Edwin Fox - the final years

In 1873 the Edwin Fox was chartered by Shaw Savill Company to carry immigrants to New Zealand from England.
She was to make 4 such voyages carrying a total of 751 passengers to the new colony. A number of 'incidents' around this period have been recorded in the ships log. On the first voyage she ran into a storm in the Bay of Biscay and was severely damaged. The ships crew got into some of the spirits being carried as cargo and created a significant amount of turmoil. The ships doctor was killed having been impaled on a metal rod. A seaman was killed trying to secure one of the ships boats and a young girl was swept overboard only to be swept back onboard again by the next wave. There were many other incidents on subsequent voyages.
By the 1880's the age of steam had arrived and the sheep industry in New Zealand was booming. Edwin Fox was fitted out as a floating freezer hulk and was used as such in several South Island ports. She was finally towed to Picton arriving 12th January, 1897 where she has remained ever since initially as a freezer ship, later as a coal hulk and now preserved under cover as a prominent tourist attraction.