Welcome aboard the A.S. Echo, an auxiliary Scow.

Now “dry-berthed” in Picton Harbour, she is currently enjoying retirement as a unique style restaurant by her current owners, Tim & Denise Dare, who spent eleven years restoring her to her former beauty.
The A.S. Echo was built in 1905 by William Brown & Sons on the Wairoa River.
She was a topsail schooner with a 30 hp Hercules engine as an auxiliary.
Travelling at an average speed of 5 – 10 knots, she enjoyed many types of use during her service.
In 1905 – 1916 she carried cargo between both the North and South Island for the Karamea Steam Ship Co and up until 1920 transported meat from Wairoa to Napier.
In 1920 she traveled between Wellington & Blenheim for Eckfords. By 1965, she had completed around 15,000 crossings of the notorious Cook Strait. By that time, she had been fitted with twin 40 hp Skandia engines.
In 1942, she was requisitioned by the US Army for war service in the New Guinea/New Hebrides area as a supply ship by the American Navy crew, one of whom it is purported to be Burl Ives. It has been documented that the A.S.Echo aided in the destruction of two Japanese submarines and survived an aircraft attack as well, during that time. She returned to New Zealand in 1944 to resume her Blenheim to Wellington run carrying both passengers and cargo..
In 1972 she was dry-docked and used as clubrooms for the Marlborough Cruising Club and abandoned in 1990 as she had badly deteriorated and the current owners purchased her and spent many years making her “ship-shape” again.
Her overall length is 30 metres with an 8 metre beam and a 2 metre draught.
Over the years she has sustained many injuries by twice running aground, stranded fifteen times, mechanical damage sixteen times, three fires and seven collisions.

Scows in general.
The New Zealand Scow was developed from the Canadian U.S. log barges that plied the great lakes during the 1800’s. First built in New Zealand in 1873 for Septimus Meiklejohn of Omaha, North Island, they gradually changed from a crude sailing barge to quite fine sailing work horses in their own right. Typically they were of Kauri construction, flat bottomed, centre board, shallow draft and ranged in length from 40 feet to 128 feet. They carried an infinite variety of cargo and were instrumental in the early development of New Zealand.
More information can be found on the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scow

The Echo is open between September 1 and April 30, 7 days a week, 9:30am to 5:00pm.
Inside is Echo Gallery which contains an extensive history of the Echo and other New Zealand scows. For more information phone.+64 3 573 7498