Editing Scow (section)

===New Zealand trading scows===
The American scow design was copied and modified in New Zealand by early immigrant settlers to [[Auckland]] in the 1870s. In 1873, a sea captain named George Spencer,<ref>[http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaAndAirTransport/Shipbuilding/1/en George Spencer]</ref> who had once lived and worked on the American Great Lakes and had gained a first-hand knowledge of the practical working capabilities of the sailing barges that plied their trade on the lakes, recognised the potential use of similar craft in the protected waters of the [[Hauraki Gulf]], Auckland. He commissioned a local shipbuilder, Septimus Meiklejohn,<ref> [http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaAndAirTransport/Shipbuilding/1/en Septimus Meiklejohn]</ref> to construct a small flat-bottomed sailing barge named the ''Lake Erie'',<ref>[http://www.nzmaritimeindex.org.nz/ixsearchvessels.asp?hit=1&name=LAKE+ERIE ''Lake Erie'']</ref> which was built at [[Ōmaha]], not far from Mahurangi.<ref>[http://www.arc.govt.nz/parks/our-parks/parks-in-the-region/mahurangi/ Mahurangi]</ref> An account of the launching of this vessel appeared in 1873 in the Auckland newspaper, ''The Daily Southern Cross'',<ref>[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=CL1.DSC "The Daily Southern Cross"], 26 April 1873.</ref> which gave its readers a good idea of the distinctive construction and advantages over other vessels.

The ''Lake Erie'' was 60 feet 6 inches in length, seventeen feet 3 inches in breadth and had a draught of three feet 4 inches. It was fitted with lee boards (a type of keel slotted onto the sides of the vessel), but these were highly impracticable in rough weather on the New Zealand coast. Later scows were constructed with the much safer slab-sided centre board, which crews raised and lowered as required. This one small craft spawned a fleet of sailing scows that became associated with the gum trade and the flax and kauri industries of northern New Zealand.

Scows came in all manner of shape and sizes and all manner of sailing rigs, but the "true" sailing scow displayed no fine lines or fancy rigging. They were designed for hard work and heavy haulage and they did their job remarkably well. They took cattle north from the stockyards of Auckland and returned with a cargo of [[kauri]] logs, sacks of [[kauri gum]], shingle, firewood, [[New Zealand flax|flax]] or sand. With their flat bottoms they could be sailed or poled much further up the many tributaries and rivers where the bushmen and bullock teams had the freshly sawn kauri logs amassed, thereby saving a great deal of time and energy on the part of the bushmen. Flat-bottomed scows were also capable of grounding on a beach for loading and unloading. Over the side went duckboards, wheelbarrows, and banjo shovels. The crew then filled the vessel with sand, racing against the turn of the tide. When the tide did turn, they loaded the equipment back on board and put off to sea. Occasionally an inexperienced skipper overloaded the scow. Then, as the water rose against the outside of the hull (diminishing the amount of safe "free board"), the crew had to shovel rapidly to reduce the contents in the hold to a safe level.

Logs when hauled were always carried above deck, secured by heavy chain, the space between decks being left empty to give added buoyancy. The logs were taken to Auckland and unloaded into floating "booms" to await breaking down in the sawmills of the [[Kauri Timber Company]]<ref>[http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/UsesOfTheBush/LoggingNativeForests/3/ENZ-Resources/Standard/3/mi Kauri Timber Company]</ref> and other such mills that operated right on the edge of Auckland Harbour.

The golden age of scows and [[schooners]] lasted from the 1890s to the end of the [[World War I|First World War]], when schooners were superseded by steamers and scows were gradually replaced with tugs.

[[Image:nzscow.jpg|thumb|right|''Jane Gifford'' Re-rigged, Manukau Harbour 1993. Photo: Subritzky Collection.]]
The Subritzky family of [[Northland Region|Northland]] operated the scows ''Jane Gifford'' and ''Owhiti'' as the last fleet of working scows, operating between the [[Port of Auckland]] and the Island communities of the Hauraki Gulf.<ref> [http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Poles/1/en Subritzky]</ref> The ''Jane Gifford'' was gifted to the Waiuku Historical Society<ref>[http://www.historic.org.nz/magazinefeatures/2001august/2001_08b_single.htm Waiuku Historical Society]</ref> by Captain Bert Subritzky and his wife Moana in 1985, where it was re-masted and re-rigged to its original splendour. The ''Owhiti'' was sold to Captain Dave Skyme and fully restored to its 1924 sea worthiness, and it subsequently starred in the 1983 movie ''[[Nate and Hayes|Savage Islands]]'' (starring [[Tommy Lee Jones]] and amongst others [[Kiwi (people)|Kiwi]] icon and singer [[Prince Tui Teka]] as King Ponapa). Unfortunately the ''Owhiti'' was not maintained for a period of time, during which [[Teredo navalis|teredo shipworms]] destroyed much of her structure. She remains in a deteriorating condition at [[Opua]]. Her rig may see use in another scow when restored.

The main differences from American scows were sharper bows and favouring the ketch rig instead of the schooner rig, although a great many schooner- and topsail schooner-rigged vessels were built.
Some 130 scows were built in the north of New Zealand between 1873 and 1925; they ranged from 45 to 130&nbsp;ft (14–40&nbsp;m). New Zealand trading scows travelled all around New Zealand as well as to [[Australia]] and to the west coast of America although the majority were based in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand.<ref>[http://www.myrasplace.net/ships/scows.htm New Zealand trading scows]</ref>