Evans Bay Patent Slip Area

History of area

Slipway technology

Technology for slipping vessels for inspection or repair had been in use for centuries before a Leith-based shipbuilder, Thomas Morton (1781-1832), developed a concept that involved ‘a frame or cradle, which is drawn up or let down at pleasure into the water, having a great number of small wheels running upon a railway or inclined plane[…] When the vessel is to be hauled up, the cradle is let down, and from having a good deal of iron about it, it has no tendency to float off the railway; --the vessel is then brought above the cradle, and as soon as ever she bears upon it, the cradle is drawn up, bringing with it the ship, which, by the strength of only a few men, is thus completely hauled up’.

By the 1820s the more traditional method of dry docking was struggling to keep pace with advances in shipbuilding, and as ship sizes continued to increase, problems of friction and limitations on the hauling power meant that the older technology could no longer handle the ships. Morton’s concept provided a cheaper alternative to the construction of a dry dock and he successfully applied to patent his concept which allowed him to defend the technology vigorously. Soon the method became known simply as the patent slipway, or ‘Morton’s principle’. Although an 1833 British Government report into the renewal of the patent stated that the re-usable slipway as a method was regarded as ‘not being an original concept’ the patent on the slipway remained and the term retained its currency.

Slipping technology was by no means perfect; there was significant competition between slipways and the classic dry dock – the graving dock – and many believed that slipways were more likely to strain vessels than graving docks.

However, expanding markets brought about by emerging colonies, the proposed construction of the Suez Canal (it opened in 1869), and increased wealth in the middle class, led a number of entrepreneurs and companies to investigate the export potential of well constructed and engineered, large, cheap, and portable slipways based on Morton’s concept. The Kennard Brothers of Crumlin, and Day Summers & Co. of Southampton were two engineering firms interested in the commercial potential of constructing slipways and who had the means to remain in business through the expensive development and marketing work associated with the new direction.

Background to the Evans Bay Patent Slipway

There were no slipping or dock facilities in Wellington during its formative years. However, the town’s development depended on attracting more – and larger – ships to the port for trans-shipment business, for overhauls, and to win contracts to provide the ships with coal, food, and liquor. For this the merchants needed good bond stores, good storage and dumping facilities, ample berthage to minimise or eliminate waiting time vessels, excellent engineering and shipwrighting skills, and the capacity to repair ships out of the water.

Provincial Superintendant Isaac Featherston proposed either a floating dock or patent slip be constructed. The Wellington Provincial Council formed a committee to determine which would be more suitable, and it was reported that a patent slip was the better option, that it was practical to build one, and that it ‘…should be done without any necessary delay’. Construction of the patent slip was, however, easier said than done.

It was reported in 1864 by the Wellington Independent that the patent slip was to be constructed as a necessity if a contract that established a postal service from Wellington through the Panama Canal was to be secured. The Wellington Provincial Council ‘empowered the Superintendant to guarantee 7 per cent on an amount not exceeding £40,000’ in order to gain the Panama contract and this amount was to include ‘purchase of a suitable site in Evan’s Bay’. It was recognised that by constructing a patent slip that better advantage would be able to be taken of the harbour, and that once it was fully developed it would be of enormous benefit to the city. Land for the patent slip was purchased in Evans Bay following an Act of Parliament in 1863 which allowed the Superintendant of Wellington (Featherston) to purchase a piece of land ‘for the purpose of erecting a Patent Slip’.

The Provincial Council did not have the money necessary to construct the slipway, and it became apparent that the only feasible way to finance it was by concessionaire, in the hope that for a guaranteed return they would be willing to supply, build, and operate the slipway. A further issue faced by the Provincial Council was that, despite having a Government appointed engineer draw up sketches of the slipway, they did not have a contractor and there were few companies with the engineering skills that could (or would) undertake a risky engineering and commercial enterprise in the colonies. A number of companies attempted to provide alternative plans but were unsuccessful.

Manufacture of the Evans Bay Patent Slipway

In 1864 the Superintendent stated that an agreement, overseen by contractor Charles Carter, had been reached. Carter was in effect working as the Provincial Council’s site engineer, informing Superintendent Featherston on design, legal matters, shipping, and the negotiations between prospective British contractors and the Government Agent in London, John Morrison. While Morrison organised financial and legal matters, he appears to have worked under orders from Carter. In later years the arrangement between Carter and Morrison would have a number of implications.

The contract for the patent slip was awarded to Kennard Bros., of London, as the concessionaires. The contracts were signed in London for the supply and erection of machinery and operating rights for a sum of £37,500. James Abernathy, a prominent British civil engineer, was engaged to provide the specifications and design of the slipway. 

The components of the slipway were manufactured by several different firms in Britain prior to being shipped to New Zealand. The winch, boilers, connections, rails, trestles, cradle frames, two jetties, two diving bells, and the tooling, were fabricated in wrought and cast iron by Kennard Bros., at the Crumlin Viaduct works. The cradle was manufactured at the works in iron, heart American Oak, and Baltic Pine, fully assembled, marked, and then dismantled for shipping. The chains, three inch and one inch respectively, were tested at the makers, Brown Lennox & Co’s., Chain Cable and Anchor Works at Pontypridd near Cardiff. During testing, the larger chain elongated and broke several links at a strain of over 165 tons. The damaged links were simply cut out and replaced. The testing strains vastly outweighed those likely to be needed, as the maximum hauling of a 300ft-long, 2,000 ton ship was 74 tons. The twin high pressure stream engines (which weighed 20 tons) were produced in 1865 by Appleby Bro’s., of Southwark and Leicester and then performance tested at Leeds.

The slipway machinery was shipped from Falkirk, Wales, and Leeds to the London Docks from where it was dispatched to New Zealand along with 3,760 barrels of cement and other slip equipment. The equipment was shipped as cargo/ballast on the emigrant and cargo carrying sailing vessels: the Adelaide Baker, Asterope, Berar, Cruiser, James Lister, Lizzie Scott, Napier, Veritas, and Woodville. Upon arrival in Wellington, the 700 tons of components were deposited on the foreshore adjoining the proposed Evans Bay site (in the lee of the small island near Greta Point) in 1865 and 1866.

Construction and management of the Evans Bay Patent Slipway

By 1867 construction of the slipway had not begun due to contractual problems between Kennard Bros. and the Provincial Government.The work stalled for a further four years while enquiries were carried out into whether or not recommendations made to Kennard Bros. when they signed the contracts were correct, as some discrepancy over the suitability of the Evans Bay site was found. Kennard Bros. stated that Carter had helped Abernathy to design the foundations for the slipway based on the ground having a ‘firm’ bottom for the rails. The recommendations made by Carter proved to be contentious as testing of the site showed that the area was primarily made up of clay and sand which did not possess the necessary load bearing capacity for the cast iron. Kennard Bros. wanted £10,000 for the ‘decreased marketable value of the slip in regards to its foundations’. The dispute over the ratification of the contract revolved around the plans that the Kennards had tendered their price on, and central to this was the test bore results that had been carried out, as well as Carter’s testimony over the soundness of the seabed. When giving evidence, Carter stated that he had altered the results of Mr. Stewart’s test bore samples in order to validate his recommendations to Abernathy when advising him on the design.

The Province of Wellington stood to lose significantly or be ruined financially by the legal damages if Kennard Bros.’ litigation was successful. It also became clear that the unindemnified Superintendent and Executive could also be sued for personal liability if the Kennard’s litigation was successful as they were tied to the contract by the Patent Slip Act. The implications of this case caused the Government to convene a select committee, one of the first in New Zealand’s legal history. The select committee, however, did not ratify the contract, which left the Kennards with little choice but to sue. Despite Carter’s clear involvement in the negotiations, the Court was left with the impression he had little to do with the preparation of Kennard Bros.’ contract. Kennard Bros. lost the case and pulled out of the contract.

A new concessionaire was sought and finally, in 1871, a group of Wellington businessmen formed the Wellington Patent Slip Company to take over the materials left by Kennard Bros. and build the slip.The Directors of the company were: Edward Pearce (Chairman), George Hunter, W.H. Levin, J.E. Nathan, and the engineer J.R George. The company purchased the machinery in Evans Bay for approximately £20,000, a significant markdown from the actual cost of £25,202. Pearce put the cost of erection at £10,000 and the Kennards signalled that they would take the £22,000, owed in materials and shipping, in shares. The Kennards’ share in the company was later transferred to William Levin in 1904.

The original site for the slipway (in the lee of the small island near Greta Point) was deemed unsuitable for the project as it was too windswept, sandy, and flat, so a new site – the present one – was chosen. Construction of the slipway began in 1871 and was overseen by John George (who was also one of the shareholders in the company). The construction took 15 months and the slipway officially opened with great fanfare in March 1873.The work underwater was extremely difficult. Divers were lowered in a diving bell and could only work in optimal conditions due to the level of accuracy necessary.

Following the opening of the slipway, George wrote a technical paper explaining how the construction had been carried out and how the slipway functioned. The 200 tonne, 76 metre long cradle ran on wheels along a set of ‘ways’ or tracks. Two chains were used; a larger 62 tonne chain for hauling vessels, and a smaller 8 tonne chain for lowering vessels off the slipway. The chains worked on a seven cogwheel winch which was powered by two 25 horse power steam engines. In addition to the slipway itself, there was a winch house and boiler room associated, as well as several dwellings, a store, an inspector’s office, a carpenter’s shop to the west of the slipway, and a messroom and a blacksmith’s shop to the east. Evans Bay became an important part of the harbour for commercial shipping with the Patent Slip Company and the Union Steam Ship Company’s engineering works on one side of the bay and the oil wharves on the other.

The slipway was used by more than 50 ships a year, but was not the financial success that had been anticipated. The Panama Canal was not built until the early 20th century, so the large ships that the Patent Slip Company had anticipated did not arrive. By the turn of the century shareholders were becoming anxious to sell the slip. The Union Steam Ship Company expressed an interest in acquiring it. The company had been incorporated in Dunedin in 1875 and by 1907, with more than 50 ships in its fleet it had almost total control of coastal shipping in New Zealand.The Patent Slip Company was willing to sell, but the Wellington Harbour Board was not that keen on helping the USS Co. gain a foothold in North Island shipping. Eventually however the WHB must have been persuaded because the Wellington Harbour Board Empowering Act 1908 was passed, enabling the WHB to purchase ‘all or any of the assets of the Wellington Patent Slip Company’. Part of the deal gave the USS Co. full rights to the slip for 25 years, with conditions that included a requirement that other companies’ ships be serviced and that a second slipway be built.

By 1913 plans had been drawn up for the second slipway. Unfortunately due to a disagreement over the size of the cradle, and then delays in construction caused by World War I, this second slipway was not completed until December 1922.This second slip utilised steel rails and had a cradle of 45 metres which was hauled up a steeper 1 in 20 incline and could accommodate vessels of up to 750 tons. The more modern Day Summers manufactured steel winch that was installed for the No. 2 slipway could haul a vessel of this size at six metres per minute, a considerably faster speed than the No. 1 slipway. The slip machinery was housed in a simple single storey gable roofed brick shed, and the winch had a massive concrete foundation that also supported the shed. In 1930 rights to the patent slip and the adjoining land reverted back to the Wellington Harbour Board under the Empowering Act of 1908. The Board paid £30,000 plus the cost of improvements and signed an agreement with the Union Company to grant the latter the right to a perpetual lease of the slip and a ‘defined area’. The Union Company operated the slip until 1961 when it decided not to renew its lease as its ships had become too large for the slipway.

By this time the Harbour Board saw the slipway as a ‘white elephant’, its use having largely been superseded by the increase in proportion of larger vessels using the harbour. The Harbour Board had, since 1931, also operated the Jubilee floating dock, which was capable of servicing vessels of 10,000 tonnes or more. The Harbour Board ran both slips until 1969, when slipway No. 1 was withdrawn from service and slipway No. 2 was upgraded with electrification and re-railing. The Harbour Board had hoped that this would attract more custom. However, it was not a success and the slipway finally closed on 31 July 1980.

Demolition of the Evans Bay Patent Slip

The decision to dismantle the No.1 slip was made by Karl Renner, the Chief Engineer with the Wellington Harbour Board. In 1972 the iron from the No. 1 slip was sold as scrap, with the rails and chain being cut up and removed, and parts of the winch being dismantled. The main cog, with its integral dog clutch and axle was purchased back from the scrap merchant after considerable public outcry. After much discussion of where it should be installed (including Civic Square, which was vetoed by Mayor Frank Kitts) it was placed in the now eponymous Cog Park. The second largest cog and its smaller cog and axle, as well as one of the spare fly wheels, were taken by Len Southward to Paraparaumu, where he donated or loaned the second largest cog and the axle to John Bettany’s gear cutting factory.

In 1977, Wellington resident Betty Fowler made a public plea for the retention and conservation of the equipment that remained at the patent slip site, stating that there was enough remaining that was worthy of retention, and that ‘too often we allow the destruction of our historic past through sheer public inertia’. Her pleas were unsuccessful and the No. 2 slipway winch was sold to a Dunedin slip company in 1982; it still hauls fishing boats in the inner harbour. The cradle was dismantled, and the stem post and parts of the cradle were incorporated into the City to the Sea Bridge in Wellington’s Civic Square.

Parts of the No. 1 slipway ancillary buildings were demolished in the 1970s and the contents, such as the engines, flywheel, and parts of the 3 inch chain, were offered to the Tokomaru Steam Engine Museum. However, the museum was unable to remove the larger wheels from the site. The museum also holds the steam engine from the No. 2 slipway winch.The remains of the No. 1 slipway engine house were buried in 1986 by the slope of a subdivision embankment and archaeological investigations carried out in 2002 failed to locate it again. The large cast iron base plate was relocated during 2003 investigations. The major parts of the No. 1 slipway rails survived, as the barge mounted crane that was used to demolish the rails only removed about 50 metres from the shore, leaving around 300 metres intact. These remains were mapped by Maritime Archaeology Association New Zealand (MAANZ) divers in 2002.

Following the dismantling of the slips, and the removal of most of the original buildings, the site was drastically altered. During the 1980s, much of the valley at the head of the No. 1 slipway was filled and landscaped, covering the remains of the engine house. Some features are still visible above the ground such as: four piles from the No. 1 wharf, as well as the No. 2 slip’s rail system and jetty.

Present status of the Evans Bay Patent Slip

In 1987 a residential subdivision proposed by the Wellington Harbour Board for the land above the slipways was approved. Undertaken by developer Wilkins and Davies, it involved extensive cut and fill earthworks, new roads at Treasure Grove, and the formation of 40 lots. Two reservoirs originally built to provide water to the slipway operations were filled in, and the land occupied by the upper reservoir became a reserve. Plans were made for a major diversion of Evans Bay Parade through the site of the slipways, but the work never eventuated.

In 1990, the Wellington City Council acquired the majority of the site after local body restructuring disestablished the Wellington Harbour Board. The coastal fringe came under the jurisdiction of the Wellington Regional Council, and it was subsequently subdivided and rezoned. The Council at this time had also had legal dispute with the Union Steam Ship Company over the Company’s residual management of the seabed of the slip and rights of way. The Act of Parliament that had granted ownership of the seabed to the Patent Slip Company (which had been acquired by the USS Co.) allegedly had a precedence for management. However, the outcome and terms of this dispute are unknown. In 2003, Wellington City Council applied to re-zone the area as a heritage area. At the time, the area was only going to include part of the site, mostly focussing around the No. 2 slipway. MAANZ was one of the main advocates for zoning the remains of the No. 1 slipway and fought for the extension of the boundaries to include them. Following consultation, the boundaries were expanded so that the present area includes the majority of the No. 1 and No. 2 slipway sites.

Over 2002-2003 MAANZ also undertook two archaeological surveys of the area. Divers drew detailed underwater survey plans, and a geophysical survey identified a number of underground features, the most significant of which was the possible discovery of the base plate from the No. 1 engine house.