MALAITA 1893 cargo vessel.
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:53 pm
Built as a cargo vessel under yard No. 178 by the Grangemouth Dockyard Co in Grangemouth for the Bahamas Steamship Co. Ltd. of Nassau, Bahamas.
21 January 1893 launched under the name ANTILIA.
One triple expansion steamengine, 99 hp., manufactured by Huston & Co., Glasgow.
Tonnage 929 gross, 588 net, dim. 200.0 x 30.2 x 12.3ft.
1905 Sold to Burns, Philp & Co. Ltd., Sydney, Australia, renamed in MALAITA, named after one of the main islands of the Solomon group.
Employed by Burns, Philp in various services from Australia to New Hebrides, Lord Howe Island, Papua New Guinea, Solomons and Gilbert & Ellice Islands.
1914 Sold to the Moreland Smelting Co and hulked, used as a coal hulk at Port Philip Bay.
During 1918/1919 after bought by H.B.Black & Co. Ltd. of Melbourne, re-engined got the engine from the ex paddle steamer EXCELSIOR a quadruple expansion steam engine of 101 nhp manufactured by Rankin & Blackmore at Greenock, U.K.
September 1921 laid up.
17 Nov. 1926 at anchor at Port Philip while laid up, she was struck by a storm and her anchor cable broke. She drifted into the South Melbourne Men’s Swimming baths and grounded.
27 May 1927 refloated and sold for scrap.
20 Nov. 1927 the bare hull scuttled in Bass Strait.
Solomon Islands 1988 70c sg 628, sgMS?.
Tuvalu 1984 20c sg 236.
Source: Register of Merchant ships completed in 1893. The Ships of Burns, Philp and Company by Ronald Parsons.