Lyttelton made its first voyage with a full cargo and passengers from Nelson to Blenheim on 14th November 1862 and caused a great stir in Blenheim as it was the first steamship to negotiate the Opawa River and berth at the town wharf. This may have been a better acquisition than the ship as he gave many years outstanding service to the Company. The Lyttelton finally arrived in Wellington after a voyage of 462 days! By this time, the company it had been built for had gone into liquidation, and the ship was sold to Nathaniel Edwards and Company. He made many improvisations during the voyage out to speed progress and at one port even fitted the paddles but supplies of coal were difficult to obtain. An engineer, Alexander Brown, was engaged to sail to New Zealand on the ship to fit the paddles after her arrival and then to remain as the ship's engineer for a period of one year. It was decided that it would proceed to New Zealand under sail and the paddles would be stowed in the hold to be fitted after arrival. The Lyttelton was built in 1859 at Scott Russell's yard, Millwall, Middlesex. When Symons joined it was decided to purchase the paddle steamer Lyttelton and it arrived from that port in October 1862. Edwards and Bennett had been in partnership for the previous 5 years operating as general merchants in the import export trade and as ships agents for various overseas and coastal ships.

It was called Nathaniel Edwards and Company. On 3 November 1862 the original company that was to become the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company was formed in Nelson with a partnership between Nathaniel Edwards, George Bennett and John Symons. It owned 37 ships and the number of ships owned at any one time reached its peak in 1930 when it had 16 ships in its fleet. To accomplish this, its ships visited most ports in New Zealand during its 110 years of operation, but successive Boards of Directors resisted all temptation to overreach themselves with grandiose schemes for extensive development. Description Compiled by John Brown from 'Anchor Ships and Anchor Men' by A A Kirkįrom the time the fore runner of the Anchor Line was formed in 1862 until the time it was absorbed into the Union Steam Ship Company in 1972, it never departed from its original aim of providing an efficient service for the people of Nelson and the West Coast of the South Island.

Anchor company