150 YEARS OF NEW ZEALAND SHIPBUILDING – 1795 TO 1945

Description The first European ship to be built with New Zealand timbers was the Fancy, built in Sydney in 1893. A year prior to that,a group of deserted sealers began construction of the first European-built vessel in New Zealand. This schooner was ultimately launched in 1795. European settlement of New Zealand began with traders establishming isolated settlements on the coast, often under the protection of the local Maori Chief. With the mountainous interior of the country heavily forested, the only means of travel between these communities was by sea. This (Second Edition) of the book lists more than 1,200 New Zealand Shipbuilders, Shipwrights and boatbuilders, including their biographies and the names and specifications of over 5,600 vessels. The various types of vessels built during this 150 year period include: dinghies, pinnaces, whaleboats, Maori war canoes, ships boats, gigs. barges, punts, dandys, luggers, open sail boats, cutters, ketches, galliots, schooners, topsail schooners, brigs, brigantines, barques, barquentines, fully rigged ships, yawls, scows, dredges, floating cranes, naval patrol boats, tugs, minesweepers and a sbmarine, oli launches, maotor launches and yachts of all types. A valuable source of information on New Zealand’s maritime history, and for anyone seeking vessel history,or biographical and ancestestoral history.