Here's the twin screw steamer 'Earnslaw' getting ready for her final departure of the season from Queenstown, New Zealand, a couple of weeks back.
Earnslaw is a remarkably original steamship, built in 1912 at Dunedin and transported to the lake, 1000' above sea level, in sections. She is still coal fired and capable of an impressive turn of speed, all in complete silence of course! She is very little altered from 'as built' condition and has required little replating on the freshwater lake.
Later that morning the process of slipping the ship for her annual survey got underway. She's positioned on a cradle and divers adjust blocks under the hull. On the first attempt she had a slight list and had to be set back into the water. The divers looked pretty cold at this stage!
The cradle travels on rails and is winched up the slipway. Most remarkable of all, the winching engine consists of the paddle engines from a former lake steamer, 'Antrim', built in 1869! It makes a truly impressive bark when taking the strain with the 300 ton Earnslaw on the rope! The engines appear to have been sleeved to make them a simple set and very substantially mounted with a double reduction gear drive to the winch drum. The boiler is said to also be from 'Antrim', but must be a steel replacement of the original 1869 boiler.
Edited to say sorry for double posting something went wrong and I cant find out how to delete the duplicate thread!
