Harry's Ships

Harry sailed the three most significant legs of his journey on three ships. They were:

RMS Tahiti (Sydney to San Francisco);

RMS Homeric (New York to Southampton);

and SS Ormonde (Southampton to Sydney).

Additional information about these ships can be found at "The Ships List" website.

The abbreviation RMS stands for "Royal Mail Steamer".

RMS Tahiti

Sydney to San Francisco via Wellington (NZ) and Papeete (Tahiti)

Built as "Port Kingston" (7,585 tons) in 1904 for Imperial Direct West India Mail Co and operated in the West Indies as a passenger / cargo ship there.

The Union Steamship Co of NZ bought her in 1911, refitted her as passenger only, and renamed her "Tahiti" for the Sydney - Wellington - Rarotonga - Tahiti - San Francisco route (serving also as a troopship in and immediately after WWI).

She was involved in Sydney Harbour's most fatal shipping accident when, in the afternoon of 3rd Nov 1927 she collided with and sank the ferry "Greycliffe". The ferry sank with the loss of 40 lives, many of them school children.

The Tahiti herself sank a few years later south of Rarotonga in 1930 after her starboard propeller shaft snapped and holed the hull. All passengers and crew in this incident were saved.