An interview with Mr Fullarton and Captain Percy Moss. This is a continuation of the interview with Captain Moss; Mr Fullarton enters and the two resume their story together.
Captain Moss had been talking about the engine of the ship ‘Geraldine,’ which had a combustion engine and came to port around 1902-1903. The interviewer asks Mr Fullarton his memories of the ‘Geraldine’.
Mr Fullarton says that none of the engineers could start the engine, but finally a handyman called Alf Larkins got her going, and then she was ‘flying all round the harbour’. They used a blow lamp to start her. She was hard to start but kept going once started.
Captain Moss agrees and adds that it took two people to start those type of engines, and explains how it was done.
The interviewer then asks them about the ‘Cincinatti.’ Captain Moss tells him it was the ship that brought Bully Hayes to New Zealand. She was en route from Newcastle but struck the reef at Moeraki and put into Port Chalmers for repairs around 1862 [the interviewer suggests the date]. The vessel was condemned and never went to see again but was used as a corn hulk. She was sold to the Miller Brothers and then was ultimately bought by Captain Moss to break up. They took the timber off the decks – she had been redecked in kauri. After that they burned her down then floated her to Portobello. Once there they stripped her of the copper bolts and other valuable hardware before tugging the remains to Quarantine Island where Mr Dougal the caretaker finished breaking her up. He says plenty of the timber can be seen around Portobello in the form of fence posts. He has the cabin lamp in his house. He claims it was the cabin lamp from Bully Hayes’ ship. The rudder is at present on the beach at Portobello and he has some copper relics at home.
The interviewer asks about the ‘California’ – Captain Moss says she was a hulk owned by the union company and was taken away to be broken up, but he doesn’t know much else about it.
He remembers the ‘Matariki’, which was a steamboat build in Auckland for the ferry service between Dunedin and Port Chalmers. She came to Port Chalmers in December 1908 and ran as a ferry for three months but caught fire at Easter 1909. The machinery was salvaged and used to build the Waikana, which ran as a ferry up until about 1925. She was broken up at Quarantine Island.
Mr Fullarton and the interviewer discuss some more ships – the ‘Talbot Castle’ and the ‘Thomason Henry’. Mr Fullarton remembers being friends with the sons of the Captain of the Thomason Henry – Captain Best. Captain Moss remembers the Thomason Henry being broken up at Rocky Bay.
Captain Moss then talks about the old prison hulk, ‘Success’. The Success was first anchored at Otago Heads as a residence for the prisoners who were building the mull. She was later beached at Port Chalmers, broken up and was at one time used as the rowing club shed.
They continue to discuss several more hulks that they have known – the 'Medora', which used to transport wool and stores between Norfolk Island and Sydney; the 'Broxton', which was the largest wooden steamer ever built. They mention the 'Felicitous', which was buried at Mussel Bay, and the 'Moa', which was used as a coal hulk, as was the 'Alarm'. They briefly remember the 'Express' and the 'Clyde', and then discuss the figurehead of the 'Ocean Ranger'.
Mr Fullarton mentions seeing Kanakas working on the whaling ships 'Othello' and 'Splendid' in the 1870s or 80s at Stewart Island.