Edwin Fox Hull and Anchor Windlass
Location: Dunbar Wharf, Picton.
At Dunbar Wharf in Picton is the timber hull of the Edwin Fox, one of the world's oldest surviving ships. The hull and remnants of the lower deck is all that remains of the fully rigged sailing ship designed in England and built in Calcutta, India, in 1853. The ship travelled on her maiden voyage from Calcutta to London via Cape Town carrying a cargo load of various items, including bags of rice, linseed, castor oil and cow hides.
However, following classification in London she was immediately chartered to the British Government to carry stores and troops during the Crimean War. She was then commissioned to deport convicts to Fremantle, Western Australia until 1862. Under new ownership, the Edwin Fox was reverted back to a cargo ship until 1873 when she was used to transport immigrants to New Zealand, making four trips in total.
The ship then played an important part in the pioneering trade of exporting frozen mutton from New Zealand to Britain. She was converted into a large mobile freezer in 1885 and was berthed at Lyttelton, Gisborne, Bluff and Picton. From 1905 to the mid-1950s the ship ended her working life as a landing stage and coal hulk in Picton. A restoration society was formed in 1965 and she is now conserved in a special dry dock in Picton.
The Edwin Fox Hull and Anchor Windlass were registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust 09 December 1999. It is registered as a Category I – Historic Place.
NZHPT link
Other links
Sources
- Rebecca O'Brien, 'Edwin Fox Hull and Anchor Windlass', NZHPT Registration Report, 28 May 2003 (Record no. 7450).
- The New Zealand Maritime Record, 'The 149 year Illustrated Log of the Edwin Fox', updated to 2002 http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/edwinfox.htm, accessed 18 March 2010.