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Keeping Port Nelson Open
Without a doubt the most familiar vessel around Port Nelson is the harbour board's dredge, Teaman Bay. Day after day, residents of the Tahuna and port hills see the big grab splashing into the water and emerging with a load of rubble and mud. She's been doing this now for just on 11 years, and in that time she's taken over 800,000 tons of seabed from the harbour and its entrance and dumped it further out in the bay. She's a hard-worked vessel and a very necessary one if Port Nelson is to continue to be used as a port for overseas vessels.
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Water swirls in as the rubble drops through the hopper doors. These are opened by depressing the plungers seen at centre top of the pic
Alex Ferguson, relieving master, at the helm
Down in the gleaming engine room, Ted Dicker awaits the order to set the vessel in motion
Well-loaded down, the Tasman Bay sails into her namesake while Bill Rowlings braves spray to get rid of unwanted rocks on her deck.