Fishing Vessel 'Cowan' Sinks at Port Levy

On March 9, 1948, the fishing vessel *Cowan* was on its way back to Lyttelton Harbour from its fishing grounds. The master, Captain G. Mouncer, was in charge. Around 9:30 p.m., the *Cowan* hit the rocks here at Port Levy. The vessel was a wooden steam trawler, built in Sydney, Australia, by Woodleys Limited in 1914. It was 83.6 feet long, with a beam of 18.4 feet and a depth of 9.4 feet, and weighed 30 tons net register.

When it struck the rocks, the *Cowan* was holed on its starboard side and sank quickly. There were seven men in the crew, and all of them were saved. A Court of Inquiry looked into the sinking and found no reprimand was warranted. The vessel had been steered by a crew member who was not certified, but the captain, although he didn't monitor the course, had stayed close to the wheel at all times. At the time of its sinking, the *Cowan* was owned by P. Feron and Son Limited, of Christchurch.

Before this, the *Cowan* had a long history. By 1919, it was working out of Auckland Harbour, and details of its catches around Manukau Harbour were even used as evidence in a Fisheries Commission hearing that February. The *Cowan* visited ports all over New Zealand. In the 1920s, the Auckland City Council owned the vessel, and it was fishing from Auckland Harbour. In July 1920, the master of the *Cowan* was fined £10 for poaching fish by trawling in a prohibited area of the Hauraki Gulf. Its relatively shallow draft meant it could berth directly alongside the fish market wharf in what is now Auckland's Wynyard Quarter.

Fishing, including trawling and dredging for oysters from Bluff, continued through the 1920s and 1930s. The *Cowan* also took on other duties, like searching for vessels that were feared lost or wrecked.

The wreck of the *Cowan* lies in 8 meters of water, near the rocks it struck. Not much remains of it now.