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Capitaine Tasman
 Taken by Nutbeam, www.seatheships.org.uk
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Built in Hamburg, she is powered by one 2000hp Deutz diesel engine, producing a service speed of 13 knots.
She flew the French flag for the first twenty years of her life, before being converted to a livestock carrier in 1977 for Central American interests.
The third ship introduced to the New Zealand trade by Sofrana, she made one visit to Onehunga, and sat idle alongside the wharf for the entire duration of her eighteen days in port!
The Federation Of Labour had placed a ban on French ships and aircraft over the Pacific nuclear tests taking place around this time (1972), so the cargo she had to unload, as well as that waiting dockside to go to Noumea, stayed exactly where it was.
The Master received instructions from the owners, Sofrana, to up sticks and return to Noumea, where the ship would be laid up, and that's exactly what she did - no fanfare, just quietly slipped her moorings and headed back from whence she came!
She was broken up in Alang in February 2007.
Below is a shot of her entering Greymouth in 1973, from the G. Ferguson collection.
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