Build Date
1883
Boat Builder
Charles Bailey Snr
Length
69.3 Feet
Beam
18.8 Feet
Building Vixen
Vixen was built in Auckland by Charles Bailey Senior. She was a ketch-rigged deck scow with rounded chines, a square stern and flat bottom making her a smaller version of Vesper and Vindex.
Vixen’s first owners were Alfred Buckland and James Biddick. They used her to transport cattle, sheep, horses and pigs from the islands around Auckland. They also raced her in the annual scow regattas. Vixen even won the longer course race at Auckland Regatta only one year after launch in 1884. The race was 50 miles long and Vixen won it despite fast schooners also competing . After Vixen Pukapuka and Orakei came in next.
Auckland Libraries Heritage Images Collection.
Draught
3 Feet
Weight
25.22 GT
Official Number
82723
Vixen’s Final Years
Buckland ceased to own her in 1895 but Biddick continued until 1905 when she was sold to Edward Passey Coyle. In 1907 Percy Robert McGill took ownership of Vixen until 1911 when Stanley Jeffreys and Francis Arthur Rich purchased her. Jeffreys and Rich only owned her for one year though and in 1912 James Smith & Co. Ltd., and James Quinn became Vixen’s owner.
William Long Casey would then own her from 1918 to 1922 when Henry August Kasper took ownership. Also in 1922 J J Craig Ltd., became her last owner. They kept her until the 1950s and officially changed her name to Wendell on the 19th August 1922. According to farmer Colin Gordon of Waiheke Island Vixen was brought by his father in the 1940s for scrap. He wanted the timber to rebuild their wharf and as such Vixen was wrecked at Awaawaroa Bay, Waiheke Island.
References
To research Vixen we used the book A History of New Zealand Scows and their Trades by David Langdon and the Big Omaha Maritime Historical Trust website.
Related Posts
Orakei – 69ft schooner deck rigged scow built in 1892.
Vesper – 76.8ft Bailey and Lowe scow owned by the Biddicks and later Parry Brothers Ltd.
Vindex – 80ft C & W Bailey scow built for transporting cattle.
Victory – Coming Soon!