EMPIRE SHIRLEY

Shipbuildervessel built by Alexander HALL & Co. (Footdee, Aberdeen)

Date1945

Object NameTUG

MediumSTEEL

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 105 3/12' x breadth 27 1/12' x depth 12 3/6'
Gross Tonnage: 232 ton

Object numberABDSHIP001592

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Alexander Hall & Co.
Yard Number: 706
Subsequent Names: TAPUHI (1947); TUI TUATE (1976); TUI TAWATE (1987)

Fate: abandoned in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, 1987.

Propulsion: Steam
Description: Empire class tug

Owners:
1945: Ministry of War Transport
1947: Union S.S. Co. of New Zealand, Ltd
1976: Salvage Pacific Ltd, Suva
1980: Reece Discombe, Suva, Fiji.
1987: Clement Griffiths, of Wellington, New Zealand.

General History:
Worked in Wellington Harbour as general harbour tug.
10/04/1968: TAPUHI rescued 170 of 733 passengers of the stricken New Zealand inter-island ferry, WAHINE, when the ship was hit by a storm and sunk during a routine channel crossing from New Zealand's South Island to its North Island.
1976: Used in salvage operations on the SS PRESIDENT COOLIDGE. Carried salavaged oil from SS PRESIDENT COOLIDGE to the passenger ship ARCADIA.
1987: Change of owners to Clement Griffiths, of Wellington, New Zealand. Mr. Griffiths intended to move the TUI TAWATE back to Wellington and renovate it as a floating restaurant to memorialize Wahine Day. However, the tug was not sufficiently sea worthy to withstand the tow and so the TUI TAWATE was left abandoned in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
Now a dive wreck.

Notes: Triple expansion engines with 16", 25" and 42" cylinders, 27" stroke. Boiler 16'0" diameter, 11'6" length, 200 lb. pressure (Builder's List in the Lloyd's Library of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum)
Engine number 415
Fitted for oil fuel.