SS Tauranga
{{Short description|New Zealand coastal trading steam ship}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
}} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = | Ship caption = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship recommissioned = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = | Ship struck = 23 July 1870 | Ship reinstated = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship homeport = Auckland | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship honours = | Ship honors = | Ship captured = | Ship fate = Sank after collision with schooner Enterprise between Cape Rodney and Sail Rock | Ship notes = | Ship identification = 52439 | Ship commissioned = | Ship builder = Fraser & Tinne, Auckland | Ship acquired = | Ship flag = 70px | Ship name = Tauranga | Ship namesake = | Ship owner = Bay of Plenty Steam Navigation Co | Ship operator = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship country = New Zealand | Ship awarded = | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 27 March 1867 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = 21 June 1867 | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Ship sail plan = | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = 24 passengers | Ship troops = | Ship complement = | Ship speed = {{convert|10.75|mph|abbr=on}} | Ship crew = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = | Ship armour = | Ship armor = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship time to activate = | Ship propulsion = 75 horsepower steam engine | Ship draught = {{convert|7|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship power = | Ship class = | Ship type = Topsail schooner | Ship tonnage = Registered 95 tons, 70 tonsdwt | Ship displacement = | Ship tons burthen = | Ship length = keel {{convert|108|ft|m|abbr=on}}, overall {{convert|120|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|17|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} | Header caption = | Ship height = | Ship draft = | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = {{convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship notes = }} |
SS Tauranga was the first coastal trading steam ship to be built in New Zealand,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=14 Jun 1867|title=TRIAL TRIP OF THE B.P.S.N. COMPANY'S S.S. 'TAURANGA.' DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18670614.2.15|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-22|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} though a harbour steamer, Governor Wynyard, had been built at Auckland in 1851.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=21 Jan 1852|title=NEW ZEALANDER|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZ18520121.2.5|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-12|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Cite web |title=5-2721 |url=https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/310132/ |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz |language=en}}
She was launched at Henry Niccol's North Shore yard in Auckland on 27 March 1867.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=28 Mar 1867|title=PORT OF AUCKLAND. MISCELLANEOUS. DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18670328.2.5.1|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-25|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Tauranga was a kauri-built, twin screw, 70 ton dwt, top-sail schooner,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=31 Oct 1939|title=PIONEERING ENGINEERING HISTORY GEORGE FRASER & SONS PHOENIX FOUNDRY. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19391031.2.155.67|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-17|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} built for Bay of Plenty Steam Navigation Co.
Engines and other fitting out works were done by Fraser & Tinne's Phoenix Foundry at Mechanics Bay. Tauranga
She was built for the Auckland-Tauranga-Opotiki service, but also followed the {{Convert|50|mi|abbr=on}} Auckland–Thames route.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=5 Oct 1867|title=Shipping Intelligence. NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18671005.2.4|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-27|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} She replaced an earlier schooner on the Auckland-Tauranga route, also called Tauranga.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=15 Jun 1867|title=PORT OF AUCKLAND. DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18670615.2.5.1|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-27|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}
She made a trial trip on 13 June 1867. With the exception of the imported shaft forgings, all the machinery was built by Phoenix Foundry, the first marine condensing engines constructed in the colony. The engine design was by Mr. Lowenhagen, who was formerly connected with E. and W. Hawthorne, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The engine, weighing about 30 tons, had to be moved over a poor road to the beach and lifted from the beach in Mechanics Bay with a flax rope spun by Fraser and Tinne's machinery. on the downward trip eight miles and a quarter per hour, and returning, with one screw, six and a half miles. Her performance during this time was {{convert|3+5/8|mi}} in 20 minutes, or {{convert|10+3/4|mi}} an hour, with {{cvt|23+1/2|lb}} of steam, and {{convert|20|in}} vacuum. The boiler was a 20 ton three-furnace, multi-tubular boiler, with flat top and sides. To cope with the marine work they erected workshops in Mechanics Bay.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=26 Sep 1900|title=GEORGE FRASER AND SONS, LTD. NEW ZEALAND HERALD|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19000926.2.72.8|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-20|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}
Tauranga sank, somewhere in Bream Bay, after a night-time collision on 23 July 1870 with an unlit ketch, Enterprise, with the loss of all 5 passengers and 14 crew.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=5 Nov 1934|title=OBITUARY. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19341105.2.20|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-17|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=3 Aug 1870|title=ENQUIRY INTO THE LATE COLLISION. AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18700803.2.14|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-17|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=1 Aug 1870|title=SUPPOSED FOUNDERING OF THE STEAMER 'TAURANGA' WITH PASSENGERS AND CREW. DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18700801.2.20|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-08-28|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} Initially she was replaced on the Tauranga route by SS Go Ahead.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=10 Aug 1870|title=DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18700810.2.2.2|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-24|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}} A fund to provide for the families of those drowned raised over £1,000.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=24 Aug 1877|title=AUCKLAND STAR|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18770824.2.9|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-17|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tauranga, SS}}
Category:Ships built in New Zealand
Category:Steamships of New Zealand
Category:Shipwrecks of the Northland Region