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Otago Witness, Issue 3833, 30 August 1927, Page 11

“Shellback” writes in the Auckland Star: “There is a big difference now with the handling of cargo in Auckland compared to the early ’nineties. About that time the barque Antares was bn the leading berth at the Queen’s wharf for London. The crew supplied both the power and the labour. A two-horse dray would pull up abreast of the main hatch with four or five hales of flax. The crew would then knock off their work in the rigging, some would go on the wharf to sling the cargo, others would man the canstan to hoist it aboard, and the rest would go below to stow- it. The crewalternated their usual work with stevedoring until the barque was fully loaded, a task that took six or eight weeks to accompish.”