SS Wairuna SS " Wairuna , originally called D / S " Schneefels , then SS " Gibraltar and SS " Polescar , was a cargo steamship that was launched in Germany in 1913 . She had a varied career spanning three decades under successive German , British and New Zealand owners before being scuttled in the North Atlantic in 1945 . Building . The ship was built by Flensburger Schiffbau - Gesellschaft of Flensburg , Schleswig - Holstein . She was launched on 13 November 1913 and completed on 1 January 1914 . She had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of that heated three 185 lb / in single - ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . The ship was launched as D / S " Schneefels " for the Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts - Gesellschaft Hansa ( DDG Hansa ) . D / S stands for " Dampfschiff " , just as " SS " stands for " Steamship " in English . DDG Hansa gave many of its ships names ending in " - fels " ( " rock " ) , ( " e . g . " D / S " Freienfels " , D / S " Uhenfels " , D / S " Wachtfels " ) , so that collectively they became known as the " Fels ships " . First World War . On 5 August 1914 , a week after the outbreak of the First World War , " Schneefels " was in the Mediterranean a mile off Europa Point when the Royal Navy captured her and took her to Gibraltar . She was judged to be a prize ship and was renamed " Gibraltar " . She was posted to Moudros in the Aegean Sea where she served as a store ship until 1915 . From then until 1916 she served as a water carrier in the eastern Mediterranean . In August 1916 the ship was returned to general cargo duties . She remained in UK Government ownership but was placed under the management of Houlder , Middleton and Company and renamed " Polescar " . In 1917 her management was transferred to G Heyn and Sons of Belfast . On 14 March 1917 she was northwest of Ireland when an enemy submarine on the surface chased her , but she outran it . On 25 September 1917 she was unloading at Dunkirk , France when she was caught in an air raid . A German bomb hit her and killed two people . On 5 August 1918 she was in the English Channel en route from Montreal to Le Havre . About southwest of St Catherine ' s Point she was damaged by a torpedo fired by the German submarine SM " UC - 71 " , but " Polescar " s crew managed to beach the ship to prevent her from sinking . Between the wars . The British - India Steam Navigation Company bought her in January 1919 but sold her the next month for £146 , 000 to the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand . The Union Line renamed her " Wairuna " , which had been the name of a cargo ship sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser in 1917 . In 1921 the Union Company had her converted to carry oil cargo in her double bottoms . On 5 August 1925 " en route " from San Francisco to New Zealand " Wairuna " ran out of coal north of Auckland . She had radioed distress messages and was rescued by another Union Company ship , the " Waihemo " . On 4 February 1933 , a day after leaving Newcastle , New South Wales , " Wairuna " lost a blade from her propeller . She completed her voyage to Auckland on its remaining blades . On 2 March 1936 she collided with Glasgow Wharf at Napier , New Zealand . Wharf piles were damaged but the ship was unharmed . On 8 February 1937 she was in San Francisco when fire broke out in her cargo of copra . The ship was extensively damaged , with some buckling of her plates . Second World War and after . During the Second World War " Wairuna " continued in merchant service in the Pacific . In 1945 the Union Company sold her to the UK MoWT . The MoWT appointed J & J Denholm to manage her , and she served as a store ship on the River Clyde . On 5 August 1945 she was at Greenock when a fire destroyed much of her upperworks . In October 1945 " Wairuna " s hulk was loaded with 8 , 432 tons of unused chemical ammunition and on 30 October she was scuttled in the North Atlantic beyond the continental shelf , northwest of Ireland . Her wreck is at in of water . " Wairuna " was one of four redundant cargo ships that the Admiralty used to dispose of chemical ammunition in the same area of the North Atlantic . The others were on 11 September and and on 30 October . Relic . The ship ' s bell has been preserved . It is cast brass and bears her original name " Schneefels " .