Beginning with the construction of the 13-ton schooner "Sarah" which was launched in 1859 shipbuilding became an important activity at Port Chalmers. Notable following vessels were the 70-ton steamer "Taiaroa" (1865), the 50-ton schooner "Maid of Otago" (1870), the 70-ton schooner "Friendship" (1871) and the 70-ton schooner "Mary Ogilvie" (1873). In 1861 William Isbister constructed at Carey’s Bay the first patent slip of its kind in New Zealand. He soon built a second slip and on them carried out ship repairs and built a number of small vessels, among them the paddle steamer "Tuapeka" (1863), 28-ton schooner "Cymraes" (1864) and the dredge "New Era" (1867). Other shipbuilders based at Port Chalmers were Sutherland & McKay, Knewstubb Brothers (from the late 1880s until 1905), Miller Bros, Miller & Tunnage and Morgan & Cable. Morgan & Cable later changed its name first to the Maori Iron Works and later in 1906 to Stevenson & Cook which during the Second World War built seven Castle class minesweepers at Boiler Point for service with Royal New Zealand Navy. Boiler Point took its name from an abandoned ship's boiler. After the war the company built the penstocks for the Roxburgh Power Station, before eventually closing in 1958, due to a diminishing workload. The company’s facilities were taken over by Sims Engineering Ltd who built tugs and in 1984 launched the 1,056-ton dredge "New Era", as of 2006 the largest powered vessel built in New Zealand. Sims closed in about 1990.