Dunedin (ship)

The ''Dunedin'' (1874–90) was the first ship to successfully transport a full cargo of refrigerated meat from New Zealand to England. 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.

Ship origins

Robert Duncan and Co built the 1,320 gross register ton, ''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, . 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. She took the first load of frozen meat from New Zealand to the United Kingdom in 1882.

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 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 (UK), the rapidly expanding population had outrun the supply of local meat, resulting in rapid increases in prices. However, 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 Australasia was made when the ''Northam'' sailed from Australia to England in 1876; however the refrigeration machinery broke down en route and so the cargo was lost. Later that year chilled beef was sent from the United States to England (a shorter journey, at cooler, higher latitudes) 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 from Argentina to France, proving the concept, if not the economic case, for longer-distance refrigerated shipping. In 1879 the ''Strathleven'', equipped with compression refrigeration, sailed from Sydney 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's Port Chalmers at the end of November 1881.

1882 voyage

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.

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 bearing Merino, the well fed New Zealand sheep weighed an average of over , and some exceeded . Only one carcass was condemned. 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.

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 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 Southern Ocean 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 Chatham Islands and Cape Horn 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 Brazil with yellow fever on board. This latter story was dismissed as untrue.

See also

* Reefer ship
* National Lamb Day

References

Notes

Sources

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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
Maritime folklore