HISTORY - The Royal Mail Ship TAHITI

While researching for some Tahiti and French Polynesia related articles, I came across this Wikipedia article about a small, lesser known steamship, which served as a "mail boat" in the South Pacific - rms TAHITI.

editing by Earl of Cruise
Beside the big liners on the main routes, especially the North Atlantic, on "side routes", which had been and are important for the international trade, we find countless numbers of ships. These smaller, unimpressive ones are the back-bones of each shipping entity. Most of these vessels had been combined passenger and freight liners - so PORT KINGSTON, later TAHITI. For its last owner the vessel sailed across the Pacific from Sydney to California and back.

rms TAHITI sailing the Pacific - Source: Wikipedia

TAHITI was a 7,585 ton ocean liner operated by the UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND. Built in 1904 on Clydebank by the shipbuilders ALEXANDER STEPHEN & Sons, she was named rms Port Kingston until 1911. Taken up as a troop ship during WorldWar I.

TAHITI was subjected to an outbreak of Spanishinfluenza in 1918 with exceptionally high mortality amongst the troops on board. This outbreak of influenza hit a world strained by the efforts for WWI and the lack of a now civil economy - and this pandemy did not stop at frontiers, weather social nor national.

After being returned to her owners, in 1927 she was in collision with a ferry in Sydney Harbour; known as the GREYCLIFFE disaster, it resulted in the deaths of 40 ferry passengers. TAHITI finally sank in the South Pacific Ocean due to flooding caused by a broken propeller shaft in 1930.

A similar accident caused the sinking of Italian PRICIPESSA MAFALDA in the South Atlantic, while sailing to South America.

Originally named PORT KINGSTON, the ship was built by ALEXANDER STEPHEN & Sons of Govan on the River Clyde. She had been ordered by the IMPERIAL DIRECT WEST MAIL CCOMPAY of Bristol, who were a subsidiary of ELDER DEMPSTER SHIPPING LIMITED. She was intended for the Bristol to Kingston,  Jamaica route, which she was able to cover in ten and a half days. She had accommodation for 277 first class, 97 second class and 141 third class passengers on four decks and had a crew of 135. Besides carrying mail, she had a hold for a cargo of fruit. PORT KINGSTON survived the 1907 Kingston earthquake, although beached, PORT KINGSTON was successfully refloated, but was laid-up in 1910.

Builder:	ALEXANDER STEPHEN & Sons, Clydebank, yard number: 403
Launched:	1904
Route:	Sydney to San Francisco, via Wellington
Christened as:	PORT KINGSTON, Royal Mail Ship
Acquired:	1911, first sailing for the new owner: December 11th 1911
	UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND
Christening as:	TAHITI
Tonnage:	7,585 GT
Length:	140.0 m (460 ft)
Beam:	017.0 m (55 ft)
Depth:	008.2 m (27 ft)
Engins:	two steam triple expansion engines, 1443 nhp
Propulsion:	two propellers
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Capacity:	515 passengers (as built)
	277 I. Class, 97 II. Class, 141 III. Class
Crew:	135

In 1911, she was purchased by the UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND, refitted at Bristol and renamed TAHITI. She was intended for the route Sydney to San Francisco via Wellington, Rarotonga and Tahiti; TAHITI made her first voyage on 11 December 1911.

Later on that route, from New Zealand to French Polynesia, TEAL flew with its SHORT SUNDERLAND flying boats on the `CORAL ROUTE´ from Auckland to Papeete, which had been a luxurious experience for its first class only passengers on board. On the passenger lists you can find celebrities of all kind, from Hollywood to Europe and Asia.

rms TAHITI sailing the Pacific - Source: hockensnapshop.ac.nz

On the outbreak of war in 1914, the TAHITI was requisitioned to serve as a troopship and became HMNZT ("His Majesty's New Zealand Transport") TAHITI. She was part of the convoy transporting the First Detachment of the Australian and New ZealandImperial Expeditionary Forces, which left King George's Sound, Albany, Western Australia on 1 November 1914. On 11 September 1915, she arrived in Wellington with the first casualties from the Gallipoli campaign.

TAHITI left New Zealand on 10 July 1918 with 1,117 troops onboard and 100 crew members, bound for England. When she met the rest of her convoy at Freetown in Sierra Leone, reports of disease ashore led to a quarantine order for the ships. However, the ships were resupplied by local workers, and officers attended a conference onboard HMS MANTUA, an armed merchant cruiser, which had experienced an influenza outbreak three weeks previously. The first soldiers suffering from Spanish influenza began reporting to the hospital on TAHITI on 26 August, the day that she left Freetown. By the time she arrived at Devonport on 10 September 68 men had died and a further nine died afterwards, an overall mortalityrate of 68.9 persons per 1,000 population. It is estimated that more than 1,000 of those on board had been infected with the disease. A later enquiry found that mortality was worst in those over 40 years and that those over 25 had a higher mortality than those under 25. Mortality was also higher in those sleeping in bunkbeds rather than in hammocks. The conclusion of the enquiry was that overcrowding and poor ventilation had contributed to the exceptionally high infection rate and death toll. It was one of the worst outbreaks worldwide for the 1918/19 pandemic in terms of both morbidity and mortality.

The Spanish INFLUENZA was the first Pandemic the modern world experienced. Each and everyone could become a victim of, but it raged the most amoung them weakend by WWI restrictions and labours for.

In 1919, the TAHITI was returned to her owners and her boilers were converted from coal firing to oil. In 1920, she made her first post-war voyage to Vancouver and reverted to the San Francisco route in the following year. On 3 November 1927, TAHITI collided with the WatsonsBay ferry GREYCLIFFE off BradleysHead in Sydney Harbour. The crowded ferry was split in two and sank within three minutes. Of 120 passengers on the ferry, 40 were killed.

The GREYCLIFFE disaster occurred in Sydney Harbour (Australia) on 3 November 1927 when the harbour ferry GREYCLIFFE and the Union Steamship Company mail steamer TAHITI collided. The smaller ferry was cut in two and sank with the loss of 40 lives, the deadliest incident on Sydney Harbour. GREYCLIFFE left Circular Quay, Sydney's main ferry terminus, at 4.15pm on Thursday 3 November 1927, with 120 passengers on board, including many schoolchildren returning home. The ferry stopped at Garden Island to pick up dock workers, and then resumed its journey on a course that would have taken it just north of the lighthouse near Shark Island. Its remaining intended stops were to be Nielsen Park, Parsley Bay, Central Wharf (near The Crescent), and Watsons Bay. On roughly the same course, however, was the liner operated by the UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND's outward-bound transpacific Royal Mail Ship, the 7,585-ton TAHITI, three times the size of GREYCLIFFE. GREYCLIFFE was ahead and to starboard of TAHITI. At about half-way between Garden Island and Bradleys Head, TAHITI's bows struck GREYCLIFFE midships on her port side. The small ferry was pushed around perpendicular to the large steamer's bow, and momentarily was pushed along. The ferry began to overturn, and was broken in two, and the steamer sailed through the ferry, which sank immediately. Passengers who were sitting outside had an easier chance to live, while those inside the two cabins—a ladies-only saloon, and a smoking room for men—were trapped. A number of other boats on the harbour witnessed the collision and rescued survivors from the water. Several days later, smashed hull sections were towed to Whiting Beach near Taronga Zoo and divers looked for missing bodies. Seven of the forty killed were under the age of twenty, including a two-year-old boy who died along with his grandparents. Most of the victims came from the ferry's intended destination, the small Sydney suburb of Watsons Bay. The tragedy stunned people because of its swiftness and horror, as well as the 40 deaths and over 50 injured passengers. The weather and sea were calm, with good visibility. GREYCLIFFE′s design was identified as flawed with the wheelhouse offering no clear view of ships coming from behind. Most witnesses, including other ferry captains, agreed that TAHITI was going too fast and that GREYCLIFFE, inexplicably, had turned sharp left into her path. GREYCLIFFE′s captain, William Barnes, survived and claimed he had not consciously strayed from his course, and that he had not seen TAHITI until it was too late. He claimed that a few minutes from Garden Island, he felt the ferry pull to port, which he blamed on a problem with the steering mechanism for which he compensated." The pilot on board TAHITI, Sydneysider Thomas Carson, said he saw the ferry swing left towards the ship, and he ordered the engines astern and a changed course. Carson and his family, who unlike Barnes, lived in Watsons Bay, along with many of the victims' families became persona non-grata in the eyes of some members of the community, according to Steve Brew. Blaming Carson, Sydney Ferries had "the bow theory", which stated that when a large and a small vessel were on parallel courses in shallow water, and with the larger vessel travelling faster, its bow wave could drag the smaller vessel into the larger one. A Marine Court of Inquiry, formal Inquest, and Admiralty Court of Inquiry gradually shifted blame for the disaster from TAHITI′s pilot, Captain Thomas Carson, to the ferry master, William Barnes, and the probable failure of GREYCLIFFE′s steering gear that allowed her to swing off course and into the path of the liner. The coronial inquest and the Admiralty Court dismissed the bow theory and accepted that, even though the TAHITI was going too fast, the collision wouldn't have occurred had not the GREYCLIFFE turned into its path. A verdict was handed down by the final court of appeal in 1931, which concluded that while both captains were guilty of contributory negligence, the "GREYCLIFFE′s navigator" was twice as culpable as Carson. The various inquiries had difficulty obtaining evidence between voyages of the TAHITI and, on one occasion, an embarrassing clash of the courts took place. Using the transcripts of the inquiries, Brew believes Carson's reputation was unfairly tainted, in particular by Justice James Lang Campbell, the Supreme Court judge appointed to preside over the initial marine inquiry. Campbell accepted evidence from witnesses that TAHITI was probably travelling at 12 knots (22 km/h) instead of the permitted eight knots. However, he refuted evidence from the same witnesses that the GREYCLIFFE had turned directly into the path of TAHITI. The only part of GREYCLIFFE to survive is the engine. In 1928, it was shipped to New Zealand. Where the engine was stored is not known but in 1938 the engine was installed into the Tirau dairy factory in the Waikato region. A large, grooved 2-metre (6.5-foot) flywheel was fitted to the crankshaft. By using continuous rope belts, the engine drove ammonia compressors and butter churns. After 30 years service, it was donated to the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland and was installed as a working exhibit over the next four years.

On 12 August 1930 TAHITI, carrying 103 passengers, 149 crew members, and 500 tons of general cargo, put to sea from Wellington, New Zealand, to continue a voyage from Sydney, Australia, to San Francisco, California. She was about 480 nautical miles (890 km) southwest of Rarotonga at 20°43′S 166°16′W at 4:30 a.m. on 15 August 1930 when her starboard propeller shaft broke, opening a large hole in her stern and causing rapid flooding. Her crew sent out a distress call via wireless, began launching distress signal rockets, prepared the passengers for the possibility of abandoning ship, and fought the flooding in an effort to save the ship. 

rms TAHITI sinking after the propeller shaft perforated the hull and TAHITI started taking water - Source: Wikipedia

At 10:10 p.m. on 16 August, the Norwegian steamer ss PENYBRYN arrived on the scene to render assistance. PENYBRYN stood by TAHITI throughout the night of 16–17 August with her floodlights illuminating TAHITI and her boats ready to go to the assistance of TAHITI′s passengers and crew if needed.

At 9:30 a.m. on 17 August, TAHITI′s passengers and some of her crew abandoned ship, with all lifeboats away in 13 minutes; some of her crew remained behind in order to continue efforts to slow the flooding. The American steamer ss VENTURA was just arriving on the scene, having signaled that she could take TAHITI′s passengers and crew aboard, and she picked them up soon after they abandoned ship. Members of TAHITI′s crew, assisted by a boat from PENYBRYN, then returned to TAHITI in TAHITI′s boats and began efforts to save the first class mails and the luggage from the sinking ship.

By 1:35 p.m. on 17 August, TAHITI was settling rapidly, and it became too dangerous for her crew to remain aboard. They abandoned ship, having saved the ship′s papers and bullion. TAHITI sank, without loss of life, at 4:42 p.m. on 17 August 1930 at 24°44′S 166°15′W, about 460 nautical miles (850 km) from Rarotonga.

A court of inquiry convened in Wellington, New Zealand, published its findings on the sinking in a report dated 15 September 1930; the report was issued by the UnitedKingdom′s Board of Trade in London on 11 December 1930. The court found that the sinking resulted from a breakage of the starboard propeller shaft that not only punctured TAHITI′s hull at her stern, admitting water to her shaft tunnel – whicb the court deemed survivable – but also tore a hole in the bulkhead that divided the shaft tunnel from her engineroom and No. 3 hold. The court found that the latter hole ultimately caused the ship to sink, as the increasing weight of water flooding the shaft tunnel widened the hole in the bulkhead despite the crew′s effort to contain the flooding and eventually overwhelmed their damage control efforts. The court found both the crew and officials who had certified the ship′s compliance with standards of seaworthiness blameless in the sinking, stated that the breaking of a propeller shaft was a common event at sea but the level of damage sustained by TAHITI in the breaking of her propeller shaft was exceedingly rare, and determined that TAHITI′s sinking was "due to a peril of the sea which no reasonable human care or foresight could have avoided."

Press reaction about rms TAHITI´s sinking in the United States - courtesy of LEOMINSTER DAILY ENTERPRISE, 

                                                                                       Massachusetts, August 18, 1930

The court commended TAHITI′s master, T. A. Toten, for displaying "resource and cool accurate judgment worthy of the highest praise," said that "all ranks under him responded to the example that he set," and noted the efforts of the ship′s engineering staff, stating:

"On the engineers and the engine room and stoke hold staff under them fell the brunt of the fight. For close on sixty hours, without sleep and without respite the engineers directed and waged a gallant losing fight against the relentless waters, working for long periods deep in water and in imminent danger of the collapse of the strained and partly rent bulkhead that imprisoned the wall of water high above them. It was their courage and endurance that made it possible for the master to delay until the propitious moment, the giving of the final order to abandon the ship."

The court concluded its report by stating: "We deem it our duty to place on record this appreciation of the conduct of the master and all those under him."

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