shipbreakers. For a long time negotiations were in progress for the purchase of the Ngaio for conversion into a houseboat for the Sounds, but those negotiations lapsed. ... - . .. The Ngaio, of 1203 tons, was formerly the Union Company’s Mapdurika. Built in 1898 for the West Coast trade, on her fifth voyage to the- coast she nearly became a victim of the Grey River bar when she was struck by a blind roller, which lifted the stern out of the water and carried fhe vessel broadside on to the north tip. Severe problems presented themselves in the relaunching and eventually a cradle was built round the vessel, the breakwater cut through and the vessel taken to the other side. The Mapourika was stranded again in 1900 on Mabel Island, near Picton. In 1921 the vessel was purchased by the Anchor Company for the Wellington-Nelson service. She has been tied up since 1930. ' The Regulus is a vessel of 584 tons and has been one of the company’s freighters for many years. She formerly belonged to the Westport Coal Company, but she has been laid up for several years. , -