LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW
From Ray Wise of London, comes this coastal landscape of the marine suburb of Sumner from the vicinity of Clifton. With a south-easterly view from Shag Rock (Left), Whitewash Head can be seen at the centre.
Showing posts with label Sumner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sumner. Show all posts
Mar 25, 2009
Feb 23, 2009
Caledonia 1853-1866
LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW
The first vessel to be constructed at Lyttelton was launched from the port's earliest slip-way close to where the former railway station now stands, adjacent to where she is depicted below at the lower Right.
With a displacement of 20 tons and the registration number 40337, she was also reputed to be the first New Zealand vessel built of indigenous timbers. Constructed by the Scottish emigrants John Grubb (1817-1898) and George Marshall (1821-1874), the light displacement cutter was christened Caledonia by Mrs Mary Grubb at 1 pm on Wednesday, the 31st of August, 1853.
With her shallow draft, the gaff-rigged Caledonia appears to have been built specifically for the coastal river trade. Although her hold had the capacity to carry about 30 bales of wool, her principal role would have been to carry both construction timber from George Marshall's sawmill at Pigeon Bay and the early emigrant's heavy luggage from Lyttelton to the wharves at the port of Christchurch on the Heathcote River at Woolston.
The ship building partnership with George Marshall appears to have been a short-lived affair, as two years later John Grubb is listed as being in that business with the Shipwrights Robert and Magnus Allen, also of Lyttelton. However, it's recorded that George Marshall's younger brother, Captain John Wallace Marshall, was a trusted Heathcote River pilot. The Captain is also listed as the Master of Grubb and Marshall's second vessel; the steam lighter Canterbury, which they built at Pigeon Bay in June 1855.
During her short career the Caledonia encountered at least four significant mishaps, with the last being fatal.
The first occurred at the end of 1856, when her Master and seaman Marsh were drowned when the ship's boat, laden with bales of wool, capsized at Boat Harbour, 15 kms south of Kaikoura. The well known and much esteemed Captain Randal had been a crew member of the Charlotte Jane, first of the Canterbury Association's emigrant vessels to arrive at Lyttelton in 1850.
In July 1863 the Caledonia was bumped on to a sand bank by a heavy roller when crossing the Bar at nearby Sumner. The vessel's main mast snapped just above the deck and Edward Newton promptly jumped overboard in time to save himself from being struck by it. William Callaghan, the other crew member, was however not so fortunate. At the helm, he was knocked unconscious when struck violently by the masthead.
At some unspecified date, probably as a consequence of the great tidal wave of 1863, the vessel was driven ashore at Little Akaloa in Akaroa Harbour while employed in carryinging timber to Lyttelton.
Caledonia's final mishap came on the 16th of April 1866 when she struck the treacherous rocks below Whitewash Head, which stands between Taylors Mistake and Sumner (below).
The carvel planked scale model of the Caledonia was built using the vessel's indigenous woods and extensively copies her original construction methods. The model is 43 cm in length, 34 cm above the keel and carries the barely decipherable inscription "Caledonia 1853" on the base of the pedestal.
With a displacement of 20 tons and the registration number 40337, she was also reputed to be the first New Zealand vessel built of indigenous timbers. Constructed by the Scottish emigrants John Grubb (1817-1898) and George Marshall (1821-1874), the light displacement cutter was christened Caledonia by Mrs Mary Grubb at 1 pm on Wednesday, the 31st of August, 1853.
With her shallow draft, the gaff-rigged Caledonia appears to have been built specifically for the coastal river trade. Although her hold had the capacity to carry about 30 bales of wool, her principal role would have been to carry both construction timber from George Marshall's sawmill at Pigeon Bay and the early emigrant's heavy luggage from Lyttelton to the wharves at the port of Christchurch on the Heathcote River at Woolston.
The ship building partnership with George Marshall appears to have been a short-lived affair, as two years later John Grubb is listed as being in that business with the Shipwrights Robert and Magnus Allen, also of Lyttelton. However, it's recorded that George Marshall's younger brother, Captain John Wallace Marshall, was a trusted Heathcote River pilot. The Captain is also listed as the Master of Grubb and Marshall's second vessel; the steam lighter Canterbury, which they built at Pigeon Bay in June 1855.
During her short career the Caledonia encountered at least four significant mishaps, with the last being fatal.
The first occurred at the end of 1856, when her Master and seaman Marsh were drowned when the ship's boat, laden with bales of wool, capsized at Boat Harbour, 15 kms south of Kaikoura. The well known and much esteemed Captain Randal had been a crew member of the Charlotte Jane, first of the Canterbury Association's emigrant vessels to arrive at Lyttelton in 1850.
In July 1863 the Caledonia was bumped on to a sand bank by a heavy roller when crossing the Bar at nearby Sumner. The vessel's main mast snapped just above the deck and Edward Newton promptly jumped overboard in time to save himself from being struck by it. William Callaghan, the other crew member, was however not so fortunate. At the helm, he was knocked unconscious when struck violently by the masthead.
At some unspecified date, probably as a consequence of the great tidal wave of 1863, the vessel was driven ashore at Little Akaloa in Akaroa Harbour while employed in carryinging timber to Lyttelton.
Caledonia's final mishap came on the 16th of April 1866 when she struck the treacherous rocks below Whitewash Head, which stands between Taylors Mistake and Sumner (below).
The carvel planked scale model of the Caledonia was built using the vessel's indigenous woods and extensively copies her original construction methods. The model is 43 cm in length, 34 cm above the keel and carries the barely decipherable inscription "Caledonia 1853" on the base of the pedestal.
Jan 25, 2009
s s Gazelle 1852-1889
LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW
There are no known specific photographs of the Lyttelton coastal passenger steamer Gazelle. However, she appears in the distance in five photographs of the port taken between 1861 and 1879, and it's therefore been possible to recreate her original appearance with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Screw driven steam ships were still something of a rarity in 1852 when the 78.85 ton vessel was launched by John Horn (1815-1895) from Malcomson's Neptune Iron Works at Waterford, Ireland. Early propellor designs were plagued with vibration and the paddle wheel driven steam ship remained more popular into the 1860s.
With a length of 25.17 metres, 4.95 metres in the beam and a draft of 2.35 metres, she was clinker built of overlapping iron plates, affixed with clench bolts. In the 6.75 metre engine room two diagonal direct acting 30 horsepower steam engines were geared to a single shaft. Built by Wilton & Company of Deptford, England, the engine cylinders were 36 centimetres in diameter, with a stroke of 46 centimetres.
The eventful career of the Schooner rigged vessel began in the ownership of Anthony G. Robinson of London, where she was registered in 1853. Sailed to Australia, she was sold in March, 1854 to Frederick Evelyn Liardet of Ballam Park at Sandridge, who used her for carrying the Royal Mail and overseas passengers from Port Melbourne to the city.
In April, 1857 ownership was transferred to Captain William Lushington Goodwin (~1798 -1862) of Launceston, who employed the Gazelle in the passenger trade between Launceston and Georgetown. On the 28th of August 1860 she was sold to a James Nichols, passing three days later Charles V. Robinson of Launceston and James Lilly of Melbourne for service between the coastal ports of south-west Victoria and Melbourne until September 1861. She then passed briefly to James Tobin Cockshott (1831-1867), a merchant of Melbourne.
But the longest chapter in Gazelle's career began with her arrival in the command of a Captain James at Lyttelton in October, 1861. Her new owner was Frederick Banks (1825-1894), of Heathcote, Christchurch. A partner with Murray Aynsley in the shipping agency of Miles & Co. on Norwich Quay, Banks had arrived from Melbourne in 1857.
In the service of Miles & Co., from November, 1861 Gazelle carried passengers, in two classes, from Lyttelton's Peacock's Wharf to the South Island coastal ports of Kaiapoi, Kaikoura, Akaroa, Timaru and Port Chalmers. Until 1863 she appeared in the command of Captain Thomas Gay, whose previous vessel, the whaling brigantine Corsair, had been wrecked at Lyttelton in April, 1861.
In March of 1863 the Gazelle stranded at Saltwater Creek in the Kaiapoi River estuary. By the Autumn of 1864 she was carrying miners to the gold fields at the head of Pelorous Sound in the Marlborough district.
By the later 1860s, economic depression and the development of the provincial railways precipitated a decline in the demand for coastal passenger services and Gazelle was plying Lyttelton Harbour carrying Immigration and Health Officers to overseas vessels entering the port and also acting as a tug and passenger tender.
Serving the port of Christchurch on the Heathcote River at Woolston by 1862, on Saturday, the 2nd of November, 1867 Gazelle ran ashore on the north spit when towing two ketches across the bar at Sumner. Expected to become a total loss, the wreck was sold to new owners (probably Talbot, McClatchie & Co.), recovered over a specially built way and rebuilt by Anderson & Grubb at Corsair Bay for £1,000 (the engine being rebuilt by John Anderson's Lyttelton foundry).
In 1868 the Port of Melbourne registry (40931) was tranferred to Lyttelton. In July of that year she salvaged cargo from the 163 ton brig Daniel Watson, which had been wrecked on the Shag Reef in Lyttelton harbour. On the 15th of August a Tsunami originating off the seaboard of Peru caused the Gazelle to break her moorings when a tidal surge swept up the Kaiapoi river. The steamer smashed into the wooden schooner Challenge as a consequence. But her greatest claim to fame came on the 22nd of April, 1869 when she conveyed Queen Victoria's second son from the 4,686 ton steam frigate Galatea anchored off Little Port Cooper into the township.
Although by the later 1870s she was still a sound sea-going vessel, Gazelle was facing stiff competition from newer and more powerful vessels in the Lyttelton service. In 1877 she undertook a five month salvage expedition to the General Grant, which had been wrecked on the Auckland Islands in 1866. Her master Captain Giles was able to locate the wreck, but no gold was recovered.
Six months later the little ship was inolved in a more successful salvage, recovering cargo from the wreck of the Ann Gambles in Bluff Harbour. But there was insufficient work for her in the South Island coastal trade and she was sold in April, 1879 to Reginald Bright of Melbourne. Re-registered there, a month later she was sold on to W. H. Wischer and Company, Superphosphate and Fertiliser merchants.
By March, 1884 Gazelle was owned by William F. Walker of the Waratah Bay Lime, Marble and Cement Company. Captained by John Brown, she plied in the Lime trade to Waratah Bay, Victoria and also called at other Gippsland ports to load general cargo. Subsequently cut down to a Lighter and with her engines removed, she was used by the Barham River Timber Company to carry timber to vessels loading in the crescent shaped Apollo Bay (located between Lorne and Cape Otway, 187 km southwest from Melbourne).
Succumbing to an easterly gale of the notorious Bass Strait weather, the Gazelle was swamped at her mooring and blown ashore in Apollo Bay on the 25th of February, 1889. Laden with railway sleepers, she would become one of the 16 known shipwrecks in the bay (of which only three have been identified).
Not quite forgotten across the Tasman Sea, her New Zealand sojourn is commemorated by the naming of Gazelle Lane in the Christchurch suburb of Redcliffs.
Screw driven steam ships were still something of a rarity in 1852 when the 78.85 ton vessel was launched by John Horn (1815-1895) from Malcomson's Neptune Iron Works at Waterford, Ireland. Early propellor designs were plagued with vibration and the paddle wheel driven steam ship remained more popular into the 1860s.
With a length of 25.17 metres, 4.95 metres in the beam and a draft of 2.35 metres, she was clinker built of overlapping iron plates, affixed with clench bolts. In the 6.75 metre engine room two diagonal direct acting 30 horsepower steam engines were geared to a single shaft. Built by Wilton & Company of Deptford, England, the engine cylinders were 36 centimetres in diameter, with a stroke of 46 centimetres.
The eventful career of the Schooner rigged vessel began in the ownership of Anthony G. Robinson of London, where she was registered in 1853. Sailed to Australia, she was sold in March, 1854 to Frederick Evelyn Liardet of Ballam Park at Sandridge, who used her for carrying the Royal Mail and overseas passengers from Port Melbourne to the city.
In April, 1857 ownership was transferred to Captain William Lushington Goodwin (~1798 -1862) of Launceston, who employed the Gazelle in the passenger trade between Launceston and Georgetown. On the 28th of August 1860 she was sold to a James Nichols, passing three days later Charles V. Robinson of Launceston and James Lilly of Melbourne for service between the coastal ports of south-west Victoria and Melbourne until September 1861. She then passed briefly to James Tobin Cockshott (1831-1867), a merchant of Melbourne.
But the longest chapter in Gazelle's career began with her arrival in the command of a Captain James at Lyttelton in October, 1861. Her new owner was Frederick Banks (1825-1894), of Heathcote, Christchurch. A partner with Murray Aynsley in the shipping agency of Miles & Co. on Norwich Quay, Banks had arrived from Melbourne in 1857.
In the service of Miles & Co., from November, 1861 Gazelle carried passengers, in two classes, from Lyttelton's Peacock's Wharf to the South Island coastal ports of Kaiapoi, Kaikoura, Akaroa, Timaru and Port Chalmers. Until 1863 she appeared in the command of Captain Thomas Gay, whose previous vessel, the whaling brigantine Corsair, had been wrecked at Lyttelton in April, 1861.
In March of 1863 the Gazelle stranded at Saltwater Creek in the Kaiapoi River estuary. By the Autumn of 1864 she was carrying miners to the gold fields at the head of Pelorous Sound in the Marlborough district.
By the later 1860s, economic depression and the development of the provincial railways precipitated a decline in the demand for coastal passenger services and Gazelle was plying Lyttelton Harbour carrying Immigration and Health Officers to overseas vessels entering the port and also acting as a tug and passenger tender.
Serving the port of Christchurch on the Heathcote River at Woolston by 1862, on Saturday, the 2nd of November, 1867 Gazelle ran ashore on the north spit when towing two ketches across the bar at Sumner. Expected to become a total loss, the wreck was sold to new owners (probably Talbot, McClatchie & Co.), recovered over a specially built way and rebuilt by Anderson & Grubb at Corsair Bay for £1,000 (the engine being rebuilt by John Anderson's Lyttelton foundry).
In 1868 the Port of Melbourne registry (40931) was tranferred to Lyttelton. In July of that year she salvaged cargo from the 163 ton brig Daniel Watson, which had been wrecked on the Shag Reef in Lyttelton harbour. On the 15th of August a Tsunami originating off the seaboard of Peru caused the Gazelle to break her moorings when a tidal surge swept up the Kaiapoi river. The steamer smashed into the wooden schooner Challenge as a consequence. But her greatest claim to fame came on the 22nd of April, 1869 when she conveyed Queen Victoria's second son from the 4,686 ton steam frigate Galatea anchored off Little Port Cooper into the township.
On Tuesday, the 27th of September, 1870 Gazelle's captain; the dour, black-bearded, Scotsman Hugh McLellan, was seriously hurt when he fell into the hold while the vessel was moored at a Kaiapoi wharf. McLellan (1836-1905) resided at Lyttelton's extant Islay Cottage and would subsequently become the Harbour Master, but a forceful personality and fierce Highland pride made him enemies in the port and he was forced to resign in 1885.
By January, 1874 she was listed as being either commanded or owned by Captain Thomas McClatchie (1833-1903) of Brittan Terrace, Lyttelton. Two years later, in the command of Henry Zachary Nichols, with seven crew and one passenger aboard, a member of the crew was lost overboard 15 miles off Lyttelton Harbour's Godley Head.
Six months later the little ship was inolved in a more successful salvage, recovering cargo from the wreck of the Ann Gambles in Bluff Harbour. But there was insufficient work for her in the South Island coastal trade and she was sold in April, 1879 to Reginald Bright of Melbourne. Re-registered there, a month later she was sold on to W. H. Wischer and Company, Superphosphate and Fertiliser merchants.
By March, 1884 Gazelle was owned by William F. Walker of the Waratah Bay Lime, Marble and Cement Company. Captained by John Brown, she plied in the Lime trade to Waratah Bay, Victoria and also called at other Gippsland ports to load general cargo. Subsequently cut down to a Lighter and with her engines removed, she was used by the Barham River Timber Company to carry timber to vessels loading in the crescent shaped Apollo Bay (located between Lorne and Cape Otway, 187 km southwest from Melbourne).
Succumbing to an easterly gale of the notorious Bass Strait weather, the Gazelle was swamped at her mooring and blown ashore in Apollo Bay on the 25th of February, 1889. Laden with railway sleepers, she would become one of the 16 known shipwrecks in the bay (of which only three have been identified).
Not quite forgotten across the Tasman Sea, her New Zealand sojourn is commemorated by the naming of Gazelle Lane in the Christchurch suburb of Redcliffs.
Corrections and amendments, etc. would be appreciated.
Dec 18, 2008
Sumner Esplanade circa 1971
2682 x 650 PIXEL IMAGE OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW
A westerly panorama from the summit of Cave Rock, assembled from three of a sequence of nine photographs by Wiselark of Wellington.
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