Build Date
1914
Boat Builder
G T Niccol
Length
87 Feet / 27 Meters
Beam
23 Feet/ 7 Meters
Building Paroto and Her Early Trading Days
Built in 1914 by GT Niccol as an auxiliary ketch Paroto would go on to be used for trade in the Bay of Plenty, Napier and the top of the south. She started out with the Northern Steam Ship Company who commissioned her build. They used her for trade in the Bay of Plenty for many years. They traded from Auckland to Matakana, Algies Bay, Warkworth, Mahurangi, Kerikeri, purerua, Whanaki and Whangaruru. But in 1948 they sold Paroto to Richardson and Company in Napier. But they found Paroto too small so they sold her only a year later in 1949 to the Collingwood Shipping Company. This ended Paroto’s northern trade routes
In 1950 Paroto was converted to a motor vessel with the fitting of two 114bhp diesel engines.
In 1958 the Port of Kaipoi was reopened to tackle the congestion and expense of taking cargo through Lyttleton. Kaipoi provided a profitable route for cargo to be shipped from wellington and then onto trucks to Christchurch. Paroto’s two metre draught made her ideal for braving the sandbar and shallow trip down river though even she would end up stranded on the Waimakariri Bar once on the 1st May 1959. But a day later she was refloated without trouble.
Paroto became the first vessel to use the this newly opened port with Captain Fitzsimmons at the helm and her crew of six. Arriving at 8.15 in the morning Paroto found a crowd of hundreds waiting to see her including Mayor Williams who welcomed them to town.
Times were changing fast though and the Kaiapoi coastal traders would soon be made redundant by the introduction of roll-on/roll-off ferries running regularly between the North and South Islands.
6.5 Feet / 2 Meters
Draught
Weight
128 Gross Tonnes
Paroto After The 1960s
In 1960 she was sold to the Inter Island Shipping Company of Nelson. Also, in 1960 Paroto is recorded as bumping the Waimakariri bar on her way out of port. In 1961 the Inter Island Shipping Company changed Paroto’s engines to two 98bhp diesel engines.
The writer on Coastal Memories recalls their time working as a deck boy on Paroto at this time. She was their first ship and at the time she was used for regular apple runs from the Nelson/Tasman orchards to Wellington. There were two deck boys on board and they would take it in turns to act as cook/cleaner for one week and then do the 4 to 8 watch on the next week. The 4 to 8 watch involved working on deck with two Abs from 4am to 8pm and 4pm to 8pm.
At this time Paroto’s home port was Wellington and they travelled to Nelson, Motueka, Collingwood, Wanganui, Picton and Lyttleton to trade.
On the 3 August 1966 Paroto was lost at sea. She was travelling south from Wellington to Kaipoi with 80 tonnes of cargo on board when she hits rocks. They were travelling in heavy fog and hit the rocks at Point Gibson, North Canterbury. The crew managed to safely leave Paroto but she could not be refloated and was broken up on the rocks two days later. This was a big blow for Port Kaiapoi which had been struggling against the new competition and higher wharf costs in Wellington. Only a year later Kaiapoi unloaded its last cargo
References
To research Paroto we used Kaiapoi Maritime Heritage Trust, Te Ūaka The Lyttelton Museum website, Coastal Memories and The National Library.
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Motu – 99ft trading vessel built by George T Niccol that worked in Auckland, Wellington, Lyttleton and Tasman Bay.
M. V. Tuhoe – 97ft George Niccol trading Scow used during World War Two by the US Army.