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The ''Dunedin'' (1876–90) was the first ship to successfully transport a full cargo of
refrigerated The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...
meat from
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...
to
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separa ...
. In this capacity, it provided the impetus to develop the capacity of New Zealand as a major provider of agricultural exports, notwithstanding its remoteness from most markets. ''Dunedin'' disappeared at sea in 1890, and neither the ship nor her crew has ever been seen or heard from since.


Ship origins

Robert Duncan and Co built the 1,320-ton, ''Dunedin'' at
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in Scotland in 1874 for the Albion Line (later the
Shaw, Savill & Albion Line Shaw, Savill & Albion Line was the trading name of Shaw, Savill and Albion Steamship Company, a British shipping company that operated ships between Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. History The company was created in 1882 by the ama ...
). Her ship number was 67085, and she cost £23,750
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, . She was one of six ''Auckland'' class
emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanent ...
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.


Immigrant ship

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 A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...
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. 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.


Background to the frozen meat shipment


English demand

This historical importance of the ''Dunedin'' is due to this meat shipment, which proved refrigerated meat could be exported long distances, so establishing the New Zealand meat export industry, and transforming agriculture in New Zealand and Australia. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and No ...
(UK), the rapidly expanding population had outrun the supply of local meat, resulting in rapid increases in prices. The shipment of livestock from New Zealand to England was prohibitively expensive. New Zealand did export some canned meat, but the industry was in its infancy, and while the product was popular in the Pacific islands, it was less so in England.


Early attempts

The first attempt to ship refrigerated meat from
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was made when the ''Northam'' sailed from
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country b ...
to England in 1876; however the
refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...
machinery broke down en route and so the cargo was lost. Later that year chilled beef was sent from the
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to England (a shorter journey, at cooler, higher
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...
s) and, although spoilage was high, this voyage provided some encouragement to Australian and New Zealand promoters of refrigeration. During 1877 the steamers '' Le Frigorifique'' and ''Paraguay'' carried frozen
mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Ge ...
from
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to
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, proving the concept, if not the economic case, for longer-distance refrigerated shipping. In 1879 the ''Strathleven'', equipped with compression refrigeration, sailed from
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountai ...
with of frozen beef and mutton as a small part of her cargo, and this meat arrived in good condition. As a result of this success a Director of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company (NZALC), William Soltau Davidson, sent an employee, Thomas Brydone, from New Zealand to the UK to investigate compression refrigeration units.


The ''Dunedin'' refit

In 1880 Davidson convinced the company to invest in refrigeration. Teaming up with James Galbraith of the Albion shipping company, they approached John Bell and Sons and Joseph James Coleman, who had been involved in American chilled beef shipments. As a result of negotiations, Albion agreed to refit the ''Dunedin'' with a Bell-Coleman compression refrigeration machine, cooling the entire hold. Using 3 tons of coal a day, this steam-powered machine could chill the hold to below surrounding air temperature, freezing the cargo in the temperate climate of southern New Zealand, and then maintaining it beneath zero through the tropics. The ''Dunedin'' was refitted in May 1881, the most visible sign being a funnel for the refrigeration plant between her fore and main masts – sometimes leading her to be mistaken for a steamship. The refitted ''Dunedin'' arrived in
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. ...
's
Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The origi ...
at the end of November 1881.


1882 voyage

From 5 December 1881, a herd of 10,000
Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bre ...
/Lincoln and Leicester crossbreed sheep on NZALC's Totara Estate near
Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railw ...
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 Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...
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. 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 rozenmeat struck us, and in fact the entire trade". Although crossed with the primarily
wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. A ...
bearing
Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bre ...
, the well fed New Zealand sheep weighed an average of over , and some exceeded . Only one carcass was condemned.
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...
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.


Outcome

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.


Disappearance

Her sister ship, the ''Marlborough'' had sailed in January 1890 and the ''Dunedin'' followed in March, sailing from
Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railw ...
on 19 March with 34 crew including Captain Roberts. 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. Although both the ''Dunedin'' and ''Marlborough'' were sighted in the
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after leaving New Zealand, neither was seen again after that. 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
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and
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when she sailed through the area in early to mid February. 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. 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
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with
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on board. This latter story was dismissed as untrue.


See also

* Reefer ship * National Lamb Day


References


Notes


Sources

* * * {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Dunedin'' (ship) Merchant ships of New Zealand Meat processing in New Zealand Agriculture in New Zealand History of Otago Oamaru Windjammers 1874 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in 1890 Missing ships Ships lost with all hands