CALLIOPE DOCK

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 46, 23 January 1936, Page 6

CALLIOPE DOCK

TO BE EXTENDED. AN IMPORTANT WORK. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Jan. 22. An extension of Calliope Dock to accommodate the two large new cruisers, Leander and Achilles, which are to replace tlie Dunedin and Diomede oil the New Zealand station, will be commenced shortly. Tenders for the work are now being called by the Auckland Harbour Board. on behalf of the Naval Department, and will close on Ee hr nary 4. The plans provide for the lengthening of the dock floor an additional 13ft., involving the excavation of about 1800 cubic yards of sandstone and concrete work, which is to be completed within four months of the date of its commencement, and is part of the major scheme for improving tlie naval defences of New Zealand. The Calliope Dock was constructed at a cost of £135,000, and was opened on February 16, 1888. Shortly after an additional expenditure of £20,000 was made to complete certain portions hitherto left. The length of the floor of the dock was 500 ft., but, with an extra 16ft. width of cill,_or sliding gate abutment, it was possible to accommodate vessels of 516 ft.

FIVE YEARS’ CONSTRUCTION. RECOLLECTIONS OF ENGINEER. Plans and specifications of Calliope Dock, with numerous photographs of what was then one of tlie largest graving docks in the world, and still is one of the widest (being 110 feet across from the tops of the altars), are in tlie possession of Mr S. Jickell, civil engineer, of Hereford Street, Palmerston North. He drew tlie plans when he succeeded Mr T. C. Hartnell as draughtsman, and during tlie five years of construction work, from 1883 to 1888, was chief assistant to Mr William Herrington, tlie chief engineer. Calliope Dock was not named after the warship which first entered it, as commonly supposed, said Mr Jickell. There had been three vessels named Calliope. The first was a full-rigged ship which used to lie off Orakei and practise with her guns into what was even then known as Calliope Point, a long spur running out into the sea. When construction of the dock began, the, excavations for the site bad to be blasted out of sandstone, and after a hill 70 feet high liad been removed the excavations continued 58 feet below ground level. Numerous round shot and shell from the guns were found. Tlie present naval base was situated on ground reclaimed with the spoil taken from the Calliope Dock site.

Calliope Dock was one of tlie first ever constructed in concrete, said Mr Jickell, and the contract price of £135,000 did not include the cost of installing the machinery and pumps. There were 5,000,000 bricks in tlie invert which carried the weight of the ship, and these were covered with concrete. The actual length of the dock was'soo feet, with a 16 foot apron at one end. It was opened by Sir William Jervoia, then Governor, and the first two ships to enter wore tho Calliope and Diamond. Two German vessels, one of which was the Alexandrine, used it next. jhe first two pumps installed at the dock were double-acting, six feet in diameter, with a six foot stroke, driven by two borizoutial engines at 17 revolutions per minute. At tbs opening ceremony someone forget to open tlie penstock tunnel which releases the water into the sea. The pumps were started, and water was swirling a foot deep round officials in the engine-room before tlie error was discovered. Ladies present liad to hasten to change tlieir bedraggled finevy.