Thames Steamers Were Greyhounds

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 111, 1 August 1927, Page 3

Thames Steamers Were Greyhounds

LOGGED 17 KNOTS IN THE MINING DAYS TAURING the gold mining boom at the Thames three were several steamers that acquired fame; some of them reeling off their 17 knots; a speed rarely now attempted; but none of them has quite the claim to a place in history that the old Enterprise No 2 has. This old craft was the first to run to the field with minors and the advertisement that “P.S. Enterprise N 0.2 has been laid on the berth for Thames, the new gold field” drew a full load of passengers, much to the owners delight. She was built at Devonport on the site of the shore end of the Victoria warf for the North Shore Ferry Coy and launched December 8 1864, being christened “Waitemate” by Mrs. John Holmes, wife of one of the builders, Holmes Bros. After running the ferry service for a while the boat was taken back by the builders for non-payment of the cost and was remodelled; being cut in two and one of the double bows replaced with a counter. After eassaying to earn her keep by tug work, and running uj) and down the coast, she was idling about the harbour when the gold field was discovered. The old paddle steamer continued in the run for upwards of 30 years. The engines and boiler were built by Masefield and Vickery Auckland. In 1899 the steamer was blown up off Cheltenham beach as one of the star items in the North Shore Regatta, the Maori King Mahuta pressing the electric buttom that set off the charge. The engines are still working in a sawmill.