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MV Kaitawa

32K views 54 replies 27 participants last post by  Jojokumara 
#1 · (Edited)
My 1st ship. Spent nearly 12 months as deck boy. a couple of years later as a "bucko" then later as an AB.
It went down off Cape Reanga (nth island)in May 24th 1966(my birthday) with all hands (32 I think) a couple of months after I paid off.
Are there any ex crew off her or any of the other colliers or Union Co.ships out there. I've attached a photo.
There was a storekeeper on it ,I think his name was Lyle, a big Maori guy.Im not sure if he was on it when it went down. Could anybody enlighten me on that as well.
The photo is actually of a sister ship, The Kaitangata.I could not upload the scanned photo of the Kaitawa.
I'm also trying to find an old mate of mine,Les Hartley(Gig)He was a messman on one of the Union Co. ships in the 60's.I know he came ashore and moved to Wiaheke Island,Auckland about 1970-71.
I mved to OZ about 1970 and have lost touch with a lot of guys i'd like to look up.
 

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#8 · (Edited)
Hi Wayne
I went to radio school (room 19) with Philip. I saw him shortly after
he arrived in the zild. We were getting our payroll sorted in the Auckland office, were in a hurry to get back to pay the guys so couldn't go for a beer. That was the last time I saw him.
Pierre

Correction: I was on the Koraki during the time Kaitawa went down. Earlier on the Kaitangata we made multiple trips from wport or gmouth to whangarei or Auckland. I like the
English word snotty, commonly referred to the weather by the mainly English deck officers. The last trip was carrying steel from aussie to nz. I learned what submriners feel like
when they are on the surface with a sea running.
 
#5 ·
Hello Wayne, Ray and Ron, I sailed on Kaitangata in the 50's and well remember the Kaitawa tragedy.
You can all talk to each other privately on this site by means of private messaging accessed by clicking on the "Private Messages" bar at the top of the website.

Bob
 
#9 · (Edited)
Sailed, briefly, on the Kaitawa in 1961. I was on the Kaitoa in Auckland and was sent up to join the Kaitawa in Portland, the second time I joined in Portland. What a hassle getting down that jetty unless a friendly driver on the light railway gave you a lift. She was going to Auckland to change articles and was running without a radio officer. I was there to do the pay etc then re-join my lovely Kaitoa. So my sea time on her was measured in hours, Portland to Auckland plus a couple of days at either end. My girl friend in Auckland was not amused.
cheers
Bob
 
#10 ·
Kaitangata & Kaitawa

hi guys,I sailed on The Kaitangata in 1967 as motorman. I remember the story of the Kaitawa lost all hands. I paid off in Portland and had to walk down the railtrack jetty. where the Kaitawa went down was where we also got into trouble as the sea had control of the ship and we thought we were gone in that washing machine sea where the two sea currents meet. it was the old sewing machine days when the **** end went up and the engines raced in mid air. the usual 3knots forward and 3knots back. what I do remember was it was a great feeder and plenty of overtime ,always signing for more pay was great.
I never knew anyone on the Kaitawa must admit we never talked much about it as it was a bit taboo . we had a motorman with us that was always sad as his mate had been lost. when we thought we might be in trouble and thought we should all go on deck ,he said I ain't going nowhere ,pass me another beer. I always thought I was also on another collier the kaimanawanui but I cannot find any record of such a ship . it was the oldest little collier on the coast. I was also on the kokiri shipping out from wellington down the west coast. that ship also has a sad happening when the hatch cover blew off and the Bucko I believe was lost and never found. I was not on that ship at the time but others may remember. I went back on the home boats not long after. best wishes to you all. Tony Mullen
 
#11 ·
good day spongebob.m.31th jan 2012,04:38.#5.re:m.v.kaitawa.just reading the old thread.i note you were on the kaitangata.i was on her in the 50s this is from my discharge book,name of ship kaitangata.official no.172886,port of registry.wellington.reg.tonnage 1317.horse-power of engines(if any)1459.description of voyage or employment home trade.all the best regards ben27
 
#12 ·
hi spongebob,read many of your threads or your input. When I was on many union boats in 1964-5-6-7 we never had discharge books instead we had paper discharges . as trips could at times be only days we would end up with a pile . I carried an amount like a book without the hard cover and one day in the middle of nowhere threw them out of the port when I basically only needed my british discharge book. no. R859759. wish I had kept them now to look back on.
anyway good to talk to you my man. all the very best to you. Tony Mullen
 
#13 ·
good day tony mullen,m.yesterday.18:18.#12 re:mv kaitawa.you are correct about no discharge books,N.Z.shipping.you had as you say a paper discharge;i was on home boats so had a dicharge book for them,and paper discharge on nz.coast and australian run.its just habit to say discharge book when i mention a ship.as i did to spongebob #11.stay well regards ben27
 
#14 ·
Kaimanawa: Steamer. 2515 tons gross. Built by Henry Robb Ltd, Leith, 1944.
Owners Union S.S. Co of NZ. Registered at Wellington. Signal letters ZMGZ.
Engines Triple expansion. Two single ended boilers each with three corrugated furnaces.
Machinery by North Eastern Marine Engineering Co, Wallsend-on-Tyne.
 
#15 ·
hello Bob, were you on this ship. those little union coal boats always remind me of the sewing machine engines that spent plenty of time racing when she pitched in rough seas. the bigger home boats often gave a similar feel but not really out of the water. we usually lived down aft above the prop. light ship could get noisey. my memory of the Kaimanawa is very cloudy but I may have been on her in 1967. I think I paid off in opua because remember staying in whangarei a night. hope you can tell me of your time on her . motorman at the time.
 
#16 ·
I was on the Kaitangata at the time of the sinking of Kaitawa and my wife was among the wives that visited the wives of the missing seamen from the seaman wives association.
Not much to be said for U.S.S.Co. as the ship had no radar.The steel hatch covers on their ships often let in a little water as the top dogs through constant opening and closing were often a little loose. No gyro compass and the radio equipment a little bit outdated.
Being an ex U.S.S.Co. cadet it does not make me very proud of my training, the Indo-China ships,Bank Line, P&O,and various other companies ships were better equipped. Not much to be said for our N.Z. fleet
 
#17 ·
Garry, you are right about the standards on those ships in those days, no radar,basic communication equipment etc. Even the life saving gear was antiquated with old rotating style life boat davits and, if my memory serves me right, even wooden clinker style life boats on Kaitangata during my times in 1957/58.
There were about six of this class of ship built for the Union Co by Henry Robb all fitted with slightly under powered twin 5 cylinder British Polar engines and their basic duties as colliers flogging to and from the South Island West Coast to the likes of Wellington, Portland, Auckland and Chelsea encouraged more frequent crew changes than other vessels on more attractive routes and with the consequence of less diligence to maintenance . That was certainly my impression when I joined Kaitangata.
I later served on Kaitoa a similar hull but with twin 6 cylinder Polars and the difference was a joy.
I never came across Radar until I joined the Tarawera, the new reefer on the PI banana run.

Bob
 
#18 ·
I was the last chief officer on the "Kaitawa" I left her just three weeks prior to her unfortunate demise , I remember George the Captain well he had I believe four children and the chief officer ,I think Rod McQuen's wife was in Auckland hospital giving berth. I left USSC and joined She'll Co "M.V.Morea" it was a tragic episode I shall never forget.
 
#19 ·
Gidday Ray. I was on the coast between 1958
and 1966 as an AB, and I remember the Kaitawa going down, the Big maori Lyle, could have been Lyle Pirihi, I was in the waitemata with him as an AB in 1962 and he shipped out of Auckland a lot, he was a great mate of Hori Briggs, from lyttleton, who was the bosun in the waitemata at the time, we were on the trans pacific run Canada and the USA, Sharkie Price @ Kevan Price ex naenaeboy now living in the UK
 
#21 ·
Hi everybody, time is catching up on us. I joined the kaitawa may 63 captain john warren ,captain robertson august 63 captain george sherlock january 64. I was discharged at portland to Whangarei Hospital feb 64. after sick leave was to rejoin kaitawa but was sent to kaiapoi, after two trips frank underwood( ex navy with me)came to releave me .he asked me if he could go to the kaitawa instead of me and i said ok. Those of us on the kaiapoi about 12mths later will remember how close we were to going down in a storm after losing engines,john bray 4th engineer nearly lost his life in the engine room,the canadan r/o started smoking again.sailed on most of the colliers and karamu.I was the electrician with the motor bike on board .thats another story.
 
#22 ·
I joined Kaitawa as 4/E in August 1951 Capt Tulloch was master, later Capt Gillan. Mick Danby (i think that was his name was 3/E). Chuck Walsh was C/E. When we arrived in Wgtn October 1951 I went to "the Castle" knowing they were extremely short of certified engineers. Told them a ship that never got out of sight of land was no use to me and if they could offer me nothing better I would head straight back to China Coast where a 2/E berth was waiting for me. They immediately told me to sign off and go to Auckland and wait for Waimate on her maiden voyage from Uk. One of this class of colliers had a flywheel come loose and put ito New Plymouth for repairs. First stop for us was to check both flywheels. There was a theory that more than a 30degree roll could cause fuel problems to main engines. Anyone able to confirm this?
 
#24 ·
Hi Fergi, the hatches leaked we took that list and lost the port engine first ,no lub.oil as i remember ,then got a blockage (a rag ) in the lub oil return pipe starb engine ,crank case filled up and oil coming out the fly wheel ,lost that engine, john took the inspection plate off, oil came out he went in to try and clear pipe ,chief forgot to put the shaft brake on, prop came out of water,if it had turned the other way it would have killed him.We carried him and put him in his bunk.made new plymouth .engineers from scotland checked the engines and said it was impossible to run engines on the lub oil pressure we were running them on.they were out here to give evidence about the kaitawa.
 
#25 ·
Just picked up on this one Fergie and your reference to low lube oil pressure suggests the same problem as on sister ship Kaitangata when I joined her in 1957. The 2nd , 3rd , and 4th engineer, all West Coaters had walked of after a dispute with the new C/E who has come from Blue Star and the replacements were Norm Naylor as 2nd, Les Smith as 3rd and me as 4th. We were all ex Devonport Dockyard . The chief explained that the main engine driven oil pumps could not maintain pressure on their own and the standby manouvering pump has to be run continually at sea.
We berthed in Westport , checked the engine oil pumps as all OK then , when boxing up a unit found that the bottom end bearing had a clearance that you could poke a stick through.
We took shims out then checked the other bottom ends to find likewise clearances and after working all the hours God gave us we test ran the engines slow ahead alongside against a fast river run to find all pressures OK even at slow speed.
The chief was delighted and told us to book as much overtime as hours in the day so at the end of my first trip I paid off in Auckland for the Christmas period with a paycheck never imagined.

Bob
 
#26 ·
Hi - I was 3/0 for a voyage from Auckland to South Australian Gulfs on KAITUNA. Think the master was Capt Billingham (??) who gave me a bad time so I then resigned to go on and on elsewhere. I had previously been on TOFUA for a couple of round voyages to the islands and would have liked to stay there forever! From Peter Ballantyne
 
#28 ·
Hi All.
My best times were on the NZ coast, after leaving the Home boats i emigrated to NZ in 57
Was on the Kurow 57, Karatani 58, Waipori 58, Waimate 58, Kaimai 58, Konui 58, Kaiapoi 61, Konini 62, Kawerau 62, Karu 64. all multable trips
Did many a trip down to Westport and Greymouth to Whangarie, well remember the long wharf there. best was the Kaimai running the East coast Auckland to Bluff and back, plenty of oysters.
We moved to Aus in 74 went back to live in Whangarie for five years in 2000, then came back to Aus.
While living in Onerahi used to see the cement boat Golden Bay coming into the Portland berth doing the sharp turn around Limestone Island.
Cheers Des
 
#29 ·
Hello there Des, you must have been crossing the same waters at the same time as me . My ships were Kaitangata, Navua, Kaitoa and the reefer Tarawera.
A couple of mates were on the Kaimai on the East coast grocery run, third mate Scot Trevor Joseph and electrician Mike Jackson.
Spent some of my youth near Whangarei living at Maungatapere and going to Whangarei Boys High school.

Regards Bob
 
#30 ·
Hi Spongebob.
I remember a trip on the Kaiapoi coming back from Westport hit a good storm, as i was Bosun my cabin was facing the foredeck, massive waves hitting the bulkhead and a split appearing in the bulkhead, water coming in but lucky it was not to fast, wedged a towel and some wood with a length of timber to the after cabin bulkhead.
As someone has said on here the lids on the hatches were always leaking and the wedges had to be hammered home on the way back to Auckland or Whangarie. Good old days.
Cheers Des
 
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