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Totara
 Sourced from Sea The Ships
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Built as a single screw steamer by Warren's New Holland Shipyard for G.F. Birch & Sons of Hull, she was acquired by Anchor Shipping in March 1926 - a purchase funded by the Union Steam Ship Company - and arrived in Nelson two months later under the command of Captain H.D. Naylor.
Upon arrival, some changes were made to her structure before she was chartered out to the Union Company, whom she served for around twenty-five years before she was laid up on the Nelson mudflats.
She was powered by a two-cylinder compound engine, while her steering engine was located in the wheelhouse behind the wheel, and certainly kept one awake whenever the wheel moved!
When fully laden, she was easy to steer, but in ballast would be well down by the stern, which meant her bow was highly prominent - see the photo above. It also made her a challenge to steer in conditions other than a following wind, "Totara" tending to fall off to port in such a state, prompting her Second Mate to often charge into the wheelhouse and shout "Keep her out a bit!", his fear prompted by a past grounding of a ship when he'd been on watch.
The withdrawal of the "Ngaio II" from the nightly service to Wellington saw "Totara" earn a reprieve, and she filled in on that run before making ventures further afield, including a handful to Onehunga in early 1954.
It proved a costly exercise, however, and Anchor cut their losses in 1955, selling her to Wells Brothers of Wakatahuri in Pelorus Sound, where she was partly dismantled before her hull was towed by the tug "Bustler" in 1957 to Hong Kong, where she was broken up.
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