EARLY SHIPBUILDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19453, 8 October 1926, Page 14

EARLY SHIPBUILDING.

ACTIVITY ON WATERFRONT. VESSELS OF FORMER DAYS. PIONEERS IN THE INDUSTRY* BY BARNACLE. No. I. There is something particularly attractive about the_ sharp rap! rap! rap! of the caulking hammer. The erection of a building, big or little, produces little more than a lanquid interest, but pass within earshot of some shipbuilder's yard, with perhaps in view the skeleton of a vessel also going up, and at once one's interest is aroused. For a ship, particularly a sailer is something which develops a personality—perhaps that is why we always call it "she." In the hands of one man she handles like a lamb; but manoeuvred by another, less sympathetic or perhaps wanting in the finer sailor instinct, she is a cross and wayward thing. And so, strolling along Reaumont Street and seeing a name " Shipbuilder," ornamenting a big barnlike shed, and hearing the clatter of the tools, I went in to find myself in the largest of the few remaining yards. The shipbuilder, like the sailor, is a companionable sort of mart. He likes his pipe and a yarn and no objection was raised to my presence or to the fire going in my cherry-wood pipe. And soon the boss and myself were deep in discussion anent many and various things pertaining to the old trade, between whilo studying pictures of vessels built in the awayback and discussing the cost of timber then and now. As a trade it is as old as the hills. As a civilised country New Zealand is very yonn'g; nevertheless, at Horeke, on the Hokianga, they were building schooners and such bke serviceable craft not long after Waterloo, and that is a very long time ago. The Auckland Scows. In .the old days when a trader-sailer was wanted the builder followed the traditional model and built a keel boat. Nowadays, to speak of a schooner or ketch is almost invariably to refer to a scow, one of those picturesque flat-bot-tomed craft we so often see. The type is particularly suited to our coast line —so said the builder—with its many inlets and winding, mangrove-fringed streams and the latest models, so he said, could stand up to the best of the round bottom class. It has also the inestimable advantage of being able to go where the keel boat could not make a passage. Also, once in, the scow when left by the tide, can sit down comfortably on the mad and so be easily loaded and unloaded. Another point is, the scow does not require ballastUseful boats though they are, even their day seems to be passing; very few new ones are being built. Steel and steam will have its way. It is seldom for instance, one sees a scow (as in the old days), loaded high with logs, coming from any port between Hokianga and Tairua. Now they drag the logs in at the end of a tow rope. And so wo chatted on, the boss every now and agai :i breaking off to speak a word of direction to his men as they moved about handling heavy baulks of timber. He had a 70 ton oil driven boat on the stocks. As they needs must, they fit some kind of power unit into almost everything. Shipbuilders of Early Days.

Situated as she is and with abundance of kauri, so easily obtained, made Auckland a centre of this now almost forgotten art. So we hear of Henry Niccol, in 1845, starting work. He had his first yard in Mechanics' Bay and there he built the brig Moa, a vessel of 219 tons. Here, also, he bnilt the Novelty (1862), the largest vessel built in Auckland, 376 tons. For long she ran to Sydney and back.

There is this about wooden shipbuilding —as opposed to vessels of iron and steel —•a costly outfit is not essential. Band saws and similar quick working gear save a great deal of time, of course, but sturdy arms and stout hearts were invented—if one may speak in that way —long before such tools were even thought of. A shipwright has his tools; they travel with him. It was an easy matter, therefore, to ferry over from Sydney, say, a dozen fine craftsmen and put them "at it. And that is just the sort of thing they did. Niccol began the trade. Then there is Alexander Allison, who began building at about the same time, and Beddoes, who built his first vessel in 1859, and Holmes Brothers, the people who built in 1864 the first primitive " ferry" an old sidewheeler, Waitemata. Then we have Sims and Brown starting in the same year. Charles Bailey in 1876 and Robert. Logan who set up two years later. In the eighties we have tlie Scots, McKay and McCallum and McQnarrie. To sailors and shipping men, what familiar old names these arc. First Steamer Built.

To Auckland fell the honour of building the first vessel propelled by steam. It is right and proper that, among many notable ships, she should be describedfirst. She was built in 1851—of wood, of course —by a man named Robert Stone to the order of Messrs. G. J. Stone, F. Gardner and Captain A. Cook. Her measurements were 52 feet by 13 feet beam. She was fitted with side paddles. In those early days there was a considerable trade with the Tamaki, farm produce coming in aud the usual lines j of settlers' supplies going out. The Governor Wynyard—for that was her name—was intended for this work; she j was no Mauretania, but at least she wasa great improvement on the bullock dr3.y " express " of tho time. The building of tho engines was thw most interesting part. The only foundry existing was little better than a blacksmith's forge. No such thing as a» steam plant existed, neither had they a.) boilermaker. As luck would have it an American sailor, who was a boilermaker! by trade, was in the town. He Was an ingenious fellow and undertook the job. To bend the plates he first made a mould* of hard clay and then, heating the plates*> with sledge hammers he and his mere forced tho stubborn sheets to the desired curve. For a drilling machine theAmerican hired a man noted for his strength and this brawny giant cut every hole. To drive the lathe and also the*; bellows of tho forgo and the smelting! plant (they had to" make castings somehow), all sorts and conditions of menlooking for a job were called in. And by such primitive means they built tho boiler and a direct-acting " steeple " engine, the piston of the cylinder acting; on the crank in what is called a " jewV harp." They did very well too, those old fellows. The story goes that they could pet up to eight knots out of this funny; iittle ship. Hanging in the Old Colonists' Museurrt is, a picture of Auckland taken in 1852. It shows the strand where Fort Street is now; also a spidery looking wharf running out, and clustered to this a numhei*j of mosquito craft. But tho main interest of the picture, at least, as relating lo< this story, is the little paddle boat splashing her way to this wharf. That is thsK Governor Wynyard. Later on ithev sent her over to Mel-* bourne (what daring sailors they must, have been), and in the hectic days of the gold rush it is said that she made large sums running on the Yarra. She was last heard of as tramping on the Tamarj Tasmania. If only seme one had thought! of it and preserved the engines, what an exhibit for the Old Colonists'. Museum.