Build Date
1910
Boat Builder
S. Wood & Son
Length
69 Feet
Beam
16 Feet
Karaka The Wellington Harbour Boat
Built in 1910 by S. Wood & Son at their boatyard between Taranaki Street and Clyde Quay Wellington. Wellington Harbour Ferries Ltd., commissioned the build of Karaka for their business working along the Wellington coast. They had several ferry runs between Miramar, days Bay and Rona Bay. But when the electric tram service was introduced to Wellington they lost a lot of their client base and instead switched some of their runs to transporting cargo instead. It was at this point that they had Karaka built to do tug and pilot vehicle work for the Wellington Harbour Board. Karaka originally had a triple expansion steam engine that allowed Karaka to steam at 10 knots.
Karaka was well suited to towing and servicing the coal hulks that were kept at anchor off Queens Wharf. But Karaka also got to do the more glamourous work of ferrying passengers from Seatoun and Karaka bay to the city in holiday times and could do private picnic or fishing charters.
Karaka Becomes a Oyster Boat
Karaka along with the Admiral took part in the dramatic events on 1 August 1918 when the Defender caught fire at Kings Wharf in Wellington Harbour. The fire could not be put out so the two boats were to tow her to Somes Island. They beached the Defender but not long after their was a dramatic explosion and the Defender became engulfed in flames.
In 1923 Karaka was no longer needed by Wellington Harbour Ferries Ltd., as her work had been taken over by the Wellington Harbour Boards own boats and the Union Steam Ship Company’s boats. So they sold Karaka for 3,000 pounds to the Bluff Fish and Oyster Company. They made some modifications to turn the trading vessel into a fishing boat and karaka would remain an oyster fishing boat for the next 71 years.
In the 1990s Karaka was powered with a 8 cylinder Gardner.
On 7th September 2012 Karaka sunk on her mooring whilst rafted up to the former fishing boat Michelle at Breaksea Sound. They remained under water for two weeks before being successfully salvaged using air bags, a Tauranga dive team and a helicopter. Once they were back floating they were towed to Bluff to assess their condition and decide whether it was worth saving them. This isn’t the first time Karaka sunk on her mooring. She is said to have sunk on her mooring several years before this whilst in Deep Cove. That time she was successfully salvaged.
References
To research Karaka we used the book Nets, Lines and Pots: a History of New Zealand Fishing Vessels Vol 2 and the Otago Daily Times.
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