SS Wiltshire was a sister ship of SS Argyllshire (1911–1936) and SS Shropshire (1911–1940), built a few months earlier. She had three main decks, four insulated holds (10,618 m3 (375,000 cu ft) refrigerated), 117 first-class berths and three- and four-berth cabins[2] for 130 first-class and 270 emigrant passengers.[1] Four boilers,[3] for two sets of inverted surface condensing, quadruple expansion engines powered her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne, between 17 March and 27 April 1912 (35 days 17½ hours), via Cape Town (for coal), at an average of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph).[2]
Career
Wiltshire served Sydney for Federal, Huddart and Shire Lines, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester[4] and Wellington as a Federal and Shire Lines ship,[5] though she was also advertised as running for the parent company, New Zealand Shipping.[6] In 1913, she was fitted with two guns in an Admiralty scheme to protect food carrying ships.[7] In December 1913, a collision with a ship, whilst docking in Liverpool, required 3 months of repairs, replacing 10 plates, a propeller and a shaft.[8] From 7 September 1914 to 27 December 1917 Wiltshire was requisitioned as Australian Expeditionary Force transport A18, carrying 36 officers, 720 troops and 505 horses.[1] She was in the first convoy which assembled in King George's Sound in October 1914, taking Australian and New Zealand forces to Europe.[9] Then, until 5 September 1919, she was managed by the Liner Requisition Scheme.[1] She finished her war service by bringing troops back from Egypt to Wellington in January 1919.[10]
Wreck
Wiltshire in 1923
Wiltshire was wrecked in Rosalie Bay, Great Barrier Island, about 3 km (1.9 mi) from the southernmost point at Cape Barrier,[11] on 31 May 1922.[1] About 10,000 tons of cargo was aboard, including household goods, metals, clothing, building materials, motor cars, whisky, tobacco, [12] equipment for Pukekohe power station[13] and two NZR AB class locomotives.[14] The need to replace the lost equipment delayed the work of building the Midland Line and Waikokopu railways.[15] She was also carrying 461 bags of parcel-mail from London, of which 94 were rescued, as well as mail from Cristóbal and Liverpool.[16]
On her last voyage, she left Liverpool on 22 April 1922 and ran onto rocks on the stormy night of 31 May at Great Barrier, when close to her Auckland destination.[16] The stormy waves broke her in half on 1 June and the stern section soon sank into deeper water.[17] A distress call was radioed, but the storm forced other ships to keep their distance. A Union collier, Katoa, landed its chief officer, purser, third engineer and two seamen at Tryphena,[18] and they made their way over rough tracks to the Bay. Several attempts were made to float a line ashore from the Wiltshire.[19] One of Katoa's crew grabbed it from between the waves, a brave act, for which he was later presented with a tankard.[20] The line was then used to set up a breeches buoy and haul all 103 crew members to safety, with the help of sailors from HMS Philomel.[19][21][22] A large crowd welcomed the crew when they arrived at Auckland.[23] Salvage work, using divers, continued for over a year[24] and included seven of the eight propeller blades, each weighing two tons.[25] In 1955, part of the wreck was 33 metres (108 ft) below the surface.[26]
The inquiry into the wreck found that the captain made a grave error of judgement in not slowing enough, when poor visibility obscured Cuvier lighthouse and when a lead line measurement showed the ship was in shallower water than expected. He was charged the costs of the inquiry, but his certificate was returned to him.[27]
