Visiting the Edwin Fox, a ship that’s a last of its kind

Above: A 100th scale model of the Edwin Fox in the Edwin Fox Maritime Centre. Photo by Darren Cottam

At the top of the South Island of New Zealand is a small town called Picton. It’s mainly known for its ferry terminal and the large ferries that run between the South Island and North Island. But I also associate Picton with another maritime connection, it’s the home of the Edwin Fox and its dedicated museum. The Edwin Fox was an East Indiaman, full-rigged ship built in 1853; what remains of it today is its hulk in dry dock.

Why does the Edwin Fox have a museum dedicated to it? The Edwin Fox’s hulk is a unique piece of maritime heritage as it’s the:

• 9th oldest ship in the world
• Oldest Merchant ship in the world
• Last wooden Crimea War troop carrier
• Last surviving ship that took convicts to Australia
• World’s last surviving East Indiaman
• Oldest wooden vessel that brought immigrants to New Zealand
• Only example of a pioneering refrigeration ship used in New Zealand

That’s an impressive list, and reinforces to me that it really is a piece of world heritage, that just happens to be in New Zealand’s care.

It had been a long-time since I had seen the Edwin Fox, I can remember seeing the ship in the 1980s as a kid with my family, it was moored at a Picton wharf, half sunk. The fact that I can remember that moment, means it made quite an impression on me. So, to see it again approximately 35 years later, was something I was quite keen on.

The Edwin Fox Maritime Centre itself is quite small and run by the Marlborough Heritage Trust. It is open every day from 9 am (except Christmas Day) and costs $15 for adults. The general layout of the museum is that it gets visitors to first learn about the ship and the people whose lives it impacted, before you then get to see and step into the highlight, the Edwin Fox hulk.

Walking upstairs into the museum proper, the displays walk you through the ship’s construction and history, which broadly speaking involved:

• Construction in Calcutta, India in 1853, the ship was made of teak.
• Carrying troops during the Crimean War between 1853-1856.
• Transporting passengers and convicts to Australia in the 1850s - It carried the twenty first of thirty seven shipments of male convicts to Western Australia.
• Carrying cargo on tea and beer trading routes between England, India and China between 1856-1873
• Transporting immigrants to New Zealand in 1870s – It Made four voyages carrying a total of 751 settlers
• It was refitted as a floating freezer hulk for the booming sheep industry in New Zealand in the 1880s; a result of it being overtaken by the age of steam.
• In 1897 a steamer towed it to Picton, where its freezing machinery went into the new freezing works. The ship became an accommodation hulk and then for more than four decades from 1905, a coal hulk and mooring facility.
• After 1950 it was abandoned to rot at berth.

For those who are interested, there is a year by year description of its use, and great photos at http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/edwinfox.htm.

In 1965 the ship was bought by the Edwin Fox Society and was towed to Shakespeare Bay where it remained for the next 20 years. After fundraising, the ship was refloated and towed to its current location at the museum and dry dock on the Picton waterfront.

The things that stood out for me when walking around the displays were the drawings and photos of the Edwin Fox at the different parts of its history, ships back in the sailings days really were a sight to see. I would have loved to see the Edwin Fox plying the seas between 1853-1870s, and seeing all its fit outs over time as it carried different passengers and cargo. I was also particularly taken by the wall display of convicts it transported and seeing what they had been convicted of. Many were convicted and sent to Australia for relatively minor crimes.

Then it was on to the ship itself in dry dock. This was the part of the visit I had been looking forward to. For safety reasons, you can’t walk down into the dry dock, but from walking alongside the ship hulk you do get a good sense of its size, length (47.9 m, 157 feet) and depth wise. Walking into the hulk reinforces its size, as you get to stand in the middle looking down its length. At the back of the ship there are various displays on the different classes and their sleeping quarters and what food they were given. The lowest class sleeping quarters were very basic, the three month voyage would have been a long one!

Then you get to step down into the bottom of the hulk and take a closer look at the wooden sides and main beams. I had this area to myself, so had a good wander around thinking about what it would have been like for the passengers on the ship, leaving their homes and families to travel to the other side of the world. I was also quite taken by how cold it was on the ship. It was winter, but a nice sunny day outside. It made me think that the ship must have been quite a cold place during the long voyage.

It's not every day you get to walk through a ship that is 169 years old and has links to so many periods you read in history books. I’m grateful that we still have these pieces of maritime heritage to experience, I came away with a better sense of what it must have been like to travel back in the 1800s. After having seen the Edwin Fox approximately 35 years ago, it was nice to see it again, this time being looked after, and appreciated by visitors now and generations to come.

Darren Cottam

Living in Australia, but originally from New Zealand. Loves exploring and connecting with New Zealand history and heritage. Collects 19th century New Zealand tradesmen’s tokens. Delving into antique English ceramics, the ones that made their way to New Zealand and Australia. Sharing history and heritage on Twitter @ZealandEarly