HMS/HMNZS “Simplon” 69 ton 1918 trawler/coaster
Retired 1946.
Returned to Sanfords in 1946.
Simplon was a problem throughout. Captain Freeland had to be relieved of his command at the end of May 1918, subsequently being awarded compensation, apparently for mental strain and a nervous breakdown.
On 26 March the departure of the vessels from Wellington was delayed because of trouble in getting all of the Simplon’s crew on board.
On 20 May, Simplon was in Auckland, due to sail to rendezvous with the Nora Niven. It was not ready and the departure of the ships had to be delayed, with the hire of the Nora Niven having to be paid because that vessel was ready, as ordered.
Again in September there was a delay in operations because the Simplon was not ready and in October the vessel was waiting for four days for a crew.The fishing trawlers Nora Niven and Simplon were requisitioned by the Government and equipped as minesweepers. They swept seventeen mines off Farewell Spit and eighteen in the Three Kings area. Others had probably sunk or
broken adrift. The two little fishing boats of 1918 were the forebears of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s numerous minesweepers of the Second World War. The Nora
Niven herself survived to take a small part in their activities.
