SS Hororata

SS Hororata

The SS Hororata was ordered by The New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd of London on the 15th of October 1912 and completed by William Denny & Brothers of Dumbarton on 23th of May 1914. The 9461 ton vessel was powered by six single ended Scotch boilers running at 222psi, two quadruple expansion four cylinder steam engines producing 8493ihp @ 88.5rpm, driving twin screws for a speed of 15.7 knots (29kph).

Captained by Charles Campbell Taylor the 511ft 2in hulk and her 110 man crew could ferry 5 first class and 1066 steerage class passengers and cargo from the shores of Scotland and England to New Zealand and Australia in approximately six weeks. On the 24th of August 1914 she was requisitioned as Australian expeditionary force transport A20. In mid 1926 the SS Hororata ferried a little girl, not yet old enough to walk, from her birth city of Glasgow to be carried over the Bridle Path road from the port of Lyttelton to a new life in Christchurch, New Zealand. That same little girl has recently celebrated her 90th birthday. I was lucky enough to share it with her. 

 On the 5th of April 1943 the ship now called SS Waroonga was torpedoed by U-630 in the North Atlantic, coordinates: 57.10N, 35.30W. She sank the following day. 

 On the 10th of December 2014 the New Zealand born daughter of British immigrants and a New Zealand man of Scottish ancestry flew from Exeter Airport in the United Kingdom to Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand to be married. 43 days latter, Air New Zealand flight NZ7911, a Boeing 737 800 operated by Virgin Australia ferried the Newly-weds to Melbourne Australia...

 Happy birthday Nan. x