Rangitoto Ships' Graveyard
Clara Hargrave (ex Achilles)
Barque
The Clara Hargrave (official number 47565) was a wooden barque of 374 tons and measured 136 x 30 x 14 ft.
| 1856 | Built as the Achilles by the Glenn Brothers at Boston USA in 1856. |
| 1863 | The Achilles was re-registered as the Clara Hargrave in 1863. |
| 1881 | In February 1881 the vessel arrived at Auckland and was converted to a hulk. Her last owner was the New Zealand Government (Postmaster General). |
Disposal
The vessel is said to have been broken up in 1890, and her hulk dumped at Rangitoto. However this painting by Alfred Hands, dated 1887, shows what is presumed to be the Clara Hargrave hulk.
Today
East side of island, Rangitoto, Auckland 1887
No remains of the Clara Hargrave have been located to date.
The 1887 painting shows the hulk in Gardiner Gap, on the north side of where the causeway is now.
However a 1940s sketch places the hulk to the south of the causeway in Islington Bay.
Gardiner Gap has silted up extensively since last century, and it is possible that remains of the hulk are buried in the mud.
