With its rakish bow, masts and funnel, the ROTOMAHANA looked like an elegant steam yacht. The first ocean-going ship built of mild steel; the 15.5- knot ‘Greyhound of the Pacific’ spearheaded the Union Steam Ship Company’s grab for the trans-Tasman trade in the late 1870s. The 1,727-ton ship later served on the Wellington-Lyttelton and Melbourne-Hobart runs before being discarded in 1925.
New Zealand Post leaflet.
Built as a passenger- cargo vessel under yard No 224 by William Denny & Bross, Dumbarton, Scotland for the Union Steam Ship Co., Dunedin, New Zealand.
06 June 1879 launched as the ROTOMAHANA, most probably named after Lake Rotomahana near Rotorua on the North Island.
Tonnage 1,727 gross, 865 net, dim. 90.8 x 10.6m.
Powered by a 2-cyl. compound steam engine, 2,000 ihp, one shaft, speed 15 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 140 first class, 80 second and 80 third class passengers.
She carried yards and sails on the foremast the first years, which were used by a favourable wind conditions.
14 July 1879 completed, homeport Dunedin.
She was the first vessel constructed of mild steel, carried a clipper bow and did look more like a yacht.
There where rumours that she was ordered as a yacht, but when the owner could not pay, she was bought on the stocks by the Union Steamship Co.
Also she was the first ship built with bilge keels.
05 August 1879 she sailed from London on her delivery voyage to New Zealand and with a call at Plymouth where 100 passengers boarded her she sailed via Cape of Good Hope to Melbourne, Australia where she arrived 22 September before she sailed to Port Chalmers, New Zealand South Island, arrived there 1 October.
09 October 1879 she sailed for her maiden voyage from Wellington via Napier, Gisborne and Auckland to Sydney in the Trans-Tasman service.
The next 15 years she was kept in this service.
Due to her small cargo space and high coal consumption during full speed made her very expensive, and in off-peak times she was often laid up.
15 October 1891 placed in the Bass Strait crossing from Melbourne to Launceston making the crossing from Williamstown to Town Point in 17 hours 10minutes.
Stayed not so long in this service already in May 1892 she returned to New Zealand.
Then put in the coastal ferry service from Wellington to Lyttelton.
Between April and August 1901 she got six new boilers replacing the original four.
1907 She was again put in the service between Melbourne and Tasmania, and was kept in this service until replaced by a newer vessel in 1920.
16 December 1920 arrived at Melbourne, where after she was laid up.
03 April 1925 sold at an auction to Power & Davis at Melbourne a ship breaking company.
The next three years she was slowly dismantled at Port Melbourne.
29 May 1928 the stripped hull was towed out to sea and scuttled 3.5 miles SW Port Phillip, Bass Strait the same day.
New Zealand $2.80 sg?, scott?
Source: Passengers Ships of Australia & New Zealand by Peter Plowman. Union Fleet by Ian Farquhar, various web-sites.