The Pioneering Era

As a group of islands in the South Pacific, at the farthest distance from its principal markets, New Zealand has always been vitally dependent upon shipping for its economic life and progress. As far back as the latter part of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries the coasts of New Zealand were the constant resort of marauding sealers who slaughtered the seals almost to extinction. In those years, also, came the British, American, and French whalers who reaped rich harvests in and about New Zealand waters, with the Bay of Islands soon becoming the principal refitting resort, and Whaling).

A number of ships traded from Sydney to New Zealand during the 1790s and onwards for the purpose of loading ships' spars and other timber. Early imports were sheep and cattle and stores of many kinds from New South Wales, and exports were whale oil, kauri gum, wool, and potatoes, as well as flax. In 1830–31 the total amount of flax shipped to Sydney from New Zealand was valued at more than £45,000 and most of it was paid for in guns and gunpowder. In 1826 a shipyard was established at Hokianga by a Sydney firm and during the next few years some half a dozen vessels were built there, the largest being one of 400 tons.

The first planned European settlement in New Zealand was founded in 1840, shortly before British sovereignty was proclaimed following the negotiation by Captain Hobson of the Treaty of Waitangi. The first settlers sent out by the New Zealand Company arrived in Port Nicholson early in 1840; their first settlement, known as Britannia, at the head of the harbour, was abandoned shortly afterwards in favour of that named Wellington on its western shore. Auckland and Wanganui were founded in the same year and New Plymouth and Nelson in 1841. Otago was settled by the Otago Association in conjunction with the Free Church of Scotland, and two ships carrying 343 settlers arrived at Port Chalmers in early 1848. The first four ships of the Canterbury Association arrived at Lyttelton in December 1850 to found the Canterbury settlement. The operations of the New Zealand Company in the purchase of land brought the settlers, notably in the New Plymouth and Wanganui districts, into collision with the native owners. An uneasy peace followed, and in 1850 the New Zealand Company surrendered its charter and ceased its colonising activities. Nevertheless, the flow of emigrants continued in the small wooden ships of those days. For a time the business was largely in the hands of Willis, Gann, and Co., a firm of London shipbrokers, originally established in 1842, whose ships included the Zealandia, Maori, Egmont, Chapman, Clontarf, and Victory. Then came the Albion Line of P. Henderson and Co., of Glasgow - long known to seafarers as “Paddy Henderson's” - who traded mainly to Otago Harbour. Henderson's, which was founded in 1834 by four brothers, has been associated with continuous service to Burma and the East for more than a century.

Shaw, Savill, and Co.

At the beginning of 1858 two young men, Robert Ewart Shaw and Walter Savill, and several others left the employ of Willis, Gann and founded the firm of Shaw, Savill, and Co. Backed by the support of John Lidgett and Sons, and other shipowners whose ships they frequently chartered during the next 25 years, they entered the New Zealand trade as the Passengers' Line of Packets. Their first ship was the Chieftain, a wooden full-rigged vessel of 382 tons, which was 148 days on passage from London to Nelson. She was overtaken by the Avalanche, which went out to Auckland in 95 days. Four others followed soon afterwards. As well as numerous sailing ships, Shaw, Savill, and Co. handled three steamers during their first year of trading. They were the Lord Ashley and Lord Worsley, sister ships of 435 tons, and the 400–ton Airedale built in England for the New Zealand Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. which had secured a 10 years' contract to operate a regular service between New Zealand and Australia. These vessels, each of which carried about 100 passengers, were the first steamships to make the direct passage out from England to New Zealand, though they were most of it under sail. As agents of the Admiralty, Shaw, Savill, and Co. chartered a number of ships to carry troops and supplies out to Auckland during the Maori War of the 1860s. One of these was the iron, full-rigged, auxiliary-screw ship Robert Lowe, of 1,049 tons, which loaded a cargo of wool back to London. A similar vessel was the Sea King of 1,152 tons, which later achieved much notoriety as the Confederate States' commerce raider Shenandoah. In this guise it destroyed 37 Federal ships during the American Civil War.

At that time vast areas of the North Island and, to a lesser extent, of the South Island were covered by virgin forests; much of the country was unexplored and overland travel was difficult and dangerous. Communication between the scattered settlements of the several provinces was mainly by small sailing craft; it was often easier and quicker to travel from Dunedin and Christchurch to Auckland by way of Sydney than directly by coast. Farming was in the pioneering stage and, at the beginning of 1858, livestock numbered little more than 1,000,000 sheep and some 110,000 head of cattle. Imports were valued at nearly four times that of exports, the latter comprising mainly wool and wheat as well as small tonnages of flax, kauri gum, and whale oil. Of the 38 ships that arrived from the United Kingdom in 1857, only nine loaded return cargoes, the others having to sail in ballast to India, China, and elsewhere. The discovery of gold in Otago and Westland caused a great influx of miners and others from 1861 onward, and in the next seven years exports of gold, which occupied relatively little shipping space, totalled more than £17 million.

The New Zealand Shipping Co.

During the 1860s Willis, Gann, and Co. dropped out of the New Zealand trade, while many of the big American-built wooden clippers of Pilkington and Wilson's White Star Line and the Black Ball Line, as well as ships of Houlder's Australian and New Zealand Packet Service, were frequent visitors to Dunedin and Lyttelton. But by the end of the decade Shaw, Savill, and Co. and the Albion Line had the United Kingdom – New Zealand trade to themselves. This monopoly gave rise to much dissatisfaction among importers and exporters alike who held that freights were too high. The result was the formation in Christchurch of the New Zealand Shipping Co. which was registered in January 1873 with an authorised capital of £250,000 with the object of “providing increased facilities for the New Zealand trade”. The first ships owned by the New Zealand Shipping Co. were the small iron, full-rigged ships Rangitiki of 1,188 tons, and the Mataura, Waimea, and Waitara, each of about 850 tons, purchased in 1873. Twelve ships of from 1,000 to 1,100 tons were built during the next two or three years and two others were bought subsequently. The company also employed many chartered vessels to cope with the boom in the cargo and emigrant traffic during the 1870s, as did the Shaw, Savill, and the Albion Lines. The Albion Line also built 12 notable clipper ships. During the flood of emigration in the 1870s no fewer than 93 ships arrived in New Zealand in the 12 months 1874–75 with 31,785 passengers, an average of 340 a ship. The great majority travelled in sailing ships, but in 1874 the steamer Mongol brought out 253 and the steamer Atrato 762, including 280 children. The Dutch steamer Stad Haarlem, of 2,729 tons, arrived in 1879 with some 600 emigrants and returned to London with a full cargo and a full complement of passengers.

The Panama Route

In 1863 an agreement was entered into by the Governments of New Zealand and New South Wales, and the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Co. for the carriage of mails and passengers between Panama and those countries was born. The capital of the company was £375,000 and with it was incorporated the Intercolonial Royal Mail Co. which operated nine small steamships in the New Zealand coastal and intercolonial services. The Panama Railroad Co. offered facilities across the isthmus and the service across the Atlantic was performed by the Royal Mail Co. The steamers built for the trans-Pacific run were the Kaikoura, Ruahine (twin screw), and Rakaia, each of about 1,500 tons, and the Mataura, of 1,780 tons. All were heavily rigged to carry canvas and were capable of 10 knots in average weather. The Kaikoura began the service, sailing from Sydney on 15 June 1866 and making the run to Panama from Wellington in 27 days. The Rakaia went out to Panama round Cape Horn to take up the service. A coaling station was established in the Pacific at Rapa Island. This monthly service was maintained for three years, the ships running to time fairly well. The last ship on this run was the Rakaia from Sydney on 22 December 1868. The four ships were then sold to the Royal Mail Co. for service on the Atlantic run.

The San Francisco Service

In 1870 the New Zealand and New South Wales Governments contracted for a mail service to San Francisco at a cost of £1,000 a month. The chartered steamers Rangatira and Balclutha, later replaced by the City of Melbourne and Wonga Wonga, connected at Honolulu with the American steamer Ajax. A year later an agreement was made with the Californian Line (Webb and Holladay) to run a fleet of four paddle steamers between Sydney and San Francisco, calling at New Zealand ports and Honolulu. These ships were the Nevada, Nebraska, and Dacotah, each of 2,145 tons, and Moses Taylor, of 1,354 tons. They were wooden vessels, with extensive passenger accommodation, and fitted with massive single-cylinder “beam” engines. In these, the piston rod was attached to one end of a huge horizontal beam pivoted at its centre on the upper deck and driving a 12 ft crank to turn the 30 ft paddles, giving the ship a speed of up to 17 knots. A series of misfortunes dogged the ships and the venture ended with the sailing of the Nebraska from Sydney in April 1873.

Then followed a service by the steamers Mongol, Tartar, and McGregor, later replaced by the Mikado, Cyphrenes, and City of Melbourne. After them came the American Pacific Mail Co. which employed several steamers in the service, including the Zealandia and Australia, both built by the Fairfield Co., of Glasgow. The American Pacific Mail Co. withdrew in 1885 and the San Francisco run was taken over jointly by Oceanic Co. of America and the Union Steam Ship Co. of New Zealand. The Oceanic Co. put on the Alameda and Mariposa and the Union Co. the new Mararoa which was replaced in 1890 by the Monowai and afterwards by the Arawa, chartered from the Shaw, Savill Line. The Moana, of 3,915 tons, specially built for the run, took over in 1897. But in 1900, when United States legislation forbade any but American ships to carry passengers and cargo between American ports, the Moana was transferred to the Vancouver mail service, that to San Francisco being maintained until 1907 by the Sierra, Sonoma, and Ventura.

Refrigeration

Following the stimulus given to trade and development by Vogel's lavish expenditure on public works and immigration, and the concurrent period of good prices for the colony's staple products, there came the world depression of the 1880s which brought widespread unemployment and hardship to New Zealand. The pastoral industry was in a particularly bad way, wool and tallow being its only exportable products. After shearing, it was not uncommon for old and inferior sheep to meet the fate of the Gadarene swine. Sheep were kept during the flush of grass and then boiled down for tallow. Boiling-down plants became prominent features of many big sheep stations. Often shorn sheep were sold by the score because they had scarcely any value per head. The development of refrigerating machinery did much to solve the meat problem for the New Zealand pastoralists and the British consumer alike. Following the success of experimental shipments of frozen meat from the Argentine in 1877 and from Australia in 1879, the New Zealand and Australian Land Co. arranged a trial shipment from Port Chalmers in 1882. The vessel selected was the Albion Line's clipper ship Dunedin, specially fitted with insulated chambers and refrigerating machinery. She loaded some 130 tons of meat (about 4,000 carcasses), which was frozen on board, and sailed from Port Chalmers on 15 February 1882. After a passage of 98 days the Dunedin arrived in London on 24 May with her cargo in sound condition, and within a fortnight the whole shipment had been sold at good prices. A second shipment soon followed in the New Zealand Shipping Co.'s Mataura. Within a year a number of other sailing ships were fitted with refrigerators and steamers were chartered or built to meet the growing demand for space for shipping frozen meat.

Expanding Trade, 1882–1911

In 1882 the Shaw, Savill Co. and the Albion Lines amalgamated to form the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. Ltd. At that time the Shaw Savill fleet numbered 26 sailing ships, of which 19 passed to the new company, the Albion Line contributing 12 ships to the combined fleet. Nine owned by Savill and Captain J. Leslie continued to operate as part of the main fleet. At the same time the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. and the New Zealand Shipping Co. decided to establish direct steamship services between New Zealand and Great Britain. Pending the building of specially designed tonnage, they chartered recently built vessels all fitted with refrigerating machinery. The first steamers built for the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. were the sister ships Arawa and Tainui, each of slightly more than 5,000 tons. The White Star Line provided the Ionic, Doric, and Coptic, this arrangement marking the beginning of its long association with the New Zealand trade, which ended when its interests were acquired by the Shaw Savill and Albion Co. in 1935. The New Zealand Shipping Co.'s first steamers were the Tongariro, Aorangi, and Ruapehu, each of 4,250 tons, succeeded by the Kaikoura and Rimutaka, of 4,474 tons. The steamers followed the traditional sailing ship routes – out by way of the Cape of Good Hope and home round the Horn, with calls at coaling ports along the way. Despite the world depression, New Zealand's refrigerated cargo trade expanded rapidly and the fleets of Shaw Savill and the New Zealand Shipping Co. grew accordingly. The latter company disposed of its sailing ships during the 1890s and the last of those of Shaw Savill were sold soon after the turn of the century. The Shaw Savill -White Star liner Gothic, of 7,755 tons, built in 1893, was surpassed in 1902–03 by the famous sisters Athenic, Corinthic, and Ionic of 12,230 tons. In 1909–11 the New Zealand Shipping Co. built the Ruahine, Rotorua, and Remuera, of 11,000 tons. In addition to their passenger ships, both companies built many vessels specially designed for the carriage of refrigerated and general cargo.

New Lines and Services

In 1886 the old-established London firm of G. D. Tyser and Co. entered into a contract with Nelson Brothers, of Hawke's Bay, to carry frozen meat from Napier at a reduced freight. They formed the Colonial Union Line Ltd. which chartered the steamers Balmoral Castle, Ashley Brook, Selembria, Star of England, and, later, the Bayley, Balcarres Brook, Celtic King, and Star of Victoria. The Colonial Union Line was dissolved when Tyser and Co. took over the outstanding charters. The first steamers built for the Tyser Line from 1890 onwards were the Hawke's Bay, Tomoana, and Mimiro, followed by the Niwaru, Marere, Nerehana, Muritai, and Makarini. These vessels were supplemented by the “Stars” of J. P. Corry and Co., of Belfast, and the “Indras” of T. B. Royden, of Liverpool—Indrapura, Indralema, Indrabarah, and so forth. In 1914 the Commonwealth and Dominion Line Ltd. came into being with the amalgamation of these three firms, together with that of William Milburn and Co., which owned a number of “Port” steamers. The group then owned 23 ships afloat, with two more about to be launched. All the ships were given names with the prefix “Port”. In 1916 the C. and D. Line was sold to the Cunard Steam Ship Co. and adopted the title of Port Line Ltd. Its present fleet numbers 31 motor ships, the largest of which are the Port Auckland and Port Brisbane, each of 12,000 tons register.

The Scottish Shire Line, begun in 1884 by Turnbull, Martin, and Co., of Glasgow, with the Elderslie, was prominent in the New Zealand meat trade for more than 45 years, until its interests were sold to the Clan Line. In 1902 the Federal Steam Navigation Co., in conjunction with Houlder Brothers, commenced a service between New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa under contract with the New Zealand Government; and in 1906 there began what was known as the Federal-Houlder-Shire Line, by which regular sailings were maintained between the United Kingdom, the Cape, Australia, and New Zealand. The Houlder Line, founded in 1849, owned the well known “Grange” steamers. The Federal Line, founded in 1897 by Allan Hughes, of Birt, Potter, and Hughes, of London, was the successor of Money Wigram's Blackwell Line (founded in 1824), several of whose auxiliary-screw ships were chartered in the 1870s by the Shaw Savill and New Zealand companies. In January 1912 the interests of the Federal Steam Navigation Co., including its fleet of 10 steamers, were acquired by the New Zealand Shipping Co. A few months later that company took over the whole of the Australasian business of Houlder Brothers and Co., the purchase including the four large “Grange” steamers which were given Irish county names. One of these was wrecked outside Otago Harbour in 1913, two were sunk during the war, and the Westmeath was run by the Union Steam Ship Co. for some years. The steamers of the Clan Line (Cayzer, Irvine, and Co.) entered the New Zealand trade for a brief period about 1910.

The Blue Star Line Ltd., which was founded in 1911 by the Vestey meat interests, has a large fleet of refrigerated and general cargo ships trading to South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East. This line entered the New Zealand trade in 1935, in which it regularly employs 15 or more large ships, such as the Wellington Star, Auckland Star, New Zealand Star, Tasmania Star, and Adelaide Star. As well as providing a frequent service for refrigerated cargoes, the Blue Star Line now loads general cargo on its own account from the United Kingdom to New Zealand.

The Union Steam Ship Co.

The Union Steam Ship Co. of New Zealand, founded at Dunedin in 1875, began in a small way in the coastal trade but quickly extended its services overseas. It entered the cargo and passenger trade between New Zealand and Australia in 1876 and in 1881 began trading to the South Pacific Islands. Seven years later it started a direct service to Calcutta and eastern ports. It re-entered the mail and passenger service to San Francisco in 1910 and maintained it until 1936. In 1901 the company bought a share in the Canadian Australasian Line, of which it subsequently became the sole proprietor. This service – Australia and New Zealand to Vancouver – wound up soon after the Second World War. The Union Co. ended its passenger service to Sydney at the close of 1960, leaving the Huddart Parker Co. to carry on, the latter having been in the intercolonial passenger service since 1892. The nightly service between Wellington and Lyttelton is maintained by the express steamers Maori and Hinemoa, but the aged Tamahine has been replaced in the Wellington-Picton service by the New Zealand Railways' new train-ferry ship Aramoana which in early 1966 will be joined by the Aranui. The Union Co. is still expanding its large fleet of cargo vessels, and is adding another steamer for the Wellington – Lyttelton express service. This is the Wahine, a roll-on, roll-off vehicular ferry which revives the name of a former passenger vessel in the service.

Almost Forgotten Shipowners

An almost forgotten shipowner today is the late C. W. Turner, of Christchurch, who, in the seventies and eighties of last century, carried on a world-wide trade with a fleet of small barques and schooners. They brought sugar from Mauritius and Queensland, tea and rice from China and Java, general cargo from London and New York, and cornsacks and woolpacks from Calcutta. They carried grain and produce to South America and South Africa, horses to India, and wool and wheat to England. Turner's little ships made many a voyage round Cape Horn. In later years various small sailing ships, including the barques of J. J. Craig, of Auckland, and A. H. Turnbull, of Christchurch, traded between New Zealand and Australia.