Huntingdon, Hertford, Cumberland, Sussex

The New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. was formed in January 1873 in Christchurch with an authorised capital of £250,000, divided into ten thousand shares of £25 each. a large fleet of chartered and owned sailing ships was used at first, with Mataura of 898 grt sailing from Port Chalmers on 12th June 1882 with the company’s first frozen meat cargo for London. Despite problems with the cooling of the cargo the 150 tonnes of carcasses arrived in perfect condition after a voyage of 103 days. The first steamer in the fleet was Tongariro of 4,163 grt completed in 1883 by the Govan yard of John Elder & Company in Glasgow. By the turn of the century, refrigerated steamers of the New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd., Scottish Shire Line and Shaw, Savill & Albion Co. Ltd. had completely transformed farming in New Zealand.

A Victoria Cross for NZ Shipping Co. Ltd.

A bold experiment was made in 1908 when the triple screw steamer Otaki became the first seagoing vessel fitted with Parsons combined reciprocating and turbine engines. Two triple expansion engines drove the wing shafts, both exhausting to the centre turbine of 90 inches in diameter arranged to run ahead only. The best trials speed of Otaki was 15.09 knots compared to 14.63 knots of her sister Orari powered by only twin triple expansion reciprocating engines. Otaki was sunk on 10th March 1917 during a prolonged gun duel with the German commerce raider Moewe. This occurred 420 miles south west of Lisbon on an outward ballast voyage, with Otaki equipped with only a single 4.7 inch gun on her stern. She scored many hits on Moewe, killing five of her crew and wounding many more, with Moewe taking on an appreciable list to port from a fire that took five days to put out. After the chase was over, Otaki took more punishment from the heavy guns of Moewe and sank twenty minutes later. Capt. A. Bissett-Smith received a posthumous Victoria Cross for his gallant action, one of only two Victoria Crosses ever awarded to Merchant Navy officers.

Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.

The Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. was formed in May 1895 to serve both Australian and New Zealand ports, the funnel being a red wine colour with a black top with the beautiful houseflag of Money, Wigram & Sons Ltd. superimposed on the red wine part. The New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. and the Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. both became part of the Peninsular & oriental Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. in 1916. These two associated companies were two of the first British shipping companies to seriously consider the training of their cadets on Cadet School Ships, with Essex of 1902 having most of her passenger accommodation removed in 1919, and then twenty apprentice deck cadets were carried in the former First Class passenger cabins until she was broken up in 1933.

World War II Replacement Programme

The associated fleets of the New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. and the Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. suffered a heavy toll of nineteen ships lost during World War II, including three of their seven passenger liners. Two passenger liners of over 19,000 grt, Rangitoto and Rangitane, eight cargoliners of 14,940 dwt, and three smaller cargo-liners formed the post-war replacement programme. The eight cargo-liners of 14,940 dwt are the subject of this article, and initially only three were allocated to the New Zealand Shipping Company berth and five to Federal, but Norfolk was renamed Hauraki in 1953. The names of this octet were thus Haparangi, Hurunui, Hinakura, Hauraki ex Norfolk, Hertford, Huntingdon, Cumberland and Sussex and were completed during 1947/49. On completion of this war replacement programme, the combined fleet of the New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. and the Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. was one of 38 ships of 403,000 grt.

Design of Replacement ‘H’ Class

The design adopted for this class was that of the pre-war Durham and Dorset, which was an open shelter deck development of the otaio class of 1930 of three vessels of 13,000 dwt. Durham and Dorset had distinguished war careers on the Malta convoys from Gibraltar, with Dorset becoming a war loss. This design was enhanced by the incorporation of a raked stem, and the octet of ships were much admired and thought to be among the finest cargo-liners ever to serve the trade to New Zealand. The yards chosen for the building of the octet were the Clydebank yard of John Brown & Co. Ltd. with four ships, the Walker Naval Yard of Vickers Armstrong Ltd. on the Tyne with two ships, and the Linthouse yard of Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. on the Clyde with two ships.

The class was designed with dimensions of overall length of 561 feet, moulded beam of seventy feet, depth to Main Deck of 39 feet and to Upper Deck of 47.5 feet, and loaded draft at summer freeboard of 32.5 feet. The fo’c’stle was seventy feet in length with the ‘midships bridge structure of 145 feet in length. The freeboard and maximum permissible draft were in accordance with the requirements of Lloyd’s register of Shipping and classification 100a1 for that of a complete superstructure vessel having a tonnage opening. The design was subject to exhaustive tank testing so that the efficiency of all voyage conditions and levels of loading could be realised. They had an enhanced cruiser stern with the lower stern contour well below the waterline to give the maximum propulsive advantage and performance of the semi-balanced streamlined rudder. The stem was angled at fifteen degrees to the vertical and they had well flared bows with good sheer both fore and aft. They had six holds and six hatches, with three ‘tween decks in numbers one, two and three holds, and two ‘tween decks in numbers four, five and six holds aft of the superstructure. They had twenty derricks of five or ten tonnes capacity for cargo handling on six sets of posts, plus a heavy lift of 50 tonnes capacity on the foremast. They carried no passengers but had a big crew of around seventy.

Welding was used extensively for their construction resulting in a weight saving of 550 tonnes over an all riveted ship and thus the same increase in carrying capacity. Welding and prefabrication was used on the fore peak, cruiser stern and shaft bossings, which were pre-assembled in the shops before being moved to the berth. Welding was also used for the shell plating, the butts of the flat plate keel, centre girders, seams of the tank tops, main bulkheads, deck plating, deck girders and pillars, and many other sections. Double riveting was used at the strength points e.g. where the angle bars connected the stringer plates to the sheerstrake.

They had eight main transverse bulkheads extending to the Main Deck, with an additional transverse bulkhead forming the boundary of the ‘midships fuel oil deep tanks and the level of the Lower Deck. There were continuous Main and Lower Decks below the Upper Deck, and an Orlop Deck forward of the machinery spaces. The erections above the Upper Deck comprised the fo’c’tle, an extensive superstructure ‘midships incorporating Bridge and Boat Decks, and a smaller deckhouse aft. Two masts and a well proportioned funnel of elliptical section were all raked to give a handsome and pleasing appearance. The navigating bridge was well equipped with radar, magnetic compasses on the bridge and docking bridge aft, gyrocompass, ship’s log and patent log at the stern, electric direction finders, echo sounder, revolution counters and later with a Decca Navigator.

Hauraki, Haparangi, Hurunui and Hinakura

Hauraki was launched first as the lead ship of the class as Norfolk for Federal, and was handed over for service to New Zealand in February 1947. She was transferred to the New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. in 1953 and renamed Hauraki. Haparangi was launched at Clydebank on 20th February 1947 as the second ship of the class of eight sisters, and completed on 31st august 1947. Hurunui was launched at Newcastle on 14th august 1947 and completed on 14th June 1948 at a cost of £1.25 million. Hinakura was completed at Clydebank in June 1949 and differed from Haparangi and Hinakura in that her four lifeboats were of the gravity type, her sisters having mechanical davits of the ‘Lum’ type manufactured by Samuel Taylor & Sons Ltd. Boat hoisting was done by means of two specially designed electric and hand operated double winches. The class had cargo capacities of 525,000 cubic feet of refrigerated space and 266,000 cubic feet of general cargo space. They were twin screw vessels powered by two six cylinder single acting two stroke opposed piston Doxford diesels of 12,800 bhp at 120 rpm to give service speeds of seventeen knots. They carried 2,874 tonnes of fuel oil bunkers in the double bottom compartments and 645 tonnes of fresh water and a maximum of 3,684 tonnes of water ballast.

The Master, officers and crew were entirely accommodated in the ‘midships structure. The dayroom and bedroom of the Master were at the forward end of the Boat Deck, while the after end housed the radio room, radio operators, hospital and adjoining dispensary, with the wheelhouse and chartroom above. The navigating officers, engineering officers, cadets and specialist ratings arranged on the second tier of the superstructure, with separate Smoking rooms for the navigating and engineering officers. The petty officers, seamen, engine room greasers, stewards and domestic staff had accommodation in double berth cabins on the lowest tier, the Upper Deck, the forward part of which was the Officers Dining room, and with messrooms for all of the different classes of crew accommodated on this deck.

The crew accommodation was of a particularly high standard well in excess of a vessel not carrying passengers. The Officers Dining room was very elegant and panelled in finely figured Californian satinwood, with jalousies, mullions and frames of matching hardwood and relieved by veneered walnut bandings. The sideboard on the aft bulkhead was in similar wood with a plastic top and handles and door grips in ivory. A plate glass mirror framed in walnut with sycamore banding was fixed above the sideboard. All of the metal fittings were simple and modern with a matt silver finish. The straight grained mahogany chairs and tables were toned to match the walnut trim and provided seating for 36 persons. There was a hexagonal table and also a rectangular table for six persons, the remainder sitting at square tables for four persons. The curtains were of woven fabric and hung on rods and fittings, and the tables were covered in fine woven linen. The reception office of the Chief Steward was to starboard of the officers Dining room and separated by a transverse passage from the Ship’s office, so that shore personnel need go no further into the accommodation than these two offices unless at the invitation of an officer.

The Officers Smoking room was panelled in plywood and veneered in English brown oak, with window frames and jalousies in solid birch. A cipollino marble fireplace was at the after end with a raised hearth surmounted by a radiant electric fire. Other features were a framed panel above the fireplace, a ceiling of painted plywood arranged in panels, a floor covered in linoleum of good design, and metal fittings of matt silver finish. The oak furniture comprised two covered settees, two easy chairs, many smaller chairs with reversible cane seats. Two card tables with reversible tops and covered in woven linen, woven fabric curtains, and Wilton carpets of modern design all added to the relaxation and enjoyment of the officers. The Engineers Smoking room was panelled in Nigerian cherry and Canadian maple wood, while the furniture was in natural mahogany, and the fireplace was very similar to that of the Officers Smoking room.

The Master’s Dayroom was panelled in plywood and veneered in selected flame figured birch, with the windows and recess over the fireplace panelled in straight grained ash. The fireplace, ceiling and wooden furnishings, linoleum floor and colourful Wilton rugs were similar to that of the Officers Smoking room, and the room contained a large desk with four side drawers and a full wall length bookcase. The Master’s Bedroom was panelled in painted plywood and furnished in natural mahogany with upholstery of uncut moquette, with the floor of linoleum overlaid and covered by colourful Wilton rugs.

The officers and Engineers cabins were single berth on the Bridge Deck, where there were also two berth cabins for the cadets. The Chief Engineer had a suite of rooms, with his Dayroom having a marble surround to the fireplace and electric fire, and the Chief Officer and Second Engineer had equally spacious cabins and each had a private bathroom. The crew were accommodated in large two and four berth cabins on the Upper Deck, except that the petty officers, junior engineers and higher ratings were in single berth cabins. The furnishings of these cabins included settees and chairs in polished hardwood, and their messrooms were lined in plywood with polished hardwood tables, chairs with reversible upholstered seats, and a sideboard. The two berth cabins for seamen were simply furnished with painted plywood walls, metal beds of double height, a full height wardrobe, hinged table and a wooden seat. The seamen’s messroom had eating tables for ten and hot and cold running water.

Deck and Steering Equipment

Clarke Chapman cargo winches, windlass, capstan and other auxiliary equipment were specified as standard, together with three bower anchors, a stream anchor and a total of 1,370 fathoms of chain cable, hawsers, warps, stream wire and steel wire of an average of three inches in diameter. A heavy tow line of 130 fathoms in length of diameter of 6.5 inches was used for towing other vessels or for being towed. The steering gear installed aft on the Lower Deck was of electro hydraulic four ram type with telemotor and mechanical control. The gear exerted a torque of 400 tonne feet on the 17.5 inch diameter rudder stock and was manufactured by Brown Brothers of Edinburgh. It provided virtually two complete steering gears, each comprising an electric motor driving a pump that delivered oil under pressure to the hydraulic cylinders. Pivoted cross-heads transmitted the thrust of the rams to the forged steel tiller which was keyed to the rudder stock. The steering gear was controlled from the navigating bridge by a telemotor, while a mechanical version was provided for the aft docking bridge near number six hatch, and could also be controlled from the steering gear compartment. At half power with one pumping unit, the steering gear could move the rudder from side to side through an arch of seventy degrees in thirty seconds, while at full power with two pumping units this time was reduced to eighteen seconds.

Refrigeration and Ventilation

The large amount of refrigerated cargo carried in six holds was insulated in the holds and ‘tween decks by granulated cork at the sides of the holds, tank tops and bulkheads. The refrigeration equipment was supplied by J. & E. Hall Ltd. of Dartford on the Lower Deck, and consisted of three machines with carbon dioxide as the refrigerant. Brine circulation was maintained by a group of vertical centrifugal main pumps, each driven by an electric motor, and by two smaller brine pumps. The brine pipes permit the circulation of the cooling medium at several temperatures necessary for a mixed cargo i.e. freezing for fruit, and two less cold temperatures for chilled beef. The brine pipes in the chilled meat lockers were arranged in parallel lengths between the meat rails. The cargo was thawed and defrosted towards the end of the voyage and was always found to be in perfect condition at the end of the long voyage from New Zealand.

The ventilation and air cooling systems was accomplished by 36 coolers arranged in sections and assembled into a compact and steel encased unit. In the cargo spaces, air circulation was maintained by an installation of fans supplied by Axia Ltd. of London. The fans are associated with the air coolers in the various hold spaces, and are driven by internal variable speed motors, the control gear for which was located in special compartments on the Main Deck. A system of distant reading thermometers was provided so that the crew could constantly monitor the temperature of the cargo in the holds, the thermometers being installed in the refrigerating machinery room. After the cargo has been discharged, any residual cargo fumes were blown out and special deodorising equipment was brought into operation for use in the air trunking. The percentage of carbon dioxide in the various insulated compartments during the voyage was read from special indicators supplied by Elliot Brothers Ltd. of London.

Careers of the Post-War Class

The refrigerated and chilled cargo was discharged in the royal Albert Dock in London, and had been loaded at Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Auckland and Wellington. The wool bales cargo had also been loaded from coasters in various New Zealand anchorages into number one hold and the upper ‘tween deck spaces of the six holds. Hurunui collided with the tug Lavernock of Edmund Hancock & Company at Cardiff in June 1958 and sank her. A fire in her engine room in December 1963 was extinguished without structural damage. Haparangi ran aground in beautiful Otago Bay on her voyage from Port Chalmers in May 1962, but was refloated without much damage. As regards the four sisters in the associated Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., Sussex had gravity type lifeboats, and was used initially on the Australian service to Brisbane before joining the New Zealand service in 1950. Hertford could very easily be identified from her seven sisters in that she had no mainmast, and Norfolk had been renamed Hauraki in 1953.

In January 1966, the four New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. sisters lost their buff funnels which were repainted in the more colourful port wine red colour with a black top and the beautiful red, white and blue rectangular Money, Wigram logo of Federal vessels. Hinakura, Haparangi and Hurunui were transferred to Federal ownership in 1967, their sister Hauraki had always been owned by Federal since completion in 1947 as Norfolk. On 19th April 1973, ownership of all New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. and Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. ships passed into the general Cargo Division of P. & o. and colours of a powder blue funnel with white logo and a corn grey hull with a dark blue waterline. However, Haparangi was soon despatched to the breakers yards of Kaohsiung five months later, with Hurunui broken up at Pusan in Korea at the same time, and Hinakura broken up at Kaohsiung in 1974.

Hauraki, the former Norfolk, arrived for breaking up at Kaohsiung during the last few days of 1973, while Huntingdon, Cumberland, Hertford and Sussex of Federal sailed on for another three years in the P. & o. general Cargo Division. Huntingdon, Cumberland and Sussex were then sent in 1976 for breaking up at Kaohsiung, Hong Kong or Hualien, while in 1976 Hertford was sold to Roussos Bros. of Piraeus and renamed Thia Despina, nominally owned by Marevico Shipping Co. Ltd. of Cyprus. Following a grounding off Port Said in July 1977, she was laid up at Piraeus and one year later reported as sold for breaking as Georghios Frangakis, then nominally owned by Netidi Shipping of Cyprus. It was over seven years later before she was towed away to Aliaga and beached on 24th January 1985. She was afloat for 35 years, by far the longest period of the eight sisters.

Postscript

The New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. had lasted exactly one hundred years before being swallowed up in the general Cargo Division of P. & o. in 1973. This group of eight vessels were a fitting reminder of the size and power of the big refrigerated cargo-liners of the company and of the Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., carrying frozen fruit, meat and wool over a very long period. The design of Somerset of 10,256 dwt, completed in 1962 by the Clydebank yard of John Brown & Co. Ltd., could be traced back thirty years to the Otaio class of 1930 and that of Durham and Dorset of 1934. The four vessel class of 1965/66 from the Bartram yard in Sunderland and the Lithgow yard at Port Glasgow of 11,325 dwt and fitted with Hallem crane derricks were almost the last cargo-liners built for both companies and were named Taupo, Tekoa, Tongariro and Westmorland. A class of eight reefers built in the early 1970s and trading worldwide with ‘Wild’ prefixes to their names e.g. Wild auk were the last ships to wear the colourful funnel colours of the Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.

The class was known as the Haparangi class after the second vessel completed, the reason being that Norfolk was the first of the class and she did not receive her ‘H’ name of Hauraki until 1953 when she was transferred to the New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. Haparangi became the first ship of the company to be registered in London since 1883, all vessels prior to 1947 had been registered at Plymouth. Hurunui was the fourth vessel of that name in the fleet, the first having been a ship rigged sailing ship built in 1875 of 1,054 grt. She reached New Zealand in her fastest time of 86 days, her slowest passage was 125 days. The second Hurunui was completed in 1911 at Port Glasgow by Russell of 8,901 grt and propelled by quadruple expansion steam engines to twin propellers to give a service speed of fourteen knots. The third Hurunui was built in 1920 at Middlesbrough by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. Ltd. and was turbine powered with a service speed of fifteen knots. The Haparangi class are remembered as good looking and sturdy ships that could comfortably cover the huge distances from London to the North and South islands of New Zealand within four weeks in whatever weather and sea states were encountered.

To my mind, it was a pity that this class of eight good looking cargo-liners adopted the powder blue funnel with the white P. & o. logo of its general Cargo Division in 1973. The powder blue funnel merged into the blue sky, and the corn yellow grey hulls, which thankfully none of this class adopted, streaked easily with rust or harbour scum. I had two uncles and one grandfather working as ship’s painters in Tyne shipyards when some of these ships were in dock for refit and repainting in 1973. They worked to an exact template plan for the funnel job but it was not apparently close to what these seven strange white shapes of the ‘P & o.’ letters would form and appear at a distance. As I was on the other side of the river from where they were painting, they asked me later what the new design looked like. My reply was, ‘Yes, it looked fine, but I much preferred the beautiful original funnel colours!’