The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Operational decision · 1882
The sailing ship Dunedin, in 1882, crossed the world with frozen lamb
The Dunedin shipped frozen New Zealand lamb to London in 1882, the first time a full refrigerated cargo crossed the world and sold.
Albion Shipping Company · New Zealand and Australian Land Company
the move
By the 1880s Europe's growing cities were short of meat while distant pastoral countries had a surplus. Shipping live animals was costly and wasteful, and earlier attempts to carry frozen meat often lost the cargo or relied on natural cold or speed.
The Dunedin, a sailing ship of the Albion Shipping Company, was fitted by the Bell-Coleman Mechanical Refrigeration Company with a compressed-air machine. Instead of steam, it used a sailing rig that needed no coal and no coaling stations, saving cost and space on the long route to New Zealand.
The refrigeration machinery kept the insulated hold at roughly 12-15 F during the whole run. Loaded with more than 4,000 sheep, 598 lambs and some pork and butter, the ship left New Zealand in February 1882 and reached London after 98 days, with just one carcass condemned.
The meat sold at Smithfield at a price that made the trade viable, and the idea took hold. Refrigeration at sea had been demonstrated end to end, and within a few years the frozen-meat trade between the Southern Hemisphere and Europe was established.
why it works
- The Bell-Coleman machine used air as the refrigerant and was compact enough to place aboard a ship, run by one engineer.
- A sailing ship carried the cold chain without coal, which was expensive and scarce at distant coaling stations.
- Freezing meat on the way let the ship carry a fully-loaded, saleable cargo rather than a half-empty hold of live stock.
- The voyage showed the task was possible without speed, turning a scientific curiosity into a workable trade.
what transfers
A cold chain only works if the cold travels with the cargo; the choice of transport is part of how you keep it cold.
what came after
The voyage is remembered as the first time a full refrigerated cargo crossed the world's oceans and sold. It opened the frozen-meat and dairy trade between the Southern Hemisphere and Europe, and Lloyd's Register soon drew up rules for refrigeration machinery to certify reefers.
references
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