TSS EARNSLAW
Queenstown's heritage steamer,
TSS Earnslaw, was launched on Lake
Wakatipu in 1912, the same year the ill-fated
steamship, the Titanic left Southampton
on her maiden voyage. Unlike the Titanic
she survived, to become the oldest coalfired passenger steamer in the southern
hemisphere, proudly celebrating 100 years of
outstanding service on October 18, 2012.
A
ffectionately known as the 'Lady of the Lake',
TSS Earnslaw is has a captivating history traversing a century of operation on Lake Wakatipu.
She was commissioned in 1910 after increasing
public apprehension about the comfort and safety of the
existing lake steamers, particularly the paddle steamers PS
Antrim, PS Mountaineer and the SS Ben Lomond. Disparaging
letters to newspapers from as far afield as Sydney highlighted the problems, creating concerns about the impact
on settlement growth in Queenstown.
Following the initial excitement of the gold rush days in
1862, previous steamers had all been in private hands, and
competed for services operating out of Queenstown for 40
years. Once the rush was over these operations were unable
to provide a profitable service for the lakes settlements and
stations, and so in 1902 the Government bought out the
last remaining business. Unfortunately these ships were
thought to be too small and slow, so pressure was applied
on the Government by the Prime Minister Sir Joseph
Ward, to finance a modern and fast twin screw, freight and
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NZ WORKBOAT REVIEW 2013
Skipper Peter Green at the helm
passenger steamer for the lake. A tender was let on behalf
of New Zealand Railways in September 1910 to Dunedin
shipbuilders, John McGregor & Son for £20,850.
TSS Earnslaw was designed by naval architect Hugh
McRae, with her keel being laid in Dunedin on July
4, 1911. By October the steamer, and her two tripleexpansion jet condensing locomotive steam engines had
been built and assembled at McGregor's yard. An estimated
