The Maindy Court

These days large ships berthed at the Mount Maunganui wharf are run of the mill but it wasn’t always like this. On October 9th 1922 a rather nondescript tramp steamer named the Maindy Court, at 107 metres and 7150 deadweight tonnes and whose home port was Cardiff, became the largest ship to have sailed through the narrow entrance to the harbour and berth at the Railway Wharf at Mount Maunganui.

S.S. Maindy Court. 7,700 tons, at Mount Maunganui Wharf, Oct. 1922
Glass half-plate negative by John Welsh
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Koroki Ref. 20-047

The ship’s master was Captain J Donnelly and the its voyage had originated in Wales, calling in at Bombay and the Busselton, Western Australia where hardwood sleepers - 31,311 of them to be exact - were loaded into the bottom of each of her four holds, destined for the East Coast railway project at Mount Maunganui. Prior to the Maindy Court the largest ship to call with cargo for the railway was the Clan Ross which had been forced to put to sea again and off load 9,000 sleepers to lighten the ship after touching the bottom.

S.S. Maindy Court. 7,700 tons, at Mt. Maunganui Wharf, Oct. 1922
Glass half-plate negative by John Welsh
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Koroki Ref. 20-188

At his Newcastle, NSW, Australia port of call Captain Donnelly was told charts for Tauranga Harbour did not exist and in Lyttleton, NZ the company’s agent told him the harbour was only suitable for coastal shipping and the sleepers would have to be unloaded in Auckland. On his arrival in Auckland, and after discussions with a deputation from the Tauranga Harbour Board, Captain Donnelly decided to check out the situation himself. He took passage on the Ngapuhi, a coastal steamer servicing Tauranga/Auckland which regularly berthed at the Horseshoe Wharf. His decision was that it was perfectly feasible to bring in the Maindy Court himself without the help or a tug or pilot.

Looking at Railway Wharf from Mt Drury, showing Tauranga & railway bridge in distance, early 1920s
Postcard format photograph by John Welsh, c. early 1920s
Collection of Justine Neal

The ship arrived off Tauranga at 7.45am and the Bay of Plenty Times of October 9th reported: “Within half an hour Captain Donnelly navigated the steamer into the harbour under her own steam and she came in with the same apparent sure progress with which the Ngapuhi regularly makes the entrance.” Once safely berthed the ship was dressed with flags and over the next few days hundreds of adults and school children viewed the ship from the harbour steam ferry Ruru and other scows that were called in to help with the sightseers.

By October 26th unloading of the sleepers was completed and at 10.30am the Maindy Court left for Makatea Island to load phosphate for Europe. Mount Maunganui school children were given time off school to watch the ship sail and she left with the cheers of the local people bidding her farewell.

Railway Wharf, Mt Maunganui, Tauranga, c. 1910s-1920s
Postcard format photograph by Henry Winkelmann (Tourist Series 996)
Collection of Justine Neal

For those who thought that the Maindy Court’s successful visit could be the start of greater shipping traffic through the port, it was not to be. In 1928 with the completion of the east Coast railway the Horseshoe Wharf was dismantled and it would be 32 long years before a ship larger than the Maindy Court would enter Tauranga Harbour.

References
BOP Times 30.9.1922
BOP Times 9.10.1922
BOP Times 2002