JETSAM FROM THE HARBOUR

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21209, 6 July 1934, Page 20

JETSAM FROM THE HARBOUR

MANY QUEER FINDS OBJECTS BROUGHT UP BY DREDGE Operating every day in all weathers, from early morning until late in the afternoon, the Lyttelton Harbour Board's dredge Canterbury, in its work of maintaining the depth of the harbour, performs a task that is as useful as it is monotonous. Banks of hard sand and shell are cut through by the action of the huge circular cutter, the spoil is drawn up by the big suction pumps, and with a full load cf up to 1200 tons, the vessel steams down to the heads, where the spoil is ouickly dumped by opening the bottom cf the hoppers. The same process is repeated day after day. When the dredge first started operations at Lyttelton the work was much more interesting to those engaged m it. Then the bottom of the harbour •was covered with soft mud to a depth of several feet. As it was dredged it was pumped into the reclamation area. 2t was from this mud that many strange articles were recovered, mostly as the spoil was washed along tne ■wooden "races" to the further parts of the area. Coins, many of them cemented together, were numerous, as were articles of table cutlery. In a period of three years the man m charge of the race collected 15 dozen forks and spoons besides other articles, which included a heavy gold minus the jewels originally set in it.

Artillery Shells Hie "finds" not pumped ashore, but removed from the bottom of the hoppers, included seven-inch shells, 64-pounder shells, and three-inch shells, besides some old iron cannonballs. The seven-inch shells were fired from Fort Jervois and the 64-pounders ■were from the old muzzle-loading cannon below the Sumner road. Shore-parties with small field guns from the warships visiting the por. used to shoot from near the dock across to Quail Island, and many of these shells have been recovered by Ihe Canterbury. Big of iron one of which, weighing 1101b is still aboard the dredge, were frequent "finds." They were relics of the days when sailing ships dumped their ballast before commencing to load. One strange thing noticeable on the Canterbury was that whereas fish, principally conger eels, were plentiful in the spoil in the early years, now they are rarely seen. Is it that some instinct has warned them that the dredge ia dangerous. The largest object ever lifted by the dredge, but not passed through the pumps, was a stone weighing 3151b. The smallest member of the crew had to work for two hours inside the pipe before the stone could be dislodged. Hauls of Bucket Dredge It was the old bucket-dredge Manchester, which preceded the Canterbury that made the best hauls, however. The Manchester worked alongside the wharves as well as out in the channel. The "finds" of the Manchester were many and varied. These included a carriage or phaeton, with silver mountings, and a set of silvermounted harness, which is said to have been imported by "Ready-Money" Robinson, the original owner of the Cheviot estate. The leaden keel of a yacht, weighing between one and two tons, was once brought up by the buckets. It was never claimed. Several bales of leather wera promptly claimed by a Christchurch firm, but on another occasion some bales of leather which were not claimed mysteriously disappeared. Occasionally a case of beer or spirits •was lifted by the buckets. At No. 4 •wharf was dredged up from hard clay at a depth of 32 feet, the thigh-bone of a moa. Judging by its size the bird must have been as large as the one in the Christchurch Museum. From Peacock's Wharf, now No. 7, came some fine china cups, saucers, and plates, in white, green, and gold, bearing the crest of an old-time shipping company. After being exposed to the air for some days, this china developed fine cracks and fell to pieces. The Canterbury still picks lengths of wire hawsers, ropes, gangway nets and pieces of hardwood which have been dumped in the harbour contrary to the board's by-laws. These cause considerable trouble for the crew, as they have to be cleared from the cutter or from the pumps. The difficultv is in detecting the offenders, who, probably under the cover of darkness, drop their condemned hawsers and rope overboard as soon as their ship gets outside the moles, instead of waiting until the vessel is at sea.