Emma Sims is a ketch built at Brisbane in 1895 along with Joseph Sims and Amelia Sims for John Sims.

Emma Sims served until 1905 when John Sims retired and was sold to Mr E G Pilcher of Wellington.

Emma Sims was subsequently wrecked while sheltering off Mana Island on 18 May 1907 while on a passage from Havelock to Lyttelton.

The Foxton was built by George Niccol in 1929 for the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company especially to service the river ports of Kaiapoi and Foxton, entering service early 1930.
After numerous strandings at both ports, Foxton was withdrawn and sold to the South Taranaki Shipping Company in 1939. Foxton left New Zealand waters in 1969 and sank off southern Moorea Tahiti while under the name Tamarii Tuamoto on 31 May 1976.

The Kairaki was a steel-hulled steamer specially built for the Kaiapoi Shipping and Trading Company at Dublin in 1909.

The Kairaki was the largest ship to work the Kaiapoi River. Specially designed to carry 300 tons of cargo with no more than two metres draught, she was also equipped for use as a tug. The Kairaki was Kaiapoi’s pride and joy carrying a multitude of cargoes including coal, timber, livestock, wool and produce. Kairaki’s itinerary included ports such as Dunedin, Oamaru, Timaru, Hokitika, Greymouth, Nelson, Marlborough Sounds, Wellington, Foxton, Gisborne and sometimes Auckland. Tragically the Kairaki’s time was short-lived – on 26 September 1914 Kairaki struck a rock north of Greymouth while on a voyage from Wellington to Hokitika, and sank in a howling westerly storm with the loss of 17 lives .

The Kohi was built by G T Niccol in 1911 as Caed-Mile-Failte for Captain Somerville.

It was sold to the Biddick Family in 1914 and renamed Kohi.

The Kohi saw Overseas Service during WW2, and was used at one stage as a floating ice cream factory.

The Kohi was bought by Eckford and Co. of Blenhiem in 1945. In 1947 she was sold to Parry Bros for glass sand trade. By 1960 the Kohi was under Sullivan Shipping Company ownership. She made four trips to Kaiapoi in July 1963 for the Inter Island Shipping Co., relieving the Ranginui. Kohi sank at Picton not long afterwards. She was re-floated and after some months was towed to Nelson for inspection but condemned. She was subsequently dismantled and ended her days as a landing stage in the Westhaven Inlet.

The Motu was built by G T Niccol in 1920 for the Northern Steam Ship Company. She worked the Bay of Plenty trade. She was sold to the Karamea Shipping Company in 1949 for the Tasman Bay–Wellington–Lyttelton service. The Motu made two trips to Kaiapoi as a relief vessel in October 1961.

The Motu was accidentally crushed by the inter-island ferry Maori on 27 February 1962 and damaged beyond economic repair. She was sold onto Skeggs Fisheries Ltd and taken to Port Chalmers where she was dismantled and the hull burnt in 1964.

The Ngahau was built in 1921 at Omaha by Davey Darroch in 1921. Ngahau spent most of her life north of Auckland. In 1933 during the depression her owners, Winstones, chartered her out to the Carey Bros who sent her south to make money. Ngahau spent a big portion of her South Island time transporting sheep from Little Akaloa to Kaiapoi. She was also engaged on a general cargo run which saw her go as far afield as Bluff with a generator. Ngahau made several trips to Wellington, picking up timber from Marlborough Sounds on the way south. Ngahau was the last commercial vessel to cross the Sumner bar, transporting a boiler for the Davis Gelatine Company in 1934. Ngahau left Kaiapoi for the last time in March 1936, returning to Auckland after delivering cargo to Wellington.

After several years as a barge, Ngahau ended her days on the beach at Houhora.

Paroto was built as an auxiliary ketch in 1914 by G T Niccol for the Northern Steam Ship Company for Bay of Plenty trade. She was sold to Richardson and Company, Napier, in 1948 but found to be too small and was put up for sale again. She was subsequently purchased by Collingwood Shipping Company in 1949.

Paroto was converted to a full motor vessel in 1950. In 1958 she was the first vessel to work the reopened port of Kaiapoi. In 1960 ownership transferred to the Inter Island Shipping Company.

Paroto ran aground on 3 August 1966 and was totally wrecked in dense fog at Point Gibson, North Canterbury.

The Picton was built in 1917 by T Brown and Sons, Te Kopuru, as Koau for Richardson & Company.

She was sold to the Southern Cross Shipping Company in 1952 and renamed Picton. She worked the Nelson Bays-Wellington-Lyttelton run. She entered Kaiapoi–Wellington service in 1959, and set a record by being at Kaiapoi three times in one week. She spent six days aground at the Waimakariri entrance in May 1961.

The Picton was sold in 1964 to the Picton Fishing Company for line and crayfishing at the Chatham Islands. Picton was wrecked at Raoul Island on 20 July 1978 while under charter to the Ministry of Transport.

The Ranginui was built by Scott & Sons, Bowling Glasgow, Scotland in 1936 for G T Niccol. She was sold on to the Northern Steam Ship Company in 1937 and worked the Whangarei-Auckland-Tauranga run. In 1957 she was sold to the Collingwood Shipping Company and placed on the Wellington–Lyttelton run. She was placed on the Kaiapoi-Wellington run with Paroto in 1958.

Ranginui was sold to Luggate Game Packers in November 1967 and converted for use as a helicopter base for venison recovery work in Fiordland. She was laid up at Port Chalmers in 1968 and later returned to Kaiapoi.

In August 1972 she was sold to Carribbean Pacific Enterprise, where she was to have been converted into a small frigate but the ship never left Kaiapoi. She was purchased by Alpine Helicopters in 1976 and returned to Fiordland. She underwent a refit at Bluff in 1986 and was used as recreational accommodation by Sir Tim Wallace and family.

Ranginui sank in Breaksea Sound while unattended on 8 May 1995.

Taupata was built by G T Niccol in 1930 at Auckland. She was sold to the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company Ltd of Nelson while being fitted out. She made two return trips to Norfolk Island for Niccol before being handed over to Anchor Company.

Taupata traded from Nelson to various bar harbours around the New Zealand Coast.

Taupata was requisitioned in WW2 by the American Navy and served in the Pacific war zone as YAG 26 in 1943-1944. She was sold on to Pearl Kasper Shipping Company in 1949 and worked the Nelson-Lyttelton run.

In 1960 she made her first visit to Kaiapoi, and had to wait for a dragline to dig out the riverbank to swing around. She ceased calling at Kaiapoi after running aground at Kairaki in December 1961.

Taupata was purchased by Motueka Coastal Services in 1962. She suffered damage by fire in 1965 and was laid up. Taupata left New Zealand waters in 1966 and was used for a time fishing around Seychelles Islands. She was sold to Taupata Fishing Corperation, Port Moresby, in 1971. She turned up at Sydney in 1977, and was in use as a pleasure craft in 1980. She is thought to have finished up in Western Australia.

Toa was built in 1927/28 By George Niccol at Auckland for the Northern Steam Ship Company.

She worked the Bay of Plenty trade until the end of 1960. She was purchased by the Kaiapoi Shipping Company in 1961 and worked the Kaiapoi–Wellington trade until being laid up in 1963.

Toa spent time line fishing off Chatham Islands in 1964. In 1967 she worked with Ranginui in the venison recovery operations in Fiordland. She went fishing at Tonga in the early 1970s , and was laid up at Auckland in 1973. She was auctioned off by the Auckland Harbour Board in 1974 to recover unpaid charges. She was sold to Mahoud Raza of Suva for $6040, renamed Paerimu, and refitted for trading around Pacific Islands. She sank at her moorings in the Bay of Islands, Suva, in 1981.

The MV Tuhoe was built in Auckland in 1919 by George Nicol and was launched on April 7. It was a 97-foot, double-masted auxiliary schooner, constructed of triple skin kauri for the Northern Steamship Company, intended for navigating the harbours and rivers of Northland and the Coromandel. The ship was originally fitted with two 60-horsepower engines from Glasgow that had been salvaged from the ship, Eunice, which was lost the year before. The Tuhoe’s maiden voyage took place on May 1 1919, from Auckland to Whakatane and carried on to Tauranga.

The MV Tuhoe was named after the Maori tribe, Tuhoe, ‘the children of the mist’. According to Maori folklore, the Tuhoe tribe were the offspring of the mist-maiden who peopled the steep forested Urewera country, west of Gisborne.

During the Second World War, the ship was taken over by the New Zealand Navy before being sold to the small ships section of the United States Army. It sailed off the northeast coast of Australia and New Guinea, carrying supplies to assist the allies against Japan. It was designated USATS 132 by the US Army. Ships logs were not kept during the war due to security reasons, but some of the ship’s orders for the Tuhoe have survived. The war also meant it was fitted with two quick firing 50-calibre Browning heavy machine guns. In August 1944, she turned up at Townsville, marked ‘surplus, for return to New Zealand’ but someone changed their mind and she was returned to the operational area in October that year. During the war, her original engines needed replacing but marine engines were scarce and so, for a number of months, she ploughed through the seas with two Chrysler truck motors attached before near-new diesel engines were found in 1944.

Following the war, she returned to New Zealand and continued trading from Auckland. Between 1956 and 1960 the Tuhoe was laid up three times, then in August 1961 she was sold to T Eckford and Co. of Blenheim. She was towed from Auckland and then laid up in the Opawa River where it was found to be unsuitable for the Wairau River trade. She was then sold to the Kaiapoi Shipping Company in early 1962 and made her first visit to Kaiapoi in April of that year. In June 1963 she became stranded on the Waimakariri bar but was refloated on 1 July. She sailed between Kaiapoi and Wellington trading until November 1963 when the roll-on, roll-off ferries killed the trade from Kaiapoi. Initially she was converted to a line fishing vessel but a serious leak led to her being declared unseaworthy and she was laid up in Kaiapoi. For a time she was used as a floating art gallery by owner Charles Williams, but largely the Tuhoe remained stationary until October 1980 when the Cure Boating Club Inc. bought her for use as a clubrooms, and restoration began by a group of eight dedicated people.

In 1982, the MV Tuhoe Preservation Society was formed and membership swelled to over 100. They leased the Tuhoe from the Cure Boating Club and began even more intensive restoration. The restoration of the ship for weekend river cruises recaptured its past, when it travelled fully laden with 100 tonnes of cargo, up the river and across the Waimakariri bar and out to sea and destinations far afield. The former cargo-hold became a place for purchasing refreshments and also housed a small museum of Tuhoe memorabilia.

In 2000, the hull was replaced during a two-month stay in Lyttelton following a Community Trust grant allowing the work to go ahead. In late 2001, a dispute arose between the Tuhoe Preservation Society and the Cure Boating Club over money, which mediation failed to resolve. The result was that the Tuhoe Preservation Society was wound up and the lease returned to the Cure Boating Club after about two years of debate. In late 2003, the Tuhoe was put up for tender and there were fears that it would be taken away from Kaiapoi. However, the Cure Boating Club accepted a joint amount submitted by MainPower New Zealand and Kaiapoi Electricity, the lowest it was offered because it meant that the ship would stay in local hands. They then set up a trust, the MV Tuhoe Kaiapoi Rivertown Trust, and the ownership was transferred to them. Six trustees were appointed to manage the direction and future of the Tuhoe. Regular sailings of it resumed in June 2005.

In 2015 the MV Tuhoe travelled to Lyttelton and had more than $200,000 spent on repairs to bring it up to standard for sea and water worthiness. On its return journey to Kaiapoi on Sunday 27 September the ship ran aground at the Waimakariri bar. The damage suffered deemed the ship to be uneconomic to repair. Subsequently the ship was deconstructed, and the final remains were burnt on the site of its grounding on 12 October 2015.

Waiotahi was built by G T Niccol in 1932 as Atua and was the last coaster built by Niccol.

She was bought by the Northern Steam Ship Company in 1934 and renamed Waiotahi 2.

She worked the Bay Of Plenty trade until 1960, and was then placed on the Picton–Onehunga run.

Waiotahi was sold to A G Frankham Ltd in 1961, and worked the Auckland–Gisborne run for one year until being sold to the Inter Island Shipping Company as a supplement vessel for Paroto and Ranginui, to replace the withdrawn Taupata. She worked the Kaiapoi–Wellington run with occasional trips to Golden Bay until 6 November 1967, when she landed the last cargo at Kaiapoi, a consignment of butter from Takaka.

She was sold to Mr F Fawcett-Kay for trading around Solomon Islands.

Waiotahi was scuttled in the centre of Rabaul Harbour , Solomon Islands, in October 1973 due to deterioration of the hull and action of teredo worm.

The first major vessel of the 20th century was built at Sydney in 1900 as a schooner.

Purchased by The Kaiapoi Shipping and Trading Company and converted to a steamer in 1905 the Wootton worked the river port for ten years to 1915 when the bar became badly silted, she made one last visit nine years later in 1924. During the 1930’s the New Zealand Navy used her as a training vessel until she was damaged in a storm at Rapaki and finished her days as a houseboat at Rapaki Bay Lyttelton Harbour. She sank during a storm in 1952.