TSS Maunganui

History
Name:	Maunganui (1911-1948) Cyrenia (1948-1957)
Namesake:	Mount Maunganui
Owner:	Union Steamship Company of New Zealand (1911-1947) G.M.Lykiardopulo (1947-1948) Cia Naviera del Atlantico (1948-1949) Hellenic Mediterranean Lines (1949-1957)
Builder:	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan
Yard number:	479
Launched:	24 August 1911
Completed:	5 December 1911
General characteristics
Tonnage:	7,527 gross tonnage
Length:	430.8 ft (131 m)
Beam:	55.7 ft (17 m)
Draught:	31.2 ft (10 m)
Propulsion:	Quadruple expansion engines, twin screw
Speed:	16 knots

The TSS Maunganui (later S/S Cyrenia) was a passenger vessel built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand and launched on 24 August 1911.^[1]

Career

Launched in 1911 to carry the Royal Mail and served on the San Francisco and Sydney runs. She was employed as a troopship during World War I and World War II. She was sold to Cia Naviera del Atlantica, Piraeus in 1948 and renamed Cyrenia. She was sold in 1949 to Hellenic Mediterranean Lines and undertook service from Genoa and Piraeus to Melbourne and Sydney, carrying Greek and Italian emigrants.

Fate

She was broken up in 1957 at Savona, Italy.

Cultural legacy

In Greece the S/S Cyrenia is prominent due to Nikos Kavvadias' poem "Οι 7 νάνοι στο S/S Cyrenia" (The Seven Dwarves on the S/S Cyrenia)^[2] and Thanos Mikroutsikos' song^[3] on its lyrics.

Notes

1. "SS Maunganui". Clydesite.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
2. Νίκος Καββαδίας, Οι Εφτά Νάνοι στο s/s CYRENIA.
3. Θάνος Μικρούτσικος, Οι Εφτά Νάνοι στο S/S CYRENIA