THE HINA PASSES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 135, 9 June 1928, Page 17

THE HINA PASSES

«, ONCE A WARSHIP OLDEST VESSEL IN N.Z. AN EVENTFUL CAREER (Specially Written for "The Post" by C.G.K.) Just a few days ago the curtain was rung down on the final scene in the life of tho s.s. Hina, alias the Lady Barkly, one-time His Majesty's man-o'-war and latterly somewhat doubtful ornament to the Nelson mud flat. Having attained the ripe old age of three score and seven, she has been beached at Haulashore Island, Nelson, consigned to the tender mercies of the scrap metal merchants. The Lady Barkly was built at Williamstown, Port Philip, in 18(31, by tho brothers David and George White. There seems to be sonic doubt as to her original owner. Sir Henry Barkly was the Governor of Victoria at that time, and it is said that the boat was originally built to the order of the Victorian Government. She was named after the 'Governor's lady, and became what is known in England as a "Trinity" boat, tending the lighthouses and buoys round about Port Philip, and when not iv commission serving as a pleasure yacht for the Governor. There is at least one sea captain, however, who discountenances- this story, nnd asserts that the Lady Barkly was built for a certain Captain Adams, who brought her to New Zealand and ran her in tho coastal trade, at tho time when the Gabriel's Gully gold workings were in full swing. ' ! ■' A little over two years after she had

Ijccu launched she was acquired by the Now Zealand Government. A gun having been mounted aboard her, she s.'iw action in the Waikato rising. Under the command oi! the late Captain i'airc.''ild, afterwards master of s.s. ;'iit'.nckai and other' Government vessels, she acted as an advance guard to steuniers towing barges, filled with t-oops. X was her particulnr business to shell all fortified posts on the banks of .the river. Though :i paddle steamer sho pp icd a very fair turn of speed, which made her particularly suite;! for this class of work. With the coming of peaceful times, the Lady Barkly was apparently forgotten. For some time she fay in Manakau Harbour, ashore on the mud ilats, each tide pouring in' and out of her. The popular opinion seems to have been that her days were done. But when the late Captain Cross, the first harbourmaster and pilot of Nelson, sent a friend to Onehunga to survey her. it was found that it was practically impossible to make any impression on her timbers with an auger; sho was built of Australian gum hardwood throughout. (.'.".plain Cross accordingly bought her, and the Lady Barkly made Nelson her headquarters from 15(57 onwards. Those were the days when the Collingwood diggings were at their height, and trading under the name of the Kod Cross Flag Compnuv. the little steamer plied backwards and forwards between Collingwood and Nelson. Business was booming. Though only 90ft long with a 12ft beam, and drawing Oft, she yet carried CO or 70 passengers eacli trip, and when her complement was filled, the miners effected the voyage as stowaways. The mail contract, alone, was worth £700 per annum in those times. When the. Queen Bee, an emigrant ship, was wrecked on Farewell Spit, in 1877, the Lady Barkly took part in the search for the missing boats. But whilst H.M.S. Sapp' , the Lyttolton, and the Mnnawatu searched in the vicinity of D'Uivillo Island, the Lady Barkly proceeded straight to the wreck. Jler doings there were not above suspicion, for in the noscnce of the Queen Boo'a crew,

pilfering took place. Tho pilferers showed a very extensive taste, I'or amongst other things such diverse articles as a case of port wine, the captain's .gold watch, and two dogs which were aboard, disappeared. When, the theft was discovered, a hue and cry was set up. Evidently the pilferers thought the two dogs might prove rather damning evidence, for the police received a note stating that if they proceeded to an empty house in Washington Valley, they would find the dogs. Tho information, of course, proved correct. The year 1882 saw tho Lady Barkly's paddles removed, and she was converted into a screw steamer. Shortly afterwards she sailed for Wellington with a largo party of excursionists from the Collingwood and Nelson districts who wished to visit the first Wcl'lington Exhibition. The Wellington papers duly reported that a long canoe, fitted with an engine, had arrived from across the Straits, and hundreds of curious citizens visited the waterfront, to bo rewarded With a view of. tho Lady Barkly lying at her berth. In the course of her career she changed owners a number of times, and it was a Mr. Murrell, of Wellington, who rechristoned her tho Hina. On one occasion she was being hauled up for overhaul at Port 'Nelson, but when only halt on flic cradle, tho tidfe retreated and left her high and dry, the little ship in consequence breaking her back. By bolting three huge stringers along her hull repairs were effected, but ever afterwards she "worked" in a heavy sea. Filially she" fell on evil days, and was seized by the crow in lieu of wages. They were unable, however, to effect a satisfactory sale, and she was anchored off Haven road, Nelson, each succeeding storm bringing her .closer in to the waterfront. Time and weath.r worked their havoc on her till finally she became little more than a derelict. Even the New Year's Eve roisterer showed her no respect; for his pot of paint converted her from the "Hina" to the "CHina, 1028.'-' Having now become anything but an

ornament, she came under the notice of the Harbour Board, who, when efforts to have her removed proved unsuccessful, n'nalJv purchased \licr for the sum of £15. ' " Thus it has come about that the Ilina, reputed to be the oldest vessel in New Zealand, has passed to her end —the gentle attentions of the shipbreakers. True to tradition, the law seized the £15 as its share of the prize. Jt is reported that in her loug and eventful career there were only two fatalities connected with the ship. A tow-line snapped on one occasion when a collier was being towed in, resulting in the deathof one of the crew, and while landing passengers through the surf at Waitapu, the port of Takaka, on another occasion, a man was unfortunately drowned.