The "Kennedy" was one of the many coastal steamers to use the port of Foxton. She was built in Sydney, Australia in 1865, as a three masted schooner-rig steamer. In 1905 the 'Kennedy' was converted from a single to a two-hatch vessel and the passenger accommodation removed. She sailed between Lyttelton, Wellington and Foxton and carried coal, cattle and general cargo for 64 years. The pilot’s launch in the foreground was Captain Larsen’s launch ‘Pilot’. It ran on a 8-10hp petrol ‘Handybilly’, Thornycroft marine engine.