# New Zealand Shipping Company

The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973.
A group of Christchurch businessmen founded the company in 1873, similar groups formed in the other main centres, to counter the dominance of the Shaw Savill line controlled from London and the (Scotland-Dunedin) Albion line. There were seven initial directors: John Coster, chairman, George Gould Snr., (father of George Gould), John Thomas Peacock, William Reeves, Robert Heaton Rhodes, John Anderson, and Reginald Cobb (died 1873) representing the New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency.
The similar groups of businessmen in Dunedin and Wellington soon joined this Christchurch company followed by the Auckland group. They completed the four-main-centre link in July 1873. Hon. John Johnston Wellington, John Logan Campbell Auckland, and Evan Prosser of Dunedin were elected to the main board. A Captain Ashby opened an office off New Broad Street London and chartered two ships carrying 500 government emigrants: Punjaub 883 tons and Adamant 815 tons set to sail for Canterbury on 31 May and 20 June respectively with full cargo. By November 1873 they had purchased two vessels, Hindostan and Dilfillan and chartered eighteen. Two 1,000 ton ships were scheduled to be launched the same month and named Waikato and Waitangi.
The company gradually established a fleet of vessels, using Māori names for each. From 1875 the livery consisted of black hulls, white superstructure and yellow funnels.
In 1882, the company's ships were equipped with refrigeration. and a frozen meat service began from New Zealand to England.
Company policy dictated a stop at Pitcairn Islands, in the Pacific, to break the monotony of the ocean crossing.

## Federal Steam Navigation Company

In 1894 Allan Hughes bought Money Wigram & Sons and renamed it King Steam Navigation, but changed the name to the Federal Steam Navigation Co Ltd (FSNC) in 1895. Federal-Houlder-Shire Lines was established in 1904 by the merger of FSNC, Houlder Brothers and Company, and the Scottish Shire Line owned by Turnbull, Martin and Company. On 3 January 1912 an agreement was reached whereby the New Zealand Shipping Company absorbed the Federal Steam Navigation Company, which at the time owned ten steamships trading between Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Ships owned in 1912 were Argyllshire, Wiltshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Kent, Norfolk, Shropshire (Rotorua from 1923), Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey and Sussex. Federal Steam ships retained their house flag, and continued to be named after English counties, thereby retaining their Federal Steam identity. Federal Steam was registered in England for tax purposes, whereas the New Zealand Shipping Company continued to be registered in New Zealand.

## World wars

In the First World War the NZSC lost nine ships from a fleet of 32. In the Second World War it lost 19 ships from a fleet of 36.

## Closure

The services of both companies were absorbed into the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in 1973 after exactly 100 years of service. P&O had bought NZSC in October 1916, but left it largely independent.

## Ships

NZSC operated numerous ships, some purpose built, others acquired from other operators by purchase, lease or charter.
| Ship | Type | Date launched | Date acquired | Date disposed | Fate/ next assignment |
| Aorangi | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1883 | | 1914 | Scrapped 1925 |
| British King | cargo and passenger ship | 1881 | chartered 1882 | 1884 | Scuttled at Port Arthur 1904 |
| Coptic | cargo and passenger steamship | 1881 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Scrapped 1926 |
| Doric | cargo and passenger steamship | 1883 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Wrecked 1911 |
| Fenstanton | steamship | 1882 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Grounded and wrecked |
| Hurunui (1) | cargo and passenger sailing ship | 1875 | | 1883 | Collided and sank Waitara, 22 June 1883 |
| Hurunui (2) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1911 | | 1918 | Sunk by torpedo off The Lizard by U-94, 18 May 1918 |
| Hurunui (3) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1921 | | 1940 | Sunk by torpedo on 15 October 1940 by U-93 |
| Ionic | cargo and passenger ship | 1883 | chartered 1883 | 1884 | Scrapped 1908 |
| Kaikoura (1) | cargo and passenger steamship | 1884 | | 1899 | Sold to British India SN Co |
| Kaikoura (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1903 | | 1926 | Sold |
| Kaipara | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1903 | | 1914 | Stopped and sunk by SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, 16 August 1914 |
| Mataura (1) | barque | 1868 | 1874 (former Dunfinnan) | 1894 | Sold and renamed Alida. Wrecked 1900 |
| Mataura (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1896 | | 1898 | Wrecked in the Strait of Magellan 12 January 1898 |
| Opawa | refrigerated cargo motor ship | 1931 | | 1942 | Sunk by U-106, 6 February 1942 |
| Orari | refrigerated cargo motor ship | 1931 | | 1958 | Sold to Italy and renamed Capo Bianco |
| Otaio | refrigerated cargo motor ship | 1930 | | 1941 | Sunk by U-558, 28 August 1941 |
| Otaki (1) | sailing ship | 1875 | | 1896 | Sold and renamed Dr. Siegert |
| Otaki (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1908 | | 1917 | Sunk by the German raider SMS Möwe 10 March 1917 |
| Otaki (3) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1919 | | 1934 | Sold to Clan Line and renamed Clan Robertson |
| Otaki (4) | refrigerated cargo motor ship | 1953 | | 1967 | Transferred to Federal Steam Navigation Co |
| Otorama | steamship | 1890 | former Sea King | 1902 | Sold |
| Papanui | steamship | 1898 | | 1909 | Sold |
| Paparoa | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1899 | | | 17 March 1926 caught fire in the South Atlantic, scuttled by HMS Birmingham |
| Piako (1) | clipper | 1877 | | | Sold, lost 1900 |
| Piako (2) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1920 | 1920 (former War Orestes) | 1941 | Sunk by torpedo on 18 May 1941 by U-107 |
| Piako (3) | refrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1961 | 1962 | 1979 | Sold to Blue Ocean Compania Maritima SA. Scrapped 1984 |
| Rakaia | cargo and passenger motor ship | 1944 | 1946 (former Empire Abercorn) | 1971 | Scrapped |
| Rakanoa | | | | | |
| Rangitane (1) | passenger motor ship | 1929 | 1929 | 1940 | Sunk by shellfire by the German raiders Orion and Komet, 26 November 1940 |
| Rangitane (2) | passenger motor ship | 1949 | 1949 | May 1968 | Sold to CY Tung, Scrapped Taiwan, 1976 |
| RMS Rangitata | passenger motor ship | 26 March 1929 | 1929 | 1962 | Scrapped |
| RMS Rangitiki | passenger motor ship | 1929 | 1929 | 1962 | Scrapped |
| Rangitoto | passenger motor ship | 1949 | 1949 | 1969 | Sold to CY Tung, Scrapped Hong Kong, 1976 |
| Remuera (1) | passenger steamship | 1911 | | 1940 | Sunk by aerial torpedo 26 August 1940 |
| Remuera (2) | steam cargo and passenger steamship | 1947 | 1961 (former Parthia) | 1964 | Sold to Eastern & Australia Steamship Company. |
| Rimutaka (1) | steamship | 1884 | | 1900 | Sold to British India SN Co |
| Rimutaka (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1901 | | 1930 | Scrapped |
| Rimutaka (3) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1922 | 1938 (former Mongolia) | 1950 | Sold to Incres Shipping Company |
| Rotorua (1) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1910 | | 1917 | Sunk by torpedo on 22 March 1917 by SM UC-17 |
| Rotorua (2) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1910 | 1936 (former Shropshire) | 1940 | Sunk by torpedo on 11 December 1940 by U-96 |
| Ruahine (1) | steamship | 1891 | | 1900 | Sold |
| Ruahine (2) | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1909 | | 1949 | Sold to Italian owners; scrapped 1957 |
| Ruahine (3) | passenger motor ship | | 1951 | 1968 | re-registered in Hong Kong; scrapped 1974 |
| Ruapehu (10) | efrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1901 | | 1931 | Sold for scrap 5 August 1931 |
| Stad Haarlem | cargo and passenger ship | 1875 | leased 1879 | | |
| Tekoa | steamship | 1890 | | 1902 | Sold |
| Tongariro | passenger and cargo steamship | 1883 | 1883 | 1899 | Sold to British India SN Co |
| Tongariro | 1901 | | | 1916 | Wrecked on Bull Rock, 30 August 1916 |
| Tongariro | 1925 | | | 1960 | Scrapped |
| Turakina (1) | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1902 | | 1917 | Sunk by torpedo in the Western Approaches by U-86, 13 August 1917 |
| Turakina (2) | steamship | 1923 | 1923 | 1940 | Sunk by shellfire in the Tasman Sea by the German raider Orion, 20 August 1940 |
| Waikato | sailing ship | 1874 | | 1898 | Sold |
| Waimate | refrigerated cargo and passenger ship | 1896 | | 1925 | Scrapped |
| Waitara | cargo and passenger sailing ship | 1863 | 1873 (former Hindustan) | 1883 | Wrecked following a collision with Hurunui |
| Wakanui | refrigerated cargo and passenger steamship | 1899 | | 1913 | Sold |
| Warrimoo | passenger steamship | 1892 | 1899 | 1901 | Sold to Union Steam Ship Co |
| Whakatane | refrigerated cargo steamship | 1900 | | 1924 | Sold |

## House flags

* House flag
* For ships powered by both sail and steam, a flag with an additional pennant was used.
* Sometimes the company used a flag with black letters.
* Another flag commonly used in the long history of the company, most often along with other flags. It was originally a flag of the Federal Steam Navigation Company.