Celebrating Heritage on the Water / The inner workings of two very special boats

New Zealand’s coasts and rivers were once busy with schooners, paddle steamers, tugs and other vessels, carrying cargo and passengers and delivering associated services. In Canterbury, those memories live on in two special vessels, Steam Tug Lyttelton and

In the weeks leading up to final checks to clear Tug Lyttelton for a summer on the harbour, latitude was invited aboard to take a look around and learn about the history of this wellloved sea boat.

Volunteer members of the Tug Lyttelton Preservation Society, which was established in 1973, have worked tirelessly over the years to save this fine 1907 twin-screw tug in a seaworthy and near-original condition. Their efforts have ensured the steel-hulled vessel has remained a familiar sight on Lyttelton Harbour and many Canterbury families will share fond memories of summer day excursions on the harbour or at Akaroa.

Fundraising efforts have been in high gear over the past few months to help meet considerable ongoing operational, survey and dry dock costs. On the day I met society board member Roger Ellery aboard Tug Lyttelton, he was optimistic the tug would achieve full compliance and have enough funding to get out on the water again in time for the coming Christmas/New Year season.

It is easy to appreciate why so many people are devoted to this vessel, which carries a real sense of timeless craft expressed in so many little ways from shiny brass fittings to a beautiful ship’s wheel. Her deck, deckhouse and fittings are all made of teak.

On the day of our visit, Roger used a set of oversize keys to unlock a sliding hatch giving access to the below-decks area, housing a surprisingly spacious saloon, former crew quarters and officers’ cabins. The cavernous engine and boiler rooms are another impressive sight: four furnaces are needed to heat the massive boiler. Apparently, firing up the boiler is quite a slow process that can take two days or more. It’s hard not to feel a little sorry in retrospect for the poor stokers, who would have sweated buckets to keep the tug going from day to day during her decades of service for the Lyttelton Harbour Board!

Built by Ferguson Brothers at Port Glasgow, this little tug would have been an unremarkable sight at the time of her launch as the Canterbury (she was renamed Lyttelton in 1911). After all, this was the era of large ocean liners like Lusitania, but the steam technology they shared was powerful enough to get this humble little tug all the way from Scotland to her new home port 12,000 miles away.

At 38 metres long and equipped with hardwood belting and cork fenders fore and aft, this tug was built to be sturdy. She revolutionised harbour traffic in her day, replacing a clapped-out 1878 iron paddle tug and thereby ensuring safe passage of shipping in and out of port. Her invaluable service included escorting and towing Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod to Lyttelton Heads in January 1908.

In the Second World War, Tug Lyttelton was seconded to the Royal New Zealand Navy before taking up harbour duties once more, this time as support to a new tug that had arrived in March 1939.

Upon her retirement in 1971, it looked as though the old tug was destined to be scrapped, but a local marine surveyor Dick Musson was convinced she could be saved. He formed the Tug Lyttelton Preservation Society with his friend John Goldsworthy and help soon came pouring in to support the cause, from the harbour board to local companies including Lyttelton Engineering and Stark Bros. Ownership of the tug formally passed from the Lyttelton Port Company to the preservation society in October 1991. The society welcomes donations and members of the public can join up for an annual fee of $30 (which includes a free tug trip and regular newsletters). For summer updates, visit facebook.com/tuglyttelton, or for more information visit tuglyttelton.wordpress.com