NZ registered ships of unknown origin

There was no definite place of build, year built and national origin for seven of the NZ registered ships in Watt’s Index (refer Watt’s Index)

These may be the solution to somebody’s quest for whatever happened to the good ship so-and-so as it is likely that the fates of these ships are inadequately documented in their nation of origin.

These ships are listed below in alphabetical order of the earliest known name. Note that the dimensions may differ from those originally or elsewhere recorded as different measurement practices applied in different jurisdictions at different times. A ship could appear to be longer or narrower or shallower without any change to the physical structure having necessarily occurred. All tonnages are net. Any that were originally American are likely to have been recorded originally as gross tonnages, possibly calculated by a different method from the subsequent British calculation.

FOUND

ELCIRA SUBERCASEAUX (in Watt as Eleisa Subereuseaux). ON(Brit): 29995 First British registration 1866 at Liverpool as the Don Juan. Sold to Valparaiso in 1868. Arrived in NZ from San Francisco as the Rosalia and registered in Dunedin in 1875 as the Don Juan. Ship of 647.56 tons register. Dimensions 201.4 x 32.7 x 7.5 feet Condemned and broken up about 1902.

Luc Van Coolput advises that this ship was a wood full-rigged ship, built in 1857 at Gävle (Sweden) as DANIEL ELFSTRAND PEHRSSON. Later became ELCIRA SUBERCASEAUX (not ELEISA SUBEREUSEAUX), then ROSALIA and finally DON JUAN.

As ELCIRA SUBERCASEAUX, Chilean flag, she arrived in Antwerp on 9 March 1862, from Buenos Aires. Left 7 May 1862 for Bordeaux. On 27 August 1864 came again to Antwerp, from Liverpool, and left on 25 October 1864 for Valparaiso.

SEEKING

Adele [Parsons] Adle [Watt] ON(Brit): 32425 Registered Sydney 1855, transferred to Melbourne 1856 and to Dunedin in 1862. Broken up 1865. Renamed Sophia (probably in 1856) and recorded in Watt as such. Brigantine 142.6 tons. Dimensions 83 x 21.5 x 9 feet. See also Australian Shipowners and Their Fleets. Book 15. Sydney during the 1850s, Ronald Parsons, Adelaide, 1997, p 3.

F. A. Schwazer ON(Brit): 41094 Previously Hawaiian flag. Registered Sydney 1859 as the Marion. Registered Wellington 1860, Auckland 1864 and register closed (?1864) on sale of vessel to the Crown. Barque of 347.41 tons. Dimensions 102 x 26 x 19 feet. Additional information from Australian Shipowners and Their Fleets. Book 19. Vessels enrolled at Sydney between 1860 and 1875, Ronald Parsons, Adelaide, 2004, p 90.

Indiana ON(Brit): 43405 Registered Dunedin in 1864 as the Driver. Missing from Newcastle, NSW in 1867. Barque of 543.53 tons register. Dimensions 134.9 x 30.8 x 20 feet.

Magnolia ON(Brit): 43222 registered at Sydney 1862 as ship of 409 tons and 113.1 x 26.9[sic] x 19.5 feet. Wrecked Sydney 1866 and rebuilt as barque Esk ON(Brit): 38809 404.19 tons and 113.1 x 22.9 [?] x 19.5 feet. (Ambiguous whether renamed Esk in 1862 or 1866.) Registered Dunedin in 1874 and broken up some time before 1904. Watt gives her tonnage as 414.86 tons and dimensions as 113.1 x 26.9[sic] x 19.5 feet. Additional information from Australian Shipowners and Their Fleets. Book 19. Vessels enrolled at Sydney between 1860 and 1875, Ronald Parsons, Adelaide, 2004, p 94.

Maria Virginia ON(Brit): 76066 possibly built in 1865 place unknown. Owned by Pedro Jose Zavala of Lima, Peru. Registered Lyttelton 1883, subsequently Auckland. Dismantled by 1887. Brigantine of 283.28 tons. Dimensions 120 x 29 x 10 feet.

Taupo ON(Brit): 151349. Date and place built unknown but almost certainly NZ. Registered Auckland 1921 and registration closed 1926 as no longer required. Cutter-rigged o.e.v. 5.96 tons net 8.76 gross. Dimensions 30.5 x 10.2 x 4.8 feet.

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