Link With Early Napier

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 30, 5 February 1937, Page 2

Link With Early Napier

HULK OF THE OLD VESSEL MONTMOREN CY (Special to 41 Times”) HASTINGS, Feb. 4. Souvenirs from the iron-hulled vessel Montmorency, the hulk of which can be seen near the Inner Harbour at low tide, arc being sought by several Napier residents whose parents came to New Zealand from England on tho vessel. The Montmorency, which was one of the first iron-hulled vessels to come to New Zealand, caught fire in tho Napier roadstead on March 27, 18G7, and in an attempt to save the vcsfsel the captain ran it ashore. Since the 1931 earthquake tho hulk vessel has been visible at low tide each day. Two Napier residents who actually came to New Zealand on the Montmorency tho trip before it was wrecked are Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, of Battery road, Napier. Mr. Montgomery, who is 90 years old, was one of the earliest residents of the district, and for somo years was driver of tho mail coach from Napier to Waipawa. II will be recalled that tho story of how he repulsed two would-be highwaymen who attempted to rob the stage coach was mentioned by Mr. Russell Duncuu in his account of early Hawke’s Bay to the Napier Rotary Club recently. Mr. Percy Amncr, of Napier, told a “Herald-Tribune" representative yesterday that his mother came to New Zealand on tho vessel, and with other residents of the town, including Mr. George Allardyce and Mr. H. 1). Stevenson, who wero also associated with the vessel, he made a trip by dinghy to tho boat. It was thought that tho vessel was a timber one, and they hoped to secure without difficulty a piece of the ship's timbers as a memento. It was found, however, that all that remained were Btecl ribs, thickly coated with seaweed and cockles. Mr. Amner said that difficulty was experienced in keeping the dinghy from being stove in by the swell against the hulk, and that ho now intended to obtain permission from tho Napier Hatbour Board or tho Marino Department to use an explosive on the vessel to wrench away some of tho steel. A further attempt will bo made if this permission is forthcoming.