WELLINGTON PATENT SLIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22066, 23 September 1933, Page 5

WELLINGTON PATENT SLIP

CHANGING HANDS - STORY OP ITS ORIGIN. When the Patent Slip in Evans Bay started operations just oyer 60 jjears ago, Wellington .was not the port it is now, ships in their size were little more than toys compared with, what they are now, and big floating docks were dreams of the future (says the Evening Post). The Patent Slip has certainly played a very important part in the growth Of the port of Wellington and in the maintenance of the coastal shipping, and it will probably continue for many years yet to provide facilities difficult to dispense with. With the expiration of the lease of the Harbour Board property on which it stands, the time has apparently arisen for change of ownership, and if negotiations at present proceeding arc finalised, as they are' expected to be, the ownership of the Patent Slip will in the near future pass from the Wellington Patent Slip Company to the Wellington Harbour Board.

The Patent Slip, during the last 60 years, has had nearly 6000 vessels hauled up on it for painting and repairs,'The dead-weight tonnage of all combined being well over two millions. The slip, under its projected new control, will carry on its work in respect to smaller vessels, for with the slip available, the use of the floating'dock for small vessels is unnecessary: and uneconomical.' But with the two facilities under one control, probably more efficient and economical service can be given. The Patent Slip, although probably few people realise it, has a relation to the Panama canal which De Lesseps, after his success with the Suez Canal, proposed to cut through the Isthmus of Panama. Do Lesseps failed miserably in his giant undertaking, but the Patent Slip eventuated, although at one time it looked as if that project would fail too. When De Lesseps proposed cutting the. Panama canal, a company of English shipowners, in the belief that the canal would be completed in a year or two and that the time would bo opportune for establishing a fleet of sail-assisted steamers from between England and New Zealand, decided that it would be necessary to have facilities for repairing these vessels if they came to grief in this part of the world. Hence the building of the Patent Slip to take vessels up to 2000 tons, which was the size of those which were to pass through the Panama canal of De Lesseps. PANAMA FAILS—SLIP MATERIAL- ' ISES. The Panama canal project failed, and ships continued to sail round Cape Horn. The slip plan, too, nearly failed, for the site originally' selected proved to be useless. The bank on which it was proposed to haul the ships, was found to be composed of unstable shingle and not, of sufficient solidity to carry the vessels when high and dry. However, the Wellington Provincial Government realised wliat a tremendous asset the Patent Slip would be to Wellington. Financial aid was forthcoming, and the material for building the Patent Slip, which had been landed in 1865 and 1866, and which for three years remained piled up on the spot, was turned to practical use, the slipway being constructed on. a site not far from the spot originally selected. It took more than three years to lay the 700 feet of slipway and to, do all the necessary construction work. Much of the work had to be done , under the water in diving , bells. But all. was eventually finished, and in May, 1873, the first Vessel—the barqlie Cyrus—was hauled up on it. De Lesseps having by this time failcjl ip his’ canal scheme, there were no ,2000-ton steamers, for the Patent Slip: to-nurse, and coastal and sailing vessels made comparatively little use of it for many years; But the trade of the port gradually grew, and in Tike proportion increased’the use to which the slip was put. A smaller slipway to .accommodate vessels up to 750 tons was completed.in 1922. . If the -Patent Slip becomes the. property of the Wellington Harbour Board, and the lease of that'part of the- foreshore to the company is terminated, - it is intended to take the opportunity of improving the roadway so as to prevent such blockage as there has been on occasions. In fact, once it was necessary, when a particularly large: vessel was on the slipway,' to build a special traffic bridge. ROMANCE OF THE PAST. 1 Romance connected. with vessels using the Patent Slip may be a thing of the past. There are no longer sailing vessels coming to Wellington every season to carry wool to England. Modern steam leviathans do this job now, and they do not require to be slipped and given a coat of tallow to make them more speedy in the race Home to catch the first of the London wool sales. Once upon a. time it was only sailing ships that went on the slip; then these were gradually replaced by steamships; and now the motor ship is taking the place of the steamship. . ‘