Quail Island (13): wreck of the Belle Isle (c.1857)
07.07.1857: Completed for a Bristol company, and named "Peter Symons".
1868: Sold to a London company and renamed "Belle Isle" for the West Indian trade.
1884: The tea clipper was sold to James Ellis of Sydney and registered there.
1893: Sold to the ever-expanding Union Steam Ship Co.of NZ at Dunedin, and used as a tea-trader, and later a coal hulk.
When the Union Steam Ship Co.was taken over by P+O (the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.) in 1917, there was little further use for Belle Isle. In 1923, she was demolished at Lyttelton Harbour, for her copper and brass bolts, before being beached on Quail Island.
A remarkable feature of the remains of the Belle Isle are the wooden nails in the hull, which at low tide are still clearly visible.
Quail Island (13): wreck of the Belle Isle (c.1857)
07.07.1857: Completed for a Bristol company, and named "Peter Symons".
1868: Sold to a London company and renamed "Belle Isle" for the West Indian trade.
1884: The tea clipper was sold to James Ellis of Sydney and registered there.
1893: Sold to the ever-expanding Union Steam Ship Co.of NZ at Dunedin, and used as a tea-trader, and later a coal hulk.
When the Union Steam Ship Co.was taken over by P+O (the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.) in 1917, there was little further use for Belle Isle. In 1923, she was demolished at Lyttelton Harbour, for her copper and brass bolts, before being beached on Quail Island.
A remarkable feature of the remains of the Belle Isle are the wooden nails in the hull, which at low tide are still clearly visible.