SS Mahana
From Our Contribution
 | |
 Brodie Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection; State Library of Victoria Image H99.220/3532 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Mahana |
| Builder | Workman Clarke & Co Ltd, Belfast |
| Yard number | 349 |
| Launched | 11 Jan 1917 |
| Completed | July 1917 |
| In service | 1917 |
| Out of service | 1949 |
| Fate | scrapped 1953 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | cargo |
| Tonnage | 11.796 tons |
| Length | 158.7m |
| Beam | 19.3m |
| Depth | draft 17 ft (5.18m) |
| Propulsion | twin screw |
| Speed | 13 knots (24.08 km/h) |
Contents
Remarks
Owned by Shaw Savill & Albion Co Ltd, she was chartered for one voyage returning troops from the UK to Australia. Had the capacity to carry 1,500 emigrants post war.
The SS Mahana was known in New Zealand as the ‘Brides’ Boat’. When it sailed to New Zealand in 1920, it was carrying English women on their way to marry New Zealand soldiers. Among the passengers were three sisters of one family who lived at Hornchurch, the site of a New Zealand convalescent hospital, all of whom were engaged to Kiwis.
In 1949 she was charted by the British Ministry of Food for use as a cold storage unit, before being scrapped in 1953
Soldiers carried
England to Fremantle 17 June - 8 August 1917
England to Fremantle 25 September - 3 November 1919
- Edward Stanley James
- Walter Alfred King
- James Arthur (Artie) Williams with wife Flora.