# New Zealand scows



## Steve Hodges

I've just read a book from NZ that I found in a charity shop. It's called "Leonard Robertson, the Whangaroa & La Bella" by Jack Churchouse, and fetures voyage records of the scow "Whangaroa" from 1893 to 1911. This is the first time I have come across scows, and I would be interested to learn more from other SN members or to be pointed in the right direction to learn more. I understand that scows were flat-bottomed oceangoing craft, very beamy and equipped with centreboards, and usually rigged as schooners, which were engaged in the NZ coastal trade and in shipping wood to Australia. Can anyone answer the following for me?
- Where did the design of these vessels originate?
- Were they peculiar to NZ?
- What was their construction?
- How long did they go on trading in sail?
- How did they sail as compared to conventional craft?
- Have any been preserved?
I am particularly interested in Thames spritsail barges, and am interested to learn how the deepsea scows compared with the big coastal barges and leeboard schooners.
Can anyone help?
Best regards
Steve


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## spongebob

Steve,
Just Google search "The New Zealand trading scow" and you will find several sites with a mine of information re origins, form of construction etc.
One or two are still in service including the replica "Ted Ashby" operating from the Auckland Maritime Museum.
Several scow hulls were still working as motorised barges last time I checked.
I did a brief stint, one week, in the 50's on maintenance of scows then carrying silica sand cargoes for the Auckland glass works


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## Jan Hendrik

Plenty of info incl photos on: http://www.oceaniashippingforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=157


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## werner_ju

*NZ scows*

Scows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scow

New Zealand scows and their international connections:
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~j_lowe/C4scows.htm


A list of New Zealand scows:
http://www.myrasplace.net/ships/scows.htm
This list however is not up-to-date because it is drawn from the book 'Subritzky Shipping' of 1993.
The HAWK (a 3-masted scow) mentioned is not the one restored at Kaipara. Instead it was the schooner HAWK (not a scow) which was repaired and partly restored at Dargaville (near Kaipara harbour) in 1979, now sailing as the ketch GOLDEN HAWK, registred in Sydney.

The only existing New Zealand scows I can confirm are:
ECHO, in Picton, dry berth:
http://www.marlboroughonline.co.nz/index.mvc?ArticleID=51

http://www.museumofwellington.co.nz/nzhistoricships/qs/table/Echo.htm

Looking for new owners:
http://www.realestate.co.nz/935562

OWHITI, wreck near Opua, slowly disintegrating:
http://www.firebug.co.nz/images/acrobat/download/owhiti.pdf

My pictures of her:
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=347849
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=347840

ALMA:
http://maanz.wellington.net.nz/nzhistoricships/directory/Alma.html

ALMA had cruised the Hokianga Harbour with tourists. She was well maintained but had no rig. Last year she got a new owner who brought her from the Northland to the North of South Island. She even might get her schooner rig back:
http://gbweekly.co.nz/2008/10/31/historic-scow-restoration-a-lengthy-labour-of-love

JANE GIFFORD:
http://www.janegifford.org.nz/

My picture of her at Okahu Bay, Auckland before she was brought to Warkworth:
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=250721

TED ASHBY:
http://www.gaffrig.co.nz/tashby.htm

http://www.petersonsawmills.com/press_articles_general3.htm

Regards,
Werner


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## DANHG2

*Nz scows*

In the early part of 1960 i was bucko on the Toa,Whakatane,was our main port to Aucland,no showers,you got tickets for the tepid barths in Auckland,wages were £40 per month and 9an 4pence an hour over time,not bad for first trip,no bucko,s wanted the job, so it was my firsttrip at 15.


Steve Hodges said:


> I've just read a book from NZ that I found in a charity shop. It's called "Leonard Robertson, the Whangaroa & La Bella" by Jack Churchouse, and fetures voyage records of the scow "Whangaroa" from 1893 to 1911. This is the first time I have come across scows, and I would be interested to learn more from other SN members or to be pointed in the right direction to learn more. I understand that scows were flat-bottomed oceangoing craft, very beamy and equipped with centreboards, and usually rigged as schooners, which were engaged in the NZ coastal trade and in shipping wood to Australia. Can anyone answer the following for me?
> - Where did the design of these vessels originate?
> - Were they peculiar to NZ?
> - What was their construction?
> - How long did they go on trading in sail?
> - How did they sail as compared to conventional craft?
> - Have any been preserved?
> I am particularly interested in Thames spritsail barges, and am interested to learn how the deepsea scows compared with the big coastal barges and leeboard schooners.
> Can anyone help?
> Best regards
> Steve


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## Jim sargent

Steve
Other members have recommended Ted Ashby's books to you and I would add "the Phantom Fleet" to that list.
Back in 1954 I was deckboy in the Kapuni for about 4 months. She was owned by A. G. Frankham out of Auckland. We carried general cargo up the coast to small ports such as Awanui and Opua. 
This was my first ship and I joined her more or less by accident. For about two months I had been pestering the hell out of the officials in the Seamans Union to be taken on as a member when they suddenly relented and let me join provided I shipped out on the Kapuni that day. I did not know that there were three deckboys on the "corner" at the time and that they were too smart to ship out on a scow. In my ignorance I thought that she was a Union Company ship because the name started with a "K".
Two AB's, one bucko and a boy in the forecastle. Captain. Mate,two Engineers and the cook in the stern.
I learned a lot, especially why you puked over the leeward side, and moved on to be deckboy in the Monowai.....talk about from the smallest to the biggest.
Frankhams also owned the Hokianga....much the same design as the Kapuni but a bit bigger.
In those days there were still a few scows operating on the silica sand run from Parengarenga.
Good luck with your research.
Jim


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