Timaru, photographed by Allan C. Green between 1900 and 1954, captures two sailing ships berthed side by side, showcasing early 20th-century maritime heritage. State Library Victoria (1040523) This work is out of copyright

The Timaru

The sailing ship "Timaru" was built in 1874 by Scott & Co., Greenock, Scotland for Patrick Henderson's Albion Line. She was an iron sailing ship with three masts, 1,306 tons, 73 m (239 ft) long, 11 m (36 ft) breadth, and had a depth of 6 m (21 ft). The Timaru was built and fitted up expressly for carrying passengers to New Zealand, frequently landing 400-500 passengers at Dunedin from Scotland. The Timaru was launched on 9 Dec 1874. Between 1875 and 1896 she made 15 voyages to New Zealand, 11 to Port Chalmers, Dunedin. The voyage of the Timaru to New Zealand took 74-106 days depending on weather conditions. The Timaru was owned/operated by the Albion Line from 1875, Shaw Savill & Albion Co. from 1883, South African Supply & Cold Storage Co, London from 1899 and E. B. Aaby of Drammen, Norway fromn 1906. She was wrecked near Fjaltring, W Jutland, on a voyage from Flushing to Christiania, with the loss of 16 lives and a valuable cargo on 22 Feb 1907. - https://cknzgp.net/histories/article1876shipTimaru.php

Bow of the Ship Timaru, Port Chalmers – Crew on board and the figurehead, photographed by David Alexander De Maus between 1875 and 1891. The "Timaru" was built in 1874 for the Albion Line and weighed 1363 tons. She was sold by the company in 1900, and wrecked in 1907.  Alexander Turnbull Library - RN 10x8-1630-G records/22856935 (Partly restricted)

The ship Timaru docked at Port Chalmers.  Photograph taken by David Alexander De Maus.  tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.136729 RN 1/2-016483-G (Partly restricte)

Timaru – Photographed by Allan C. Green between 1900 and 1954, this glass negative captures two sailing ships berthed side by side. State Library Victoria. Record ID 9916478293607636. Accession No : H91.250/575. Out of copyright. No copyright restrictions apply. https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9916478293607636

Timaru – Glasgow, 1306 Tons, Built at Greenock 1874 – This gelatin silver photograph, taken between 1874 and 1946, captures the Timaru, a three-masted sailing ship later used as a hulk. Part of the Malcolm Brodie Shipping Collection, the image was gifted to the State Library of Victoria in 1946. Brodie Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. This work is out of copyright, with no restrictions on use. https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9917352993607636

1876 Voyage to NZ

ARRIVAL OF THE TIMARU.

The announcement of the arrival of the Albion Company's ship Timaru at the Heads was made early yesterday forenoon, with the signal - all well on board. She was just due, for in the case of a vessel of her size, power, and sailing qualities, and also being in what may be termed "immigrants' trim," that is, lightly burdened with cargo, 85 days from port to port is a good average passage. The Timaru was brought up harbour by Geelong, and moored pro tem. off the Railway Pier, this proceeding demonstrating that the immigrants on board had arrived in good health. The official inspection of the ship having been made, the Press reporters and Cartain Logan, the Company's marine Superintendent, boarded her and, the usual amenities exchanged with the Captain. The pressmen were conducted through the immigrants' quarters by the Surgeon-Superintendent, Dr Crauford, an old acquaintance, who visited the Port last year in the same capacity in the Nelson. The inspection on the part of the Press was merely a formal affair, for there was nothing to be noted but the extreme of cleanliness and good order, with healthy; respectable, contented looking men, women, and children thronging the ship above and below deck. The single men's and single women's quarters, forwards and aft, were fitted up as comfortably as could be desired, with lots of space and ventilation, and light ad libitum. The married people amidships were, of course, a little more crowded, but on the whole were comfortable and clean. In reply to our interrogatories, the immigrants one and all spoke in downright terms of laudation relative to the passage and their entertainment on board. A kind and considerate doctor and captain was the character bestowed upon the two superiors of the ship. And the good feeling was reciprocal, for both captain and doctor spoke well of those they had in charge, and recommended them as a superior class of people. The matron, Miss Hamilton, had a good word for her particular charges, who are mostly of the farm and domestic servant class. Healthy, robust, and not forward, was our estimate o£ the bevy of lasses who held possession of the poop deck, and gazed curiously and longingly at the pleasant shore of their adopted land. The young men appeared to be a strapping set of fellows. and upon the doctor's showing were mostly labourers. It would be quite superfluous to comment upon the Timaru's appointments. She has been here before, and now, as then, everything appertaining to immigrants' offices, fittings, &c., is en regle.

She left Glasgow with 351 souls on board, of whom 45 were married couples, 118 single men, 74 single women, 61 children between the ages of one and twelve years, and 13 infants under one year. Classifying them according to their nationalities, we find 153 Scotch, 114 Irish, 60 English, and 18 Welsh. Sixty-three were nominated, viz., 27 of the married people, 24 of the single women, and 12 of the single men. The total number now in not quite as it was at the outset of the passage, for there were four deaths and two births, and thus the number of souls brought is only 349, exclusive of six cabin passengers. The deaths were as follows:- August 21st, Margaret Anne Norris, aged 2½ years, of head affection. August 31st, Isaac Smith, aged 17 months, head affection, connected with dentition. September 19th, James Bowler, aged seven months, teething. October 1st, H. Powell, aged three months, debility. The births were, firstly, August 30th - Mrs Ferguson, of a daughter; and, September 8th - Mrs Russel, of a daughter.

The Timaru comes here this time in command of Captain Taylor, a young and rising master, who served his apprenticeship under Patrick Henderson and Co.'s well-known flag. Concerning the passage, he reports, leaving Glasgow July 26th, dropped the tug off Sanda Light next day at 1 a.m , and stood down St. George's Channel with a light breeze at N.N.W., passed the Calf-of-Man light in the evening, and Tuscar on the 28th at 11 p.m.; wind so far light, variable, and northerly. It then took westing, and until the 39th parallel of latitude was crossed, held chiefly at south and S.W., then went round to north, and gradually merged into the N.E. Trade. The latter proved moderate, the ship averaging 190 miles per day, and it finally died away in latitude 15 north, August 4th. Two days anterior to this, the ship passed within sight of San Antonio, one of the De Verdes. Southerly winds, varying between S.W. and S.E. by S., were experienced from the N.E. Trade over a belt of thirteen degrees to the S.E. Trade, the latter being met in 2deg. N., August 28th. Next day the ship crossed the Equator in 26 W. longitude. The trade hung very much to the southward, and set her away to the westward, necessitating tacking several times to weather the Abrulhos rocks. It gave out in 23 S., but the wind still hung southerly until she touched the 38th parallel, when it freed a little and she made better progress. On the 50th. day out she crossed the meridian of Greenwich, with strong westerly winds, lat. 41, and that of the Cape three days later. Thence her run across the Southern Ocean was marked by changeable weather and variable winds. Good westerlies stuck to her until she breasted the Crozets, when the wind hauled to the southward, and for five days backed and filled between S.S.E. and N.E. Then the westerlies regained ascendancy, and continued so, more or less, until October 10th, when she was 800 miles west of the Snares. Thence to the land the wind veered and hauled between S.E. and north by the east, the northerly winds being marked by very thick weather. Two heavy gales - one from S.E. and the other from N.E. - were weathered. As the weather was very thick, she did not sight the Snares in passing them, and made her first landfall on the mainland south of the Nuggets on Wednesday. No ice was sighted, and she ran down her longitude down on about the 45th parallel. The Timaru brings about 1000 tons of cargo, weight and measurement, and will be moored this morning at the Railway Pier for discharging. Her immigrants will be sent to Caversham to-day.

Source: Otago Daily Times, Issue 4580, 21 October 1876, page 2.

• Sailing Ship Timaru, 883 Tons
  • Built in 1865 at St John's, Newfoundland, for M/s Potter Wilson & Glasgow.
  • Made voyages to New Zealand between 1865 and 1870.
  • Visited Timaru twice:
    • First visit: 11th January to 3rd March 1867.
    • Second visit: 3rd January to 13th March 1868.
  • Captain Langlands was the Master on both trips from London to New Zealand via Dunedin.
  • Made one voyage to Auckland, arriving on 8th December 1870.
  • Under Captain Langlands and Captain Buchan, the ship made five visits to Port Chalmers:
    • 1st October 1865
    • 25th November 1866
    • 1st December 1876
    • 15th November 1868
    • 18th November 1869
  • All but one passage took over 100 days.
  • The Timaru Herald reported on 28th October 1865 that the s.s. Timaru had arrived at the Otago Heads.
  • The Otago Daily Times reported on 21st October 1865 that a new vessel belonging to M/s Potter Wilson & Co, Glasgow, had arrived.

• S.S. Timaru was built in 1874 at Greenock by Patrick Henderson of Glasgow for the Albion Shipping Company's New Zealand trade.
• The ship was designed specifically for the New Zealand passenger trade, along with its sister ship, Oamaru.
• Both ships carried large numbers of emigrants to New Zealand.
• Ironically, the Timaru made only one visit to Timaru, from January 27 to March 4, 1899.
• On one voyage, the Timaru carried 499 souls on board.
• Like her sister ship, the Timaru often carried large amounts of bullion, including £57,000 in gold bars on a single trip.
• The ship was a new iron ship, registered 1306 tons, 350 feet in length, and had a beam of 36 feet.
• Timaru was fitted with the latest improvements in shipbuilding for that time:
  • A steam system that could lift the anchors, hoist the sails, discharge cargo, and work the pumps.
  • A condenser that produced over 500 gallons of fresh water a day.
• The Timaru was considered a 'flyer' and achieved some very fast runs between the British Isles and New Zealand.

• The first known contest between Auckland and Timaru took place on the high seas, between Cape Horn and London.
• Captain Duder, a former Harbourmaster at Auckland, sailed on the City of Auckland as a young man.
• During one trip, the City of Auckland sighted the Timaru near Cape Horn, 28 days out from Dunedin.
• A race was arranged for the 6,500-mile journey to London using signal flags.
• The City of Auckland:
  • Rounded Cape Horn and passed the Falkland Islands.
  • Left the worst storm latitudes behind and crowded on extra sail.
  • The ship was hard sailed, and the crew were busy trimming yards and resetting sails, often with the lee-rail awash.
  • Made good time when picking up the northeast trade wind north of the equator.
  • Was overtaken by the Timaru when sailing up the English Channel.
• Both vessels were becalmed and taken in tow by tugs, tying up at the same wharf in London.
• The 6,500-mile race ended in a dead heat.
• The City of Auckland's voyage from Waitemata Harbour took 98 days.
• Years after being sold to Norway, the Timaru was wrecked on a voyage from Flushing to Christiania:
  • Stranded at Fjaltring on February 22, 1907.
  • The masts went over the side immediately after she struck the ground.
  • The vessel drifted along the coast and broke up.
  • About twenty crew members drowned, and a valuable cargo was lost.

 - Doug Shears, Tales of South Canterbury Vol. 2 : Ships named Timaru . Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 04/03/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/8181

Timaru Steamship, 279 Tons

• The ship was built in 1883 by R. Thompson & Sons at Sunderland, U.K., for Timaru Steam Collier Co Ltd.
• It was used to bring coal from West Coast ports and take back mill or farm produce.
• The ship sailed under the British-New Zealand flag and made 31 visits to Timaru between April 23, 1884, and November 29, 1887.
• Her last visit was from November 27-29, 1887, and she was scrapped in Adelaide, Australia in 1957.
• There were discussions about forming a company in Timaru to purchase steamers for local trade.
  • In December 1879, a Timaru firm negotiated to purchase a steamer for local trade.
  • In June 1882, The Timaru Herald reported that a movement was underway to form a company to purchase one or more steamers for trade between Timaru, the West Coast collieries, and intermediate ports.
  • Mr. Nathaniel Taplin and others were the principal movers in forming The Timaru Steam Collier Company.
  • They gathered information on the necessary capital, trade requirements, and support for the venture, which was found to be satisfactory.
• On June 27, 1882, the first meeting of the Colliery Steamship Company was held at the Town Hall.
  • Present at the meeting were J.S. Gibson, D.M. Ross, W. Evans, R.A. Chisholm, and others.
  • The capital of the company was £10,000, divided into 200 shares of £50 each, all of which were taken up.
• Mr. Taplin had made inquiries about the type of boat needed for the trade, and plans for the selected steamer were presented.
  • The idea was to initially obtain one steamer, with the option of more if needed.
  • Mr. Kennedy, owner of the Brunner Coal Mine, was prepared to take up shares in the company.
• The capacity of the first steamer was to be 500 tons.

• - Doug Shears, Tales of South Canterbury Vol. 2 : Ships named Timaru . Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 04/03/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/8181

• Timaru Herald (9 January 1959) reported the return of the steering wheel of the s.s. Timaru, a 279-ton steamer built in 1883 for the Timaru Steam Collier Co. Ltd.
• The wheel was acquired by Captain J. Barneston, Master of the motor ship Cape Horn, and presented to James Davidson, a marine surveyor in Wellington.
• The Timaru Steam Collier Company was formed in 1883 to facilitate the South Canterbury shipping trade.
• The s.s. Timaru made her first visit to Timaru on April 23, 1884, arriving from Oamaru. It was inspected by leading citizens before loading 3,000 sacks of grain and sailing for Sydney.
• The ship primarily carried coal and grain during subsequent visits.
• In 1889, her port of registry changed from Lyttelton to Sydney, and she was sold multiple times until 1919 when the Patrick Steam Ship Company bought her.
• In 1923, after 50 years of service, her engines were removed, and she was converted into a lighter, eventually sold to the Adelaide Steam Tug Co..
• In 1955, the ship was sold to a shipbreaker and scrapped. Captain Barneston recovered the steering wheel from a junk heap and gave it to James Davidson.
• The wheel still bears the ship's name, year of building, and port of registry (Lyttelton), but it was not returned to Timaru for preservation.