Lyttelton Graving Dock

Image Credit: Graving Dock, Lyttleton. From the album New Zealand Scenery, Series 1, circa 1880, Christchurch, maker unknown, Messrs F. Bradley & Co. Te Papa

Opened in 1883, Lyttelton’s graving dock, still in regular use after more than a century, is one of the country’s most important structures of marine engineering heritage. Its length illustrates the size of the sailing clippers it was built to service - much less beamy than modern boats. The designer was harbour board engineer C. Napier Bell.