NORTHERN STEAM SHIP CO. LTD. (1)

The Auckland flag is blue with a white saltire between red NSSCo letters, the o raised.

Alex MacGregor, also given as Captain Alexander McGregor, formed the Auckland company on 11 May 1881 to take over Auckland Steam Packet’s fleet and trade. The latter apparently followed Auckland & Thames Steam Packet, formed in March 1870 and reorganised in 1872; Auckland Steam Packet wound up at the end of 1877. Northern acquired Settlers’ Steam Ship in 1908 and absorbed Kaipara in 1943. Sea Breezes describes Kaipara returning to shipowning with Onehunga in 1962, but Lloyds 1963–64 places Northern’s whole fleet under Kaipara and later registers Onehunga under Fletcher Industries. Trading ended with Dido’s arrival at Whangarei on 8 December 1974. Fleet sale and liquidation were announced in April 1975, the last vessel was sold in May 1976, and a solvent voluntary-liquidation resolution followed on 1 October 1984. A later namesake derived from a company registered in 1996 and renamed in 2002; it was struck off in 2004 and restored in 2005.

New Zealand, Auckland.