SISTER SHIPS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2994, 3 February 1917, Page 7

SISTER SHIPS

MIOWERA AND WARRIMOO

THEIR RIVALS AND CONTEM-

PORARIES

(By Will Lawson.)

By the loss of the Maitai—formerly the Miowera—at Rarotonga, and the sale of the Wnrrimoo to Chinese owners, two well-known and remarkable steamers are removed from Southern Pacific services. Thev were sister ships, built in 1892, and there was little of the Cinderella touch about either of thorn. They, saw life and made history right) from ■ tho jump; and their pas- ■ is of more than usual interest.

When Mr. Jamos Huddart, one of Australia's most enterprising shipowners, decided to liven up the running in the Australian-New Zealand services by building two 350f)-ton liners for the trade, the Union Company's fastest ships were tho Mararoa (Captain Chatheld) and the Botomahana (Captain Carey). These vessels ran from Sydney to Melbourne, calling at the New' Zealand main ports en route. In tho same service were the Waihora, Tarawcra, and To.Anau. On the Sydney direct lines the Wakatipu and Hauroto ran a fortnightly ■ service. It was in competition with tho Union Company's five best boats that tho newcomers were run.at first, though, later on, the battles of speed raged on the direct route. They had triple-expansion engines; of the rival five, the Mararoa was.the only one so equipped, and she was se.ven years old then. Tho Rotomahana was twice that age., yet she could hop along at a 15-knot gait without any effort, unless a head-wind held her:. then it was hard plugging for the clipper-bound Union flier. But there, was another fast ship which rfo one thought of incon junction with' the new; boats till Mr. Huddart, when he arrived in Wellington on the Miowcra, asked:

. _ "Where is the Takapuna; that is the little ship we're afraid of.. AVo have heard : such tales of her v fast trips with-.the-'Frisco mail?"

■ Truly there had been remarkable stories; circulated in Australia about the Takapuna; how ■ sjie Tan from Manukau to Wellington with hatches battened down and the sens sweeping her. decks _as.. she raced along, and other exciting stories. Of course, as a rival of. the big Warrimoo and Miowora, she was not to bo seriously conYet on one occasion she was in the runninor. in a sprint from Lyttelton to Wellington, when the Rotoniahana and the Warrimoo were the principal performers, and the Wakatipu was an. "also started." The Wakatipu and Takapuna left Lvttelton in .tho afternoon, the, others in tho. evening. The Takapuna laid her nosq down to it as soon as she_ cleared the mole, mid she got to Wellington first, though tho big, fast .ones were iiot far behind at tho journey's end. Tho Wakatipu never laid claim to speed. Her people wore spectators of an interesting phase of the sprint. .It is a fine sight, to see a fast steamer loom out of tho distance, race nearer with smoking funnel, and rush past with a clear, whito. spurt of water cascading at her bows, and a white wake streaming behind her. Two of them, neck and neck, is a sight the gods don't often grant to. mortal sight. On one occasion tho Te Anau's, passengers saw the Rotomnhana romping" up astern, just off tho Kaikouras on a fine sunny morning. Whether sho wouldi intcli her slower sister before tho Heads were reached was the question. The Te Anau hung on, with the mail boat growing larger and.clearer all.the time. Just at the Heads she was a hundred yards astern; a sight to bo lohiombrrcd, with two flumes of foam spurting from hor bows, a cloud of brown smoke soaring upwards and streaming behind her, and her clean pink and green hull and scarlet funnel showing vividly in the sunlight. A deckhand of the Te Anau leaned down the engine-room hatch and called a greaser.

."Give her another pound, hoy, she's trying to climb over our taffrail."

But tho To Anau had no mnro pounds: she was bankrupt, and the Rotomalmna steerod past, like, a king's yacht, and reached the berth first. She was the shin that paced tho Warrimoo, while tho Mararoa and Miowera had tho same sailing days. Only the Mararoa remains iu Now JJcaland waters, the Rotoniahana having transferred to the Tasmaninn trades.

Tho Warrimoo and Miowera soon were removed from tho cut-throat competition game, and became orfcnn liners in tho Vancouver All Tied.Mo.il Service —a dream of Mr. Huddart's that fascinated pvclr while it ruined llim. Not only in the Pacific, but also in thoAtlantic ho strove to establish his All Red steamers. That he failed, and that the failure hastened' his;death', is history... . But the service running today has been maintained without break since the Miowera. and Warrimoo began their trans-Pacific steaming; and it is strange that two steamers that arrived in these waters together twenty-five years ago, should drop out of service almost simultaneously. Tliev were stout shins then, and the Warrimoo is still. Though, after the Union Line took them over, they were overshadowed hy the larger and more powerful M class passenger vessels," yet to many trnvellerstho two were favourites. Tho Warrimoo was considered one of the best shins in a sea-way, especially for tho carriage of horses, which is a. test of a ship's good behaviour at sea.

Glimpses nf shins often stay in the memory, and such a glimpse,*through driving storm-squalls nf rain was one that was seen by those on the Star of New Zealand, outside Sydney Heads, on an afternoon several years ago. A terrific gale wns blowing; these were the only ships that put to sea in that gale, which is still snoken of in Sydney as the Tlielma gale. The Star 'was 'edging to tho north-past, owl making heavy weather of.it, rolling fearfullv. Then, in a lift nf tho weather, her people, saw tho Warrimoo, steering her course for "Wellington, and driving through if in style, with tlie seas on her starboard beam.

And of the Miowera, near tlio same, .spot, on a lint, calm afternoon, with the liner Moprnki stepping if, out for 'Wellington, the grey heights of Sydney a fading blue iii the distance.; far ahead a steamer was eominc; in.

"The 'Frisco boat," an officer said, "The old ATaitai."

"The Maitai," a passpngpr exclaimed. "Well. I remember mv last trip inber. She's the comfortable shin I've travelled in."

_Tiie ships passed close by. the oldtintpr. deeply laden and lifting n bpalfchy wave for all lier burden," and tbc bier, modern liner, mrrvinc-on xvitli all the lift pud driV" that lior twinsorews snvo her. Time, nasses, and ships give wnv to otber -drips, and 'io tbc wny of all sh'os iii [,b 0 om l. Rufc Hie Wnrrimoo ."lid Jfiowera made history, and paid tbeir way, as stout ships should.