Collections
Search our collections for images, objects and ship records. Get started with the search box or browse what you can see. You can also find out about our collections and how to access them.
MAHENO (1905)
Service dates: 1917-1935
Official number: 117588
Shipping lines: UNION STEAM SHIP COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND
Ship type:
Passenger/Cargo Ship.
Career
- 19.06.1905
- Launched.
- 15.09.1905
- Ran trials.
- 29.09.1905
- Delivered as Maheno for Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand at a cost of £141,967. She was the first trans-Pacific turbine vessel. On her maiden voyage she steamed at 19 knots without effort to establish a record on three routes which lasted 24 years until 1932. The snag was that at these speeds she was a coal guzzler which needed 30 firemen (ten per watch).
- 1906
- Voyaged twice to Vancouver.
- 20.02.1906
- Stranded at Bluff.
- 1914
- At Port Chalmers she was converted to a twin screw with geared turbines which cost £20,000. Her speed dropped by two knots but her coal consumption fell by 25%.
- 25.05.1915
- Commissioned as a hospital ship for 515 patients. She served mainly in the Mediterranean, but spent time in the Middle East and New Zealand.
- 01.07.1917
- Takeover of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand by The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company agreed.
- 02.06.1919
- Decommissioned and returned to her owners. She was once again on the Melbourne/South Island ports/Wellington service.
- 23.07.1923
- Registry transferred to Wellington, NZ
- 10.06.1929
- Suffered a fire while at Lyttelton.
- 03.07.1935
- Without propellers, she left Sydney in tow of Oonah for scrapping by Miyaki KKK, Kobe.
- 08.07.1935
- Broke adrift and went ashore on Ocean Beach, Fraser Island, Hervey Bay, Queensland. During WWII the wreck was used by the RAAF for target practice.
- 2009
- Part of the wreck is still visible broadside onto Ocean Beach.