Govt. Considering Building Ship To Replace Endeavour

Press, Volume C, Issue 29503, 3 May 1961, Page 14

Govt. Considering Building Ship To Replace Endeavour

(From Out Own Re-porter)

WELLINGTON, May 2 The Government may shortly order a new ship of special design to replace H.M.N.Z S Endeavour whioh has now reached the stage where it is no longer economic to recondition her to make voyages to the Antarctic.

The new ship may be a warship, specially strengthened to carry out patrols in the Antarctic and capable of carrying out New Zealand’s nresent obligations in the Antarctic—carrying Antarctic parties and the policing of the extensive Ross dependency

“The Government at present is considering New Zealand’s future policy in the Antarctic, and as a part of this, consideration is being given to the need for replacing the Endeavour,” said the Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre) today. _ “It is clear that if New Zealand is to continue Antarctic activities a replacement ship of some suitable type Will be necessary,” he said The Endeavour, according

to Rear-Admiral P Phipps, Chief of the Naval Staff, is “very soft for’ard.” He said recently that as a doubleskinned wooden ship she might be difficult to recondition, as “once you start to pull a ship like this apart, you don't know what you will find.”

The suggestion in naval circles is that the Endeavour, purchased only five years ago. was never quite robust enough for the exacting duties she had to perform. As a harbour defence vessel and as the John Biscoe, in the Falkland Islands dependency. she had much rugged service

If New Zealand is to continue to shoulder her full responsibility in the Antarctic, she may have to buy a suitable ship instead of another Whitby-class frigate. Such a vessel would be similar to the United States Coastguard vessels, but it would not be as heavy as the icebreakers. Captain J. F. Holm, of the Holm Shipping Company, some time ago before ordering the Holmglen. proposed

to have a ship built which would be capable of servicing the southern weather stations.

Before specifying the special stengthening required—which would add to the weight and lower the carrying capacity of the ship—he asked the Government for a guarantee that contracts would be available if the company built the ship.

The Government was then unable to give him such a guarantee. So the Holmglen. though she had some strengthening, and her derrick capacity was sufficient to permit loading and unloading in a seaway, was not built to specifications necessary for operation in the Antarctic ice.

A private shipping company, offered a continuation of Antarctic contracts, might yet produce such a craft. This has happened already with other governments, notably Britain and Australia, which have given long charters to the Scandinavian merchant ships Magga Dan and Kista Dan.

The cost of a speciallydesigned warship would probably be more than the £4 million which a Whitby frigate costs. A chartered merchant ship would certainly work out cheaper than this—but the decision would depend on the duration of New Zealand's interest in the Antarctic.