A NOTABLE SHIP

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3013, 26 February 1917, Page 8

A NOTABLE SHIP

MARAROA'S FINE RECORD RIVAL ROYAL MAIL BOATS

(By Will Lawson.)

_ The Mararoa is ail instance of an oldtimo steamer whioh has kept tip-to-date.' And this has been due to the fact that ivhon she joined the Red Funnel fleet in Now Zealand waTors in 1885, she, far in advance of any of the vossels then running, and possibly of most steamers plying in the Pacific, _ the chief claim which she made for this superiority being that she was fitted with triple expansion engines, while her predecessors had only compound ongines. The Mararoa also had steam steering gear, which was controlled with a tiller instead of the usual wheel. When the Mararoa arrived at Sydney on her maiden voyage, there were running in the New Zealand coastal and in the Intercolonial services, the Ringarooma, Albion, Wakatipu, Te Anau, Rotomahana, Rotorua, Penguin, Hauroto, Manapouri, and Wairarapa— the Wairarapa Vas the first ship or the fleet to have electric light, and, when in. port, attracted attention at night; at sea, more than one passenger was puzzled by the new light which could not be blown out at bed-time. There were also the Waihora, Tarawera, ,Te Kapo, and Takapuna, as well as others of lesser tonnage.

Oh the 'Frisco, Run. The Mararoa was built to run in the San Francisco mail service, the Union Company, and the Oceanio Company of America having secured a three years' contract to carry mails aoross the Pacific. The Oceanic boats were the Alameda and Mariposa, of 3158 tons gross tonnage, and 3000 horse-power. The, Mararoa's tonnage was 2698, and her horse-power 3500. She arrived in Sydney in November, 1885, a new ship, and sailed in charge of Captain Edie, on December 3, on her maiden voyage to San Francisco, where her officers were entertained and presented with three brass eagles; whioh were fitted on the tops of the ship's railrods. In later years, when the Mararoa had been taken off the 'Frisco run, and was running as the TJnion boat in the service, there was' great jealousy between two ships regarding these birds. On one occasion the vessels were Jying at opposite berths at the Margaret Street wharf, Sydney. The engineers foregathered, and there was some interchange of chaff about the eagles. The Monowai men decided to steal them ; but one of the Mararoa's engineers was too shrewd for them. He slipped away from the "woe Scots' nicht" and returned to his ship, unscrewed the eagles and hid them. . When tho burglars from the Monowai crept ■ board that night they found that tiijir birds had flown. The joke of it was that the shrewd one did not tell his shipmates what he had done. . They therefore believed that the Monowai men really had stolen the eagles until the vessel reached Auckland, when one morning the eagles suddenly reappeared in thenunsteady pedestals. The Mararoa was withdrawn from the 'Fnsco service, chiefly because her mailroom was not large enough. The old Zealandia, an American boat which ran, in the late 'seventies, under the flag of the Pacifio Mail Company, took her place temporarily, as a third Oceanio boat,. This arrangement was necessary as the Union Company had not a ship available at the time to w.lm the Mararoa's place. When the Monowai came out in 1890, the Oceanic Company objected to her taking the Zealandia's place, which she was entitled to do. Both ships sailed from Sydney on the same day, and there was an interesting run across the Pacific. The Zealandia then retired.

A Consistent Performer. The Mararoa. has • always been fast and oonsistent in her speed. Although she had but a brief period in tho San Francisco service, in speed she was equal to the 'Frisco boats, even when the Ooeanic boats Sierra, 1 Sonoma, and Ventura, of 6000 tons, were running that service. The captain of an American steamer in this port a few days ago was asking about the Mararoa, the ship that sometimes livened up the trips between Auckland and Sydney for the big mail boats. On more than one occasion the Mararoa' hung on to these fliers.

"We couldn't lose her smoke all the way across," an American officer said. When Sydney waa reached, the American , engineers walked. round to see "tho cheeky little fellow." When they saw her engines, they said: "My hat.! What a waste of metal." The Mararoa's engine frames and standards, are of solid wrought steel and unusually heavy. It is that metal which has helped her to keep up to date and to do so well in competition with the Warrimoo and Miowera in 1893. ' For a time the Mararoa and Rotomaliana maintained the Wellington-Lyt-telton service. Both ships had their sentimental supporters and their com-fort-loving champions. Then, in 1907, came tho Maori to oust the. Rotomaliana and break all records between the ports. Up to her arrival, H.M.S. Orlando held tho record, it is said, having steamed from heads to heada in ten hours. On November 22, 1907, the Maori ran the distance in 8 hours 44 minutes. . In the following month she reduced it to 8 hours 15 minutes. Of previous fast passages, tho Rotomahana ran the distance in February, 1904, in 10 hours 85 minutes, and, in the same' month, the Mararoa did it in 10 hours 40 minutes. In the next month the Manuka scored 10 hours 30 minutes—she was a new ship, built in the previous year. A year later the Moeraki did the run in 10 hours 15 minutes, and the Maheno in 9 hours 11 minutes. What the Wahine accomplished approached pretty closely the performances of tho Maori. .It will be seen that the Mararoa for all her years of service was not far behind the pair. The outbreak of war brought tho Mararoa into active service again, after being laid up for a considerable time. Sho was replaced in the ferry service. Tlie Mararoa of to-day is a different-looking ship from the original Mararoa. Then, she had well-decks and a short, thick funnel. Some years ago she was thoroughly renovated, the open decks built in, and a fine promenade deck made to run flush from bow to stern. At the same time a taller, narrower funnel I was fitted.

It is rather a coincidence tHat the Monowai, a rival of old, should he tlio ship to stand by tlie Mararoa. when she got into trouble with the shove, for the first time in her 32 years' service.