TSS EARNSLAW CENTENARY BY JENNY MCLEOD On the slip
Commemorative sailings planned by her owners, Real Journeys Ltd, during a dedicated centenary week will re-enact the maiden voyages from Kingston to Queenstown, and from Queenstown to Glenorchy at the Head of the Lake, including a nostalgic visit to the high country lakeside stations which the vintage steamer has serviced for almost 70 years. 'The Lady of the Lake', as the TSS Earnslaw is affectionately known, 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 existing lake steamers, particularly the Mountaineer and the Ben Lomond. Disparaging letters to newspapers from as far afield as Sydney highlighted the problems, creating concerns about the impact on tourism in Queenstown.
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ueenstown'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. But unlike the Titanic she survived, and as the oldest coal-fired passenger steamship in the Southern Hemisphere, the Earnslaw will celebrate 100 years of outstanding service on October 18, 2012.
Pressure was applied to the Government by the Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward to finance a modern and fast twin screw, freight and passenger boat and a tender was let in September 1910 to Dunedin shipbuilders, John McGregor & Son for £20,850. Designed by naval architect Hugh McRae, the TSS Earnslaw's keel was laid in the Dunedin shipyard on July 4, 1911. By October the boat, including its two triple-expansion jet condensing steam engines, had been built. Following construction she was dismantled and transported by rail to Kingston at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu.
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