Dunedin (ship)

Robert Duncan and Co built the 1,320-ton, 73-metre (240 ft) Dunedin at Port Glasgow in Scotland in 1874 for the Albion Line (later the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line). Her ship number was 67085, and she cost £23,750 pound sterling, equivalent to £2,350,000 in 2021. She was one of six Auckland class emigrant vessels, each designed to carry 400 passengers. In 1881, still painted in her original colours of a black hull with a gold band and pink boot topping as shown, she was refitted by William Soltau Davidson with a Bell Coleman refrigeration machine, with which she took the first load of frozen meat from New Zealand to the United Kingdom.

Her first trip to New Zealand was in 1874 under Captain Whitson, who sailed her from London to Lyttelton, New Zealand in 98 days. In 1875, he sailed from London to Auckland in 94 days. All seven of her voyages from London to New Zealand prior to conversion were completed in under 100 days. Only one voyage (in 1876) required quarantine at Otago. Whitson remained her captain throughout the period she sailed with immigrants. In 1886, five years after she had been converted to take refrigerated cargo, Captain Arthur F Roberts became her captain after Captain Whitson had died at Oamaru on 4 May that year.[1] Roberts, a Master Mariner, had been captain of the White Eagle and Trevelyn. Both these ships had sailed to New Zealand under his command. Even after her conversion, the Dunedin continued to carry passengers.[2]

The Dunedin loading at Port Chalmers in 1882.

From 5 December 1881, a herd of 10,000 Merino/Lincoln and Leicester crossbreed sheep on NZALC's Totara Estate near Oamaru was slaughtered at a purpose-built slaughter works close to the railhead there. The carcasses were sent overnight by goods trains with a central block of ice to be loaded on the Dunedin, where they were sewn into calico bags and frozen. To prove the process, the first frozen carcasses were taken off the ship, thawed and cut.

After 7 days of loading, the crankshaft of the compressor broke, damaging the machine's casing and causing the loss of the 643 sheep carcasses stowed. It took a month for a local machinist to rebuild the crankshaft and associated machinery. The frozen carcasses were resold locally during this time, and, encouragingly, they were considered to be indistinguishable from fresh meat. On 15 February 1882, the Dunedin sailed with 4331 mutton, 598 lamb and 22 pig carcasses, 250 kegs of butter, hare, pheasant, turkey, chicken and 2226 sheep tongues. Sparks from the compressor's boiler created a fire hazard. When the vessel became becalmed in the tropics, crew noticed that the cold air in the hold was not circulating properly. To save his historic cargo, Captain John Whitson crawled inside and sawed extra air holes, almost freezing to death in the process. Crew members managed to pull him out by a rope and resuscitated him.[3]

The Dunedin arrived in London 98 days after setting sail. Carcasses were sold at the Smithfield market over two weeks by John Swan and Sons, who noted butchers' concerns about the quality of meat from the experimental transport; "Directly the meat was placed on the market, its superiority over the Australian [frozen] meat struck us, and in fact the entire trade". Although crossed with the primarily wool bearing Merino, the well fed New Zealand sheep weighed an average of over 40 kilograms (88 lb), and some exceeded 90 kilograms (200 lb). Only one carcass was condemned.[4] The Times commented "Today we have to record such a triumph over physical difficulties, as would have been incredible, even unimaginable, a very few days ago...". After meeting all costs, NZALC's profit from the voyage was £4700.

The shipment effectively began the refrigerated meat industry and assured New Zealand's early dominance in it. The Marlborough—sister ship to the Dunedin – was immediately converted and joined the trade the next year, along with the rival New Zealand Shipping Company vessel Mataura, while the German steamer Marsala began carrying frozen New Zealand lamb in December 1882. Within five years, 172 shipments of frozen meat were sent from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, of which only 9 had significant amounts of meat condemned. The Dunedin completed nine more voyages until its loss in 1890.[5]

Model of the Dunedin in the Otago museum.

Her sister ship, the Marlborough had sailed in January 1890 and the Dunedin followed in March, sailing from Oamaru on 19 March with 34 crew including Captain Roberts.[6] Roberts' daughter was the only passenger. By July concerns were being expressed about the ship, as she normally made the journey in 90 or so days and by October she was noted as missing.[7][8]

Although both the Dunedin and Marlborough were sighted in the Southern Ocean after leaving New Zealand, neither was seen again after that.[9] No trace was found of the Dunedin and it was presumed both she and the Marlborough hit icebergs in the Southern Ocean. RMS Rimutaka had reported that there were great quantities of ice in the Southern Ocean on their normal route between the Chatham Islands and Cape Horn when she sailed through the area in early to mid February.[10] The Board of Enquiry concluded that apart from hitting an iceberg another possibility was that the Dunedin had come to grief in a storm. They found that the ship was seaworthy, appropriately laden, and sailed by an experienced Captain and crew.[11]

There were two reports of sightings of the Dunedin in 1890; one by the ship London which said they had sailed near each other in the vicinity of Cape Horn prior to being separated in a storm, and another about her being found on the coast of Brazil with yellow fever on board. This latter story was dismissed as untrue.[12]

• Reefer ship
• National Lamb Day