RMS Niagara

The RMS Niagara on departure from Sidney ( 1924)

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The RMS Niagara was a 1913 put into service passenger vessel in the New Zealand shipping company Union Steamship Company, which was used in passenger and mail traffic from New Zealand across the Pacific to Canada. She was one of the largest ships of its time under the New Zealand flag. On 19 June 1940, the Niagara sank off the New Zealand's North Island after they had gone on a mine the German auxiliary cruiser Orion.

The ship

The Royal Mail Ship Niagara was built in New Zealand for their owners at the shipyard of John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. It was created at the same time as the Titanic in Belfast. Since the Niagara with a survey of 13,415 GRT was the largest ship of the Union Steamship Company, she quickly got the nickname " Titanic of the Pacific '. After the fall of the real Titanic but this was quickly changed to " Queen of the Pacific ".

The Niagara was 159.93 meters long and 20.1 meters wide passenger and mail ship with a draft of 8.56 meters. She had two funnels, two masts and three propellers and was powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, and a compound steam engine, which allowed a speed of 17 knots. The ship was 290 passengers in first, 223 in the second and carry 191 in the third class. It was built for the route Auckland - Suva -Honolulu - Vancouver.

She ran on August 17, 1912 by Stack, was delivered on 12 March 1913 Sydney and ran from there on May 9, 1913 on her maiden voyage on Suva ( Fiji) and Honolulu (Hawaii ) to Vancouver (Canada) from. Among the passengers on the maiden voyage was among others, the Australian cricket team on their way to their North American tour. The Niagara was able to transport large amounts of cargo and set new standards on the Pacific route in terms of luxury and speed. The premises of the first class were in the style of Louis XVI. decorated and the cabins were compared with the then standards unusually spacious.

1931 went to Niagara on the Canadian Australasian Line, the. Cooperation from the Union Steamship Company and the Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. arose.

Sinking

Late in the evening of Tuesday June 18, 1940 at 23:30 clock the Niagara took off under the command of Captain William Martin with 202 crew members and 136 passengers on board in Auckland at another crossing to Vancouver. Martin led the ship for four years. Only a few hours after departure, on 19 June at 03.43 clock in the morning, passengers and crew were awakened by a severe explosion. The Niagara had run at the promontory Bream Head near the city Whangarei off the northeast coast of New Zealand's North Island on a sea mine, which had hit the ship at the height of the cargo hold No. 2 on the port side.

The mine had been placed on the night of 13th to the 14th of June of the German auxiliary cruiser Orion. The Niagara immediately began to roll to port. Captain Martin was instantly close the watertight doors and tried to make the struck ship run aground, so as to save passengers and cargo. When he realized that he would not be able to save the ship, ordered the offshore disembarking.

The ship sank in position 35.53S 174.54E in 120 meters water depth. Passengers and crew were picked up by the British coast steamer Kapiti and the Australian passenger steamship Wanganella and brought ashore. There were no fatalities.

The gold

With the ship a large quantity of gold to the Bank of England had set, which was intended as payment from Britain to the U.S. in exchange for ammunition in the fight against Nazi Germany. The United Propriety Salvage Ltd. , A salvage company from Melbourne, was commissioned immediately after the fall on behalf of HM Treasury with the recovery of gold. The team made under the leadership of Captain John P. Williams and renowned deep sea diver John Edward Johnstone (1892-1976) on board the steamer Claymore coast to work.

The operation began on 15 December 1940. The crew took almost two months, until they discovered the wreck of the Niagara. During the search phase, the Claymore met twice on unexploded mines and was nearly scuttled. On 2 February 1941, the Niagara was finally found, and the recovery began. The team was able to recover a total of 555 gold bars. In another expedition in April 1953, which also took place under the direction of John Edward Johnstone, another 30 bars were found, so to this day (2012 ) only five bars are undetected.

It was the salvage company until then was in the greatest depth. Since the salvage operations on the wreck of the 1922 defunct British ocean liner Egypt by an Italian company in 1930 in the English Channel in 118 meters depth, no such undertaking had taken place more in a comparable depth. Following Johnstone's second attempt in 1953, it took over 30 years until the wreck was visited again. 1986 took Jacques-Yves Cousteau with his dive boat Denise another dive to the wreck.