OLD POWDER HULK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1938, Page 9

OLD POWDER HULK

DUNEDIN RELIC TO BE REMOVED. Many citizens of Dunedin will remember the old powder hulk which for many years was a landmark on the east side of the harbour off Vauxhall. Originally the barque Delaware, which was built in 1848, it had quite a romantic career, being owned by a Captain Fox, an adventurous seaman who actually had the temerity at one time to challenge, with his diminutive barque, the supremacy of the Union Steam Ship Company in the AustraliaNew Zealand trade. The U.S.S. Company, needless to add, survived the challenge. When the old Delaware had finished her seagoing days she was placed at Vauxhall and used as a powder hulk, and after this arrangement had terminated, she was leased by a Mr West, who fitted her up as a residence. Vacated by Mr West, it was next leased by a Mr W. B. Watson, and eventually by the Vauxhall Power Boat and Sailing Club as a club house.

It was while being used for this last-named purpose that the old hulk was, just eight years ago, gutted by fire. Since that time the charred bones have remained protruding from the water. With all its not uninteresting history, this skeleton of what was once no doubt looked upon as a graceful little vessel, is not considered to add to the beauty of the surroundings, and it is the intention of the Harbour Board engineer (Mr J. McG. Wilkie) to clean it out as soon as more important work in the harbour had been completed.