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SS West Arm

Vessel numberHV000805

Previous owner Marine Board of Launceston

Designer Priestman Brothers LTD

Builder Priestman Brothers LTD

Date1885

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 18.29 m × 6.71 m × 1.83 m, 85.37 tonnes (60 ft × 22 ft × 6 ft, 84 tons)

Terms

DescriptionThe SS WEST ARM was built by Priestman Brothers LTD in Hull (UK) and launched in 1885. It was built as an iron riveted dredge and pontoon for the Marine Board of Launceston, and operated along the Tamar River from the late 1880s to the 1930s. SS West Arm is 60ft in length and 22 ft. in breath, and sits today as a houseboat on the banks of the Tamar at Beauty Point as one of the oldest vessels in Tasmania.

Priestman Brothers was an engineering company established in 1870 in Kingston Upon Hull. Primarily a manufacturer for diggers, cranes, and other industrial equipment, the company started building dredgers in 1876 following a request to construct machinery for the recovery of lost gold at sea. During the 1880s northern Tasmanian ports experienced increasing numbers of larger ships, and a parallel need for extensive harbour works to accommodate such vessels. The recently developed Priestman dredge presented as the ideal piece of machinery for harbourside operation, and five were imported to Tasmania for use on the Mersey and the Tamar. The first of the five was acquired by the Launceston Marine Board in 1882 and was erected on a locally built support barge.

The second of the five Priestman dredges, SS WEST ARM, was larger and possessed its own self-propelled steam pontoon. This steam engine was propellor driven. The pontoon was split into sections and freighted to Tasmania aboard the barque LANOMA, arriving in Launceston on 13 October 1885 and entering service in April 1886.

The crane attached to the pontoon was most likely operated manually via chain, carrying a grab piece from its crane arm. The jib at the top of the arm was made of wrought iron and supported by wrought iron bars and chains. In operation on the Tamar, the grab would have been used for excavating hard material and deepening and widening sections of the river bed. This would have been hard work with differing levers of the crane engaged by hand, and undoubtedly instances occurred of unexpected objects obstructing excavations. In July 1889 the colonial government of Western Australia acquired its own Priestman dredge which was pivotal in the opening of the bar across the mouth of the Swan River, and the subsequent construction of the port of Freemantle.

SS West Arm operated as a dredge until 1936 when it was replaced by a new pontoon built by Glasgow Engineering in Launceston. Parts of SS West Arm were dismantled and sold, the hull remaining intact ashore until 1948 when it was purchased by the McCullock family and converted into a houseboat. During this period, the corroded topsides were cut away and replaced by new welded steel topsides. Since 1960 the SS WEST ARM has been owned by the Brooks family, and the hull has been lined internally with concrete in order to maintain the hull shape with further stabilising concrete piers on the port side.
SignificanceSS WEST ARM is a houseboat that was built in 1885 by Priestman Brothers LTD in Hull (UK). It was built as an iron riveted dredge and pontoon for use by the Marine Board of Launceston. With its own steam engine, SS WEST ARM operated along sections of the Tamar River widening and deepening the river bed. The actions of the SS WEST ARM were significant at a time in the 1880s when Tasmanian ports were experiencing increasing numbers of large vessels. After almost fifty years as a pontoon and dredge the SS WEST ARM was dismantled in 1936, and converted into a houseboat in 1948. It sits today at Beauty Point on the bank of the Tamar as one of the oldest vessels in Tasmania. Its adaptive reuse is also a good example of how a heritage vessel can remain extant beyond its original specialised use, and adds to the story of this now rare type craft.