Family connection with ship renewed

BY FRITHA TAGG

Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith reconnected with his famous ancestor when he visited the Edwin Fox. 

Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith's passion for the Edwin Fox is apparent as he runs his hands along the age-worn wood of the historic ship's hull.

The 82-year-old, visiting from Scotland, is the great-great-nephew of Duncan Dunbar II, who owned the Edwin Fox in the 1850s.

He is also the patron of the Edwin Fox Society, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Rear-Admiral David Arthur Dunbar-Nasmith.

On Tuesday, Edwin Fox Society chairman Chris Brown escorted Sir James around the ship at its purpose-built dock at Dunbar Wharf, Picton, where the ship is preserved in a weatherproof dry dock which is open for public viewing.

Sir James appeared moved by the experience.

"It's so important that things like this [Edwin Fox] are preserved. They hold historical and moral lessons, as time goes on they become ever more important," he said.

Sir James is emeritus professor of Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh where he formerly headed the architecture department. He is best known as the architect of Sunninghill Park, the home of the Duke of York, and his firm was responsible for buildings on the Balmoral Estate, although he considers the firm's work building and restoring the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and other theatres as just as important.

The Dunbar story starts in the 1700s with John Dunbar, a tenant farmer on the Balnageith estate, which lies between the rivers Findhorn and Forres, Scotland. John married in 1745 and had 15 children.

The seventh son, Duncan, went to London where he became a brewer and wine merchant. He founded the Dunbar Wharf in 1796 on the River Thames at Limehouse. This exists today.

Duncan Dunbar I had two sons and six daughters between 1799 and 1816.

"The eldest surviving daughter, Justina, was my great-great-grandmother and next to her was Duncan II born in September 1803, who went on to take over the wine and beer business from his father," Sir James said.

Duncan II was prolific in shipbuilding and purchasing. His was the largest privately owned fleet in the world. In his lifetime he owned 73 sailing ships, all built of wood, and all but one had three masts. He purchased the Edwin Fox in 1854, one of 27 second-hand ships he owned. She was built in 1853 in Sulkeali on the Hooghly River, Ganges delta, Calcutta, India.

In 1862 Duncan II died a bachelor and all his ships were sold. His estate was then estimated to be worth 1.5 million, a vast fortune at that time.

Sir James said Duncan II was very successful and incredibly generous.

"He gave his siblings a great deal of money before he died and when he died, aged 53, he was very, very rich," he said. He arranged for several of his ships' captains to purchase the ships "on very good terms" and the same arrangement for his wine business clerks, "selling the businesses at a fair rate".

The family has Duncan II's account books. He had trained at his father's counting house and was meticulous with his figurework.

"Across one year's records he scrawled `a very disastrous year', but I'm not sure what year it was."

Sir James has a wealth of family history and anecdotes, explaining how the surname Dunbar has continued down through the family even though there were several bachelors.

The women in the family retained the Dunbar name.

His mother's arm of the family even had the surname Dunbar-Dunbar, and she was also bestowed with the first name Dunbar, being christened Dunbar Dunbar-Dunbar.

Sir James now lives 5km from the original John Dunbar's home, Balnageith, in Findhorn, Scotland.

He understands the battle the Edwin Fox Society is having to get government support. He has spent a lot of time trying to get both Scottish and British government departments to take responsibility for many historic places.

"I don't always win. I never regret the work involved – but I regret those projects which are lost. They are gone for good."

He tried to get Scotland's National Trust to take responsibility for Hill House, west of Glasgow. The house is one of the best known works of Scottish architect Charles Mackintosh.

"I tried three times and had plenty of backing from Scotland's most respected architects. I was so cross with my failure I got fellow architects together and we bought it ourselves, restored it and eventually handed it back to the National Trust. Now it is the most successful, most visited building owned by the trust.

"The Edwin Fox comes into this category. It is incredible the amount of work done and the ship still has an important job to do in the future."

Mr Brown agreed with Sir James.

"When we started, people thought we were mad, but what we have done has not only been about the ship, it has added to the experience that is Picton.

"We have 10,000 visitors through the Fox each year and it's making money, but we need the Historic Places Trust to take it over now so all the good work is not wasted."

EDWIN FOX HISTORY

Edwin Fox was built in 1853 in Sulkeali on the Hooghly River, Ganges delta, Calcutta, India and sold to Duncan Dunbar II in 1854. She was used to carry soldiers to the Crimea War, convicts to Australia and bring immigrants from England to New Zealand. In the 1880s steam arrived and Edwin Fox was fitted out as a floating freezer hulk and used in several New Zealand ports. In 1897 she was towed to Picton and used as a freezer ship and then as a coal hulk. She was virtually derelict when the Edwin Fox Society took her on as a project. She is preserved in a weatherproof dry dock and is a prominent tourist attraction for Picton .

- The Marlborough Express