THE S.S. KENNEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3789, 8 May 1928, Page 3

THE S.S. KENNEDY.

AGED SIXTY-THREE YEARS. OLDEST WEST COAST TRADER. CREDIT TO COLONIAL WORKMANSHIP. The s.s. Kennedy, which lately steamed her diminutive self into the port of New Plymouth, has behind her sixty-three years of faithful service, and before her, if the trade wills it, many more years of equally faithful service (says I the New Plymouth Herald). For though Father Time is no respecter of persons or ships, we have it on the authority of her present engineer and skipper that she has never run better than she is doing today. Usually when one speaks of the great age of a vessel the scoffers will answer that the only part of the original vessel to be found will be the ship’s hull. But this does not apply to the Kennedy . Perhaps the original builder would not recognise her, but at heart she is unchanged. Age has not left its mark on her, and only the vagaries of fashion have caused her to change. This is not the day of a 226-ton passenger vessel, or of a schoonerrigged vessel, or of a vessel with a low-pressure boiler. For the Kennedy was all this when she was launched in the year 1865 in Syd'ney. She was named aftfer Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, Governor of Western Australia, 18651862, and later Gobernor of Queensland. The vessel was built by the Australian Steam Navigation Company as a schooner-rigged vessel of a-

bout 130 tons, with a boiler giving a pressure of about lOlbs. to the square inch. Four years after be-> ing launched she was sold to the Anchor Shipping Company of New Zealand, and crossed the Tasman. This company placed her in ' the passenger service between IVellington, Nelson, Greymouth, and Hokitika, and she was the pride of tho • Anchor fleet. 'Some stirring adventures were her’s on that run, and many a bump she got on the river bars of the West Coast. THE GOLD RUSHES. Berthing accommodation would certainly be at a premium on the Kennedy during the gold rushes of Hokitika and district. 'No history of the West Coast would be complete without reference to the Kennedy, and for the Diamond Jubilee held at Greymouth recently her presence was indispensible. Perhaps when her last day does come, providing she does not go to a ship’s usual resting-place —the bottom of the sea, she will be bought by the Greymouth Council to odorn some Greymouth park as an inspiration to the younger generation. The company, must have made good profits with the little vessel during the gold rushes. One can imagine her steaming out of Wellington, or Nelson, bound for the “Golden West” full up with cargo and passengers and loaded to the gunwale with stock. In those days friend Plimsoll had not left his mark on the world’s shipping. But as the gold rushes petered out and shipping competition became more keen, the Kennedy had to be kept up to the fashion, and accordingly in 1877 she ceased to become a schooner-rigged vessel and had a more powerful engine installed by the .firm of Fraser and Tinnev, Auckland. After (50 years’ service this engine is still pushing the Kennedy along at seven knots—a feather in the caps of New Zealand marine engineers of the ’seventies. The boiler did service until 1901, when a more suitable one was' installed. The new boiler came from the s.s. Aotea, which was wrecked at Patea about 1901. . A NURSERY SHIP. The Kennedy served as a nursery ship for most of the skippers of the Anchor fleet, and at one time was commanded by Captain Carey, afterwards commodore of the Union Company’s fleet. Another wellknown skipper, Captain Furneaux, commanded the Kennedy for many years. During the ’eighties and later the vessel made many trips to New Plymouth and Wfaitara from Westport and Nelson, and was contemporary with such well-known vessels as the Takapuna, Penguin, and the Gairloch. The Kennedy also has the honour of being one of the first, if not the first, vessels to tie up at the New Plymouth breakwater in 1881, when it was only a few hundred yards long, and unload cement for the Harbour Board. This would be while vessels were still lying in the roadstead and discharging.

All the vessels with which the Kennedy vied for trade in those days are now memories only. Some have gone their way with the shipbreakers or as coal hulks or on the stormy bars of the West Coast, but the sole survivor is as full of life as the day she saw the light in Sydney Harbour. She must be one of the oldest steamers at present in commission throughout the world. Many bars and beaches have tried to break her up. She has been stranded at Hokitika, Foxton, Greymouth, and Wanganui. Foxton Beach held her once for eighteen days and stripped her of rudder and her twin screws. But after all this she needed nothing but repairs to be as sound a ship as any afloat. THE “MOSQUITO.” Those who have commanded the Kennedy and those who have ser-

ved on her sometimes speak with gratitude of her seafaring qualities. A captain of a big C. and D. liner recently told how he was hove to in fierce weather near Cook Strait and how a “mosquito” came out and steamed past him. The “mosquito” would be pei’ched on the top of a huge swell, and would then be plunged out ofsight. Those on the large vessel never expected her to reappear after each plunge, but up she came, and passed on her way leaving the watchers amazed. This “mosquito” was later identified as the Kennedy. ■ln 1918 the vessel was bought from the Anchor Shipping Company by the Manawatu Shipping Company. The latter company had lost their vessel, the Queen of the South, and the Wellington, Foxton, Wanganui trade could not be held up. ’ The low draught and carrying capacity of the Kennedy made her very suitable for working the Foxton River. It was thought that she had been originally intended for the Northern river trade in Australia, and thus could work rivers unsuited to other steamers. She has been the only steamer working the Foxton River for some years. Though the old vessel is not received now with the old-time pride and importance of the days when her arrival was eagerly awaited at the river ports of the West Coast, she is the veteran of all steamers, a veteran who has seen many a fine vessel under the sea and perhaps, will see many more before her ancient hull goes to its last rest.

OPPOSING POLITICAL PARTIES

Those who were opposing the Government included firstly the Labour Party, said the Hon. A. D. McLeod at Levin on Friday, and he had no objection to Labour be-

ing represented in any Government, but it would never come into its own while it followed narrow, sectional interests. He did not believe that the extremists led by Mr. Holland truly represented the Labour interests of New ‘Zealand, because he had himself been associated with Labour in his young days and numbered some of his best and oldest friends among its ranks. With regard 7 to the United Party Mr. McLeod said that the Westralian party which had Mr. Mitchell as leader had changed its name again. Called “Liberal” in the early war years, it became “Nationalist” in 1.917, and “United” after the 1924 elections. Now it had resumed the Nationalist label. The Queensland State Opposition had the same weakness for taking a new title every two or three years, though as a vote-catching device it was a “dud.” This was just about the circle that the United Party in New Zealand had performed. The organiser had told them that 50 per cent, of the Reform Party in the House and 75 per cent, outside were going to desert their party. The Government were waiting very patiently to see when this slide was going to happen. He did not know what the United Party stood for. The Labour Party would nominate the sitting members; and the United Party had selected the “Lib-Labs,” the Progressives, the Nationalists and candidates with a variety of names, and had decided to call them, for the moment, the United Party. _____