Lying peacefully off the coast of James Bay, St Helena Island, is the wreck of the SS Papanui.
Built by Denny of Dumbarton, Scotland in 1898, she was a 430 foot, 6,372 gross ton Steam Ship. She was built to carry 34 1st class passengers, 45 2nd class and 400 steerage. She also had refrigerated space for 100,000 carcasses. At her sea trials, she managed to reach a speed of 13.64 knots. She mainly operated between London and New Zealand.
In 1909, she struck a rock off North Waterhouse Island, on her way to Tasmania. After temporary repairs, she went on to Melbourne. There they decided that repairs were considered uneconomical, therefore she was auctioned off to a Melbourne Syndicate. The new owners had wanted to send her to Japan for repairs, but the authorities deemed her unseaworthy, so she was not allowed to depart Australia. The ship was then transferred to Nicaraguan registry and went to sea secretly without a pilot. She arrived safely in Nagasaki in early January 1911 and was successfully repaired.
She was then registered in Melbourne to H.C.Sleigh and H.B.Black and carried passengers from Melbourne to London for the coronation of King George V.
It was in September of 1911 that she caught fire on route to Cape Town from London. The fire had started in the bunkers, believed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion. It took 5 days to extinguish the fire, but by then, another fire had started in another bunker so the decision was made to beach the ship at St Helena Island. She managed to reach St Helena on the 11th with her coal bunker still ablaze, and was beached in James Bay, as close to shore as possible, allowing safe disembarkation of passengers and the removal of cargo. Not all cargo was removed in time, but all aboard was saved. The 364 emigrants and 108 crew were taken in by the islanders. The NZSCO’S ship Opawa picked up the passengers on October the 14th and took them to Cape Town.
Today, sitting in about 10 meters of water the wreck lies in two pieces. The only sign of its presence is the exposed secondary steering mechanism, which was situated on the bow. On a bright sunny day, with calm seas, one can see the silhouette of the SS Papanui from Ladder Hill, some 190 meters above sea level.
David 'Dave' Harrison, a retired Clearance Diver of 14 years, became interested in St Helena's wrecks after he visited the Island for a holiday with his St Helenian Wife, Freda. He visited several dive sites around the island, but found the SS Papanui quite interesting. Dave decided to pursue his interest and did some more research on the ship only to find that there wasn't much information available.
To investigate the wreck further, Dave, after returning to the UK, went to the Salvage Association to seek salvage rights to the SS Papanui. Even the Association had very little information on the SS Papanui, but gave salvage rights of the vessel to Dave.
Several months later, Dave returned to St Helena to start work on the wreck. But before he could get to the hold of the ship, he had had to clear the mass of deteriorated metal which lay on the deck. The only easy way in which to do so was to use controlled explosives.
To be continued...
In the next article we will look at the artefacts that were recovered from the wreck and learn more about the wreck of the SS Papanui.
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We would like to give thanks to the following people and organizations:
To Mr David Harrison, for taking the time to help us with our enquiries and providing us with information
Thanks also to Mr Mike Davis of the New Zealand Shipping Company Association for help with the historical information
www.nzshippingcoassoc.org.nz
And special thanks to the Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum for the Photograph of the SS Papanui which was taken from the Bill Laxon Collection
www.maritimemuseum.co.nz
Further information on SS PAPANUI and the New Zealand Shipping Company can be found in the following books:
Crossed flags : the histories of the New Zealand Shipping Company Limited and the Federal Steam Navigation Company Limited and their subsidiaries / by W. A. Laxon with I. J. Farquhar and N. J. Kirby ; based on the draft by F. W. Perry. Gravesend : World Ship Society, c1997.
Clipper ship to motor liner : the story of the New Zealand Shipping Company 1873-1939 / by Sydney D. Waters. London : New Zealand Shipping Company, 1939
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