FRESH FROM REFIT COST £520,000 TO BUILD

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 January 1947, Page 6

FRESH FROM REFIT COST £520,000 TO BUILD

Only a few months out of the

dockyard after her reconversion from a hospital ship, and wearing her , peacetime colours, the Wanganella, ot 0576 gross tonnage, was making her '•first post-war trip to Wellington In 'l.er fortnightly trans-Tasman service. Spick and span after recommissioning, ail her interior had been rebuilt, ■and refurnished with new materials. ■ This is the only time she has ever I run aground. A twin-screw motor-vessel, the I Wanganella was built at a cost ot ■ £520,000 During the years before i the war the Wanganella was wch known in Ney/ Zealand as a passe.T 1 ger liner regularly engaged in the I trans-Tasman service. She was completed by Harland and Wolff at BelI fast ?n 1931, but owing to the rei organisation of the Royal Mail Group I she was left on the builders’ hands for them to dispose of as and when they could. She was named at that time the Achimcata and was intended for the Rider Dempster Lines, Ltd., for the African service. The vessel was launched in December, 1929, hut her trials were not run until the summer of 1931, as her completion was delayed owing to the loss of her machinery through the sinking of the vessel which was carrying it from Govan to Belfast. Her motors are rated at 1305 horsepower. On a previous occasion on December 28, 193", the Wanganella collided with a trawler and was struck amidships while en route from Sydney to Melbourne. The liner returned to I Sydney, but the damage was not as I serious as had been anticipated. The Wanganella had seen stoic service during the war as a hospital shin, land this was her first visit to Weli lington for many years. Prior to her I present voyage the liner had made a s I trip to Vancouver from Sydney since , j her refit.

CAPTAIN DARROCH EXPERIENCED OFFICER Captain R. Darroch. master of the Wanganella. has served with the Huddart Parker Line for more than 40 years. He took command of the Wanganella in December. 1938. succeeding Captain G. B. Bates, and was well known here when the liner called at Wellington on her Tasman service before the war. He commanded the ship throughout the war years. Captain Darroch went into steam in 11903 with the Allan Line, which was later absorbed in a Canadian merger. Ho transferred to the Huddart Parker Line in 1904, and since then has been in command of everv ship in its fleet, either permanently or as relieving captain. He first, joined the ill-fated I Wimmera, which was later mined off I the New Zealand coast, at Greenoch. I Scotland, as third officer. For six i years he was chief officer of the Uli- ' maroa on the Melbournc-Bluff-Wel-lington run. and was appointed tn th? command of the Westralia in 1930.