Record Identifier276Date Range1947-1975DescriptionThe Taioma was built in 1944 by Alexander Hall & Co in Footdee, eastern edge of Aberdeen Harbour, Scotland and first named Empire Jane. It was employed in war service duties in the English Channel and for a short time it performed salvage and rescue duties in the US Ōmaha Beach area.
The Empire Jane was bought by the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand on 21 August 1947 and renamed as the SS Taioma.
It served as a tug in the Wellington harbour from 1947 until 1977. Most notably in 1968 it was one of the first vessels to arrive at the scene of the Wahine disaster. In 1978 it was donated to the Tauranga Historic Village as a tribute to all the merchant seamen who lost their lives in WWII, it was taken from the water for display. It was eventually refloated and scuttled off Mōtītī Island in the Bay of Plenty on 19 March 2000.
This set of materials was physically grouped by subject matter and placed into envelopes prior to donation to the Wellington City Archives. Some of these envelopes have information written on them, which has been transcribed and included below, where applicable. This information is only indicative of the contents.
