Orakei: 69ft Scow Built in 1892

Build Date

1882

Boat Builder

Sims & Brown of Auckland

Length

69ft 6inches

Beam

18ft

Building Orakei and the Puponga Coal Company

Built by Sim & Brown of Auckland Orakei was a Schooner rigged deck scow. With a flat bottom and a large centreboard which could be winched up through the hold so Orakei could safely sit on the ground at low tide.

Originally built for three men – Robert Hunter, David Nolan and James Philson. Orakei was used to transport timber, stock and coal.

She was steered from the stern with a large wheel which controlled chains attached to either side of the rudder. At one time Orakei had a practical box cabin at the stern which left a large amount of deck space for cargo.

In 1895 Orakei was rebuilt and lengthed by 20 feet by C. W. Bailey. At this time she was owned by James Biddick and was used to transport sheep and cattle. She also participated in scow regattas at this time but it is unknown how she fared.

The Puponga Coal Company purchased Orakei at an unknown date and moved the scow to the Tasman region. During her time with the Puponga Coal Company, Orakei was used for transporting goods including the timber needed for the wharf in Puponga harbour. But by 1905 they had abandoned Orakei and sunk her at the wharf in Puponga.

View of a wharf with seven men standing on the wharf with a large stack of timber

Draft

3 ft 2inches

Weight

32 tons

Two views of a scow near the bank of a river. A man rowing in a dinghy is in the foreground and two other small vessels are in the background. — Scow on a river. Nelson Provincial Museum, F N Jones Collection: 313424. This boat is identified as possibly being the Maitai but some think it is Orakei.

The Hadfield’s Take Ownership of Orakei

But her story wasn’t over yet. A local family in need of some money to complete the build of their scow the Venture heard Orakei was for sale. Fred Hadfield and his brother-in-law Bill Winter journeyed to Puponga in their old ketch rigged boat The Old Tub.

Finding the Orakei in better condition than they perhaps had thought, Hadfield and Winter purchased her for £5 in 1900. But they still needed to get Orakei to their boat building yard in Awaroa Inlet, Golden Bay so they pumped water out of her at low tide, made some repairs, rigged a sail and waited for the right wind. A westerly helped them out and towing their boat The Old Tub they made it to their yard in one day.

Now the real work began. At Awaroa they beached Orakei and found her keel was almost eaten through by worms, she needed some new planks and the rigging needed to be relagged. But they were lucky as a large Rimu (about 70ft long) had fallen on their farm some years earlier. Its sap wood had rotted away over time leaving only the heart left. They deemed this perfect for the keel and with help of their family they completed the necessary work on Orakei and repainted her.

With the work complete they sailed Orakei to Nelson where she was sold to a merchant called James ‘Jimmie’ Baird for either 300 or 400 pounds. With this windfall they were able to complete the Venture and she traded around Tasman Bay for some years.

Orakei the Trading Vessel

By 1910 Orakei was trading throughout the district. She carried timber from the Croiselles to Nelson and on high tide she could sail right up the Maitai to Millers Acre to unload. She was even involved in a rescue mission in 1913. The steamer Manaroa sunk at D’Urville Island in April 1913 after hitting a floating object. Along with the Pearl Kasper, Orakei went to the salvage the wrecked boat.

In August 1910 under the management of J.M. Etheridge Orakei was stranded at Nelson. Then again in March 1911 she was damaged with D. Bonner in charge. Then in September 1913 she was in crash with the Maid of Italy whilst in Nelson. This was with G.N. Westrupp at the helm.

Orakei was then sold to Miller in 1910 and could be seen sailing around Tasman Bay until 1921 when she was broken up and buried on the Picton foreshore. Orakei’s register was closed on 19 April 1921.

View of Haven Road Nelson with railway tracks on the waters edge and the scow Orakei tied to the side of the road. — Haven Road. Nelson. N.Z. Nelson Provincial Museum, F N Jones Collection: 321249

Orakei’s Owners

1882-88 Robert John Hunter
1882-1889 David Nolan and James Voad Anderson Philson.
1889-1895 Joseph Byers
1895 Henry Octavius Nolan (Mtgee)
1895-1899 James Biddick
1896-97 Manuel Igangio Soares
1897-99 Innes Soares
1899-1900 William Moore
1900 David Goldie
1900-1901 Charles Bonner
1901-1909 Puponga Coal Co.
1910 Frederick George Hadfield
1910-13 Andrew Miller
1913-? Robert Benson
1913-21 James Sloane

References

To research Orakei we used the Port Māpua Maritime Museum exhibition, Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies, Volume 2, Issue 3, 1989 ‘The Venture’ and Volume 1, issue 2, November 1982 ‘The Scows of Port Nelson’, the National Library website and the book A History of New Zealand Scows and Theirs Trades by David Langdon. Images are courtesy of The Nelson Provincial Museum, Pupuri Taonga O Te Tai Ao.

Southern Isle – 92 feet Nelson scow built by D.M. Darroch

Comet – 48ft Blind Bay Hooker trading vessel built in 1883

Venture – 46ft scow built by the Hadfields of Awaroa

Planet – 47ft Blind Bay Hooker trading Vessel built by Beddoes in 1859