TSS Makura 1908-1936

The Makura was a twin-screw steamship built in 1908 by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Linthouse, Scotland. It was the first ship Alexander Stephen and Sons had built for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand since the SS Bruce in 1874.

The ship was built specifically for the trans-Pacific Canadian-Australasian Royal Mail line. The Union Company had acquired a half-share in the Canadian Australian Steamship Company in 1901 (who operated the line), and in 1910 took over the company completely. The service route, known as the “All-Red Route”, was from Sydney to Brisbane, Honolulu, Victoria and Vancouver. The Makura is also noted for being the first ship in the Union fleet equipped with Marconi's wireless telegraph, allowing text messages to be sent by radio waves.

The Makura served on this route until the early-1920s, when it was replaced by the Aorangi. The ship was retrofitted, had its engine upgraded to burn fuel oil instead of coal, and was reassigned to the Sydney, Wellington, Rarotonga, Papeete (Tahiti), and San Francisco service. It remained in service until 1936, when after a long and useful life was sold to China Shipbreakers Limited in Shanghai and broken up in 1937.