Blind Bay hookers : the little ships of early Nelson, and colonial times /Fred Westrupp.

"From 1841 to 1925, central New Zealand's Blind Bay (now Tasman Bay) was the hub of a 'mosquito fleet' plying local waters and beyond. The earliest of these seagoing little ships - some as small as 30 feet - were amiably known as hookers, and were often built on beaches using timber hewn from the bush. All were able to 'take the mud' to discharge and load on beaches and in estuaries. This fascinating 320 page paperback is the extensively revised and expanded edition of an earlier title by Fred Westrupp - an accomplished sailor, businessman and researcher. Westrupp has blended ten years of research with his own insights stemming from a childhood upbringing on the Nelson waterfront among his seagoing forebears and other surviving skippers of the traditional sail-trading fleet of the port. For the pioneer settlers of Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast, struggling to cope in difficult terrain, these little ships were their lifeline."--Provided by the publisher.