| Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited | |
| Industry: | Shipping, freight and passenger services |
| Founded: | 1875 |
| Founder: | James Mills |
| Defunct: | 2000 |
| Hq Location City: | Dunedin (1875–1921) Wellington |
| Hq Location Country: | New Zealand |
Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited was once the biggest shipping line in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand's largest private-sector employer. It was incorporated by James Mills in Dunedin in 1875 with the backing of a Scottish shipbuilder, Peter Denny.[1] Bought by shipping giant P&O around the time of World War I it was sold in 1972 to an Australasian consortium and closed at the end of the twentieth century.
James Mills had worked for Johnny Jones and his Harbour Steam Company. After Jones’ death in 1869 Mills tried twice to float a Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited without attracting enough interest from local investors but in 1875 he found backing from Scottish shipbuilder Peter Denny in return for Union Steam Ship orders for Denny's Dumbarton shipyard. The Denny-built Hawea and Taupo, both then large by local standards, arrived in mid 1875 and entered service. Union Steam Ship took over the Harbour Steam Company's vessels on 1 July 1875.[2]
Union Steam Ship became a major shipping line dubbed "The Southern Octopus" with a near-monopoly on trans-Tasman shipping.[1] It steadily mopped up trans-Tasman and coastal shipping businesses including Anchor, Canterbury Steam, Richardson & Co and Holm.
In 1878 McMeckan and Blackwood, who ran a weekly service between Melbourne and New Zealand, sold Albion, Arawata, Tararua and Ringarooma to Union.[3] From 1889 there was three-way competition between Union Steam Ship, Huddart Parker and Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company (TSNCo) on the Tasmanian routes (Melbourne – Launceston, Hobart – Melbourne and Hobart – Sydney). TSNCo did not have other routes to absorb their Tasmanian losses and was bought out by USSCo in 1891. The rivalry between USSCo and Huddart Parker lasted to 1895 despite an earlier agreement in 1893. There was undercutting of fares and there were steamers shadowing each other from port to port. USSCo's Rotomahana and Mararoa would sail alongside the Miowra and Warrimoo, with other ships like the Te Anau and Manapouri sailing before and after and bracketing the Huddart Parker ships. The 1895 agreement between the two lines pooled the Auckland-Sydney profits and losses; the Melbourne-Launceston profits were divided 4/7 to USSCo and 3/7 to Huddart Parker. The Sydney-Hobart passenger trade was excluded but the cargo and stock trade was divided 2/3 to USSCo and 1/3 to Huddart Parker. Mark Twain criticised travel conditions on a Union Company ship in 1897 in his travel book Following the Equator.
Mills was a UK resident after 1907 and died in London in 1936. By 1914 Union Steam Ship had 75 ships. It was the biggest shipping line in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand's largest private-sector employer.[1]
In 1917 P&O shareholders were asked to confirm their directors' prior purchase of Union Steam Ship with the information that USSCo had a valuable coasting trade within New Zealand, connections with India and Australia and a line of steamers running between Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Union Steam Ship fleet was described as 74 high class steamers with a tonnage of 237,860 and of an average age of 12 years.[4] [5] In November 1920, rumours surfaced that the head office of the company would shift from Dunedin to Wellington.[6] At the end of 1920, it became known that the board of directors would remain in Dunedin, but that all headquarters staff would transfer to Wellington.[7] The move happened in late 1921, with all head office functions in Wellington after the New Year holidays. About 70 staff transferred to Wellington, ending 46 years of Dunedin as the company's headquarters.[8]
With the Dunedin staff came Norrie Falla as general traffic manager. He had joined as a boy in Westport in 1898 and finished his accountancy exams in 1906. In 1910 he was put in charge of the cargoes and movements of Union's 65-strong fleet. Falla volunteered immediately for service in the 1914—1918 first world war. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1916 and returned to his former post in 1919. He succeeded David Aiken as general manager in March 1934 and was appointed chairman in January 1936 on the death of founder Sir James Mills.[9]
Falla ordered two new passenger ships and began a steady renewal of cargo ships commissioning 11 ships between 1935 and 1939.[9]
Falla also took Union Company into airlines. First in 1934 into East Coast Airways and then Cook Strait Airways in 1935.[9]
Union in conjunction with Holyman's Airways and Huddart Parker set up an airline across Bass Strait which began business in September 1934. In 1935 they added Adelaide Steamship Company as a partner in the venture which was renamed Australian National Airways the following year.[9] Union took up a 20% interest on the formation of Australian National Airways in 1936.[9]
In 1935 Union Airways of New Zealand was formed by Union Steam Ship and it built an air service through New Zealand. Union Airways was nationalised by the government in 1947 and renamed National Airways Corporation.[9] Union Travel remained a substantial operation as travel agents and tour operators.
Union was instrumental in establishing this business in particular by buying the first three flying boats which began operations in April 1940. TEAL became Air New Zealand.[9]
During World War II, Falla returned to the army with the rank of brigadier. He was later based in London as New Zealand representative on the Ministry of War Transport. He joined the main board of P&O in 1944. On his way back to New Zealand aged 62 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died at sea 6 November 1945.[9]
Australian road transport business, Thomas Nationwide Transport, had a substantial road transport stake in New Zealand. With New Zealand investors TNT bought USSCo from P&O in 1971.[10] [11] [12]
In 1990 Union Steam Ship operated seven ships, and was involved in ship management, tourism, real estate and other ventures. By 2000, the Union Bulk[13] barge made its last voyage.[14]
At the end of the 20th century Brierley Investments bought all the shares, broke Union Steam Ship into components and sold up what it could.
Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand owned more than 350 ships and has been the subject of a number of books.
Union Steam Ship began regular sailings between Wellington and Lyttelton in 1895 with the making two round trips a week. In 1905 this became a daily service year round. In 1933 the name "Steamer Express" was adopted for the service. Over the years a number of ships were used, including two Maoris, two Wahines, two Rangatiras, and a Hinemoa.[15]
entered service in October 1966 and foundered and sank at the mouth of Wellington Harbour 18 months later in April 1968. The entered service in 1972 and was withdrawn in 1976, bringing the Wellington–Lyttelton "Steamer Express" to an end.[16]
In what has been described as "a fatal mistake",[17] the Union Steam Ship announced in 1956 that the Tamahine was to be withdrawn from the Wellington-Picton route in 1962 and unlikely to be replaced (despite an offer of a $3 million government loan).[18] The designer of the replacement ferry the recalled that, "The media said the whole thing was a red herring", adding, "In their view, if the Union Steam Ship Company couldn't make the service pay, Railways definitely couldn't."[19]
| Name | Built | In service | Gross tonnage | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1883 | 1883–1915 | Sunk 10 August 1915 at Scapa Flow | |||
| 1924 | 1924–1953 | Arrived 25 July 1953 at Clydeside for breaking up | |||
| SS Aotearoa | 1915 | 1915 | sunk 1917 as HMS Avenger | ||
| 1905 | 1905–1926 | ||||
| SS Atua | 1906 | 1906–1926 | Built by David J Dunlop. Sold to Khedivial Mail in 1926.[20] | ||
| SS Awatea | 1936 | 1936–1942 | Trans Tasman liner, sunk in 1942, as HMT Awatea | ||
| Dartford | 1877 | 1908–1921 | Dartford was a 67 m (221.5 ft) long, iron barque, built by Mountsey & Foster, South Dock, Sunderland. In March 1908 Union bought her as a cadet ship for 12 cadets at Lyttelton, increased to 36 in 1911.[21] She was converted to a coal hulk in 1914. In 1917, she was converted back to a barque, due to wartime shipping shortages, but again laid up in Auckland Harbour as a hulk in 1921.[22] She was broken up and then beached in Boulder Bay on Rangitoto Island on 25 July 1946.[23] | ||
| SS Dingadee | 1883 | 1890–1900 | Collier built by Royal Victoria Dock, bought from Australasian Steam, sold to Blackball Coal Co, scrapped 1925 | ||
| SS Flinders | 1878 | 1891–1900 | Built by A & J Inglis for TSNCo, which merged in 1891, sold to McIlwraith, McEacharn and in 1907 to Adelaide Steamship,[24] hulked in 1911 after fire damage and beached on 4 September 1931 at Garden Island Ships Graveyard, where she remains.[25] | ||
| Gladbrook | 1877 | 1911–1945 | An iron, coal hulk, 214.4feet x 35.2feet x 21.2feet, launched on 26 April 1877 at R & J Evans yard, Liverpool as County of Anglesea for W Thomas & Co, Liverpool, 1905 sold to O Pettersen and V Gustafson, Mariehamn.[26] 1911 bought by Union, converted to a hulk, able to hold 2,000 tons of coal, and renamed Gladbrook. In 1918 she was re-rigged as a barque at Port Chalmers, due to post war shipping shortages, and sailed to San Francisco, but in 1921 was hulked again for use at Suva, in 1924 moved to Auckland, stripped and, on 19 December 1945, beached on Rangitoto Island.[27] She was replaced as a hulk by Helen Denny.[28] | ||
| SS Hawea | 1875 | 1875–1888 | 721 | Launched 17 February 1875 and completed 1 April 1875 by William Denny & Bros, Dumbarton for Union. Hawea, a sister ship of Taupo, was an iron, single screw, 2 masted steamer, 215.7feet x 27.3feet x 14.1feet, with a 2-cylinder, 160nhp engine, driving her at up to 11knot.[29] In 1875 she was the first Union ship to visit Picton, later being used on the Lyttelton-Wellington-Picton-Nelson-New Plymouth-Onehunga service.[30] On 30 March 1886 she ran aground off Nelson, but was refloated on the next day's tide. She was wrecked on 12 June 1888 near New Plymouth. The wreck was removed by dredging in 1925. | |
| SS Hawea | 1897 | 1897–1908 | A steel, single-screw steamer launched on 20 November 1896 for Union by Archibald McMillan & Son, Dumbarton, 260feet x 36.1feet x 22.8feet, with a 3-cylinder (17, 28, x 42 in), 134hp engine by Denny & Co.[31] On 30 October 1908, as she left Greymouth, she probably hit the bottom in heavy waves on the bar and was wrecked on the north breakwater.[32] Her remains were blown up in March 1909.[33] | ||
| 1921 | 1921–1942 | Captured on 12 July 1942 by Imperial Japanese navy off the coast of Sri Lanka. IJN renamed it Hoki Maru and used the vessel until sunk in Operation Hailstone in Truk Lagoon | |||
| SS Hauroto | 1882 | 1882–1915 | A steel, single screw steamer launched on 31 August 1882 for Union by William Denny & Bros, 284.8feet x 36.3feet x 22.6feet, with a 2-cylinder (38 & 68 - 45in), 250hp compound engine. On 1 January 1889 she damaged King Arthur in Hobsons Bay. In 1915 she was sold to Carmichael & Clarke, Hong Kong and in 1917 to a related company, Hauroto SS Co. Ltd. She left Saigon on 26 July 1919, but never reached Hong Kong and was posted missing in a typhoon.[34] Some wreckage was found near the Paracels.[35] | ||
| Helen Denny | 1866 | 1934–1948 | An iron, sailing ship, 187.5feet x 31.2feet x 19.1feet, launched on 8 November 1866 by Robert Duncan & Co, for Albion Shipping[36] for the UK-Burma run,[37] but by 1872 was running between Port Glasgow and Auckland.[38] In 1874 she was reduced from full rigging to a barque and in 1882 Albion merged to form Shaw, Savill & Albion Line. In 1896 she was sold to Ferdinand Holm, Wellington and in 1913 to Paparoa Coal Co as a coal hulk. In 1934 Waimarino towed her from Wellington to Lyttleton.[39] In 1946 she was towed to Auckland. On 27 April 1848 she was scuttled off Cuvier Island, being the last of Auckland's coal hulks.[40] | ||
| 1946 | 1947–1967 | The steamer was 419.3feet x 58.2feet x 24.7feet, launched on 30 May 1946[41] (tenders had been sought in 1939)[42] by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd for Union's Wellington-Lyttelton Inter-island express, serving the railway pier at Lyttelton. Her 2 steam turbines powered 13000hp British Thomson-Houston electric motors and twin screws, at up to 22knot,[43] with up to 82 cars[44] and 921 passengers. After fitting out at Birkenhead, she went to Greenock,[45] left there on 21 December 1946, with 90 passengers and arrived at Wellington on 26 January 1947. Her first trip to Lyttelton was on 10 February,[46] replacing Wahine. Cabins were charged for by position, rather than the ship being divided into 1st and 2nd class sections.[47] A rough crossing was reported a week after her maiden voyage[48] and in 1950 a gale damaged her bridge, broke several saloon windows and she was again 8 hours late. She was replaced by Wahine[49] from 23 August 1966, as she could not be readily converted to a ro-ro ferry. She was laid up at Wellington. In October 1966, though US President Lyndon Johnson stayed at Government House,[50] she was used as a hotel ship for journalists. On 23 August 1967 she was sold to Hydro Tasmania for power and accommodation at Bell Bay and renamed George H Evans.[51] Rain soon ended the drought and in 1969 she was sold to Hamersley Ore for power at Dampier.[52] After a new power station opened, she was moored offshore.[53] During Cyclone Glynis, in January 1970, she broke her moorings.[54] On 12 February 1971 Fuji Marden & Co Ltd, Hong Kong, bought her and she was towed in March by the tug Salvonia and scrapped. | |||
| SS Katoa | 1912 | 1912–1933 | Collier built by Osbourne, Graham & Co Ltd, Sunderland. Sold to Moller & Co, Shanghai (as Winifred Moller) in 1933, to Zui Kong Steamship Co Ltd, Shanghai (as Tsze Yung) in 1946, to Chinese Maritime Trust Ltd. in 1948 and broken up in Taiwan in 1958.[55] | ||
| 1905 | 1905–1935 | ||||
| 1906 | 1907–1946 | ||||
| 1952 | 1953–1972 | ||||
| 1907 | 1907–1937 | ||||
| 1908 | 1908–1937 | Arrived 8 April 1937 at Shanghai for breaking up | |||
| SS Manapouri | 1882 | 1882–1915 | First to have electric lights[56] Sunk 1945.[57] | ||
| 1911 | 1911–1957 | Sold 1948 as SS Cyrenia; arrived 1957 at Savona for breaking up | |||
| SS Monowai | 1890 | 1890–1926 | 3,433 | Launched 11 December 1889 and completed 4 April 1890 by William Denny & Bros, Dumbarton for Union. Monowai was a steel, single screw, 2 masted steamer, 330feet x 42.2feet x 34feet, with a 3-cylinder, 330nhp engine, driving her at up to 13knot. In 1926 she was stripped to a hulk at Port Chalmers and sold to Gisborne Harbour Board, who scuttled her as a breakwater on 16 December 1926.[58] | |
| 1925 | 1925–1960 | Ex-SS Razmak (1925–1930); sold 1960 in Hong Kong for breaking up | |||
| 1885 | 1885–1899 | She and sister ship, Taupo, were built by William Denny & Brothers.[59] The Ohau arrived on 14 January 1885[60] and Taupo on 10 March 1885.[61] Ohau sank whilst carrying timber and coal. She was supposed foundered in a heavy gale. Last seen off Cape Campbell on 12 May 1899. Some wreckage was found near Castlepoint. Lost with all 22 crew.[62] An inquiry into the loss dismissed claims that the ship was too low in the water.[63] A council-published heritage trail says locals still find coal on the shore near Cape Campbell, likely from the Ohau.[64] | |||
| 1864 | 1879–1909 | Sunk 12 February 1909 off Cape Terawhiti; 75 deaths | |||
| 1930 | 1931–1965 | ||||
| 1971 | 1972–1976 | ||||
| SS Rotoiti | 1898 | 1898–1912 | Rotoiti was built for Union's Onehunga-New Plymouth service,[65] as a 220feet long, 33.1feet wide, 13.2feet deep, steel steamer, with two 3-cylinder (13, 20, 31 x 27 in) engines of 108hp, driving twin screws.[66] In 1912 she was sold to Northern Steamship and renamed Manaia.[67] On 10 June 1926 she was wrecked on Slipper Island (Whakahau),[68] without loss of life.[69] | ||
| SS Rotomahana | 1879 | 1879–1921 | The name was used by at least two other ships of the era. The first mild steel ship in the Union fleet.[70] Built by William Denny & Brothers. Scrapped in 1926.[71] | ||
| SS Southern Cross | 1873 | 1881–1906 | Launched 5 November 1873 by J T Eltringham[72] (at Stone Quay, South Shields)[73] for Watts Bros, Napier, a schooner rigged, iron, single screw, steamer, 135.2feet x 23.7feet x 9feet, with a 2-cylinder (18.5 & 36 × 24 in), 50hp engine by Pattison & Atkinson, Newcastle driving her at up to 8.5knot. In 1878 she was sold to Auckland Steam Ship Co Ltd and in 1881 to Union for £8,500. In 1897, to comply with local subsidy law, Union sent a staff member, Fred Cramond, to be their agent in Papeete and the ship was renamed Croix De Sud.[74] On return in 1901 she was hulked, her machinery being put into the newly launched Gael in 1904.[75] On 24 April 1906 Duchess towed her to be scuttled in Cook Strait.[76] | ||
| 1904 | 1904–1930 | Ex-RMS Port Kingston (1904–1911); sunk 12 August 1930 off Rarotonga; no death | |||
| SS Talune | 1890 | 1891–1925 | 2,087 | Launched 19 April 1890 at Leith and sold to Union in 1891, Talune was a steel, single screw, 2 masted steamer, 280feet x 38.2feet x 13.5feet, with a 3-cylinder, 259nhp engine.[77] In 1923 she was cleaned,[78] but, in May 1925,[79] was sold for dismantling by Todd & Borlase at Dunedin and on 22 January 1926 was sunk as part of a breakwater at Waikokopu. | |
| 1864 | 1864–1881 | Sunk 29 April 1881 off Waipapa Point; 131 deaths | |||
| SS Taupo | 1875 | 1875–1881 | 720 | Launched 20 March 1875 by William Denny & Bros, Dumbarton for Union. Taupo, a sister ship of Hawea, was a single screw, 2 masted steamer, 215.8feet x 27.3feet x 14.1feet, with a 2-cylinder engine. On 1 February 1879 she ran aground at the entrance to Tauranga Harbour, but was refloated on the 2 March 1881. She was wrecked on 29 April 1881 off Mayor Island after seams opened, while under tow to Auckland.[80] | |
| SS Te Anau | 1879 | 1880–1924 | 1,652 | Launched 3 November 1879 and completed on 15 December 1879 by William Denny & Bros, Dumbarton for Union, Te Anau was a steel, single screw, steamer, 270feet x 34.2feet x 22.5feet, with a 2-cylinder, 200hp engine. In June 1924 she was sold to Todd & Borlase, Dunedin, partly dismantled at Port Chalmers and towed to Whanganui to be scuttled as a breakwater on 23 August 1924.[81] | |
| 1912 | 1913–1951 | Ran aground on the Masela Island Reef off Cape Palsu in the Arafura Sea | |||
| 1966 | 1966–1968 | Sunk 10 April 1968 after hitting Barrett Reef during an extra-tropical cyclone; 53 deaths. | |||
| SS Waihemo | 1903 | 1914–1918 | Cargo steamer, built by Northumberland Shipbuilding as Canada Cape, sunk by a mine in March 1918 | ||
| 1882 | 1882–1903 | ||||
| 1907 | 1907–1927 | ||||
| SS Wainui | 1886 | 1887–1927 | 684 | Launched 2 September 1886 and completed the next month by Murray Bros, Dumbarton, for Union. Wainui was a steel, single screw, steamer, 196feet x 28.2feet x 14.7feet, with a 2-cylinder, 95hp engine, built by Muir & Houston Ltd, Glasgow.[82] From 1906 to 1908 she ran the first Wellington- Picton ferries. From 1924 she ran between Auckland and Gisborne, until being laid up in June 1927, after the passenger service was ended and she was replaced by Waimea.[83] On 14 October 1929 Borlase & McKay, after stripping her at Auckland, scuttled her, as part of a breakwater at Whangaparāoa, for Mr Shakespear.[84] | |
| SS Waipori | 1901 | 1901-1928 | 1,976 GT | Later renamed Tung Lee in 1937. Scuttled in Yangtse River at Zhenjiang in 1937 as blockship by Chinese Government during Japanese attacks.[85] | |
| 1882 | 1882–1894 | Sunk 29 October 1894 off Great Barrier Island; 140 deaths | |||
| 1901 | 1901–1914 | ||||
| SS Waitemata | 1908 | 1908–1918 | Sunk 14 July 1918 in the Mediterranean | ||
| SS Waitemata | 1919 | 1919–1932 | Launched as War Rampart 4 March 1919 by Northumberland Shipbuilding Company Ltd at Howden for the Shipping Controller. Following sea trials, Union took her over from 23 May 1919 and renamed her Waitemata, 400feet x 53feet x 32.8feet, with a 483hp, or 619hp triple-expansion (27, 45 & 75 × 54 in) engine by North East Marine Engine Works, driving a single screw at up to 11 or 12knot.[86] [87] She was used for trade in the Pacific[88] and to Australia,[89] until she was laid up in Hobson Bay[90] on 25 August 1930 at Auckland, due to lack of trade.[91] In November 1932 she was sold to William Crosby & Co Pty Ltd, Melbourne, and was to be renamed Willandra. However, she was repaired by Mason Brothers in Auckland,[92] sold to Yamashita Shipping Company to ship scrap iron to Japan in February 1933[93] and renamed Yuki Maru. On 16 June 1944 she was sunk by USS Bream off Morotai Island, in the Sumba Strait. | ||
| SS Waitomo | 1944 | 1946-1963 | 7209 | Built in Vancouver in 1944 for the Canadian Park Steamship Company under the name Sunnyside Park, renamed Waitomo after having been sold to Union Steam Ship Company. During service with Union Steam Ship Company manned by Canadian seamen and New Zealand/Australian officers.[94] | |
| SS Wellington | 1863 | 1864–1881 | 429 | Launched 24 October 1863 by Blackwood & Gordon, Port Glasgow, for New Zealand Steam Navigation Co, Wellington and transferred to Union in 1871. Wellington was a 100-passenger, iron, single screw, steamer, 185.5feet x 24.6feet x 13.2feet, with a 2-cylinder, 90hp engine, which arrived on 3 June 1864. In 1881 she was sold to Northern Steamship, initially serving Tauranga-Auckland.[95] She ran daily to Whangārei in 1900,[96] but was laid up about 1905,[97] after being used on the New Plymouth-Onehunga route.[98] 1909 G. T. Niccol converted her to a hulk at Auckland. 1913 scuttled as a breakwater at Moehau,[99] or at Whangārei.[100] | |
| [101] | 1900 | 1900–1928 | Sister ship to SS Mont-Blanc (1899) | ||
| SS Willochra | 1913 | 1913–1914 | Union chartered her from Adelaide Steamship in April 1913,[102] just after she had arrived in Sydney from her builders, William Beardmore, to replace Warrimoo on the Dunedin-Lyttelton-Wellington-Sydney route.[103] In September 1913 she was put on the San Francisco service,[104] until converted to a troopship in late 1914.[105] |