Build Date
1885
Boat Builder
H.M Burnard
Length
49 Feet 5 Inches
Beam
15 Feet 5 Inches
Felicity in Golden Bay and with Captain Williams
Felicity was built at Frenchmans Bay in Abel Tasman by her owner H. M. Burnard. She was a shallow and beamy vessel with a very blunt bow. She had two masts and was ketch rigged. Burnard built Felicity for trading in the Golden Bay/Nelson region and in particular transporting coal from Puponga. As such she is one of the Bind Bay Hookers.
Around 1899 Felicity would be laid up for two years in Motueka. But by 1901 Captain George Williams owned and sailed her. Williams grandson Robbie Williams recalls on The Prow that his grandfather was a master-mariner and small ship owner in Port Nelson. As well as Felcity he owned Comet. But despite his credentials as a master-mariner the journey from Motueka to Nelson would prove problematic.
They were travelling in a strong south-westerly wind and Felicity was leaking. Add to this her bilge pump wasn’t working and Williams had a serious problem. She was slowly sinking and by the time another vessel was able to help she had capsized. They towed her into the harbour, pumped out the water and put her the right way round again. But to really put her right Felicity would spend months being repaired and re-rigged by the Ricketts Bros,. It was perhaps at this time she was fitted with a centreboard.
Draft
4 Feet 7 Inches
Weight
24 or 27 tons
Felicity After 1910
In 1910 Williams sold her to John Anderson but his tenure would not last long as a few months after his purchase on the 11 or 13 September 1910 Felicity was lost. Anderson had planned to sail from Wellington to Havelock and the Marlborough Sounds to transport timber and already had 10 tons of cargo on board including an oil powered launch. But when he got to the Cook Strait he came up against a Northwest gale and decided it would be safer to turn back for Wellington. This was a good choice until they struck a rock 100 yards from the light at Pencarrow Head at 6.30pm. Felicity quickly sunk and her captain and two crew climbed onto a 12ft x 30ft rock. They stayed there all night while the rain and gale continued around them. The lighthouse keeper Parker of Pencarrow spotted them at 6am and came to their rescue getting them a shore and looking after them. An inquiry determined the cause of the sinking was the jib-pennant being carried away and without stays Felicity was swept up on to the rocks.
References
To research the boat Felicty we used Abel Tasman Area History and the websites The Prow and ShipStamps.
Related Posts
Comet – 48ft Blind Bay Hooker built in 1883 and used in the Nelson/Tasman area.
Old Jack II – Blind Bay Hooker built out of Kauri in Port Underwood for John and Edward Guard.
Pearl Kasper – 77ft George Niccol scow which would become a Blind Bay Hooker.
Planet – 47ft. Trading Vessel built by Beddoes in 1859. Used to deliver cargo and mail.