The old scow - A. S. Echo.

Got into Picton with a few minutes to spare before the meeting started, so I drove around past the marina, hoping to get a good shot of Picton with the fog behind it.
Instead, I found the Echo, now on a dry dock, but deteriorating badly. Had been converted to a cafe for a while, but now closed. A board outside gave this information:
“A. S. Echo; Built at Dargaville in 1905, she traded for the Karamea Steam Ship Co., around the coast of NZ until 1016 when she was brought by Richardson's of Napier for the meat trade from Wairoa.
In 1920 she came to Eckfords Co., and worked the Cook Straits from Blenheim to Wellington until 1942.
In 1942 she was commissioned by the U.S. Army, manned by Navy personnel she patrolled a vast area of the Pacific.
On active duty until 1944 when she resumed her Cook Strait service.
During this time she floundered twice, ws involved in several collisons and stranded approx. 15 times on the Wairau Bar.
Her service ended in 1965. A proud history of the New Zealand scow.”
I also Googled her, and found an article from the Marlborough Express, which was quite interesting too;
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/8442549/Wackiest-ship-in-wartime
Hopefully, someone has the time and money to restore her to some of her former glory, before she is past repairing.