From the start of the 20th.century, the Waitemata Harbour's upper reaches 
were the dumping ground for many old ships.
Until the 1940s, the area past Herald Island (between Hobsonville and Greenhithe) was regarded as "fair game" for ship owners who wished to get rid of unwanted hulks: they simply towed them past Herald Island and left them to the elements.
When the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened in 1959, the Devonport Steam Co.-owned vehicular ferries Goshawk and Sparrow Hawk were no longer needed, so were just run aground up at Lucas Creek and burnt.
The skeletons of many abandoned ships lay undisturbed until 1996, when the now-defunct Auckland Regional Council began a big waterways clean-up. The remains were lifted out and taken to the Albany landfill. Some
of the vessels' heavy timbers, such as keels and sternposts (submerged in mud) were still sound.
The oldest remains left are of the 115ft.paddle steamer Tongariro, built on Auckland's North Shore (of components made in Scotland) and launched on 10 January 1878. She was originally used for trading with Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula. In her first months on the job, after criticism of her abilities, a race was arranged between her and rival steamer City of Cork to Brown's Island and back. Tongariro won (by only a few minutes) but her bearings became so hot that water needed to be poured on them! Later she worked the Kaipara, then served as a stand-by passenger ferry on the City-North Shore run for the Devonport Steam Ferry Company, and took fishing excursions around the Gulf.
When her survey expired in 1905, she was sold for £60 and left on the Little Shoal Bay mudflats. Some newspapers said once her engines and paddles were removed, the hulk was towed to Herald Island (then called Pine Island), to be used as a breakwater. But were those sources correct? Was she dumped there?
were the dumping ground for many old ships.Until the 1940s, the area past Herald Island (between Hobsonville and Greenhithe) was regarded as "fair game" for ship owners who wished to get rid of unwanted hulks: they simply towed them past Herald Island and left them to the elements.
When the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened in 1959, the Devonport Steam Co.-owned vehicular ferries Goshawk and Sparrow Hawk were no longer needed, so were just run aground up at Lucas Creek and burnt.
The skeletons of many abandoned ships lay undisturbed until 1996, when the now-defunct Auckland Regional Council began a big waterways clean-up. The remains were lifted out and taken to the Albany landfill. Some
of the vessels' heavy timbers, such as keels and sternposts (submerged in mud) were still sound.The oldest remains left are of the 115ft.paddle steamer Tongariro, built on Auckland's North Shore (of components made in Scotland) and launched on 10 January 1878. She was originally used for trading with Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula. In her first months on the job, after criticism of her abilities, a race was arranged between her and rival steamer City of Cork to Brown's Island and back. Tongariro won (by only a few minutes) but her bearings became so hot that water needed to be poured on them! Later she worked the Kaipara, then served as a stand-by passenger ferry on the City-North Shore run for the Devonport Steam Ferry Company, and took fishing excursions around the Gulf.
When her survey expired in 1905, she was sold for £60 and left on the Little Shoal Bay mudflats. Some newspapers said once her engines and paddles were removed, the hulk was towed to Herald Island (then called Pine Island), to be used as a breakwater. But were those sources correct? Was she dumped there?
