Janie Seddon shipwreck

Discover

About Janie Seddon shipwreck

The Janie Seddon was built in 1901 by the shipyard Fleming & Ferguson in Paisley, Scotland, together with a sister ship, the Lady Roberts. Both were purchased by the New Zealand government to lay naval mines and arrived in Wellington in January 1902. The Janie Seddon remained in the capital, where army engineers used it to place mines at the harbour entrance.

In both world wars it served as an inspection vessel in Wellington Harbour, checking incoming ships. During the First World War it also served the internment camp on Matiu / Somes Island. According to an unconfirmed tradition, it fired New Zealand’s first shot of the Second World War as a warning to a ship that entered the harbour without stopping.

In 1946 it was bought by a Motueka fishing company and converted into a trawler. It was too large for inshore fishing and carried little coal, and the venture proved unprofitable. After about two years of fishing it was laid up at the quay, sank there some years later and was partially dismantled for scrap. What remained stayed in the mud beside the old wharf.

The hull lies a few metres from Motueka Quay and can be seen from the street. At low tide a larger part of the structure is exposed. The Great Taste Trail cycleway runs beside it, and there are panels near the quay about the town’s former port.