By: William Gray3rd Aug 2023 2:34PMM. V. KOKIRI. Built By Henry Robb Leith Scotland in 1951. Built mainly for the coal trade between Greymouth, Westport and Wellington. Although she did the odd trip to Auckland, as well as shipping cars down to Lyttelton. The KOKIRI was involved with two mishaps in her career, the first one was when she hit the South Tiphead while entering the Port on the 12th of March 1958, repairs were carried out in the floating dock in Wellington. The second mishap was while coming in to berth at Aotea Quay in Wellington, on the 13th of March 1965 there was an explosion in the forward hold, believed to be caused by a build up of coal gas, sadly two crew members lost their lives, one of them was Ronald Walton from Blaketown. The KOKIRI was later sold in 1968 to owners in Manila, and renamed JUNIOR K. L., she was lost without trace with all hands while on a voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong, and was last heard of on the 5th of October 1971.