Whangape was a cargo ship measured at 2,931 gross register tons (GRT), built in 1899 by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co., Middlesbrough.[1] The vessel was constructed for the British Maritime Trust as Adriana, sold while on the slips to Elder, Dempster & Company and renamed Asaba.[2] Her engine was built by T Richardson & Sons, Hartlepool.[3]

SS Whangape
History
Name
  • Whangape (1899–1928)
  • Nanking (1928–1935)
Owner
BuilderSir Raylton Dixon & Co., Middlesbrough
Yard number470
Launched16 December 1899
Completed1 March 1900
Honours and
awards
  • Battle honours: (RAN)
  • Rabaul 1914
FateScrapped in 1935
General characteristics
TypeCargo ship
Tonnage2,931 GRT
Length320 ft (98 m)
Beam44.8 ft (13.7 m)
Depth15.3 ft (4.7 m)
Installed powerTriple expansion steam engine

"Whangape" (pronounced: fun gah' pay) is a Māori word meaning "waiting for the inside of the pipi."[4] The pipi is a bivalve mollusk native to New Zealand. Whangape was also the sister ship to SS Mont-Blanc,[5][6] the munitions vessel under French registry that collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo on 6 December 1917 in Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada resulting in the devastating Halifax Explosion.

The vessel was completed on 1 March 1900 and sold to the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand.[7] After being chartered by the Royal Australian Navy, she took part in operations against the German colonies in the Pacific with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) during the First World War in 1914 and subsequently returned to her owners. Whangape was sold in 1928 to Chun Young Zan (Moller & Co) and renamed SS Nanking.

Fate

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Nanking was scrapped in China in 1935.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ SS Nanking / Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1933-34 (PDF), Lloyd's Register Foundation, retrieved 15 June 2019
  2. ^ Miramar Ship Index, R. B. Haworth, retrieved 23 June 2019
  3. ^ Tees Built Ships, Tees Built Ships, retrieved 15 June 2019
  4. ^ Brookes, Edwin Stanley (1892). Frontier Life: Taranaki, New Zealand. With Maps and Sketches. Auckland, N. Z.: H. Brett, Shortland & Fort Streets. (p. 86)
  5. ^ Amended Plan of the Midship Section of a Steel Screw Steamer Mont Blanc, 6 May 1898, Lloyd's Register Foundation, retrieved 15 June 2019
  6. ^ Engine and Boiler Arrangement for Mont Blanc, 6 May 1898, Lloyd's Register Foundation, retrieved 15 June 2019
  7. ^ SS Nanking / Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1933-34 (PDF), Lloyd's Register Foundation, retrieved 15 June 2019

References

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  • Gillett, Ross (1986). Australia's navy : past, present & future. Brookvale, NSW: Child & Henry. ISBN 0-86777-178-X.
  • Odgers, George (1982). The Royal Australian Navy : an illustrated history. Brookvale, NSW: Child & Henry. ISBN 0-86777-240-9.
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