Bay Harbour: September 27, 2023

Wednesday September 27 2023 Bay Harbour News
TREASURES FROM THE PAST 23
Restored torpedo boat on show
• From page 20
Later that year, at the height
of the “Russian Scare”, Defender
was moved to the newly
requisitioned defence reserve of
Bakers Bay.
Housed in a purpose-built
torpedo boat shed and slip
alongside the powder magazine
building – for which the
bay would later be renamed
Magazine Bay – the site was
positioned beneath the newly
constructed Fort Erskine gun
emplacement that also protected
the port’s inner harbour.
Unfortunately, design flaws
in the slip’s construction made
torpedo boat deployment
somewhat challenging (if not
impossible) during high tide or
inclement weather. This rather
fatal flaw, coupled with the
apparently onerous 20-minute
walk around to Bakers Bay from
Ōhinehou Lyttelton, meant
the Navals made little use of
Defender, and with no dedicated
engineer she soon rusted in her
shed.
This sorry state of military
affairs became embarrassingly
public in April 1886 when the
British Royal Navy’s Rear-
Admiral Robert Scott arrived in
Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour
to inspect the Colony’s coastal
defences.
Young boy in the remains of torpedo boat Defender’s
conning tower, Purau beach, early-to-mid 20th century
(cropped).
Te Ūaka The Lyttelton Museum ref. 4602.1
https://www.teuaka.org.nz/online-collection/666278
Informed that he would have
to wait a day or two for the
winds to calm before Defender
could be deployed, when he
finally boarded, her rusty
unmaintained engines manned
by an equally rusty crew could
only manage 12 knots, or the
“pace of a good passenger
launch”.
As the Lyttelton Times
quipped, a gigantic placard
should be erected on Godley
Head with the warning: “To
Russians and all others whom
it may concern. Hostile parties
wishing to shell the Port of
Lyttelton are requested to time
their visit for fine weather,
otherwise they cannot be
fittingly received by the
local authorities. Enemies
disregarding this notice are
hereby warned that they do
so at their own risk, peril, and
inconvenience.”
Nonetheless, after the Rear-
Admiral’s visit Defender was
upgraded with two Whitehead
mobile torpedoes later that
year and remained on duty in
Whakaraupō waters, moored by
the dry dock but still unused,
through to 1899.
By that time the threat of
war with the Russian Empire
had long waned, so she was
decommissioned and sold to
local steam boat operator Mark
Thomas, who salvaged parts and
left the hull at Purau beach for
generations of children to play
on. By 1958 the last remains of
the valiant Defender were lost to
the sands.
Four decades later, using 1958
aerial photography and military
assistance, David Bundy initiated
an excavation for what might
remain of the Defender at Purau
beach. Various hull and other
fragments were found, some
buried up to 30m deep, allowing
the boat to be partially restored,
albeit not to her original glory.
In 2003, the Lyttelton Torpedo
Boat Museum Charitable Trust
showcased the restored Defender
in the Thornycroft Torpedo Boat
Museum, housed in the historic
magazine building at Magazine
Bay.
Run by volunteers, the
museum is open on Sunday
afternoons during summer, with
torpedo boat No 168, Defender,
still at the ready some 140 years
after she was launched.
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