NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST STEAMERS

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12394, 19 February 1908, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST STEAMERS

A corsffpondent of the New Zealand Hera i>l gives some interesting information regarding the first steamers built in Nhw Zealand. The first steamer, he states. wa3 built by Mr Stone, some time in the early fifties, and was called the Governor Wynvard. The engines were constructed by M^ssrfr- Bourne and Dove, whose foundry wa* situated about the site of Dalton'3 tailoring establishment in Queen Street. The vessel was not a financial success in New Zealand waters, and she was taken to Melbourne, where the diggings had been just previously discovered. The Governor Wvnyard then carried on a service between Melbourno and Hobson's Bay, and did very well. "The second steamer built in Auckland was by the Messrs 'lizard, and was called the City of Auckland." adds the correspondent. "She was Duilt a,bout 185< or 1858, and ended hef dareer a short time subsequently in St. George's Bay. She was engaged in the firewood trade, and burned her wholo cargo on one occasion between Coromandel and Auckland, and was also nine or ten days on the trip, so it may be assumed that she was not a financial success. I remember boarding her in Coromandel. when her owner informed me she was built on the lines of the Great Eastern, that is, that her length, was ten times her beam, and that when, they put new tubes in the boiler she would be a complete success." The third steamer built-in New Zealand was also unfortunate. She was about to sail for the south with passengers bound for the Otago diggings, when some "evil-disposed villain" let all the water out of the boilers, with the result that serious damage -was done. Subsequently the vessel came to grief* in a hurricane which visited Auckland in the early sixties, when some 26 vessels were smashed against one another on the wharf. The i'hcfin'x, as the tteamer was called, sank at Hor moorings. Later on «he waa raised aud concerted into a Bailing vessel.