SHOWBOAT'S END

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23107, 4 August 1938, Page 12

SHOWBOAT'S END

LIXELY TO BE BUKNED ABANDONED BY OWNERS HARBOUR BOARD PROPERTY I FITTINGS BEING REMOVED Proud trader, coal hulk and cabaret at various stages of her career, the Columbia, better known to Aucklanders as the Showboat, has reached the end of her usefulness. The vessel, which is moored at the eastern reclamation, w ill possibly bo towed to sea shortly and burned. The cabaret fittings have been sold by the Auckland Harbour Board, to which the vessel has been abandoned, and demolition work has been begun, j This will be completed at the end of ! next week. Workmen were busy on the ! ship yesterday and already part of the ! flooring, roofing iron, sheets of plaster I wall-boards and electrical appliances ' have been removed, i The Showboat was originally a four- ■ masted American schooner and was used in the Honolulu trade. The vessel visited Napier some years ago with a load of timber and was bought by the Devonport Steam Ferry Company, Limited, and sailed to Auckland. The fittings were sold at auction and for a number of years she was used as a coal hulk and moored in the harbour. The vessel's next role was that of a cabaret. Converted in December, 19.35, she was used for that purpose until several months ago. When the Showboat was a cabaret she sank at her moorings on several occasions, but each time the vessel was refloated.

The superintendent and engineer of the Auckland Harbour Board, Mr. D. Holderness, said yesterday that the vessel was too strongly built, with innumerable bolts, to be broken up economically. It was for this reason that she would possibly be burned, although a final decision had yet to be made.