Five Star Tourist Liner

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 822, 29 April 1955, Page 27

Five Star Tourist Liner

"SOUTHERN CROSS"- THE SHIP OF TOMORROW

by

Alan

Mulgan

HIS story of the lite ot a shipping company whose name is so familiar to New Zealanders may appropriately be opened with a contrast. In 1858, the Shaw Savill Company, junior of the two concerns that were to amalgamate as Shaw Savill and = Albion, started business by sending the chartered steamer Lord Ashley, of 435 tons, to New Zealand for intercolonial mail service. Needing all her space for her own coal, she could not carry any cargo. Now, in 1955, New Zealand is preparing to welcome the new and revolutionary Shaw Savill and Albion liner Southern Cross, of 20,000 tons. By design, the Southern Cross does not carry any cargo. She is purely a passenger liner, and the first of her kind on the ocean routes. 2 No substantial part of the British Empire-Commonwealth has been so dependent on sea traffic as New Zealand. Till the Panama Canal was cut early in this century, ships carrying emigrants and goods from Britain used the Cape routes--Cape of Good Hope out ard Cape Horn home, some 12,200 miles, and the Panama route cut only 800 miles from this run. If the sea is not in our blood, it should be, It is no wonder that writers have been considering the effect of this isolation on their countrymen. In his Report on Experijence, John Mulgan said that, standing all the time on the edge of the wide surrounding seas, they spent their lives wishing to get out in order to find the rest of the world. We have been well served by these long-road ships, sail and then engine power. The era of sail is far back, but certain shipping lines that ply today are linked with it. The Shaw Savill and Albion Line is one. When the Shaw Savill part was founded nearly a huncred years ago, New Zealand was in the first years of self-goverrment; the wars with the Maori 4n Taranaki and the Waikato lay ahead; and Gabriel Read had not started the Otago gold rush The white population was under 60.000 It is part of our history that the acorns of enterprise and industry grew so quickly into oaks. The story of Shaw Savill and Albion begins with the establishment of the

Albion Line in Glasgow by four Henderson brothers. The number of Scots who have been at or near the top of the two lines and the amalgamation, is noteworthy. About 1855, lured by the emigrant business, the Hendersons entered the New Zealand trade, under their name, the Patrick Henderson Line. The official historian of Shaw Savill and Albion, Frank C. Bowen (The Flag of the Southern Cross, two volumes), to whom I am greatly indebted for information, says that by 1858 the Patrick Henderson ships held first position in this trade. They were known by their discipline and standard of comfort, The greatest care was taken for the welfare of emigrants.

eee ee Meanwhile, a Loncon firm of brokers, Willis Gann and Co., were handling most of the New Zealand sailings from there, and in charge of their freight department was a very able thirty-five-year-old Scot, Robert Ewart Shaw, who had under him a friend named Walter Savill. These two considered that what the New Zealand trade eeded was an absolutely regular service. Then private stupidity proved to be public gain. Believing that Shaw was too popular with merchants and shipowners (hardly a fault in the circumstances, one would suppose), the firm reduced his salary. whereupon Shaw and Savill immediately resigned, and set up as Shaw

Savill and Company At first they acted as brokers only. Within a few days they notified the Colonial Office of the despatch of the Lord Ashley, and that she would take letters. That their first ship was a steamer does not invalidate the statement that their business was with sail. Their second charter seems to have been the ship Avalanche, of 753 tons. In 1859 their Spray of the Ocean (805 tons) caused a stir by sailing from London to Auckland in 83 days. The first ship of the Wellington settlement in 1840 had taken four months, and the first Canterbury ships more than three months. The new firm’s business expanded rapidly. In 1860 it carried troops from Ireland to Auckland for the British Government, and in 1862 it sent 45 sailing ships to New Zealand, their tonnage ranging from 285 to 1320, and passages from 87 to 175 days. The most careful attention was paid to the conditions for emigrants. Robert Shaw died sucdenly in 1864, only forty-one years of age. In six years he had come to be recognised as one of the foremost shipring men in London. Early on, though they did not own any ships, the partners had adopted the house-flag that is so familiar to New Zealanders: St. George’s Cross on a white background, and a blue hoist carrying another red cross, with a star in each quarter, This flag had two associations with New Zealand. Save for the small cetail of fimbriation in the hoist, it is the design chosen for the confederation of Maori chiefs in 1834, six years be‘ore Waitangi, and it was this flag that Colocel William Wakefield, representing the New Zealand Company, hoisted ceremoniously at Petone in 1839, when he bought the site of Wellington. Of course, Patrick Hendersons responded to this entry. The competition between the lines for the emigrant trade, which was to be swelled by Vogel’s public works policy of the seventies, when 30.000 assisted passages were granted in one year, is illustrated by the terms of a contract Shaw Savill obtained for shipping emigrants to Otago. The passage money was £13/10/- from Lon‘on, but only £12 from Glasgow, the Hendersons’ home, despite the railway fare between the cities. Shaw Savill (continued on next page)

— — ---- A Message from the General Manager for New Zealand of the Shaw Savill Line T is pleasing that, with the approach of the Southern Cross to New Zealand waters, "The Listener’ should publish this special feature giving New Zealanders some conception of this unique passenger liner which has been designed to meet present-day conditions. We, in Shaw Savill, are grateful to the Editor of "The Listener" for producing this handsome souvenir of the entry into service of this new vessel. The Southern Cross has been designated ‘‘The Ship of the Year," but she is more than that-she is a great adventure portraying the shape of things to come. At the end of the Second World War, for reasons explained by Mr. Mulgan in his article, the Shaw Savill Company decided, first to replace their cargo ship war losses, and then to build an all-passenger ship to replace certain passenger-cargo vessels now nearing the end of their service. The Southern Cross caters for Tourist Class passengers only, who will have the full run of the ship and all the usual shipboard entertainments and amenities. She will carry a proportion of settlers outward bound from the United Kingdom to take up their new life in New Zealand, the Company thereby discharging a duty to New Zealand which it has continuously fulfilled ever since inception in 1858. It has been said that it requires courage in these days to build an all-passenger vessel destined for the Southern Dominion trade. We believe that our new venture will be justified. It is well to remind ourselves at this time of the words of Her Gracious Majesty at the launching of the Southern Cross last year: I think it is right that we should give the lead in new departures of modern design. I congratulate all those who have planned and built her, as well as the Company which has ordered her. This new ship will, I understand, encircle the world four times a year. What nobler cause could she serve than to bring those countries of the Commonwealth and Empire and their peoples together? So I ask you to join with me in drinking a toast to this noble addition to our Merchant Navy, to the prosperity of the Southern Cross, and to the health and happiness of ell who sal in her

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(continued from previous page) slipped into ownership through taking shares: in ships, and in 1864 they definitely bought the Cossipore, of 834 tons, and two years later the Monarch, a fine "Blackwall frigate," of 1415 tons. Among ships on both sides we may note Albion’s beautiful and fast Helen Denny (728 tons), which served until Tecent years as a coal hulk in Lyttelton, and Margaret Galbraith (889 tons), which was "all that a sailorman loved"; she kept remarkably dry in almost any weather and steered beautifully. The trade was now in the glorious but short period of the big clippers. In 1869 Shaw Savill bought the famous Crusader (1058 tons). She averaged 91 days on the New Zealand run, once ran to the Lizard in 69 days, and inspired such affection that as late as 1924 those who had voyaged out in her, or their descendants formed a "Crusader Association." Another famous ship was the Shaw Savill Lady Jocelyn (2138 tons), which in 1878 brought from Belfast to Auckland, in 88 days, the second part of George Vesey Stewart’s Ulster settlers for Katikati, in the Bay of Plenty. My mother and her parents were among her 378 passengers, who were accommodated in four classes. Those clippers have been called the loveliest things ever made by man, and they required superb nerve and skill for efficient and, indeed, safe handling. Life on those long and generally non-stop voyages was very different from what it is today. Passengers saw much more of the sea and the way of a ship. Many a man helped in the working-indeed men were expected to take a hand with the pumps if necessary-and so reached New Zealand with something of the sailor in him. In 1882 the Albion ship Dunedin (1320 tons) made history by taking the first cargo of frozen meat (and other foodstuffs) from New Zealand to England, a development of vast importance to the colony. It was a tricky and hazardous experiment. As there were no works ashore, the meat had to be frozen down on board ship, which lay at Port Chalmers. The engine in the ship broke down and the meat had to be put ashore and a fresh lot made ready. Fearful of the risk through the installation of this engine, nearly all the Dunedin’s passengers withdrew. During the voyage, sparks from the funnel set fire to the sails several times, and when the circulation of air in the meat chambers developed a_ fault, Captain Whitson himself crawled down the trunk to put matters right, and had to be hauled out, frozen and helpless. But the cargo got there safely, and a new economic era in New Zealand began. Other sailing ships were fitted to carry these goods. That same year the Shaw Savill Company and "the Albion Line amalgamated. The competition of the New Zealand Shipping Company, founded in 1873, brought them closer together, and now jt seemed probable that steam would revolutionise the trade. So on November 10, 1882. the Shaw Savill and Albion Company was registered with a capital of £700,000 in £10 shares, and £180,000 in debentures. The new company proposed to take up steam as the main effort, and the fact that the New Zealand. Shipping Company was ordering steamers made the matter the more urgent. That some shareholders tried to persuade the directors of the new company to stick to sail, was not surprising, for operation of steam over such distances raised serious problems. A new _ type. of steamer had to be designed and built, and profit might be uncertain. She had to be fast and dependable, and carry

many passengers, considerable , cargo, and bunker coal to bridge . ‘great stretches of ocean. Coal was a governing item. It was a long, lonely run from Capetown to Hobart outward, and from Wellington to Monte Video homeward -in McAndrew’s words: "It’s no child’s play to go steamin’ to bell for fourteen ‘days o° snow an’ floe an’ blow." However, they did it, and it is astonishing what they fitted into those early ships, so small to our: eyes today. Denny’s of Dumbarton, a firm thoroughly well experienced in steam, designed and built for Shaw Savill and Albion the Arawa and Tainui, called after migration canoes famous in Maori history. Peter Denny had been chairman of the Albion Line. and was a director of the new house. Of a little more than 5000 tons, these sisters were beautiful yacht-like ships, with clipper bow and bowsprit, four masts carrying. sails, and two funnels, and a_ service speed of fourteen knots. The cost of each was £114,000. They could accommodate 95 first-class pasengers, 52 second-class, and on the outward run, by using cargo space, 670 steerage. Among other improvements, there was electric light for all classes. Their great fault was small cargo space; coal had to be given preference. On her maiden voyage the Arawa left on November 5, 1884, and, with stops

en route, reached Port Chalmers on December 24. On her next outward voyage, when she had been run in, she averaged 14 knots, and for 12 hours, with the help of her sails, maintained a mean of 16. Meanwhile, the need of steam tonnage while these two were building, had led to the association, which was to last so long and be so familiar to New Zealancers, with the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company,~ always known as the White Star Line. The idea was to combine Shaw Savill and. Albion standing in the New Zealand trade with White Star steamer experience. It was agreed that White Star should provide ships and crews, for Shaw Savill and Albion to manage. Really it came to be more than. that, for some ships were: jointly owned. So the original Ionic and .Coptic, and the Doric came into the New Zealand _ service -four-masted (with sai's), single-screw, single-funnel ships of 4000 ocd tons, and a speed of 14 knots. Both classes had buff and blacktopped funnels and black hulls; Shaw Savill and Albion carried a white stripe 1ound the hull, and White Star a gold stripe. In carrying Rudyard Kipling to Aus-. tralia on his way to New Zealand in 1891, the Doric helped to make literary history, for R. Reid, her chief engineer, is believed to have been the prototype of McAndrew in that magnificent song

of maritime steam and its enginers, "McAndrew’s Hymn." This was a formative poem, for it taught poets to sing about the man on the job. The fascination of the reciprocating engine is in some of the lines: "Law, Orrder, Duty an’ Restraint, Obedience, Discipline!" and so is the engineer’s responsibility, especially with single screws. "The fault that leaves six thousand ton a log upon the sea." "Fra’ Capetown east to Wellington, ye need an engineer." Sailing ships soon ceased to carry passengers, but the last was not sold out of the Company’s service till 1907. There was the job of adapting steam, by trial and error, to a trade that was to expand beyond all expectations current in the New Zealand depression of the eighties. To take one item, frozen meat exports rose from 12,700 tons in 1884, to 44,900 tons in 1890, 92,200 tons in 1900, and 231.000 tons, in 1920. Today they are 330,000 tons. Passenger liners were supplemented by cargo carriers,.and tonnage rose from the first Maori, of 2711 tons (Gvithdrawn as too small), and the Matatua, 3321 tons, to the Aotea, 6364 tons, in 1894, and the Delphic, 8273 tons, in -1898. There was another spectacular leap forward in the liner trade with the White Star Gothic, 7735 tons, built by Harland and Wolff in 1893, the first twin screw ship on this run, and "far and away the most noteworthv vessel of

her day." Her first-class accommodation was modelled on that of the famous Atlantic liners, Teutonic and Majestic, adapted to crossing the tropics. She had a speed of 15 knots, and her twin screws meant the end of sail as an auxiliary. The Gothic was not only the largest ship in the Australasian trade, but the largest to visit the Port of London, and a charge for public inspection raised a nice sum for a seamen’s hospital. Three White Star liners built in the same yarcs in 1901-2, the Athenic, Corinthic and Ionic, opened another chapter. In combined usefulness, popularity, and length of service, these 12,230-ton ships, enormous to the New Zealander of those days, were in & class of their own in our mercantile marine history, and never did ships do more to justify designers and builders than these in their long ‘runs over so many years. ‘The Athenic lasted till 1928, the Corinthic till 1931; and the Ionic till 1937. I was present at the farewell lunch to the Ionic when she left, Wellington to be scrapped. The old lady had steamed two million miles and carried tens of thousands of passengers in her three classes, to say nothing of troops, and after all the ‘"slam-banging," as McAndrew called it, her engines were averaging slightly more than when she was young. I think some of us were not far from tears. Before 1914, Shaw Savill and Albion had some experience of war. In 1899

the Waiwera, 6237 tons, took the first New Zealand contingent to the South African War. The Boers. however, had no navy. The Germans had a strong navy, and used it ruthlessly. What with surface raiders, submarines and mines, no sea route was safe for commerce. Submarines sank merchant ships at sight, and mines were laid as far from Germany as the New Zealand coast. New Zealand’s task was to send men to fight, and supplies of food and raw materia] for Britain, and right well did the people, and the ships that served them, carry this out. More than a hun? dred thousand men went overseas from this country, and all but a handful had to be carried to the other side of the world. Shaw Savill’ and Albion took their full share of this dangerous transport. The Arawa was in the convoy that took the Main Body of the force that were to be known as Anzacs. Never had the Merchant Navy faced such perils, and the men who manned it never flinched. Not until this war, and the lesson was to be driven further home in the second war, did British peoples begin to realise what they owed to the merchant sailor. In 1916 the Panama Canal came into use both ways for direct runs between Britain and New Zealand. This cut out the discomfort of the Cape Horn route, but it deprived New Zealanders of all but the most slender chance of ever seeing Rio de Janeiro.

The period from the first war to the present day has seen many, developments, some of them revolutionary, in sea transport, Tonnage and speed have been stepped up. Oil has displaced coal widely as boiler fuel, and the reciprocating engine has given way in great measure to the turbine and the internal combustion engine. The success of the Diesel engine has been the outstanding feature of marine propulsion in recent years. Navigation has been made safer by such inventions as echo-sounding and radar. The trend in social equalisation has been illustrated in the changes in classification of passengers. The old term "third class,’ formerly "steerage," has disappeared, and "tourist" has taken its place. Shaw Savill ships are now either all "first-class" or all "tourist." Great improvements have been made in the living conditions of crews. The Shaw Savill and Albion Line has been in the forefront of such advances, To meet the demands of the New Zealand trade after the first war the Company bought in existing ships and ordered new tonnage. From the Aberdeen Line fleet, trading to Australia, which the company acquired in 1932, came the 12,000-tonners Tamaroa and Mataroa, in 1926, and the Akaroa, a larger ship, in 1932-all three re-christ-ened from classical names. They were very successful, and the Akaroa was particularly admired by ship-lovers for (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) her lines. From the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line, in which the company was also interested, came the Esperance Bay, 14,400 tons, to be the third Arawa. Cargo ships of the company have proved the success of the Diesel in striking fashion. The Coptic class in 1928, the Waiwera class in 1934, and, later, improved ships ranging from 10,000 to 13,000 tons, had a large cargo capacity, and were given speeds of 15 knots and more. These have been highly successful. In contrast with the sailing carrier of cargoes which took months to cross the world, the Wairangi ran from London to Wellington, via Panama, in 30 days 10 hours, or 29 deys 2 hours net steaming time. Everything in the Company’s new construction in the vears before the Second World War, however. was dwarfed by the Dominion Monarch, a magnificent motor-ship of 27,155 tons, built in 1938 by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson. She revived the old sailing ship and earlier steam route from England round the Cape o: Good Hope, and calls at Capetown, Melbourne and Sydney on her way to New Zealand, and "at the same ports on her way back to England. She set new standards for this trade. and because she began a new service she bore a- new. kind of name. Driven by four propellers, she was the largest motor-ship afloat, and her progress on her maiden voyage was watched by the whole shipping world. The Dominion Monarch carries 517 passengers in great comfort, and has 667,000 cubic feet of refrigerated and» other cargo space, For merchant shipping the second war was a repetition of the first, only worse. With the addition of the magnetic mine and the bomber, the enemy was stronger in weapons. There was the same necessity to carry troops and goods across the world, and the same courage and devotion on the sailor’s part. The Company’s losses were very grievous. Thirteen ships, including several trading to New Zealand, were lost. Three ships, the Wairangi, Waimarama and Empire Hope, the last-named under the Company’s management, were destroyed in one Malta convoy in 1942. The Zealandic disappeared without trace. The company lost 473 members of its seagoing staff, and four members of its shore staff. Seventy-nine decorations and commendations were bestowed. © After the second war the Company built four 15,000-ton passenger-cargo liners, Athenic, Corinthic, Ceramic and Gothic, all carrying large quantities of refrigerated and general cargo, and up to 85 passengers in exclusively first-class

accommodation. The cargo fleet was added to by the Persic. Runic and the Suevic, which, save for passenger accommodation, are practically identicai with the Gothic class, All seven of these ships are powered by steam turbines and can maintain service speeds of 16 and 17 knots, and if required can steam up to 19 and 20 knots. Several motor ships of between 10,000 and 11.000 tons were also added to the cargo fleet. The choice of the Gothic to carry Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on their Commonwealth tour made that ship for some months the best-known ship in the world. In addition to the cargo services maintained between the United Kingdom and New Zealand and Australia. the Company has since the wer started a service linking New Zealand and Australia with South and East Africa., Ports of call on this route include Mauritius, Mombasa, Tanga. Lourenco Marques and Durban. The tourist-class passenger service from Britain to New Zealand via Panama has been maintained by the Akaroa (now withdrawn). Tamaroa and Mataroa,. The Arawa (also withdrawn), has kept up a tourist-class service. and the Dominion Monarch, a first-class ser-

vice, via Australia — and South Africa. As from June of this \year, the four ships of the Gothic class are being transferred to the Panama route, and these, together with the Dominion Monarch via South Africa, will give a regular monthly first-class passenger sailing from New Zealand. Now comes the Southern Cross, built by Harland = and

Wolftl, the most revolutionary ship of her time. Her outward design, which is what strikes one immediately, is startling, for her funnel, which, of course, means her engines contrary to all practice in such ships, is at the stern, Accustomed to judge the aesthetics of a ship largely by the position and shape of the funnel, the shiplover may. be somewhat staggered. The explanation is simple-utility. The Company reached this design after most careful consideration of conditions in the trade after the second war. They concluded that it was often unsatisfactory to carry large cargoes and a given number of passengers in the same vessel.

Handling of cargo involves the risk ol delay in keeping passenger schedules at ports, so that the problem arises of having to sail with cargo space unfilled or delay sailing and break faith with passengers, The Company therefore decided to build a purely passenger ship, carrying no cargo whatsoever, which could make four round voyages a year to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, instead of fewer than three in the same time with a passenger-cum-cargo ship. Having decided this, the Company saw that it was not only possible but highly desirable to depart from conventional ideas in the internal design of the ship. Conventionally, passenger accommodation is planned round engine room and holds, all of which create obstructions. on the decks. "Why not put the engines right aft,’’ asked the Company, "and leave the whole of the rest of the ship clear, below and above, for the housing and recreation of passengers?" That is what they did. The twinscrew geared turbine engines, giving the ship a speed of twenty knots, with Diesel-engines to provide _ electrical power, are right aft. The one mast rises

from the _ bridge superstructure. In this tourist ship there is accommodation for 1160 passengers in 405 rooms, which range from single-bedstead through two bectead and two-berth rooms to four-berth and six-berth. The clearance of hatches and other things from the middle section of the ship nmiade it easier to place the cabins and public rooms, and this involved the in-

troduction of a large proportion of centre-line cabins if the extra space was to be used economically. This led to air conditioning. Every nassenger cabin and alley-way in the Southern Cross, as well as such public rooms as restaurants. cinema lounge and hospitals, is air-conditioned in al] temneratures. Travellers will readily understand what comfort this will provide in the tropics. Corresponding comfort in respect to the movement of the shiv is provided by the installation of the Denny-Brown stabiliser system to check rolline. This consists of two rectangular fins or

hydrofoils, 12 feet long and 6 teet 6 inches wide, lying in a horizontal plane one on each side of the ship. When not in. use the fins are housed within the ship’s hull, and their movement is operated by an electrical mechanism on the bridge. The stabiliser does not attempt to stop rolling altogether, but it minimises it for the comfort of passengers, and makes steerinz easier, Witt these protections against too much variation of temperature end unsteadiness of the ship, passengers are in a better position to enjoy the amenities. such as the 42,000 square feet of unobstructed deck space, including 5006 feet of sports deck; the cinema lounge 96 by 44 feet. which has a dance floor; the Tavern, with its Bohemianstyle furnishings; and the two swimming pools, one indoor, and one on the sundeck. The sound-reproducing system is one of the largest fitted in a ship. It will feed a network of 200 loud. s-eakers in nassenger and crew spaces *4 thus transmit news, entertainment and announcements, The itinerary of the Seuthern Cros: is laid out as part.of the, tourist-clas: passe vers service of the Company by the Panama and Scuth African routes Each voyage will be roun." the worldoutwards via Panama, and homeward: by the Cape of Good Hope, or vice versa, leaving from Southampton. anc calling at Trinicad, Curacao, Panam: Canal, Tahiti, Suva, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, Durban Capetown and Las Palmas. There wil) be two westbound voyages, followed by two eastbound, in the year. The schedule is so planned as to give passengers full daylight hours at all ports of call for excursions. On the Southern Cross’s first visit to Wellington, however, it will not be possible to open the ship. for public inspection, as she will arrive next Monday and sail again for Sydney at noon on Tuesday. Such is the Southern Cross, a ship. of revolutionary design, embodying the latest ideas for passenger comfort, and carrying on the Shaw Savill and Albion tradition, so closely woven into the. history of our trace with the Motherland. Her stem now ploughs "the lone wave that fills with fire beneath the Southern Cross," as she approaches a lard where that Cross is a familiar sight and means so much as a symbol. She is assured of a warm welcome. "All Passenger Ship," a documentary programme on the liner Southern Cross, will be’ heard from all YA and YZ stations" at 7.0 p.m. on May

ANOTHER SOUTHERN CROSS The Melanesian Mission's Southern Cross No. 7 has had to be laid aside. It is worn out. The work of the Mission among the hundreds of islands requires a new shipSOUTHERN CROSS No. 8. Donations towards the cost of this new ship may be sent to: N.Z. Anglican Board of Missions, P.O. Box 2050, Wellington.