Huia Kaipara Hbr May 2005

Relaunch day 1963 Dargaville

New stem fitting at Helensville

Huia Log towing 1926 Kohukohu Hokianga Hbr. The ship is barquentine Louis Therant

Huia Launch day 1918

Tangowahine river upstream from Dargaville on Nthrn Wairoa

Huia 2012

HUIA

story & photos ex Robin & Lesley Smith

37ft x 9ft 6 x 3ft 6

Named after Harry Kings youngest daughter

Ordered 1918 launched 1919 built by Demmings boatyard at Opua for Harry & George King Bros for use as a tow launch towing logs to their timber mill in BOI

The mill was shifted to Kohukohu on the Hokianga harbour c1920s and Huia was used to tow logs to Kings Mill for making butter boxes for the local dairy company The mill along with Huia were loaded on to the scow Zingara and when they arrived at Hokianga heads Huia was dropped over to help tow the scow over the bar

When the mill was sold c1927 to the Solomon Islands the mill came back to Russell/Opua on Zingara to load on the Burns Phillip steamer Makambo. Huia was sailed  back to BOI in company with Zingara for use as a fishing launch for the King family

Huia was taken over by the NZ air force for WW2 and stationed at Army Bay BOI with the mine coastal defence group BOI

After the war she was returned to Harry King who sold her to an Auckland owner and Huia went south to the Waitemata

After a time in Auckland she was sold to a Mr JJ Enwright, a fishmonger in Whangarei who employed various crews to commercially fish Huia from Whangarei north on the east coast

Ben Bradly found her in a neglected state in Whangarei c 1960 and took her to Dargaville where he refitted her, lifted her foredeck 2 planks and fitted new decks and the cabin tops. She was re engined with a new 60HP lees ford and relaunched 1963. Huia, based at Northern Wairoa Boating Club Dargaville wandered all over the Kaipara with Ben and Wyn Bradly, and up many now un navigable parts of the Kaipara. During one of the Helensville regattas Huia “tee boned” Eric Williams fathers launch  Moa, stoving in her bow. Ben ran her for a mud flat where she sat for a week filling with Kaipara mud until she was put on the Helensville cradle and a telegraph pole fitted in as a new stem

Robin & Lesley Smith bought Huia 2004, ran her for a year on the Kaipara then moved her to the BOI and in 2010 took her out for 1 year for a refit and altered the aft deck cabin area.

Huia lives on a pole mooring at Waitangi BOI

Her engines were: when built 2 cyl 20 HP Union petrol

1924 a 3 cyl 30HP Twigg petrol

WW2 a 2 cyl 22 HP Kelvin diesel fitted by airforce

Later when fishing a 6 cyl Morris commodore petrol

1963 a 4cyl 60HP Lees Ford diesel (6500 hours to date)