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Hulks of Don Juan (left), California (right) and Esk (centre front) at Deborah Bay c.1907
View original photo LINK |
From the seat at GZ you will see the last resting place of the Don Juan, Otago Harbour’s best-known abandoned vessel.
This ships’ graveyard also holds the remains of other vessels – at low tide you can view the keels and ribs of the Esk and the Thomas & Henry.
NOTE: These remains and all wreckage on the beach are protected archaeological sites.
Download Port Chalmers tide times: https://www.linz.govt.nz/sea/tides/tide-predictions
There is space for a car to pull in, on either side of the road close to the cache. Walk down the steps to the bench seat. It's easy to reach that 2 litre screwtop. Relax and enjoy the serene harbour view - quite a bit different from a hundred years ago!
From 1900 to the mid 1920s, local blacksmith Jack Cramond and fisherman Edward Neilson ran a part-time ship-breaking business here. They acquired hulks, then sold off the ships' fittings and timbers, leaving only the keels sunk into the sandy beach.
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Three rotting hulks near Port Chalmers. c1910-15? De Maus
View original photo LINK |
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Muir & Moodie postcard c. 1904 - 1905 "Lifes Journey O'er"
View original photo LINK |
'California' (left),'Don Juan' (centre front) and 'Esk' (right) photographed in perhaps 1905 and several years later. Note residential cottages by road at Rocky Point and the 1870s fish curing factory used by shipbreakers Jack Cramond & Edward Neilson. Discarded boiler can be seen in the left foreground of later photo.
The careers of these vessels give us an intriguing glimpse into Otago’s international shipping links, and show the close ties between Otago and Australian ports. In particular, the Thomas and Henry provided an essential cargo and passenger service to the new Otago settlement 1854 - 60. The 1875 court case to determine whether the Don Juan was seaworthy was the first of its kind in New Zealand and was a landmark in the struggle for maritime safety. But, even after their sailing days were over, ships continued to make a vital contribution to Otago's commerce. As hulks, they provided much-needed warehousing and storage space for Dunedin.
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| Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson built 1857 at Gavle, Sweden - later named Don Juan |
Don Juan, unseaworthy, at Port Chalmers 1875 |
Don Juan, hulk serving as the U.S.S. Co. workshops Port Chalmers c.1880s |
More information is below, for those who'd like to know some of the stories behind these ships:
The Incredible Hulks of Otago Harbour
A “hulk” is a vessel that is still afloat but no longer seaworthy. Since Dunedin lacked flat land and commercial warehousing, hulks were moored wherever needed to provide practical and cost-effective storage space.
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| Sarah and Esther Oct 1903: topsail schooner, harbour lighter, quarantine hospital, prison hulk, boating club shed, dwelling. |
Most hulks began their lives as cargo warehouses, but there were many uses for mobile storage space.
Otago Harbour hulks were utilised as prisons (Esther and Anne, Thomas and Henry and the Sarah and Esther [nicknamed the Success after a notorious prison hulk in Melbourne]), a powder magazine (Delaware), a club house (Waireka, Sarah and Esther), a refrigerated store (Edwin Fox), floating docks (William Hyde, Henbury and Industry), workshops (Cincinnati and Don Juan), a hospital (Sarah and Esther) and even a school (Tarbot Castle).
As a hulk’s condition deteriorated, the vessel's final use was often as a coal bunker. The auxiliary steamers White Swan and Queen visited Otago Harbour in 1858, and soon steam had taken over from sail for all major trade routes. Vast amounts of coal were required to power the steam engines. The Union Steam Ship Company alone used 11 hulks in Otago Harbour to store coal for their fleet of steamships.
Hulks continued to be used until the 1920s, by which time ships were being fuelled with oil instead of coal and harbour reclamation had made more warehouse space available. The last of Otago Harbour's hulks, the Empreza, was scuttled off Taiaroa Head in 1948.
Otago Harbour's Ships' Graveyards
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| Distribution of abandoned watercraft and ships' graveyards in Otago Harbour |
Once a hulk was no longer useful, it was usually purposefully beached in a convenient quiet backwater, stripped of the fittings and other equipment and left to rot away. There were no regulations limiting what could be done on public beaches! This practice was a bonus to local residents - many of the older cribs built by Port Chalmers workers contain attractive cabinetry and furniture acquired from abandoned vessels.
Alternatively, after being stripped of fittings, a hulk might be scuttled to protect a mole or jetty from erosion.
There are or were 38 abandoned watercraft within Otago Harbour, some deposited individually but a large number in five "ships' graveyards" at Back Beach (5 vessels), Careys Bay (12 vessels), Quarantine Island jetty (2 vessels), Aramoana Mole (9 vessels) and here in Deborah Bay (6 vessels).
For details see:
- The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Otago Harbour.
- Bowman (1948): Map of Otago Harbour Hulks
- McLean (1985): Map of Otago Harbour Hulks
The Deborah Bay Ship-Breakers
Deborah Bay was ideal as a “ships’ graveyard”. The shallow water meant vessels could be run aground close to shore to facilitate salvage of anything valuable, including the ships timbers.
In the early 1900’s local residents and brothers-in-law Jack Cramond, a blacksmith, and Edward Neilson, a fisherman, diversified into ship-breaking.
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| Jack Cramond & family |
John “Jack” Cramond (1877 – 1956) was the Port Chalmers blacksmith. He was the grandson of Robert and Mary Cramond who arrived on the Mary 11 April 1849. His grandfather Robert was a blacksmith in Walter St until 1861 and his father Alexander was a blacksmith in Cumberland St and then Port Chalmers. John moved to Rocky Point in Deborah Bay in 1898, when he married local girl Edith Erridge, and lived there until his death. They had a family of 12 children. Their son John, a Port Chalmers metal worker, died during WW2 (although he is not named on the Port Chalmers war memorial).
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| Edward Neilson |
Also living at Rocky Point were the Neilsons. Fisherman Edward Neilson (1859 – 1932) was born Edevard Nilsen in Norway. He deserted from his ship Athelbert at Port Chalmers in 1879. He became naturalised in 1902. His boats were the Lyndo and later the Corona. Apparently Edward was a quiet man who smoked a pipe and didn't enjoy mixing with people - his family and fishing were his main interests. He would row to the harbour heads, lay his nets and row back. Edward probably lived as husband and wife with Margaret Erridge from 1886, although they only legally married in 1897 after the death of her estranged first husband. They had 9 children. Margaret was a midwife and home nurse; she once accidentally killed a patient - Misadventure at Deborah Bay- ODT 10 August 1900. Their son Christie Neilson died in WW2 (listed as G W Neilson on the Port Chalmers war memorial).
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| Ex-fish curing building in 1908, with remains of Don Juan behind |
In the early 1900s, Jack and Edward leased the two-storey fish-curing factory building which then stood at #57 Aramoana Road. They are known to have broken up several vessels here over the next couple of decades including the California, Esk, Thomas and Henry and the Don Juan. It must have been a useful money-earner!
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Wreckage of boiler on shore;
Don Juan in background |
Later occupants of the building were fisherman John Noble (died 1927), then fishermen Jimmy Turnbull & Archie Wilson in the 1950s. Archie Wilson moored his boat Britannia here and was responsible for the last vessel to be beached here, the Maroro.
Apparently Archie attempted to straighten the dilapidated factory building by hauling on the uprights with his boat, which caused it to finally collapse. Archie built another shed on the site.
In the 1980s J Todd "improved" that shed into the house you can see close to the cache site. However, times had changed by then; the house is on road reserve so Mr Todd's squatting led to litigation by the DCC.
Now, as you can see, very little remains of the hulks of the Don Juan, the Esk and the Thomas and Henry. There is nothing left of the stern of the Industry, the California or of the ex-Harbour Board towing vessel Maroro.
THE SHIPS (in the order they were beached at Deborah Bay)
Industry (built 1837 – stern beached at Deborah Bay about 1882) – no remains
The stern of the Industry was the earliest ship remains to be abandoned in Deborah Bay, probably around 1882. The ship name is common, which makes tracing it difficult, but I think that this 487 ton barque was built in 1837 at St John, New Brunswick. The Industry was registered in Dublin ON. 25450. Among other voyages, she took 201 immigrants from Dublin to Quebec in 1843. She departed Dublin Port in December 1857 for Australia and arrived in Port Phillip (Melbourne) in May 1858. Mount Alexander Mail 26 May 1858. Apparently the ship was damaged on this long 5 month voyage and was no longer seaworthy.
The Industry was put up for auction The Age,Melbourne,25 Aug 1858. She was bought by John Jones and partners to use as a coal hulk and then went into the dry dock for repairs The Argus, Melbourne, 22 Sept 1858.
On 6 February 1859 the Industry sailed for Otago but on 16 February 1859 she grounded on Tewaewae (Tiwai?) Point near Bluff.
After being pulled off, Jones promised the crew £10 to sail the leaking vessel to Port Chalmers. On arrival the crew were exhausted from working the pumps for 22 hours straight but John Jones insisted they unload the cargo of 1700 sheep without help. When the crew refused they were charged with disobeying orders and sentenced to 12 weeks' hard labour. Otago Witness, 5 March 1859
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| Otago Witness 28 May 1859 |
After the crew's release, crew member Henry Barnes took Jones to court and Jones was ordered to pay the promised £10. Otago Witness, 7 May 1859
The Industry was condemned as a hulk.
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| Old Green Cabin from the barque "Industry" |
The Industry's deck cabin was removed and erected on a jetty close to the Otago dock in Port Chalmers. It became the home of the Thomson family - Peter Thomson was born in it later in 1859. Later the deck cabin was lived in by local fishermen including Louis La France "French Louis" during the 1880s. "French Louis" had long hair, and a large peaked cap. He kept the cabin "looking like a picture" with geraniums growing in planting boxes and he used to fish for breakfast without getting out of his bunk. He enjoyed his glass of beer and would occasionally bite a piece out of the glass just by way of showing what good teeth and a quaint inclination could do. Known as the "Old Green Cabin", the building was a popular subject for artists and photographers until it was removed about 1908.
The hulk of the Industry was moored at Port Chalmers. It was used for cargo storage and later coal storage, and in 1867 it was the venue for an auction of salvage from the ship South Australia ODT 11 April 1867. By 1877 ODT 11 July 1877 the hulk had sunk and was lying half-submerged on a sandbank between the graving dock and the the floating dock.
The Jackson brothers, shipwrights from Wigtownshire, Scotland, bought the hulk for £5 and began to break her up for the value of the material.
At this time the city was searching for a new bathing area to replace the silted-up Pelichet Bay. Councillor McKinnon, Chairman of the Baths Committee, without inspecting the hulk, convinced the rest of the Committee to buy the Industry. For a mere £600 the Industry's empty hull could be fitted out with dressing rooms, moored by the Rattray St wharf and used as a saltwater swimming pool... ODT 20 November 1878. ODT 3 December 1878.
But, the ODT pointed out that the Council had been "done brown"... ODT 30 November 1878. Captain Russell reported the hulk was completely unfit to be used as a swimming bath ODT 10 December 1878. The Council voted down the proposal, with only Cr McKinnon dissenting ODT 4 December 1878.
An enquiry found that Cr McKinnon had acted in good faith ODT 13 August 1879. James Jackson demanded the £600 he was owed. Finally the council settled the broken contract, paying Mr Jackson £50 ODT 30 July 1879. Mr Jackson continued to own the hulk.
The final owners of the Industry were the Knewstubb brothers Thomas jnr, Ned, John and Fred. They started as carpenters with Peter Sutherland building ships in Hamiltons Bay, then worked with Sutherland & McKay at their shipyard at Boiler Point. In the early 1880s the brothers took over Sutherland & McKay's business and in 1882 the lease of Mr W Jackson's boat shed was transferred to Thomas Knewstubb.
A shipwright needs a floating dock... the Knewstubbs followed the example of the Jackson brothers, who had converted the burnt-out hulk of the Henbury The Colonist,6 September 1859 and also the hulk of the William Hyde into small floating docks. The Knewstubb brothers beached the Industry at Deborah Bay and cut off the stern, leaving it to lie slightly north-east of where the Esk is now. There is nothing left of this today.
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| Industry cut-down hull in Careys Bay late 1890s |
The Knewstubb brothers fitted a door across the end of the Industry's hull. Then the Industry's hull was towed to Careys Bay and used as a floating dock for lighters and vessels up to 100 feet long. After the lighter docked inside the sunken hull, the door was closed and the water pumped out. The remains of this part of the Industry still lie at Careys Bay.
Don Juan (built 1857 – beached 1900)
Don Juan 1857 – 1861: Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson
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| Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson 1857, later named Don Juan |
The vessel we now call the Don Juan was originally named the Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson. She was built in 1857 in Gavle, Sweden, for the shipping and shipbuilding company Daniel Elfstrand & Co. She was a three-masted sailing ship of 650 tons, built for speed, and at 200 feet long was one of the longest ships built in Sweden to that time. This extra length was the Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson’s weakness - it seems she had insufficient bracing to take the strain of that extra length.
The Elfstrand family firm was founded in 1738. By the 1830’s the company had built Sweden’s largest trading fleet and in the 1850s was diversifying into forestry, mining and steelworks. But, 1857 was also the year of the first world-wide financial crisis. The Elfstrand company was one of many Swedish trading firms that went bankrupt and was put into receivership. Fortunately, in 1861 the Elfstrand family negotiated a settlement and reorganised the company as Högbo Steel & Ironworks, now called Sandvik – today they make steel tools instead of ships.
So, while the Elfstrand company was under receivership, the Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson was fitted out in London and sent out under the command of Captain Herman Wahlman to pay her way with international trade.
Newspaper records show that she roamed the world for the next three years, including being employed on the profitable South American guano trade.
- Nov 1857: Melbourne. From Gavle (Gefle) Sweden 15 Aug 1857 via Copenhagen 23rd August, arrived Melbourne 28 Nov 1857. 98 days out. One cabin passenger: Mr. Bergstedt. R. Winter, agent. The Argus (Melbourne) 30 Nov 1857
- May 1859: Falmouth. From Batavia (Jakarta), arrived Falmouth 16 May 1859, sailing for Amsterdam. Glasgow Herald 19 May 1859
- Jan 1860: Melbourne. From Gavle via Gothenburg, arrived Melbourne 13 Jan 1860. 109 days. Anchored for orders. The Age (Melbourne) 14 Jan 1860
- Mar 1860: Melbourne. Sailing from Melbourne 10 Mar 1860 for Callao, in ballast (i.e. had no cargo). Do Pass Brothers and Co., agents. The Argus (Melbourne) 5 March 1860 Lloyds List Sat 5 May 1860
- Aug 1860: Callao. Sailed from Callao (Lima, Peru) to the Chinca Islands (Peruvian guano islands) Lloyd’s List 28 Sept 1860
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| Chincha guano islands, Peru, with ships waiting to load 1863 |
- Sept 1860: Callao. Sailed from Callao to England… although she only got as far as Valparaiso. Lloyds List 16 Oct 1860
Ian Church states that the Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson arrived at Valparaiso heavily laden on 28 October 1860, leaking badly and needing $27,282 worth of repairs.
- One last mention of the Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson in the London Public Ledger & Daily Advertiser, 4 March 1861. London exports: Freights: Sardinian barque Vittorio Emmanual I, from Huano [Lima, Peru], ex De Elfstrand Person, to Cork for orders 2L 15 s. … Does this mean that the Vittorio Emmanuel I transhipped the last cargo of guano from the Daniel Elfstrand Perhsson to London?
Presumably the Elfstrand Company’s receivers needed to cut their losses, so on 31 May 1861 the Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson was sold by auction in Valparaiso for $11,000.
Don Juan 1861 – 1868: Elcira Subercaseaux
Now renamed Elcira Subercaseaux, the vessel traded between San Francisco, Europe and Chile for the next seven years. Since she was a Chilean ship, the American Civil War of 1861 – 1865 wouldn’t have caused problems. However, the Chincha Islands War of 1864 – 1866 must have worried Captain Harrison. Spain attempted to reassert control over its former South American colonies, occupying the Chincha guano islands in April 1864 and blockading Peru’s ports. Following a declaration of war against Chile in Sept 1865, the Spanish fleet also blockaded the main Chilean ports. Valparaiso was shelled in March 1866, destroying the city and the Chilean merchant fleet trapped in the harbour. Callao was also attacked unsuccessfully in May 1866 before the Spanish forces returned to Spain. Perhaps that is why the Elcira Subercaseaux visited the minor port Pisagua in 1865 instead of Valparaiso?
- Dec 1861: At Buenos Aires: “Splendid fast sailing Chilean ship Elcira Subercaseaux, from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires in 25 days, sailing to Antwerp. Has splendid accommodation for cabin & steerage passengers at moderate rates.” Weekly Standard (Buenos Aires) 11 Dec 1861
- 23 Dec 1861: At Buenos Aires: A boat from the Elcira Subercaseaux capsized in a squall. Boat and crew were saved by the American barque Archer. Weekly Standard (Buenos Aires) 25 Dec 1861
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| Buenos Aires Weekly Standard 11 December 1861 |
Buenos Aires Weekly Standard 25 Dec 1861 |
- Jan 1862: Monte Video. Sailed from Monte Video 12 Jan 1862, Elcira Subercaseaux, Harrison, for Antwerp. Lloyd’s List 21 Feb 1862
- Dec 1862: Near Falkland Islands. The Elcira Subercaseaux (Chilean ship), from Bordeaux to California, was spoken off the Falkland Islands, with loss of mizenmast. Lloyd’s List 15 Jan 1863
- Dec 1862: San Francisco. Chile ship Elcira Subercaseaux, Harrison, arrived San Francisco. 129 days from Bordeaux. Daily Alta (San Francisco) 29 Dec 1862
- Jan 1863: San Francisco. Leaving San Francisco for Valparaiso carrying molasses, quicksilver, sewing silk, and tea. Daily Alta (San Francisco) 27 Jan 1863
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| Daily Alta California 29 Dec 1862 |
Daily Alta California 27 Jan 1863 advt |
- Aug 1864 Liverpool. Sailed from Liverpool. The ship Elcira Subercaseaux, Carlston, hence for Antwerp, was left at 4.30 pm on 18 Aug, off the Great Ormshead, by the tug Rover: wind NE, moderate breeze. Liverpool Daily Post 20 Aug 1864
- Aug 1865: At Liverpool. Elcira Subercaseaux, 685, of Valparaiso (F Huth and Co.) W Kopp, from Pasagua [Pisagua, Chile; nitrate export port}, with 4615 bgs nitrate soda 1 saltpetre pan for F Huth and co. 20 hides W Kopp, 2925 bgs borate of lime order – Stanley Dock Gore's Liverpool General Advertiser 31 Aug 1865
[Frederick Huth & Co was perhaps London’s first global merchant-banking company]
- Oct 1865: At Liverpool. Sailed from Liverpool for Valparaiso – has put back – making water.
The Elcira Subercaseaux, hence to Valparaiso, which put back yesterday making water, had been on Arklow bank. After coming off she made five inches of water per hour, but since her return to dock the leak has taken up. Caledonian Mercury 7 Oct 1865
- Nov 1865: At Liverpool. After a month in the docks, tempers started to fray… Spanish seaman Peter Cataceno stabbed fellow seaman Joseph Sotto, after accusing Joseph of stealing his sugar for breakfast. Liverpool Mercury 2 Dec 1865
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Ferocious stabbing on board ship. – On Friday the Liverpool magistrates took the deposition of a man named José sotto, who lies in hospital and is expected to die from injuries received by him on board the ship Elcira Subercaseaux. He said: I am a seaman on board the Elcira Subercaseaux in the Queen’s half-tide dock. I know the prisoner. He has been a shipmate of mine. We came here in the same ship. A quarrel began this morning on board about six o’clock between the prisoner and myself about a spoonful of sugar. I told him I had not taken the sugar. Then the row commenced. I gave him the first blow with my fist. He then gave me a blow with his fist, and then drew his knife and stabbed me in the breast. They then took me to the hospital. We had had no dispute before at any time. I wish to see a confessor.
- Dec 1865 Joseph was expected to die, but survived. Peter Catacena was sentenced to 6 months hard labour. Liverpool Mercury 19 Dec 1865
- May 1868: Halfway across the North Atlantic. Spoken with, May 4, lat. 48 N, long. 28 W; the Elcira Subercaseaux, bound west. London Evening Standard 13 May 1868
Don Juan 1868: Don Juan
In 1868 the Elcira Subercaseaux returned to Valparaiso owners and renamed the Don Juan… temporarily.
Don Juan 1868 - 1875: Rosalia
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| Guillermo Garcia y Garcia (1847 - 1879) |
Shortly afterwards the ship was sold again, to business partners Captain Guillermo Garcia y Garcia and Cazorta Hermanos of Lima, Peru, who renamed her the Rosalia. Ian Church states that Captain Garcia y Garcia (1847 – 1879) was an experienced captain in the Chinese contract labourer trade. His father Jose Antonio Garcia Gonzalez was born in Ferrol, Spain, had arrived in Lima in 1814 and was a successful businessman. The family was to become influential in Peru as mariners, diplomats and politicians. Guillermo studied at the Military College for mariners 1863-64, then served as a midshipman and second lieutenant in the Peruvian navy. In 1865 he was sent to London to equip the frigate Indepencia, where he learnt good English. In 1867 Guillermo applied for a license to enter the merchant marine. It was a smart move for the 21-year old to go into the profitable coolie trade…
Context from five years earlier, 1863 - I think the Garcia y Garcia family had a history of making money trading in human misery. Note this is NOT about "our" Rosalia/Don Juan, which was still the Elcira Subercaseaux in 1863. I suspect Captain Guillermo Garcia y Garcia’s older brother was involved in the Polynesian slave trade… I am guessing that Guillermo's older brother, the mariner Jose Narsiso Garcia y Garcia, was the Captain Garcia y Garcia who, in 1863, commanding the 170 ton barque Honoria, took part in the last Peruvian “blackbirding” voyage “recruiting” Pacific Islanders as labourers for Peru’s coastal plantations. Along with three other ships, the Honoria visited Nukulaelae and Funafuti Islands (in Tuvalu) and Rotuma Island (Fiji) between March and July 1863. A crew member dressed as a missionary enticed the islanders aboard the ship, which then set sail. The Honorio arrived in Callao 27 July 1863 with 110 Islanders on board (32 men, 40 women and 38 children). The traders then discovered that, due to domestic and international criticism, the Peruvian government had legally stopped the trade in kidnapped Polynesian “immigrants” on 23 April 1863, less than a year after it had begun. The Islanders captured in that last raid were eventually repatriated by the Peruvian government. Tragically, many died from smallpox or dysentery in Callao or during the return voyage, and those who survived carried those diseases back to devastate their home islands. NB: One of the other ships involved this blackbirding was the 270 ton barque Rosalia commanded by Captain Bollo. Obviously this was a different vessel from "our" 650 ton Rosalia/Don Juan/Elcira Subercaseaux/Daniel Elfstrand Pehrsson - Rosalia was a common ships' name - but the coincidennce has led to confusion in the past. Details of the labour ships and voyages are in: Slavers in Paradise
The Peruvian Coolie trade 1849 - 1874
Peru’s guano boom, from the 1840’s until reserves ran out in the 1870’s, benefitted Peruvian coastal plantations, particularly the sugar and cotton industries. Negro slaves were essential labour, but slavery in Peru was finally abolished in 1854. In their place perhaps 90,000 Chinese coolies were shipped to Peru between 1849 and 1874 as indentured labourers. In theory, men voluntarily signed on for a 5 to 8 year contract with food and wages. In reality, it was a form of slavery. More than two-thirds of the Chinese coolies who arrived in Peru between 1849 and 1874 died within the contract period. In 1860 it was calculated that of the 4000 coolies brought to mine guano on the Chincha Islands, not one had survived. (Following this report, from the late 1860s, contracts prohibited labour in guano mining). Chinese referred to the trade as "mai jui jai," the sale of piglets.
Initially plantation owners recruited coolies through Hong Kong and Amoy, but the British government banned the traffic in 1855 due to abuses in Peru and Cuba. From then on the coolie trade was conducted through the Portuguese enclave of Macau, where the Portuguese government owned barracoons in which recruits could be forcibly detained.
Don Juan 1868: the Rosalia in the coolie trade
The Rosalia, under Captain Guillermo Garcia y Garcia, was contracted to Dimaly (Dimas) Filgueira, one of the six leading firms in the Chinese coolie trade.
The Chinese being transported attempted uprisings on most voyages – e.g. the Kate Hooper 1857; Nouvelle Penelope and Coolie Abuse: The Times 29 Jul 1871
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| Restored cannon from Don Juan, Port Chalmers Maritime Museum |
Therefore, the Rosalia was fitted out with a high wooden barrier in front of the mainmast, to confine the Chinese to one area of the ship. There were two barred doors with a cannon pointed at each to prevent the ship being taken over. Coolies were shut in the hold at night and, below the hold, there were iron rings set into beams of the hull where recalcitrant coolies could be manacled.
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| Manacles from Don Juan, Port Chalmers Maritime Museum |
Apparently the Rosalia made three voyages transporting coolies. The voyage from Macau to Callao took 100 – 120 days and, if there was an outbreak of disease in the crowded hold, there could be many deaths. The British consul in Callao 1870-73, Thomas Hutchinson, included the Rosalia on a list of 13 voyages which were “Cases of exceptional mortality”. On the Rosalia’s voyage arriving in Callao 6 December 1872, 64 coolies died on board out of 457 embarked – a ghastly 14% mortality rate.
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| Flogging Coolies - Harper's New Monthly Magazine 1864 |
Once at Callao, if the cargo hadn’t been pre-contracted to a person or company, then the coolies were lined up on the wharf to be selected by buyers. A contract cost $350 - $400 to buy, with transportation and other costs perhaps $150 per head, so even with losses en route it was a good business for the Peruvian dealer.
However, the July 1872 Marie Luz incident in Yokohama Harbour, where a Chinese coolie escaped and complained to the British consul about mistreatment, brought international condemnation of the abuses in the coolie trade. From 27 March 1874 the traffic was prohibited.
The Rosalia’s last voyage from Macau about July 1873 carried 371 ‘colonists’. 317 became agricultural labourers in haciendas in Chiclayo, Trujillo, Pisco and Ica. 12 were miners in the Trujillo silver mines. 10 were labourers in Huacho. A few stayed in Lima as servants (11) and cigar makers (5).
Anticipating the end of the profitable coolie trade, the partnership of Garcia y Garcia and Hermanos was dissolved in June 1873.
Oddly enough, Guillermo Garcia y Garcia visited Christchurch in 1878, initiating trade in Peruvian sugar and Canterbury wheat. Globe, 23 November 1878; Star, 9 January 1879. On the outbreak of the War of the Pacific he rejoined the navy and was killed 21 May 1879 while manning a bow cannon on the armoured frigate Independencia. New Zealand Herald,9 October 1879
...So when you gaze at the remains of the Don Juan, spare a thought for the dozens of people, shipped unwillingly from their home country, who died inside that vessel...
Don Juan 1874: The Rosalia comes to NZ
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| Daily Alta California 3 May 1874 |
The Rosalia was provisionally registered in Costa Rica and put on the market, meanwhile trading from San Francisco. In May 1874 she was auctioned off to Walter Guthrie of the Dunedin timber firm Guthrie & Larnach.
The Rosalia loaded at Port Blakely Mill with 500,000 ft. of Oregon timber under hatches and 60,000 ft. on deck and left Port Townsend, British Columbia, bound for Otago. She returned to port at the insistence of her crew, making an inch of water an hour. After being surveyed for seaworthiness, she sailed again on 4 August 1874. Five of the crew refused to sail, but were taken to sea in irons.
The Rosalia started taking water again shortly after leaving port. She encountered gales and heavy seas, the crew were kept day and night at the pumps, the ship was lightened by jettisoning lumber stored on deck... but then a hurricane on 12 October blew several sails away and the leak was gaining rapidly on both pumps. The mate with some of the crew came to the captain’s cabin to consult on the desperate state of the ship. It was decided to run for the nearest port.
Don Juan 1874: Rosalia in Napier
The Rosalia arrived at Napier 21 October, with ten feet of water in the hold. New Zealand Herald, 6 November 1874.
Then came the court cases -
Captain Veal was fined £1, costs £19s, for assaulting ordinary seaman George Washington Alling on the sea. Provocation included Alling telling the captain he was not fit to have the charge of – (a particular kind of establishment) – let alone a ship. Hawkes Bay Times, 30 October 1874
A Court of Inquiry acquitted Captain Veal of charges of habitual drunkenness and incompetency brought against him by the mate and crew, but were of opinion that he had been intoxicated occasionally on the voyage, and made no order for costs. New Zealand Times, 6 November 1874
Seaman John Raymond was sentenced to a month hard labour for assaulting Captain Veal and disobeying orders. New Zealand Times, 19 November 1874.
When it was time to sail for Dunedin, the mate, Robert Reid, and nine seamen refused to risk their lives in the Rosalia. They were charged with disobedience to lawful commands. The Napier pilot and Captain Fairchild, the experienced commander of the government steamer Luna, gave convincing evidence that the pumps were effective and the Rosalia was safe for the four day trip to Dunedin. Therefore the mate was sentenced to the maximum 12 weeks of imprisonment with hard labour and most of the men got 8 weeks hard labour. Hawkes Bay Times, 13 November 1874; Hawkes Bay Times, 13 November 1874 court news
The Rosalia sailed for Dunedin 17 November 1874. Several of the crew were taken out of gaol and put on board in irons. The cook and steward took discharge and forfeited £5O wages rather than go in the vessel. New Zealand Times, 17 November 1874.
The New Zealand Herald, 18 November 1874 disagreed with the court’s decision, commenting: Placing men in irons on board a ship where the water during a passage has gained upon the pumps, and the captain is sworn to have been raging drunk for many days at a stretch, is something novel in the cause of justice ill this nineteenth century. New Zealand Mail, 14 November 1874.
Don Juan 1874: Rosalia arrives at Dunedin
When the Rosalia arrived at Port Chalmers she was making water at the rate of fifteen inches per hour New Zealand Mail, 5 December 1874.
The ship moored alongside the hulk California to discharge her cargo Otago Daily Times, 25 November 1874 The timber was unloaded and rafted to Dunedin, ODT 9 December 1874
Then the ship was laid up. ODT 20 January 1875
Don Juan 1875: Rosalia sold to Charles and George Clark
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ODT 14 Nov 1863 Clark & Co shipchandlers |
In March 1875 the Rosalia was sold to Charles and George Clark, Port Chalmers ships’ chandlers. Otago Daily Times, 20 March 1875
Charles Clark was obviously a respected citizen, since as well as being a storekeeper, he was on the 1869 Provisional Railway Committee and a Port Chalmers town councillor 1869 – 1871 … but
Some gossip from 1871 - some of Charles Clark’s money came from blackbirding. Chained to a sorry trade: ODT 23 January 2017 Charles owned the Wainui which in 1871 sailed to the Solomon Islands, kidnapped 80 people and sold them at Fiji for £10 each Evening Star, 24 February 1872 So perhaps the Clarks weren't the most ethical traders...
The Clark brothers put the Rosalia in the drydock for survey and repairs. ODT 10 April 1875 Presumably they expected to find that the vessel was basically sound, as the Thomas & Henry had been in 1872 (see below).
The Port Chalmers correspondent of the ODT was an experienced mariner and knew what to look for. He commented that the Rosalia "has straightened somewhat since placed upon the blocks” ODT 3 April 1875 …then had to apologise for that slur on Messrs Clark and Co’s reputation… ODT 5 April 1875
Unsurprisingly, the Port Chalmers ODT correspondent wasn’t given a copy of the post-repair survey report ODT 17 April 1875
1875: Captain William Thomson's first survey
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Captain William Thomson 1822 – 1913 |
However, despite the favourable post-repair survey report from the Clark brothers' surveyor and the glowing testimonials from various contacts whom the Clarks invited to view the ship, the authorities were still dubious about whether the Rosalia was seaworthy.
Captain William Thomson, the Harbor Master and Board of Trade Surveyor, and Mr David Stephens, shipwright, surveyed the Rosalia on 3 April. Captain Thomson’s private report to the Clark brothers advised that a major overhaul including resheathing, refastening and re-coppering was needed to make the ship seaworthy. They noted that the vessel’s construction was “not according to Lloyd’s rules for binding even when new”.
Because a ship is more buoyant amidships than at her bow and stern, a vessel with insufficient internal bracing will become “hogged” [What limits the dimensions of wooden ships], i.e. the keel bends upward in the middle instead of being straight. This puts strain on the rest of the hull and over time makes it likely to leak. The Rosalia’s keel was badly hogged, with 13 inches of upwards deflection.
The Clark brothers arranged for more repairs.
1875: Renamed Don Juan (for the second time)
The Clarks changed the name of the ship to the Don Juan ODT, 10 May 1875. They planned to use her for the cattle trade between New Caledonia and the Islands.
1875: Captain William Thomson's second survey
On the 26 April Captain William Thomson, completed another survey of the Rosalia, once known as the Don Juan, for the Port Chalmers Collector of Customs. He reported - That there has not been any longitudinal binding put in, but a very partial refastening done, the bulwark not caulked, and the bottom not coppered. Therefore, the vessel is not in a seaworthy condition. ODT, 29 April 1875
Customs clearance was refused until the ship had been satisfactorily repaired. ODT, 10 May 1875
1875: Don Juan attempts to leave Otago Harbour
On 13 May 1875 the Don Juan made ready for sea and cast off from the Railway Pier, with captains Clark and Law on board, supposedly to anchor off Port Chalmers until clearance to leave port was forthcoming. But… instead of mooring, she was towed down harbour to the Heads by the steam tug Geelong.
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| Don Juan at Port Chalmers 1875 by de Maus |
Heavy seas at the bar prevented the Don Juan leaving harbour and she anchored off Pilots Beach. Captain Thompson immediately telegraphed instructions to Pilot Stevens to board the Don Juan to prevent the vessel leaving.
The next day a group of Customs, Harbour, and Police authorities chartered the Geelong to the Don Juan. They served Captain Clark with an order-in-council under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1873, restricting him from taking the vessel out of port until the case had been decided by a Court of Appeal. Otago Daily Times, 14 May 1875
The seamen who had contracted to work on the Don Juan on the voyage to Sydney sued for lost wages – (but at least they didn’t lose their lives!) Otago Daily Times, 26 May 1875
A further survey of the Don Juan was done by harbourmaster Captain William Thomson and shipwright David Stephens, who reported: - We are satisfied that the ship Don Juan is unfit to go to sea without endangering human life. West Coast Times, 26 May 1875 West Coast Times, 26 May 1875
Specimens of the Don Juan’s timbers were forwarded to Dunedin and found to be quite rotten New Zealand Times, 15 May 1875
1875: Appeal to Supreme Court
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| Don Juan - hogged - Moored off Boiler Point near Sutherland & MacKays shipyard 1875 |
Charles and George Clark applied to the Supreme Court to have the order reversed and have the Don Juan declared fit to go to sea. Otago Daily Times, 19 August 1875; Otago Daily Times, 19 August 1875
The Court appointed Captain Twise and Messrs Meech and Cook, master shipwrights, to survey the Don Juan and determine her seaworthiness.
ODT 6 September 1875.
This was the first case of this kind in a NZ court and was exciting much interest.
Otago Daily Times, 7 September 1875
Otago Daily Times, 24 September 1875
Otago Daily Times, 29 September 1875
1875: Don Juan declared unseaworthy
Then the damning report – The Don Juan was quite unfit to proceed to sea and condemned as totally unseaworthy. Messrs Clark abandoned all further proceedings for removal of the injunction… Otago Daily Times, 2 October 1875
The ODT Editor summarised the wretched details of the Rosalia/Don Juan over the previous 11 months and hoped that the revelations made in this case will have the very desirable effect of rendering shipowners more cautious what they do for the future with their boats. Murder is an ugly word to use, but it, is difficult to take any other to describe the iniquity of sending such a vessel as the Don Juan to sea. ODT 15 October 1875
A letter from Samuel Plimsoll in December 1875 applauded the ODT‘s stance: NZ Mail 25 Mar 1876
Tenders were called for hull of Don Juan - an excellent opportunity for those in want of a coal hulk. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18751006.2.2.8 Otago Daily Times, 6 October 1875 and fittings were auctioned https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18751011.2.28.1 Otago Daily Times, 11 October 1875
Some of the Don Juan’s fittings sold, but there were no bids for the hull of the ship.
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| Evening Star 13 Oct 1875 auction hull Don Juan" |
Evening Star14 Oct 1875 auction Don Juan fittings |
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| Don Juan hulk at Cross Wharf - in foreground with sheds on deck |
1875 – 1900 Don Juan - a useful hulk
The hulk of the Don Juan was later bought by James Mills, chairman of the Union Steam Ship Company. The vessel was moored at the end of the Cross Wharf at Port Chalmers and used as a floating workshop for the company. Two sheds erected on deck served as a joiner’s shop and a sailmaker’s room.
1900 Don Juan - Life's Journey O'er
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| Evening Star 1 Aug 1900 Auction hulk Don Juan |
When the Union Steam Ship Company built new workshops on reclaimed land towards the end of the century, the Don Juan’s space was no longer needed. In August 1900 she was auctioned off, with no reserve, but there was no interest. Otago Daily Times, 2 August 1900
What to do? Well, the Boer War was going to be over soon - Mafeking had been relieved, and Johannesburg and Pretoria had been captured – and everyone was planning big peace celebrations.
So, the Union Steam Ship Company gave the celebrated hulk Don Juan to the Port Chalmers peace celebration planning committee. She was going to be towed round to Mussel Bay, filled with combustibles, and fired. It certainly would have made a sight worth seeing! Otago Daily Times, 11 August 1900
…but unfortunately Mussel Bay was too shallow and that stymied the plan for a marine bonfire. Otago Daily Times, 22 August 1900
As it happened, the planned peace celebrations fizzled as well. Although Lord Roberts declared the Boer War over on 3 September 1900, the Boers had other ideas and the war dragged on to May 1902 before a peace treaty was finally signed
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| Cannon from Don Juan |
Luckily local blacksmith Jack Cramond and fisherman Edward Neilson came to an arrangement with the Union Steam Ship Company. The hulk of the Don Juan was towed to Deborah Bay and beached where you see her now.
Photo link: Otago Witness, 26 September 1900 - The cross denotes the hulk Don Juan just before she was towed to her last resting-place in Deborah Bay.
Over the next year or so Jack and Edward dismantled the Don Juan and sold off the timber and fittings. In the process, many relics of her former vocation, in the shape of chains, leg-irons, Mexican muskets and cutlasses, etc. were to be found in the hold of the old vessel. Plus a Spanish coin! Otago Witness, 6 December 1905 (1); Otago Witness, 6 December 1905 (2)
And so the legends of Otago Harbour's "slave ship" began... but the real history of the Daniel Elfstrand Perhson is more interesting than any story!
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Don Juan today - Life's Journey O'er |
California (built before 1860 – beached 1902) - no remains
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| Auction California Otago Witness 15 Sept 1860 |
It’s not known where the 620 ton California was built, but in 1860 she made four trips carrying cargoes of sheep from Australia for North Otago runholders. OW 7 April 1860 (returning to Otago from landing stock at Oamaru, she went onto a sandbank at the lower port); OW 30 June 1860; OW 7 July 1860 ; OW 15 September 1860.
On 9 September 1860 the California struck an uncharted rock off Vulcan Point, south of Moeraki, and limped into Port Chalmers with pumps just keeping it afloat. Since the ship couldn’t be repaired (Isbister’s slip was not yet built), it was auctioned off on 25 September as a hulk: OW 15 September 1860; Otago Witness, 22 September 1860.
The hulk was used for coal storage for the Melbourne steamers, first by the old whaler and pilot Captain McKinnon and then by the Union Steam Ship Company. The California was broken up about 1902.
Esk (built 1830 – beached by 1904)
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| Hulks Esk & Talbot Castle moored Pt Chalmers 1875 - closeup from De Maus 1875 |
The 396 ton Esk, originally named the Magnolia, was built around 1830 as a whaling vessel. Based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the ship visited Otago once during a whaling voyage in 1846.
In 1862 the Magnolia arrived in Sydney leaking badly after a 43 month whaling voyage and was condemned. Nevertheless, with the name changed to Esk, she was put on the coal trade between Newcastle in New South Wales and New Zealand.
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| Hulk of Esk |
In June 1866, the Esk had carried coal to Wellington (to fuel the steamer for the inaugural trip of the Panama, NZ and Australia Royal Mail Company service). On the return voyage she was damaged by heavy seas in Cook Strait, arrived in Sydney Harbour with six feet of water in the hold, struck a rock and ran aground. However, by November 1866 the vessel was reconstructed, this time as a 415 ton barque, and went back in the coal trade.
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| Esk today |
By 1874 the Esk was being used as a coal hulk, owned by Captain Charles Hodge and Port Chalmers merchant James Mills. (James was the controlling shareholder of the Union Steam Ship Company, which manipulated the price of coal to run rivals out of business.)
From 1884 the Esk was owned by Port Chalmers businessman and coal merchant John Mill. Towards the end of the century the hulk was used as a houseboat in Careys Bay. The Esk was finally broken up in Deborah Bay around 1904.
Thomas and Henry (built 1850 – beached 1924)
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| Advertisement Otago Witness 8 April 1854 |
The 215 ton brig Thomas and Henry was built in New South Wales in 1850. Dunedin businessman John Jones bought her in 1854 for £2500 to use for his trade with Sydney and later with Melbourne. The Thomas and Henry carried sheep and general cargo to Otago and took back wool, oats, wheat, barley and potatoes, as well as having "superior accommodation" for passengers. The ship was the young settlement's lifeline; when she arrived a cannon was fired and there was a general holiday. Settlers headed into town to receive supplies and letters and discuss the news from Europe - maybe only 54 days old.
After steamships with government mail contracts took over the main routes from 1858, the Thomas and Henry was sent to Mauritius for sugar, Auckland for kauri timber and Newcastle for coal.
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| Hulk of Thomas & Henry Port Chalmers 1867 |
In 1860 the Thomas and Henry was sold to the Otago Provincial Council and sent to Oamaru as a cargo hulk and wool store. The ship's bell was given to the first Port Chalmers school. Towed back to Port Chalmers in 1861, she was used as a floating police station for the Port Chalmers Water Police, proclaimed as a gaol, used as a storeship for the Harbour Dept, then a temporary powder magazine. In 1863 the Victory arrived from Clyde with cases of smallpox and measles, so the Thomas and Henry served as a temporary quarantine station. In 1864 she was fitted out with cells to house unruly seamen.
In 1867 the Thomas and Henry was auctioned off and bought by ships’ chandler Charles Clark. After being used as a coal hulk for several years, in 1872 she was overhauled. Her hull was found to be sound and she was repaired and fitted out for sea again.
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| Thomas & Henry today |
For the next ten years the Thomas and Henry was a reliable trading ship, bringing coal from Newcastle, timber from Kaipara etc to Dunedin. In 1882 she was sold by tender when then-owners Larnach and Guthrie went into liquidation. Port Chalmers merchant John Mill bought her as a cargo storage hulk, and later as a coal hulk. The Thomas and Henry was eventually broken up here in April 1924.
Maroro (built 1884 – beached at Deborah Bay 1949) – no remains
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| Maroro being dismantled 1940 |
This 59 foot wooden steam vessel was built in Sydney in 1884, with a 64 horsepower engine which lasted through her 56 years of service. She was owned by the Wellington Harbour Ferry Company and then in the early 1900s, as the Pilot, worked as a fishing trawler out of Timaru.
In 1919 the Otago Harbour Board bought the vessel for £600 and renamed her the Otakou. She was used as a steam tug, towing the punts carrying rock for building harbour channel walls and groynes. On 7 June 1925 the Otakou sank at the Victoria wharf when a bilge ejector cock was accidentally left open, but the vessel was undamaged and was pumped dry and refloated the next day. ODT 10 June 1925
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| Hulk of Maroro with H.M.A.S Melbourne in background 18 Feb 1957 by Nancy Roberts |
The vessel’s name was changed to Maroro in 1929 to allow the new OHB dredge to take the name Otakou. The Maroro was dismantled in 1940, with engine and fittings removed. ODT 27 April 1940.
About 1949 local fisherman Archie Wilson acquired the Maroro’s hull and used his fishing boat Britannia to tow her to Deborah Bay and beach her in this bay. Archie’s plans to re-fit the Maroro as an off-shore fishing vessel did not eventuate, but apparently children used to enjoy playing on the vessel until it was finally broken up by another local fisherman Bert Lewis in the early 1960s.
Information:
"Otago Harbour: Currents of Controversy" by Gavin McLean 1985
"Port Chalmers: Gateway to Otago" by H O Bowman 1948
"Deborah Bay: the People and Events of a Lower Otago Harbour Community" by Norman Ledgerwood with Ian Church 2006
Matthew Carter People Place and Space: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Otago Harbour DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3305.7685 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301327622_People_Place_and_Space_The_Maritime_Cultural_Landscape_of_Otago_Harbour#pfc5
New Zealand Marine News 1990 Volume 40 Number 2, pp 7 - 11 and pp 38 - 39 online. Article by Ian Church "The Story of the 'Don Juan' - Trafficker and Coffin Ship" https://www.nzshipmarine.com/nodes/view/1835#idx10270
Many thanks to Garry Bain from the Otago Maritime Society for his help identifying the vessels.
You can find other background notes and links in the pre-publication lognotes below (rather jumbled - apologies!).
In loving memory of Mrs D Senior 19.6.30 - 16.7.19 who enjoyed being taken caching
- Life's Journey O'er -
There is plenty of room in the log book to put in the date that you sign it. Because the date can be important for some challenges, logs without a correct date may be subject to deletion. I will use my common sense and discretion as we all make genuine mistakes at times.