Bay Harbour: March 06, 2024
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News Wednesday <strong>March</strong> 6 <strong>2024</strong><br />
18<br />
TREASURES FROM THE PAST<br />
From shipwrecked<br />
• By Steve McKelvey<br />
FOR MORE THAN 80 years, Robert<br />
Forbes was a well-known business name in<br />
Ōhinehou Lyttelton, primarily operating<br />
as a ship chandler and hardware store.<br />
Founder Robert Forbes was born in 1833,<br />
his seagoing career included transporting<br />
troops to and from the Crimean War, and<br />
he was a sailmaker on the Lightning, a<br />
well-known clipper ship running between<br />
Liverpool and Melbourne.<br />
Travelling on the barque Sebastapol<br />
from Sydney to Valparaiso, Chile in<br />
1860, Forbes was shipwrecked on the<br />
Chatham Islands.His arrival in Lyttelton<br />
was therefore unintentional – after the<br />
shipwreck he made his way to the port on<br />
a small schooner and began working for<br />
sailmaker Captain Henry Dunsford.<br />
Possibly his reason for not continuing<br />
at sea was meeting Annie Adamson, who<br />
had arrived in Lyttelton from Sydney<br />
in 1861. They married in Holy Trinity<br />
Anglican Church in February 1863,<br />
Robert aged 29 and Annie 26.<br />
In 1865, Robert was running his own<br />
sailmaking business in Canterbury St and<br />
also bought and sold second hand scrap<br />
metal. By 1870, the couple had a young<br />
family and Annie later described how they<br />
lost everything in the fire of October that<br />
year, which destroyed most of the town<br />
centre.<br />
It was only by the generosity and help of<br />
neighbours that they were able to carry on.<br />
One two storey building on Norwich Quay<br />
that survived the fire became their main<br />
Robert Forbes was a well-known<br />
business name in Ōhinehou<br />
Lyttelton, primarily operating as a<br />
ship chandler and hardware store.<br />
PHOTO: COLLECTION<br />
OF RONALD J GOODEY<br />
shop, a few doors from the Post Office.<br />
Robert Forbes signage on the pediment<br />
and decorative mosaic tiles at the entry<br />
made for distinctive branding. Upstairs<br />
was a sail loft and downstairs was used<br />
as a ship’s chandlery and also stocked<br />
building and farming supplies. Sadly, the<br />
building was destroyed in the June 2011<br />
earthquake.<br />
Who’s your<br />
local hero?<br />
Community Service Awards nominations<br />
open now until 31 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Nominate someone today!<br />
ccc.govt.nz/csa
Change language