NZGSS Hinemoa was a 542-ton New Zealand Government Service Steamer designed specifically for lighthouse support and servicing, and also for patrolling New Zealand’s coastline and carrying out castaway checks and searching for missing ships. It operated in New Zealand’s territorial waters from 1876 to 1944.

CGS Hinemoa at Port Chalmers

It was instrumental in supplying many of the government castaway depots on the remote subantarctic islands, and rescuing a number of shipwreck victims, including those from the wreck of the Dundonald, the Anjou and the Spirit of the Dawn.

New Zealand Government ship `Hinemoa’ 1894.

The ‘Hinemoa’ in drydock – 1880s
This Hinemoa (1876-1944) was a Government Steam ship of 542 tons, built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Greenock in 1876, for the NZ Government’s lighthouse service and Islands patrol.
She originally had three masts, but the mainmast was removed c1880-1889.
In Dec 1900 – Jan 1901, she was used for a cruise to NZ’s sub-Antarctic islands by the Governor-General, Lord Ranfurly.
Used as a Government survey ship for the Sub-Antarctic Scientific Expedition to Campbell Island and the Auckland Islands in 1907 during which the crew rescued the survivors of the Dundonald.
She was sold to a Southland company in 1925 for pleasure cruises to Milford Sound.
Purchased in 1942 by RNZN and converted into a sullage (waste oil) barge for use by American ships under repair at Wellington.
Dismantled in 1944 and sunk in Pegasus Bay, 60 miles NEof Lyttelton.

History

Captain John Fairchild used the steamer to survey the Bounty Islands and Antipodes Islands in 1886,^[1] and the Herekino Harbour and the Whangape Harbour entrance in 1889.^[2] In 1891, while under the command of Captain Fairchild, the Hinemoa searched New Zealand’s subantarctic and outlying islands for traces of the missing ships Kakanui and Assaye. While no trace was found of the former, the Assaye was suspected foundered off The Snares.^[3]

Remains of the GSS Stella, sister ship of NZGSS Hinemoa, in Taiari / Chalky Inlet

The Hinemoa provided assistance to the Sub-Antarctic Islands scientific expedition of 1907, a substantial scientific expedition sponsored by the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, where important observations on the natural history of the islands were made. They were published as a two-volume work in 1909, edited by professor Charles Chilton.^[4]

Captain John Bollons was a notable master of the steamer from 1898; Bollons Island in the Antipodes Islands is named after him. Another to serve aboard the Hinemoa was William Edward Sanders, who won a Victoria Cross during World War I.^[5]

It had a sister ship, the GSS Stella, which carried out similar duties over the same time period.^[6] After its decommissioning in 1944, it was rejected for scrapping due to an oversupply at the time.^[7]

Painting by Frank Barnes of the New Zealand Government Service Steamer (NZGSS) ‘Hinemoa’ off the Kaikoura Mountains (Oil painting, particle board, Dimensions Frame 582 (Height) x 889 (Length) x 40 (Width/Depth) mm; Sight 440 (Height) x 746 (Length) mm; 1911).

A 1919 photo album from the ship was found in a Danish antique shop and brought to Canterbury Museum in 2023. It is unknown how or when the album came to Denmark.

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