SHIP BUILDING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 12, 5 April 1927, Page 2

SHIP BUILDING

PAST AND PRESOB AN AUCKLAND INDUSfIft Whether it was the , rad% port which save rise te the *< ing industry, or vice versa ha,"?' i been a moot question, i n ’ , j** j itself it was no doubt the trade of the port which attracted attention of the first ship«- r^htj ' j the Waitemata, but in the ginning it was undoubtedly th/I I*' bility of New Zealand timber tor"l ' building purposes that was . J "‘ : ' sible for the commencement af'oI*' 1 *' dustry. For ships' spars kann , lc ' itself admirably, seamen finding to be "Sticks" of first class njtj Timber was to be had < n , throughout the Auckland Drnr*'" and so it was in northern Hokianga—that the first’ x ew , land built ship was launched i,7' early twenties. Put togetfe puriri and rata, and planked kauri, the Enterprise was ConsldnJ 1 very stout vessel. That she wrecked a few years later near? entrance of the Hokianga HtrK was certainly no fault of the buil^C In the development of the trad? the city it is certain that the ? shipbuilders played a big part FrT most among them was Henrv yJ' who. in 3 844. erected i™* 0 Mechanic s Bay somewhere i n i vicinity of the present railway briflr I Here also timber played a big tho pohutukawa which was extesively used in the construction of th framework being available in use’ * quantities. Niccol’s first ship Maukin whi.'h traded on the Sydc?run in the ’forties and ’fifties. \ 1866 the shipwright transferred u North Shore. where he erected patent slip large enough to take a 1.000-ton ship and from which ty turned out a number of vessels com. prising sailing ships of various rig? also a number of yachts of which Taniwha and Secret were well knewr Niccol was also responsible for the construction of the Novelty,-a clippcbuilt barque of 3 7 6 tons, which took the water in October 1862. Thu vessel was the largest turned out in Auckland Harbour and had a number of very fast runs to her credit, on* of her best being from Sydney to Auckland in 6 days 16 hours. Of her class this was probably the best boat that came from the Auckland slip* and she indeed justified the pride with which she was regarded hv her builders. In later years she raved herself the usual ignominious rpj that falls to the lot of out-cf-date craft —either at the hands of ship, breakers, or worse still, as a coal hulk —by being wrecked off the Chines* coast. The brig Moa, another very fast vessel belonging to the Henderson Macfarlane line, was als» launched from the Niccol slips it 1850. A year later the first steamboat built in New Zealand was launched at Freeman’s Bay. It was the Governor Wynyard, and although only propelled by two steeple engines of four horsi power each and held in considerabl« derision by the deep sea men of that time, for them it undoubtedly markd the beginning of the end. At Freeman’s Bay shipwrights no longer have to contend with the difficulties of earlier days. Mill timber lias replaced the pit-sawn product of the bush, and composite frames the pohutukawa of the past. Now en the slips and in course of construction coastal boats and schooners for the Island trade bear evidence that th» high standard set in the past is still maintained. The ferry boats EagEhawk. Albatross, Kestrel. Peregrine. Ngoiro, Makora and Lake Takapur.a, the Wairua and Ruawai on the Ka> para run. and the Otimai, Motu, Ti> hoe and other boats of the same clas* are familiar names to all Aucklanders while vessels costing up to approximately £15,000 now being laid dows also serve to demonstrate the grt.winf importance of this industry. On Mr C. Bailey’s slips the Hifofua, a 75-tci ketch fitted with Vicker-Petter 101 horsepower motor, is now nearis; completion and will shortly be pet into commission by the Tongas Government. Designed on gracefd as well as utilitarian lines the ves>-i will indeed prove a very worthy example of what can be turiled out on the Auckland slips. In the designir: and construction of the smaller era' Freeman’s Bay also commands a wic* trade, Auckland boats being dlstrbuted not only throughout New island waters but also in Austral:'. South Africa and very extensively throughout the Islands. - The latter trade has indeed growt to big proportions and "made in Auckland” is now the familiar tradJ mark in the South Seas.