In Picton, tourists can visit the Edwin Fox Museum. According to our guide book, tourists can view the artifacts, video texts and other text materials collected in the museum part and then actually walk right onto what's left of the ship. Of course we had to go! Huge, the sailor at heart, was rapt!
Edwin Fox was built is 1853, and started life as a fully-rigged ship in India. She was built of teak, to protect her from woodworm and a covering of copper-sheeting was applied to further strengthen her hull. Her maiden voyage was from Calcutta to London, carrying a cargo of tea.
She changed hands often. Soon after her voyage from India, she was sold to the British Government, as a transport ship for the Crimean War. She carried troops during the mid 1850s. Later, the ship served as a convict ship bound for Fremantle, Western Australia. She has quite a sad history after that... stripped of some of her rigging, drunken crews running her into rocks, lawsuits, conversion into a refrigeration ship transporting meat...
Anyway, what remains of the ship is now preserved in drydock in Picton. These photos are from down in the hold. Huge says we were standing right on the keel. Amazingly well preserved for its age.
I couldn't resist this shot... the ship's cat?
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