Real Journeys announced on Monday the vintage steam ship would re-enact her maiden passenger voyage across Lake Wakatipu on October 18. The cruise will mark 100 years since the oldest surviving passenger steamship in the southern hemisphere was commissioned and began to ferry passengers, as well as service isolated high country stations.
Real Journeys, which took the wheel of the vintage steamer from New Zealand Railways in December 1969, has planned a week of centenary celebrations from October 14 to 22.
"We have put together an extensive programme which reflects the diverse roles the TSS Earnslaw has played during her century of service on Lake Wakatipu," Real Journeys operations manager Tracey Maclaren said in a statement.
"As well as the re-enactment of the first sailing, we will run a special high country station cruise [on October 21] tracing the mail and freight routes taken by the steamer for almost 70 years.
"The cruise will stop over at Glenorchy, where there will also be a special Glenorchy residents' excursion which highlights the steamer's part in the lives of Glenorchy people over the years."
Frankton Arm cruises, including a seniors' cruise, with music, entertainment and historians on board were planned. A woolshed party at Mt Nicholas Station, a family fun day at Walter Peak and a TSS Earnslaw staff reunion were also expected to attract widespread interest.
"We hope that everyone who has an affinity with the TSS Earnslaw, both past and present, will join in the centenary celebrations, and dress in period costume to mark the occasion," Ms Maclaren said.
"The vintage steam ship has been such an integral part of both Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown during her first 100 years and it is important that we celebrate that."
Jim Sands, family spokesman and grandson of Jimmy Alcorn, said several direct descendants planned to be on board when Earnslaw left Kingston for Queenstown on October 18.
"We have always been aware of my grandfather's involvement with the construction of the TSS Earnslaw and it has been a strong link for our family," he said.
"Jimmy came from Barrow in Furness from a long line of Clydeside shipbuilders, and when he went to sea as a ship's carpenter and ended up in New Zealand he decided to settle in Dunedin. He was employed by John McGregor and Son, who built the Earnslaw and was sent to Kingston as a foreman builder.
"The family went with him, and my mother, Bessie, who was just a few months old, was the youngest person to go on the steamer after its launch in Lake Wakatipu on February 24, 1912."
