Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 2, Issue 5, November 1971
In his "Jubilee History of Nelson" (1892) Judge Broad refers to Haulashore Island as the Fifeshire Island (3). However, the practice of early captains in hauling their boats up for cleaning and then floating them off again on the tide gave a good reason for naming the Island as "Haulashore".
The first person to die in the new settlement was Thomas Cress-well who arrived in the "Whitby" of Wakefield's expedition, and he was buried on Haulashore. Judge Broad, even in 1892, reports that all efforts to find the grave had been unsuccessful.
There are a lot of stories about Haulashore Island but one interesting fact is that the City Council at one time obtained gravel from the Island for the city streets. The gravel was loaded on to a barge by the old shovel and barrow method and then the men would hoist a large square sail which, assisted by south-west winds, propelled the barge past the wharves to the old gasworks wharf (where Vickerman Street now joins Haven Road). This journey from the Island sometimes took half a day—depending on the tide and wind.