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Other Vessels Of Note
Spirit Of Adventure
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Spirit Of New Zealand
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 Taken by Chris Howell, www.shipspotting.com
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Lou Fisher's dream of a youth training ship became reality when "Spirit Of Adventure" was launched in December 1973, and ten days of sail training soon became an experience to be savoured among the nation's youth.
The ship made two visits to Onehunga, first crossing the Manukau Bar on 4 April 1984 as part of a circumnavigation of the country. She was in port from 6-10 April, and crossed the Bar again the following day. On 22 March the following year, she tied up alongside once more.
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The successor of "Spirit", as she was popularly known, was "Spirit Of New Zealand", which entered the harbour - but didn't visit Onehunga - on 21 May 2011. This crossing of the Manukau Bar was a commemoration of the HMS Orpheus disaster in 1863.
She was built by Thachwray Yachts in Te Atatu before being floated down Henderson Creek to the Westhaven Slipway of Marine Steel, from where she was formally launched.
The Spirit Of Adventure Trust website can be found here.
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Sofia
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Jane Gifford
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 Sourced from www.photoship.co.uk
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 Taken by Majorlook, www.shipspotting.com
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Another interesting visitor to Onehunga, pictured below in 1974, was the Swedish-built three-masted gaff-topsail schooner "Sofia". She visited again two years later, and was in port when "Westport" made her maiden visit to the Port, on 27 March 1976.
She was later hired to participate in the film "Savage Island". But on 23 February 1982, the vessel foundered between North Cape and Cape Reinga, with the loss of one life.
A book about the experience of circumnavigating the globe on "Sofia", including the sinking, was penned by one of the crew, Pamela Bitterman. "Sailing To The Far Horizon: The Restless Journey and Tragic Sinking of a Tall Ship" - sounds like a good read.
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Last, but by no means least, the scow "Jane Gifford", which was built in 1908 by Davey Darroch at Whangateau, and restored by the Waiuku Museum Society from 1985 before being relaunched in 1992 to run a tourist passenger service on the Manukau for eight years, until survey requirements deemed her unfit for use in this way.
In June 2001, she sailed from Waiuku to Onehunga - she's pictured below alongside in the fishing basin - where her twenty metre masts were removed and two cranes lifted her from the water on 3 July onto a truck-and-trailer unit, which carried her to Warkworth for further restoration, which was successfully completed in 2009. She is now based on the Mahurangi River.
She has her own website - go here - and is the last rigged sailing scow in the country.
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Rainbow Warrior II
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Owhiti
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 Sourced from NZ Maritime Museum
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"Rainbow Warrior II", as she was informally known, ventured into the Manukau Harbour on 16 February 1991, but didn't visit Onehunga.
She was a three-masted schooner built from the hull of the deep sea fishing vessel "Ross Kashmir" by Cochrane & Sons of Selby, North Yorkshire in 1957. Originally 44m long, she was extended to 55.2m in length in 1966.
When Greenpeace acquired her to replace the original "Rainbow Warrior", they outfitted her with a new mast, a gaff rig, two new 6 cylinder Deutz-MWM diesel engines and a host of low-impact, environmentally friendly systems to assist in her operations.
She served Greenpeace's cause until 2011, at which time she was sold to a Bangladesh NGO, Friendship, to serve as a hospital ship. She was scrapped in November 2018.
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An Auckland Harbour Board dredger, she arrived from Auckland in May 1968 to carry out dredging work for three months ahead of the anticipated linkspan service to be operated by the Northern Steamship Company out of Onehunga.
The venture never came about because the Auckland Harbour Board ran out of funds to build the linkspan at Onehunga, thus scuppering the prospects of roll-on roll-off shipping at the port for the foreseeable future.
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Tasman Bay
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Wanganui
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 Provided by Humberman, www.seatheships.org.uk
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 Sourced from the National Library of NZ,
http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=51316
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Built in Bristol, she was powered by a 486hp Ruston & Hornsby diesel engine, producing a service speed of 9 knots. Her keel was laid on 19 April 1951 and the launching ceremony took place on 17 October that year. The vessel was formally named by Mrs W.A. Armstrong, wife of Nelson's Deputy Mayor.
Captain K.G. MacLiesh took command of the vessel for her delivery voyage, which commenced from Bristol on 9 April 1952, arriving in Nelson on 22 July 1952. W.L. Clark was the vessel's Chief Engineer.
With a loaded draught of 2.7m, her hopper capacity was 142 cubic metres. Her Priestman grab crane was equipped with three grabs, and was capable of lifting 203 tonnes per hour from a depth of 9.1 metres. She was able to dredge down to 15.2 metres below water level, discharging spoil through hydraulically-controlled doors in the bottom of the vessel.
 Internet-purchased photo of "Tasman Bay" approaching Onehunga
For many years, she was owned by the Nelson Harbour Board, but in the early 1990s, they sold her to an Auckland firm, Maritime Dredging & Maintenance Co., for whom she worked for a decade.
Under these owners, she has often been called upon to carry out dredging work around Onehunga Wharf (see picture right) and in the Manukau, with her duties extending to assisting with towing "Spirit Of Enterprise" off the Motukaraka Bank when the ship grounded in July 2001, about which more information is available in the Harbour Incidents section of the site.
 An oil painting of "Tasman Bay" at work in the fishing basin.
Artist: W.A. McCormack, ref 62518901
A grab hopper dredger, she was sold to Pacific Islands interests in 2003. Her fate is unknown.
A great feature from years gone by can be read here:
 Sourced from www.dredgepoint.org
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Built in Leith at Henry Robb, she was launched on 22 November 1949 and was powered by a 360hp two cylinder British Polar diesel engine, producing a service speed of 8.5 knots. She arrived in Wellington on her delivery voyage on 5 April 1950, under the command of Captain R.D. Stewart, Wanganui Harbour Master.
A grab hopper dredger, she was very active at Onehunga in 1963, when construction commenced on the cement silos and accompanying wharf - "Wanganui" did all the dredging work required to create the wharf we know today.
When "Puriri" was sold by Anchor Dorman in 1974, a lot of her engine parts were acquired for use on "Wanganui" - both operated the same kind of engine.
With a hopper capacity of 250 tons - 5300 cubic feet, capable of being filled within an hour, she dredged many of the country's ports, including her home port, and was last active in 1988. For a number of years thereafter, she was laid up at Great Barrier Island.
The below photo was scanned from NZ Marine News, Vol 1, No. 6, Nov-Dec 1949.
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