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Above: This single hulled wooden vessel – a 50-ton
motor vessel built in 1937 by W.G. Lowe & Son,
Auckland for the Carey Brothers – was intended
for the Whitianga trade in which she spent all her
working life up to 1957, when Great Barrier Island
was added to her itinerary.
Far right: Whitianga’s Lady Jocelyn loading butter
from one of the dairy co-ops in the Mercury Bay.
Below: Mervyn Rix, former crew member during the
1940s, honoured her by building this wooden model.
Photos by Diane Lott, daughter of Mervyn Rix
Do You
Remember?
The Lady
Jocelyn
pacific coast marine
29 Bryce St . Whitianga . 07 866 0551
VOLVO PENTA . HIDEA . CUMMINS . SUZUKI
S he was a well-known Whitianga water
cargo transport in the district. Captain
Harry Carey purchased a little steamship
called Lamen to fulfill contracts to
transport goods and supplies from
Auckland twice a week. He renamed
the vessel Lady Jocelyn, and in 1932 he
gained the contract to also backload with
butter for her return journeys. Selling her
in 1937, he upgraded and transferred the
name to a new vessel built to his specs.
Part of the route took her to Te Kauanga
Wharf in Whenuakite River to offload
farm supplies. The cargo was deemed
so important that the first telephone,
installed for special emergencies in town,
was also used to alert local farmers of the
Lady Jocelyn’s arrival.
She also held a place of honour as flag
ship in the local regattas – ‘proudly
dressed up with pennants strung stem
to stern’ – each year until her retirement.
Capt. Harry served as first patron till
Sept. 1959.
Her last run in 1963 marked an ‘end of
an era’. Land transport had taken over all
but the ferry service.
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When researching Whitianga’s trader boat, Lady Jocelyn, we found
other ships bearing the same name. Who was this ‘Lady’?
The first Lady Jocelyn was named in honour of Lord Jocelyn,
Member of Parliament. In 1851, he championed a dedicated
steamship connection (specifically favouring a contract with
the General Screw Steamship Company) – with official mail
delivery – between England, Australia and New Zealand via the
Cape. Following the measure’s approval in 1852, a three-masted
steamship was christened, named after his wife. This same Lady
Jocelyn was Queen Victoria’s lady-in-waiting and maid of honour
at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840.
For many years, this clipper ship was the largest immigrant ship
trading to these shores. In January 1881, she delivered nearly 400
passengers to Tauranga Harbour bound for settlements in Katikati
and Te Puke. The newcomers were men and women (including
much anticipated single women) ‘in prosperous circumstances’, and
their arrival was a distinct forward step in the settlement of the area.
The vessel often sailed to India, and she made five London-to-
Auckland runs during her sailing life. The Lady Jocelyn finished
her useful life as a refrigerated storage unit on the banks of the
Thames East India Docks, then as a floating barracks during WWI.
This once-impressive clipper ship was scrapped in Holland in 1923.
U
The original Lady Jocelyn