Ferries in Wellington
Ferries within Wellington's harbour carry commuters and tourists on Wellington Harbour and form a part of the Wellington public transport system. They operate between central Wellington, Days Bay, Seatoun, and Matiu/Somes Island. Until 2016, services also ran to Petone on weekends. Historically they also served Lowry Bay and Rona Bay—the ferries belonged to the Eastbourne Borough Council from 1913 to 1950—and briefly, until 1913, Miramar and Karaka Bay. The development of road connections around the harbour's edge, particularly once they were paved during the 1920s, reduced the importance of ferries to the city's transport network, but regular services still run.
Some of the most notable vessels were the SS Cobar and SS Duchess. Cobar was the longest serving, 42 years from 1906 to 1948 when all services ended because Cobar was badly damaged by fire. Duchess was specially built for Port Nicholson in 1897 but licensed to carry 1,029 against Cobars 745 passengers she had to be first to go when commuters switched to the buses in the 1920s. She was laid up by the council in 1929 and sold in 1930.
Routes
A ferry service to Days Bay began in 1893 and later served Eastbourne. The service was taken over by the Eastbourne Borough Council in 1913 and continued to operate until 1948.In 1989, a new ferry service was established to Days Bay. It is the only commuter ferry in operation in Wellington. It is run by the private company East by West, with a subsidy from local authorities.
Ferry services from central Wellington to Miramar, Seatoun, and Karaka Bay began in 1901. There were several runs each day, operated by a private company, Wellington Harbour Ferries. A second company, the Miramar Ferry Company, began operations the following year, but was bought out by Wellington Harbour Ferries in 1906. Improvements to road connections, notably the construction of the Seatoun Tunnel, made road journeys substantially quicker and easier, and caused patronage to drop—regular services ceased in 1913. In 2006, weekend services to Seatoun resumed followed in March 2008 by a commuter service.
Attempts have been made in recent years to establish a ferry service from central Wellington to Petone, on the northern coast of the harbour. Although there is a major road and rail corridor connecting Petone and Wellington, a ferry service might reduce congestion and possibly provide a faster journey. A trial commuter service was withdrawn in the mid-2000s after failing to attract the level of patronage expected, but Petone continued to be served by a weekend "Harbour Explorer" service until the wharf was damaged in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. The Hutt City Council planned in 2017 to spend million on repairing the wharf. Both the East by West ferry company and the mayor of Lower Hutt, Ray Wallace, expressed interest in reintroducing a commuter service.
Although Matiu/Somes Island has never had a substantial population its establishment as a nature reserve generated demand for a ferry service. The island opened to the public in 1995 and off-peak and weekend ferries call on request.
Vessels
These vessels also carried Wellington Harbour Board's pilots and towed large vessels within the harbour.| Name | Operator | In service | Retired | Max Passengers | Gross Tons | Length | Speed | Notes |
| Admiral | 616 | Placed on the coastal trade. | ||||||
| Aorere | Eastbourne Borough Council | Purchased for cargo-carrying; the service was not a success. | ||||||
| Awaroa | Wellington Harbour Ferries | 1911 | Built in Sydney for Auckland owners for the Northern Wairoa run | |||||
| City Cat | 2000 | 91 | 14.5 | 20 | ||||
| Cobar | Wellington Harbour Ferries | 1906 | 1948 | 900 | 159 | Built by G de Fraine, Sydney in 1903 for Cobar Mining, bought 1906 Wellington Harbour Ferries Company, only authorised to transport 745 passengers. Cobar collided with the Duchess in the early evening of 30 March 1910. A magisterial enquiry decided both masters were equally at fault and their master's certificates were suspended for one year. | ||
| Cobar Cat | 2005 | 99 | 17 | 22 | ||||
| Countess | Wellington Harbour Ferries | 1901 | 1910 | 141 | HP steam engine. Launched by Messrs Logan's, Auckland 27 November 1900 for the Wellington Ferry Company's Day's Bay service. Engines were placed on board by Messrs A & G Price at Thames. Sold to Napier for a trawler in 1910 and later to Sanford Limited in Auckland. She became a hulk and sank at her Shoal Bay moorings in 1934. | |||
| Duchess | Wellington Harbour Ferries | 1897 | 1929 | 1200 | 308 | 12 | Steel, triple-expansion engines, specially built for Wellington Harbour Ferries by Mackie & Thompson, Glasgow in 1897. Laid up by owners Eastbourne Borough Council in 1929. She was sold to Auckland for the run to Kawau Island in November 1930. | |
| Duco | 1892 | 1909 | 420 | Built primarily as a tug on the Clyde in 1892 for J H Williams. Converted to a fishing boat Duco disappeared on a voyage to the Chatham Islands in November 1909. | ||||
| Himatangi | ||||||||
| Karaka | ||||||||
| Loyalty | Miramar Ferry Co. Ltd. | 1901 | Ex-French gunboat at Noumea. Kauri, copper-fastened; 95 ft, beam 16 ft, depth of hold 7 ft, draught 5 or 6 ft. | |||||
| Mana | 1886 | 1897 | 280 | Built by W. R. Williams. Sold to Patea Shipping Company in 1897. | ||||
| Moa | 1880 | 350 | 7 | Served a triple purpose as lighter, tug and excursion steamer taking picnickers to Somes Island. In 1886 Moa was lengthened and greatly altered and placed in the coastal trade. Owner Captain W. R. Williams then built the Mana at his yard on Te Aro beach and a wharf at Lowry Bay. | ||||
| Moturoa | ||||||||
| Muritai | Eastbourne Borough Council Transport Services | 1923 | 1940 | 1500 | 13 | 172 ft 6 ins, length b.p. 165 ft, beam 30 ft, depth 12 ft 3 in. Twin triple-expansion engines, two boilers running on oil or coal. Built at Montrose, Scotland, for the Council and launched in December 1922, arrived in May 1923 and called the "Greyhound of Eastbourne's fleet". Taken over in August, 1940, by the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy for defence purposes and renamed HMS Muritai. | ||
| Ocean Cruiser | Port Nicholson Launch Co. Ltd. | 1951 | 1951 | Re-engined Fairmile, previously in service in Fremantle. Perhaps became HMNZS Maori. | ||||
| Opawa | ||||||||
| Pilot | 150 | Sold to the North as a tug. | ||||||
| Queen of the South |
Owners and operators of steamers
Captain W. R. Williams
William Robert Williams was born at Gravesend, Kent, England 5 March 1832 and died at his house on Wellington's The Terrace on 17 March 1890. He started out to be a sailor at the age of 12 in vessels trading on the English coast. Moving to Australia in 1856 he involved himself in trade between Melbourne and ports in South Australia then became chief officer on a vessel running to Otago. He acquired an interest in the barque Anne Melhuish in which he brought coal to New Zealand from Newcastle taking timber, kauri gum, and, at the end of the Maori wars, troops the other way. The trans-Tasman coal trade was very profitable. He was soon able to purchase Heversham, Australind, Cyrus, Edwin Bassett, Carlotta, Neptune, Robin Hood, Sophia R Luhrs, G M Tucker, Ellerton, and Mary Bannatyne all forming the nucleus of the Black Diamond Line.In 1876 he bought the steamer Grafton in Sydney and in 1881 while in England he bought the steamer Westport then being built in Glasgow. The following year, his only son, J. H. Williams, superintended the construction of steamers Koranui and Mawhera in Britain also for the West Coast trade. Other steam vessels belonging to the line were Moa, Manawatu, and Maitai.
Captain Williams moved into coal mining in 1885 forming a company to work a coal lease at Westport then adding the Koranui Coal Company and the Coal Pit Heath mine. However, in 1886, Williams disposed of them to Westport Coal Company and sold his vessels to James Mills's Union Steam Ship Company. He had intended to pay another visit to the Old Country but was found to be suffering from heart disease.
Described as a shrewd man of business he was at one time the largest employer of labour in Wellington. As well as running his line of steamers, he had his shipbuilding yard on the Te Aro foreshore, its site is now on the north side of Halley's Lane in lower Taranaki Street. For some years he was the government's nominee on the Wellington Harbour Board. His obituary in Wellington's Evening Post reported "Although occasionally brusque in his manner Captain Williams possessed a kindly disposition and his acts of benevolence were numerous."