This week I go back again to May 1950, when the 1910-built Pakeha was lying at Briton Ferry to be scrapped.
At that time, Runic, the latest addition to the fleet was on its maiden voyage at the start of an active career that lasted for less than 11 years.
Both were built at Belfast by Harland and Wolff Ltd for the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company Ltd.
The first new ships ordered by that company in its postwar reconstruction programme were the four refrigerated, passenger-cargo liners, Corinthic and Athenic delivered in 1947, followed by Ceramic and Gothic in 1948.
Each provided berths for 85 first-class passengers in 53 cabins.
Designed for a service speed of 17 knots their propulsion machinery comprised six steam turbines with a combined output of 14,000shp, and single-reduction gearing to two shafts.
They were followed by three cargo-only versions having the same dimensions and machinery.
All seven had six holds that included large insulated capacities but with the cargo-only trio having greater deadweight capacities.
These seven ships were the first steam-powered cargo vessels to be built for the company since 1921.
They were also the last steam cargo liners to be ordered by Shaw, Savill.
The first of trio was the two-masted 13,594gt Persic completed in November, 1949, by the Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead.
Belfast-built sister ships Runic and Suevic, both 13,587gt, differed in having only a foremast.
The latter vessel entered service in July 1950.
Runic, launched on October 21,1949, was delivered on March 24, 1950, The ship commenced its round-the-world, maiden voyage the following month from Glasgow, via the Suez Canal, to Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
It then crossed the Tasman to load at Bluff, Timaru and Lyttelton before heading for London via the Panama Canal.
At the time, these three ships were the largest cargo liners trading to New Zealand.
And on that visit to Timaru, Runic established a record as the port's largest visitor.
The 171m-long ship had some 14,387cu m of reefer space, a deadweight capacity of 14,660 tonnes and then ranked among the largest cargo ships of its type in the world.
Not as well known here as some other units of the fleet, the ship never appeared here until June 8, 1951.
It made its sixth and last visit on December 18, 1956.
But some four years later, while on another voyage across the Tasman to Auckland from Brisbane.
On February 19, 1961, the steamer encountered bad weather, in effect the wake of a tropical cyclone, and went aground on Middleton Reef, about 120 miles north of Lord Howe Island.
The ship remained on an even keel, with about a quarter of its length on the reef but with the bow out of the water.
Several vessels went to Runic's assistance but all attempts to refloat the steamer failed.
Later more bad weather drove the ship further on to the reef and caused further structural damage.
And flooding of compartments and the engine room could not be controlled by pumps that were available.
Finally, when all hope of refloating the vessel began to fade, Runic was declared a constructive total loss on March 22, 1961, almost 11 years from its completion date.
In April 1962, the wreck was sold to Sydney businessmen who intended cutting the vessel up for scrap. However, their salvage operations were cancelled a year later due to cyclones and heavy seas in the area and the steamer was left to the mercy of the seas to take its toll over the years.
As for sister ship Persic, it made 14 local visits from October 11, 1950, to November 17, 1965.
In 1969 it was renamed Derwent when transferred to the Royal Mail Lines.
Its career ended when it arrived at Bilbao (Spain) on November 25, 1971, for demolition. Suevic, the longest-serving member of the trio, berthed at Port Chalmers on 15 occasions from August 22, 1952, to August 24, 1972.
The vessel left Lyttelton on May 18, 1974, and arrived at Kaohsuing before June 6, 1974, to be broken up.
Machinery trouble which had plagued the ship earlier that year continued throughout its final voyage to Taiwan.
