The dark night of Monday 26 June 1922 was Auckland’s night to remember. However, our local hazard was not a drifting iceberg, but Flat Rock near Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf. The Colonial Sugar Refining Company’s steamer
Rona had arrived from Fiji with 7000 tons of sugar and 600 tons of molasses and was heading towards the Rangitoto channel preparing to offload at Chelsea Sugar Refinery.
The crew of the
Rona had sailed this route many times before. The lookout reported they were approaching Flat Rock beacon, but the ship always passed close to it. However, this time the mate at the wheel was trying to avoid an oncoming trawler and steered too close to the shoal running out south-westwards from the rock. The ship ran aground on Flat Rock approximately 30 feet from the Flat Rock beacon. You can see how close the bow of the ship was to the beacon in the following dramatic photos published by the
Auckland Weekly News.
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. Flat Rock beacon dead ahead, 6 July 1922. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-36-1. |
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. Rona’s bow near Flat Rock beacon, 6 July 1922.
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-36-2.
|
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. Rona alongside Flat Rock beacon, 6 July 1922.
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-37-1.
|
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. Broadside view of Rona before refloating from Flat Rock, 6 July 1922. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-40-1.
|
Apart from Captain Wallis and mate, Chief Officer Grantley, one of the first crew members on the
Rona to react to the accident was Polly the parrot. Polly had been enjoying a nap at the time and was rudely jolted awake when the ship hit Flat Rock (according to the
Herald her cage was nearly overturned.) The parrot let out a low whistle, then reportedly immediately said, ‘What do you know about that, now?’
The story about Polly the parrot was reported in many papers throughout New Zealand. According to the
Otago Witness, ‘The bird was very chirpy [next day], and when not shrieking with laughter gleefully exchanged stock gags with all and sundry.’ The
Herald reported Polly was currently the most cheerful member of the
Rona’s crew, while the
Christchurch Star managed to find out more information on this well-travelled bird, which could supposedly also speak Spanish!
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. What do you know about that? 6 July 1922. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-38-3. |
The
Rona’s bow was buckled and her forehold was flooded. However, the ship miraculously remained wedged in place on Flat Rock without sinking. The crew and salvage men realized that if the engines were kept going to hold the ship in place, she could be lightened and stabilized, and most of the cargo could be saved. So later that night the tugboat
Young Bungaree, carrying 30 watersiders, towed two sugar lighters out to the
Rona, and the men began unloading the ship’s No. 2 hold.
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. Watersiders unloading sugar sacks from the stranded Rona,
6 July 1922. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-36-3.
|
When the lighters were fully loaded, they were towed away and replaced next morning by the old harbour storage hulk
Rothesay Bay, which was manoeuvred into position along the port side of the Rona by the tug
Te Awhina.
 |
Image: Auckland Weekly News. Tug Te Awhina manoeuvring the hulk Rothesay Bay, 6 July 1922. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19220706-36-5.
|
During the next day the Northern Company’s oil vessels
Tuhoe and
Paroto, the ketch
Will Watch and the vessel
Putiki also shuttled back and forth to Chelsea carrying sugar sacks from the
Rona.
Between them, these vessels moved 1600 tons of sugar sacks from the
Rona’s No. 2 hold, which the salvage men calculated should be enough to lighten the ship while stabilizing its bulkheads so she could slowly make her way to Chelsea.
By Thursday 29 June it seemed the
Rona was light and seaworthy enough to make its own way to port, so while using her own engines in reverse, the ship was pulled off Flat Rock by the tugs
Te Awhina and
Lyttelton. But there was more drama when the
Rona wallowed in a swell, then rose and thumped down onto an uncharted rock north-east of Flat Rock. However, her bottom plates held, and the
Rona rolled into deep water and then floated calmly upright. Escorted by the tugs the ship slowly made her way to Chelsea, where she discharged her remaining 5400 tons of sugar. However, all 600 tons of molasses in the
Rona’s tanks had, perforce, been jettisoned during her ordeal.
After unloading, the
Rona went into the Calliope dry dock at Devonport to have her damaged bow and keel plates removed and replaced. Damage assessors discovered that after the
Rona had run aground on Flat Rock (and then crashed onto the uncharted rock) her bow and 60 feet of her keel would need to be repaired. The repair work was done by Senior Foundry Limited and Stevenson, Cook Engineering Co. Limited. The
Bill Laxon Maritime Library has a copy of their promotional photograph album showing the extensive repair work done on the
Rona (and on the museum’s website photo gallery there are photos of the
Rona on other voyages.) The following photos of the dry dock repairs are from the promotional album. Here is a photo showing the damage to the
Rona’s bow when she ran aground on Flat Rock.
 |
Image: Senior Foundry Ltd/Stevenson, Cook Engineering Ltd. Damaged bow
in dry dock. 1922.
New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa, [12160].
|
The next photo shows the damaged stem and keel plates being replaced. Most of this damage had been caused after the
Rona floated free but then crashed up and down several times on the uncharted rock north-east of Flat Rock.
 |
Image: Senior Foundry Ltd/Stevenson, Cook Engineering Ltd. Keel
plate removal in dry dock. 1922. New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a
Tangaroa, [12160].
|
During the repair work, the buckled plates from the
Rona’s lower bow had to be completely removed and replaced. This can be seen in the following photo from the repair album, which shows the layout of the ship’s internal compartments. When the
Rona was aground on Flat Rock the No. 1 forehold was flooded with 2000 tons of seawater.
 |
Image: Senior Foundry Ltd/Stevenson, Cook Engineering Ltd.
Open bow compartments during repair. 1922. New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te
Ananui a Tangaroa, [12160].
|
The last photo was taken on Saturday 21 October 1922, when the work had been completed and the
Rona was floated out of the Calliope dry dock. From there she sailed across Auckland harbour to refit at the Western Wharf. After a week’s refit, she sailed from there bound for Fiji. The
Herald claimed that the repair work on the
Rona was the largest so far ever undertaken in New Zealand, and that ‘she was as strong a vessel as before the accident.’
 |
| Image: Senior Foundry Ltd/Stevenson, Cook Engineering Ltd.
Rona being refloated out of dry dock. 1922. New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te
Ananui a Tangaroa, [12160]. |
Author: Christopher Paxton, Heritage Engagement
Get piece. I assume the Rona bouy between the bridge and the refinery honours this vessel?
ReplyDeleteI presume so too!
DeleteDoes anyone know how long the Rona remained in service? I vaguely recall a ship of that name en route to the Chelsea Refinery in the later part of the 1940s.
ReplyDeleteThe SS Rona was built in 1918 by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co at Middlesbrough, England. The ship was commandeered by the Royal Navy for 12 months (as HM Transport Y 2205) before arriving in Sydney for Colonial Sugar Refining Co in 1919 – it was the largest cargo ship on the Australian coast at the time received. The Rona sailed between Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. The ship was sold in 1956 and scrapped in 1959. She was replaced by the MV (Motor vessel) Rona, which was built for CSR in 1957 and continued in service with the company until 1972. I guess the MV Rona would have sailed on the same routes. - Christopher Paxton
Delete