NZGSS Hinemoa

Career (New Zealand)	New Zealand
Name:	NZGSS Hinemoa
Owner:	New Zealand Marine Department
Port of registry:	Registered No. 69016
Builder:	Robert Scott and Company, Cartsdyke
Cost:	£23,500
Completed:	1875
Commissioned:	1876
Decommissioned:	1944
General characteristics
Type:	3 masted steamer
Tonnage:	542 ton
Length:	207 feet
Beam:	25 ft
Draught:	15 ft
Installed power:	two compound-surface condensing engines of 150 b.h.p
Speed:	12 knots

NZGSS Hinemoa was a 542 ton New Zealand Government Service Steamer^[1] designed specifically for lighthouse support and servicing, and also patrolled New Zealand's coastline and carried out castaway checks and searched for missing ships. It operated in New Zealand's territorial waters from 1876 to 1944.^[2] It had a sister ship, the GSS Stella, which carried out similar duties over the time period. It was instrumental in supplying many of the government castaway depots on the remote Sub-Antarctic islands, and rescued a number of shipwreck victims, including those from the wreck of the Dundonald and the Anjou.

Captain John Fairchild used the steamer to survey the Bounty Islands and Antipodes Islands in 1886,^[3] and the Herekino Harbour and the Whangape Harbour entrance in 1889.^[4] In 1891, while under the command of Captain Fairchild, the Hinemoa searched New Zealand's subantarctic and outlying islands for traces of the missing ships Kakanui and Assaye. While no trace was found of the former, the Assaye was suspected foundered off The Snares.^[5]

The Hinemoa provided assistance to the 1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition, a substantial scientific expedition sponsored by the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, where important observations on the natural history of the islands were made. They were published in a two-volume work in 1909, edited by professor Charles Chilton.^[6]

Captain John Bollons was a notable master of the steamer from 1898; Bollons Island in the Antipodes Islands is named after him. Another to serve aboard the Hinemoa was William Edward Sanders, who won a Victoria Cross during World War I.^[7]

After its decommission in 1944, it was rejected for scrapping due to an oversupply at the time.^[8]

Notes

1. ^ New Zealand History online: The government steamer Hinemoa
2. ^ New Zealand Maritime Record: Hinemoa
3. ^ Marshall, p. 43
4. ^ Marshall, p. 44
5. ^ "Cruise of the Hinemoa", The Brisbane Courier Tuesday 7 April 1891, p. 3
6. ^ Peat, p. 70
7. ^ "SANDERS, Lieutenant-Commander William Edward, V.C., D.S.O., R.N.R.", from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 18-Sep-2007
8. ^ Watt, p. 220

References

• Marshall, Brian (2005) "From Sextants to Satellites: A Cartographic Timeline for New Zealand", New Zealand Map society Journal No. 18, ISSN 01132458, available online
• Peat, Neville (2003) Subantarctic New Zealand: A Rare Heritage, Invercargill: Department of Conservation, ISBN 0478140886
• Watt, J.P.C. (1989) Stewart Island's Kaipipi Shipyard and the Ross Sea Whalers Havelock North, New Zealand: JPC Watt.

External links

• New Zealand Maritime Record: Hinemoa
• Cruises of the New Zealand Government Steamer Hinemoa 1906 - Scan of diary kept by Sanders whilst on the vessel.