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Rangitoto Ships' Graveyard

Rarawa

Rarawa

 

The Rarawa was a schooner rigged twin screw steamer built in Dundee in 1903 by the firm Gourley Bros & Co. She was steel -framed and had a registered tonnage of 450 and measured 210 feet in length.

1903Built in Dundee, Scotland by Gourley Bros. & Co for the Northern Steam Ship Company Limited and made her way to Auckland in 1903. Alterations were made to the passenger accommodation on the ship soon after her arrival in New Zealand. The vessel was used on the Onehunga to New Plymouth run.
1929 - 1941The Rarawa was eventually laid up in Auckland.
1940 In 1940 the vessel was purchased by the Government along with three other Northern Steamship Company vessels. These ships were all deregistered and their engines and other useable parts were used in the conversion of three trawlers to minesweepers by the Navy. One of her engines went into the Rimu, the other into the Hinau.
Disposal

Rarawa hulk archival photo

The dismantled hull of the Rarawa was filled with concrete and beached on Rangitoto Island during World War II. Rarawa crashed bow first into rocks west of Boulder Bay where she swung around broadside onto the shore. The hulk was quickly stripped by bach owners.
TODAY

Rarawa bow section

The remains of the Rarawa can be found on the foreshore and in the intertidal zone about 200 metres west of Boulder Bay. Large sections of the bow and stern are easily identifiable, making this one of the most intact of the Rangitoto wrecks.

 

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