By: William Gray7th Dec 2023 12:54PMThe S.S. MATTHEW FLINDERS was built in 1938, as a replacement vessel for the S.S. ABEL TASMAN which was wrecked here in in July 1936. The MATTHEW FLINDERS was owned by H. C.SLEIGH Melbourne, hence the bow crest H.C.S. she traded here from early 1939 up until 1950, always loading timber for Australia. Her agents here at that time were Wild & Robertson, as they owned a lot of sawmills over that period, hence the timber. She was sold in 1956 to owners in Finland and was renamed PIRKKO NURINEN, and was resold to Italian owners in 1967 and renamed RAUMA, that is when she was converted to an oil burner, having been coal powered before the conversion, And finally she was scrapped in Spain in 1971, The other three vessel in this photo are the S.S. RATA Anchor Co, and the M.V. KAITAWA and the M.V. KONUI. both Union Co. The KAITAWA was later lost with all hands 29 in total around the Pandora bank area south of Cape Reinga.