SS Matunga was a 1,618-gross register ton passenger-cargo ship, built by Napier and Miller, Glasgow for Mersey Steamship Co., Liverpool and originally named Zweena. Purchased by Burns Philp & Co. Ltd in 1910 for the British Solomon Islands service.[1][2] Burns Philp was operating seven plantations in the Solomon Islands through subsidiaries - the Solomon Islands Development Company, the Shortland Islands Plantation Ltd and Choiseul Plantations Ltd.[3]
![]() SS Matunga in August 1917
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History | |
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Name | SS Matunga |
Owner | Burns Philp & Co. Ltd |
Builder | Napier and Miller |
Launched | 27 April 1900 |
Completed | May 1900 |
Fate | Sunk 6 August 1917 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger cargo ship |
Tonnage | 1,618 GRT |
Length | 83.21 m (273 ft 0 in) |
Beam | 11.29 m (37 ft 0 in) |
Draught | 5.2 m (17 ft 1 in) |
Installed power | Steam-driven triple expansion engine |
Propulsion | Screw |
Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Der_australische_Dampfer_MATUNGA_sinkt_am_26._August_1917_vor_der_Insel_Waigeo_n%C3%B6rdlich_Neuguineas.jpg/220px-Der_australische_Dampfer_MATUNGA_sinkt_am_26._August_1917_vor_der_Insel_Waigeo_n%C3%B6rdlich_Neuguineas.jpg)
While en route from Sydney to Rabaul,[4] on 6 August 1917 she was captured by the German raiding ship SMS Wolf. The coal was transferred to the Wolf, then time bombs were placed on the Matunga and she sank stern first near Waigeo Island.[4][5]
References
edit- ^ Hoskin, John E. (2018). "Burns Philip". Flotilla-Australia. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ Lawrence, David Russell (October 2014). "Chapter 9 The plantation economy" (PDF). The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press. p. 279. ISBN 9781925022032.
- ^ Lawrence, David Russell (October 2014). "Chapter 9 The plantation economy" (PDF). The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press. pp. 270–281. ISBN 9781925022032.
- ^ a b "Zweena SS (1900~1909) Matunga SS (+1917)". Wreck Site. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ Guilliatt, Richard and Peter Hohnen (3 May 2011). The Wolf that ravaged the Pacific. Free Press. ISBN 978-1416576112.