SS Tairoa - A River Plate 80 Video

Refrigerated ships such as SS Tairoa carried meat and other perishables that wartime supply networks depended on during the Second World War.

Tairoa's regular Brisbane-to-London service shows how a refrigerated ship could carry its principal cargo alongside whatever general cargo fit in the remaining space.

Radio officer Cummings resumes Tairoa's raider warning with a makeshift radio after Admiral Graf Spee's 37 mm fire disables his first transmitting position.

Routing papers left aboard Tairoa could reveal merchant routes and choke points, although those same places were likely to be guarded by the Royal Navy.

Tairoa's warning gives British hunting forces a fresh position for Graf Spee, sending ships north and pushing Captain Hans Langsdorff west across the Atlantic.