The Calliope Dock is a historical stone

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

on the grounds of the

Devonport Naval Base Devonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport, New Zealand on Auckland's North Shore. It is currently the only base of the navy that operates ships, and has been in use as a navy base since 1841. The b ...

, in Devonport,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. It was built in 1888 to service ships of the

British Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, and is still in use today. As built it measured by , narrowing to at the gate. The water on the sill was deep. It was extended in 1936, 1943 (to ) and again in 1996.

History

After it was found that the Auckland Graving Dock on the

Auckland waterfront The Auckland waterfront (rarely the Auckland harbourfront) is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitematā Harbour coastline in Auckland, New Zealand. Previously mostly dominated by Ports of Auckland uses, from the 2000s on it is becoming i ...

was too small to be an effective dry dock, work on the Calliope Dock began in December 1884, taking over three years to complete. Among the 300 labourers who constructed the dock, many were

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, and

whare A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' ( ...

were constructed to the west of the dock as a temporary village. The structure required 1.5 million bricks, which were made locally. The dock was officially opened in February 1888. At the time of its construction, it was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and a strategic asset for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. It was named for Calliope Point, out of which it had been hewn by hand over three years. Coincidentally, one of the two first ships to enter it (as a show of her capacity) was HMS ''Calliope''. Administered at first by the

Auckland Harbour Board The Auckland Harbour Board was a public body that operated the ports of both Auckland and Onehunga from 1871 to 1988 and was dissolved in 1989. Its successor organisation is Ports of Auckland, which assumed the possessions and responsibilities of ...

, by 1899 the dock and wharf had become underused and needed widescale maintenance. The Board struck a deal with the

for primary use of the dock. This led to the Auckland naval base moving from Torpedo Bay to Devonport, into a swamp area next to the dock.Devonport Naval Base
(from the New Zealand Naval Museum website. Accessed 2008-06-16.)
Development of naval repair facilities at Auckland, New Zealand 1841-1962
'' - Bell, J.A.; AMRINA Deputy Constructive Manager HMNZ Dockyard After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the Royal Navy expanded the facilities in the area, including work to extend the dock and create more workshops to service the fleet. On 26 February 1987, the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

(the successor to the Royal Navy in New Zealand) purchased the dock from the Harbour Board for $650,000.

References

External links

Photographs of Calliope Dock
held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. {{coord, -36.830241, 174.786236, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Royal New Zealand Navy Buildings and structures in Auckland Drydocks 1880s architecture in New Zealand Waitematā Harbour