SS Rotomahana (1876)

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox ship begin }} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Rotomahana (centre right) at Auckland in 1903.jpg | Ship caption = Rotomahana (centre right) at Auckland in 1903 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship builder = Fraser & Tinne, Auckland | Ship flag = 70px | Ship name = | Ship namesake = | Ship owner = | Ship operator = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship acquired = | Ship country = New Zealand | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 20 November 1876 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship awarded = | Ship commissioned = | Ship homeport = Auckland | Ship identification = 75119 | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = October 1914 | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = 1921 | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship honours = | Ship honors = | Ship captured = | Ship fate = Beached on 17 June 1924 | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Ship draught = {{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship class = | Ship type = | Ship tonnage = 183 tons | Ship displacement = | Ship tons burthen = | Ship length = {{convert|127|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|17|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship power = | Header caption = | Ship draft = | Ship depth = {{convert|6|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship hold depth = {{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = {{convert|7|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship height = mainmast {{convert|65|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship propulsion = Single screw steamer, 50 nominal horsepower jet condensing steam engine | Ship crew = | Ship time to activate = | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = | Ship boats = one lifeboat, one cargo boat | Ship capacity = 66 passengers | Ship troops = | Ship complement = | Ship sail plan = 3-masted fore and aft schooner | Ship speed = {{convert|10|kn}} | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = | Ship armour = | Ship armor = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }}

SS Rotomahana was an 1876 harbour steamer and the first iron vessel to be built in Auckland,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=June 2015|title=Fraser, George|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2f20/fraser-george|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=17 August 2020|website=teara.govt.nz|language=en}} though launched only 28 minutes ahead of another, though smaller, iron ship.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=21 Nov 1876|title=PORT OF AUCKLAND. DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18761121.2.4.1|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-31|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Rotomahana was a name used by at least two other ships of the era, presumably because Rotomahana and its Pink and White Terraces had become better known after the Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1870.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=20 December 1870|title=RETURN OF THE P.S. 'LUNA,' WITH H.R.H THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AND THE GOVERNOR. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18701220.2.14|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}

Until 1888 Rotomahana worked for her builders, Fraser & Tinne, flying their yellow house-flag with a phoenix and taking a bit over 4 hours to ply the {{Convert|50|mi|abbr=on}} Auckland–Thames route. Theodore Tinne left the partnership in 1882, leaving the firm in the sole ownership of George Fraser.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=16 August 1882|title=NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18820816.2.41.6|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=20 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} In the later 1880s George faced increasing financial pressures.{{Cite web|last=Hart|first=Philip|date=2016|title=PETER FERGUSON AND HIS NEW ERA: THE SECOND BATTERY AT WAIORONGOMAI|url=https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/10418/No.%2086%20new%20era.pdf?sequence=5|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=|page=83}}

Rotomahana was one of the assets he sold. She was bought by M.T. Clayton of Auckland in 1888 and, from 1888 to 1890, was run by New Zealand Insurance Co.{{Cite web|title=Northern Steam Ship Company of Auckland - Vessel details|url=http://www.nzmaritimeindex.org.nz/nssco/nsspage.php?vessel=1075119|access-date=23 August 2020|website=www.nzmaritimeindex.org.nz}} They sold her to Captain Worsp on 3 April 1890 for £2,225,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=4 April 1890|title=NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18900404.2.18|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} but he had sold her to Northern Steamship Co by 12 July 1890.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=12 July 1890|title=Telegraphic. HAWKE'S BAY HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18900712.2.11|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Rotomahana continued serving Thames until June 1898,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=25 June 1898|title=MAIL NOTICE. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18980625.2.59|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} when she was replaced by the larger and faster Wakatere{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=29 April 1929|title=WAKATERE TO GO. THAMES STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS19290429.2.37|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} and she switched to the Coromandel run.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=28 June 1898|title=MAIL NOTICE. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18980628.2.56|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Occasionally she served other Hauraki Gulf Northern Steamship routes, such as Port Fitzroy, Okupu and Tryphena on Great Barrier Island.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=25 January 1892|title=CHIEF POST-OFFICE. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18920125.2.44|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}

After overheating, she was re-engined by Fraser & Tinne in 1879.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=16 June 1879|title=THE S.S. 'ROTOMAHANA. THAMES ADVERTISER|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THA18790616.2.18|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} In another major refit in 1891 her boiler was moved forward, its pressure increased, extra compound cylinders added and her masts reduced from 3 to 2.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=8 August 1891|title=THE NORTHERN S.S. COMPANY'S ROTOMAHANA. NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18910808.2.13|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}

Apart from regular maintenance and the major rebuilds, the only event out of the ordinary occurred on 28 May 1911, a day when the Auckland-Devonport ferry got lost, and Rotomahana ran aground near Motuihe Island in heavy fog. However, she refloated on the rising tide and suffered no damage.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=29 May 1911|title=A HEAVY FOG. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19110529.2.16|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}

Rotomahana{{'}}s last day of service seems to have been 28 October 1914,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=26 October 1914|title=MAIL NOTICE. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19141026.2.65|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} as she was shortly after given a survey and then laid up.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=19 November 1914|title=SHIPPING. EVENING STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19141119.2.54|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} She was later used for oil storage, until being dismantled{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=28 February 1924|title=THE ROTOMAHANA'S END. THAMES STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS19240228.2.36|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} and then sold to McCallum Bros, who beached her on Pakihi Island in 1924, for use as a wharf.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=19 June 1930|title=Visitors to McCallum's Island viewing all that remains of the old Rotomahana, a well-known Northern Company vessel, dismantled early in 1924 and sunk at the end of this sandspit NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19300619.2.20.8|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=22 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=17 June 1924|title=PIONEER, VESSEL'S END. NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19240617.2.120|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 August 2020|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Remains of her hull were still visible in 1999.

File:S_S_Rotomahana_berthed_alongside_Fraser_and_Tinnes_foundry,_Mechanics_Bay_in_1876.jpg

File:Rotomahana_(left)_in_1913_coaling_at_Auckland.jpg