EARNED HER KEEP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 114, 17 May 1933, Page 9

EARNED HER KEEP.

STEAMER COUNTESS. ______ EARLY AUCKLAND TRAWLER. NOW AN UNWANTED HULK. One of Auckland's earliest steam trawlers, the , former ferry steamer Countess, is now little more than an unwanted hulk. A week ago she was towed in to the North Wall and had her engines removed. To-day she is over at Sulphur Beach, where she will remain until her ultimate fate is decided upon.

In her heyday the Countess was the best known of the larger vessels that kept the local market well supplied with iish, and she will long be remembered as one of the most successful trawlers that have claimed Auckland as their home port. "It can never be said that she went out of commission owing her owners a penny," was what one waterfront identity remarked, as he watched the old trawler being towed across the harbour the other day, after her engines had been lifted out for sale to a dairy company. The Countess was built in Auckland in 190(b A wooden vessel, she was fitted with 28 horse power engines, and had a gros,s tonnage of 141." Her principal dimensions were: Length, 101 ft; breadth, jl9ftj depth, Bft Tin. j Ferry at Wellington. The steamer first saw service as a ferry at Wellington, the shipping register showing that she was registered at that port in 1901. As a ferry she had a long promenade deck, extending right to her stern. About 1910 the Countess was inspected by officials of a shipping company, who wanted a new vessel for the Kaipara Harbour trade, but apparently she was not considered suitable, for the negotiations fell through.

When eventually the Countess did leave Wellington it was for Napier, where she was operated for some years by the Countess Trawling Company. Before entering the fishing business, the steamer was stripped of iier gromenadp.

deck, and was in other ways altered. The steamer first came to Auckland with a cargo of 25 tons of fish, which was sold to the Oceanic Fish Company. Soon afterwards she brought another load of fleh to this port, and then it was decided that she should make Auckland her home port. Here the Countess was eold to Sanford, Ltd., who operated her with success until the time she was laid up in Rotten Row.

Retreat For Gulls. A number of years of idleness followed, and wlien the vessel was brought to the North Wall the other day it was hard to imagine that ehe had once been a smart ferry. There was water in her engine room, and grass growing on her after deck. The old craft has also been a favourite retreat for gulls.

Built of heart of kauri throughout, the hull of the Countess is said to-day to be still in excellent condition. Trawlers, its seems, wear well, for while the Countess is waiting for whatever fate may bo in store for her, the Baroona, another of Auckland's old trawlers, is being reconditioned, although her future has so far been kept a dark secret.