SS ''Aorangi'' was a passenger and refrigerated

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

built by John Elder & Co. of

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

, Glasgow for the

New Zealand Shipping Company The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973. A group of Christchurch businessmen founded the company in 1873, similar ...

and launched in 1883. She was chartered by the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) between April 1914 until 1915.Wilson, p.48. In 1915, she was sunk as a

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland Harbour in 1914; ...

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

. In 1920, she was raised but re-sank in Kirk Bay.

Career

John Elder & Co of Govan built ''Aorangi'' as a passenger and refrigerated cargo ship for the New Zealand Shipping Company. Launched in 1883, she saw service on the passenger route between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, with accommodations for 80 first-class, 80 second-class, and 250 third-class passengers. She was then chartered in 1894 to

Huddart Parker Huddart Parker Ltd was an Australian shipping company trading in various forms between 1876 and 1961. It was one of the seven major coastal shippers in Australia at a time when shipping was the principal means of interstate and trans-Tasman trans ...

, underwent a major refit from 1896 to 1897, that made her funnel taller and changed her accommodations to 100 first-class and 50 second-class berths. The ship saw service after her 1897 refit on the route between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, which included cargo and passenger service between

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. ''Aorangi'' in this time carried some of the 1878 to 1911 wave of

Portuguese immigration to Hawaii Portuguese immigration to Hawaii began in 1878 when laborers from Madeira and the Azores migrated there to work in the sugarcane plantations. By the end of 1911, nearly 16,000 Portuguese immigrants had arrived. Early immigration The Hawaiian c ...

, when she arrived on 16 February 1901 in

Harbor from Vancouver with a contingent of 23 Portuguese immigrants, who had been recruited from the Eastern United States to work as contract laborers on the Hawaiian

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. The ''Aorangi'' continued to provide service between Australia and the United States until 1914 when she was laid up at Sydney. In April 1914 the

(RAN) chartered ''Aorangi'' and used her as a supply ship. However, she was not commissioned into the RAN, but was manned by her civilian crew. She was armed with a

QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun The QF 12-pounder 12-cwt gun (abbreviated as Q.F. 12-pdr. (12-cwt.)Gun ...

, and took part in operations against the German colonies in the Pacific with the

Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer force of approximately 2,000 men, raised in Australia shortly after the outbreak of World War I to seize and destroy German wireless stations in German New Guin ...

and Australian Fleet. She was returned in May 1915 to her owners and subsequently sold to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

Fate

She was scuttled on 10 August 1915 in Holm Sound,

as a

. In 1920 she was salvaged/refloated. She broke loose from her tow and sank in Kirk Bay.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aorangi (1893) 1883 ships Steamships of New Zealand Ships of the New Zealand Shipping Company Passenger ships of New Zealand Portuguese immigration to Hawaii Ships built on the River Clyde Cargo ships of the Royal Australian Navy