STEAMER CORINNA HAD LONG CAREER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 4 January 1930, Page 9

STEAMER CORINNA HAD LONG CAREER.

IRON HULL IS STILL WELL PRESERVED. After sea service extending over 48 years, more than 30 of which have been spent in trading between New Ply mouth 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 Wellington harbour. On Friday 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 .aken 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 ten years ago, when direct shipping of produce was commenced on an extended basis from New Plymouth, she carried nearly all the butter and cheese from North Taranaki for Home transhipment and even in recent years she has taken a verylarge share of the reduced quantity of transhipments. Hundreds of thousands of boxes or crates have been carried in her holds. It is said she has paid for herself many times. Because it is of iron, which though heavier, does 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 Steam ship Company. The vessel was a showboat 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 panel lings 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, Oamaru, Timaru, Wellington and Greymouth. Sometimes, indeed, she relieved in the Wellington-Lyttel-ton service. Travellers liked her as a sea-boat. The Corinna has been a good training ship for many masters on the Cook Strait run. It was about 1885 that Cap tain William Waller, now harbour master 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 passen ger fittings were taken out to make room for extra cargo. She kept a most regular timetable. Arriving at New Ply mouth at midnight on a Sunday with J.OOO tons of cargo or more she would unload, and fill up again with dairy pro duce in time to sail on Monday night ohe was usually a full ship both ways Captain Cameron was in command ioi a long time. In the early years of the war the Corinna was very actively employed in taking produce for consumption in Great Britain, said Captain Waller sometimes her cargoes to New Ply mouth from soutnern ports would amount to 1500 or 2UOO tons. Like most ships, the Corinna hat had her share of incidents that remain ii* the memory. One of the earliest wa. during the period Captain Waller wat in command. She had just navigatec. jackson’s Passage in Cook Strait, on the way from Wellington to Westport r. t was between 3 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon and the carpenter was fitting the light screens. The captain had jut. come off the bridge and was sitting on the hatch when he heard a commotion and a cry of “Throw a buoy over Doard.” The carpenter had fallen into the sea and was floating astern. There was a strong nor’west wind and a chop py sea, and the man was hampered b> heavy boots. Nevertheless he was able tu tread water while preparations were made to rescue him. Captain Waller immediately sent men aloft to keep a look-out, the engines were put full speed astern, and a boa. was made ready for launching. It was a ticklish business because the strong wind was carrying the carpenter fur ther away. Eventually, the ship steam ed almost alongside him, while a life boat was rowed up to the man, who was pulled aboard. "He had shippeu a good deal of water,” said Captain Wal ler, “but we gave him some brandy, and sent him back to his bunk. Next morn mg I was surprised to see him oiling the steering gear as though nothing had Happened. He was no shirker was Kin nahan.” jome Mishaps. Probably the most serious mishap to the Corinna occurred about twenty years ago, when she went ashore at Timaru, but she was refloated. Six or seven years ago she broke her propeller shaft when off Cape Egmont. She was not equipped with wireless then so a boat was sent away on a long row of fifteen miles to obtain assistance from New Plymouth. The officer in charge oi 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 despatched the dredge Paritutu to tow the ship to port. The Corinna was subsequentl\ taken to Wellington by a tug. Some years later she again came to grief oi. 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 ma\ years of life yet her engines have aged To recondition the vessel it would be necessary to replace the engines and tht. entire superstructure, a work that is not considered worth the cost. There fore the officers and men will be paid off at Wellington and transferred tu other ships, and the old Corinna will be , given what may be termed a quiet “shore job.”