A handsome little iron ship that was a frequent visitor to the Waitemata was the New Zealand Shipping Company's Piako, 1075 tons. She was built by A. Stephens, of Glasgow, in 1877, and when taken out of the New Zealand trade was sold to the Germans. She served the company well for many years, and eventually her fate was the saddest of all ends to a brave ship—she was posted "missing" at Lloyd's in 1900 after sailing from Melbourne for the Cape, a destination she was fated never to reach. In addition to being well known in Auckland the Piako was also a frequent visitor to Port Chalmers, Wellington and Lyttelton, and to those ports she brought out many thousands of English, Scotch, and Irish immigrants.

In her New Zealand record there are two very quick runs, and most of her other passages were under the average. Her record passage was made in 1877-78. Leaving Plymouth on November 20, 1877, she anchored at Port Chalmers on February 5, 1878, a splendid passage of 76 days 12 hours, port to port, or 74 days land to land. Captain W. B. Boyd, who was in command, said the ship did some remarkably good sailing while scudding before a very heavy westerly gale encountered in latitude 43 degrees, south.