Concrete plan for hulk

Press, 28 September 1976, Page 3

Concrete plan for hulk

PA Auckland The Edwin Fox, a 123-year-old square-rigger that probably carried Florence Nightingale to the Crimea, may come to Auckland in an eleventh-hour bid to save her as a national monument. A fourth attempt to restore her is being made. She lies a disintegrating wreck near Picton harbour and vandals are already attacking her precious teak planks. Weather has eroded the hull badly above water, but copper sheathing has kept her surprisingly sound below the surface. A 15-member committee

which hopes to make her the focal point of an Auckland maritime museum believes it will take $30,000 just to get the vessel ready to tow up the coast. Once at Auckland, between five and 10 years of voluntary week-end labour would be needed to restore her to anything like original condition. The initial preparation for what would be her last voyage depends on the use of a type of ferro-cement reinforced with tiny pieces of steel drifted at random through the mix. In one operation, the vessel could be reframed at the same time as her planks are refastened. Nails driven

through the outer planks so that their points protrude into the space between the frames would be held securely once concrete was poured. This technique has not previously been used in New Zealand, and might welt succeed where earlier salvage efforts have failed. Described by the group’s chairman, Mr Gainor Jackson, of Auckland, as “a touch of genius,” the idea was suggested by an Auckland engineering consultant, Mr Alexander, after he examined the hulk recently. However, unless Government support for the project and the tow to Auck-

land is forthcoming, a successful restoration is unlikely. Built by Indian shipwrights at Bengal in 1853, the 140 ft former convict transporter has lain on her side for more than a decade. Successive Picton councils have been unsympathetic toward plans for her restoration. Surveys and reports have almost always ended with phrases like “It can’t be done.” The new society —■ including a former Minister of Marine, ship historians, maritime administrators, businessmen, and descendants of immigrants who travelled in the Edwin Fox — believes it can.