Edwin Fox (ship)

"Edwin Fox" is unique as the only surviving ship that transported convicts to Australia, brought settlers to both Australia and New Zealand and served in the Crimean war. She is the oldest merchant sailing ship still afloat. The ship is berthed at The Edwin Fox Maritime Centre at Picton in New Zealand.

Early history

She was built of teak in Calcutta in 1853 and her maiden voyage was to London via the Cape of Good Hope. She then went into service in the Crimean War as a troop ship, and later carrying passengers and cargo.

On 14 February 1856 she began her first voyage to Melbourne, Australia carrying passengers, then moved to trading between Chinese ports. In 1858 she was chartered by the British Government as a convict ship bound for Fremantle, Western Australia.

Emigrant ship

In 1867 she was converted from a full-rigged ship to a barque, and from 1873 served on the emigrant route to New Zealand, making four voyages carrying a total of 751 settlers to the distant new colony. Conditions on board for the four to six month voyage were harsh and luggage strictly limited, and several voyagers did not survive to see their new home. On arrival they often found conditions much harsher than expected, and were also faced with being cut off from family and friends in distant Europe, sometimes for life.

Lamb and coal

The "Edwin Fox was" overtaken by the age of steam, and in the 1880s she was refitted as a floating freezer hulk for the booming sheep industry in New Zealand. She was towed to Picton on the South Island on 12 January 1897 where she initially continued as a freezer ship, before being further dismembered into a coal store hulk. By this time she had long since lost her rigging and masts, and suffered holes cut in her sides and the removal of most fittings.

During the 1960s the hulk was in the way of expansion at Picton, and she was towed round to Shakespeare Bay where she remained for nearly 40 years. She settled on her side and the rising and falling tide led to rotting of many of her internal timbers, and she was also subject to vandalism.

Preservation

In 1999 she was bought by the Edwin Fox society for a nominal sum, and after much further fundraising was refloated and towed to her final home, a dry dock on the Picton waterfront. She floated in and the dock was drained to begin restoration.

Initially it was planned to restore the ship completely, replacing rigging and refurbishing the interior. It has since been decided that this is not practical, not only for reasons of finance but because the timbers required are no longer available. She is thus preserved as a hull with an adjacent informative museum, and visitors can visit two of her decks and so stand inside this atmospheric piece of history. Most visitors to New Zealand will pass through Picton as they move between the islands, and so there are high hopes that the continual cost of her preservation can be met by revenue from the visitor centre. The trust are also looking for sponsors to continue their work on this unique vessel.

She has been given a Category One Registration from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

ee also

*Thomas Bushell, a convict transported on the "Edwin Fox"
*Convict era of Western Australia
*List of convict ship voyages to Western Australia
*List of museum ships

References

*cite web|title=The 149 year Illustrated Log of the Edwin Fox|url=http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/edwinfox.htm|accessdate=May 24|accessyear=2006

External links

* [http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/edwinfox.htm History of the Edwin Fox]
* [http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/MuseumDetail.asp?MuseumID=69 Edwin Fox Maritime Centre]
* [http://www.historic.org.nz/Register/ListingDetail.asp?RID=7450&sm= New Zealand Historic Places Trust]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2622421 "The Edwin Fox, Picton, New Zealand" from H2G2]