ELSIE EVANS
details & photos from Bob McDougall & the Timaru Herald
Timaru’s first pilot boat, the ELSIE EVANS, a 1901 Bailey (13m x 2.4m) has been relaunched into the Otago Harbour after a very long $500,000+ rebuilding / restoration project that saw her spend 59 years on land.
The ELSIE EVANS was built by Auckland firm Charles Bailey Jr, as the first pilot boat for the Timaru Harbour Board and as a replacement for its paddle-tug MANA.
It was launched on December 31, 1901, and named after the wife of the harbour board chairman at the time, William Evans.
The boat’s main tasks were to tow small craft, tend the big steamers, take the health officer out to deep-sea sailing vessels and carry the pilots.
Those were roles it continued until 1927, when it was sold to Captain Percy Moss, of the Portobello Railway and Ferry Co.
From 1928, it was used as a launch to tow barges, carry freight, and ferry passengers when the company’s other ferries TAREWAI and WAIREKA were out of service.
In 1944, it took over from the TAREWAI and regularly sailed the 2.4 kilometers between Portobello and Port Chalmers, carrying up to 37 passengers.
It was a role it continued in until 1954.
Life for the old launch took a turn for the worse after that. While several owners had big plans for the boat, nothing happened and it was sitting in a paddock when the South Canterbury Historical Society bought it for $1200 in 1997.
B/W photo above (ex Bob McDougall ) show ELSIE EVANS being brought to Dunedin’s Birch Street wharf from its long-time mooring at Ravensbourne, on 1 September 1962, and taken by road to Waihola, where it languished there and later with other owners/other places, for decades.
It is planed that passengers (exact number subject to a stability test) would be allowed on ELSIE EVANS by January after she has passed her survey
View TV news article on the launching here
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/century-old-boat-back-water-video-5527794
Check out in the posting below this post, of the 2011 mini movie by Simon East backgrounding the history & restoration, stunning footage of the Otago Harbour.
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Thanks Bob for posting his article on the site.
Regarding the 51 years out of the water history our society are the 5th owners of the hull which was stripped down to it’s hull by Trounson and Anderton and got as far as refastening 1/3rd of one side then ran out of energy.
She sat on 44 gallon drums for 17 years when my father John Sutherland found her beside an over grown macrocarper hedge at Waihola.
Elsie made the trip back to her home port of Portobello late 1970s and after a short stay at the newly formed Peninsula museum she was moves to our family home in Nicholas street which was once the residence of Percy Moss,master mariner and director of the peninsula railway and Ferry company.He bought the launch off Miller brothers boat yard of Port Chalmers in 1927
Timaru harbour Board purchases a Miller Brothers pilot boat called Pilot which was being built when THB were looking for a replacement for Elsie Evans.
My father and other interested locals formed an incorporated society’Friends or the Elsie Evans’ The group did secure funding to restore the hull from the labour dept and Steve Carey was appointed as supervisor.
Unfortunately the was a miss print in the Timaru herald that stated that the ferry was owned by the Sutherlands and funding was promptly withdraw.
Next Steve Alexandra and City councillor took the vessel away to his place in Pine Hill where there awaited a purpose built shed to start work on her.
Realising that the job was too big for one man he sold it to the South Canterbury Historical Society in 1997.
Forward to 2003 an the formation of the current owners society,OHFI who took delivery of the hull that year via rail from Timaru.It was not until 2012 that the full ownership of the now mostly restored ferry was transferred to OHFI.
She now sits happily at the #2 berth in the harbour basin having free lodging granted by Port Otago which also provided covered storage while the society fundraised.
We hope to have FFP certification mid 2014 .
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Elsie Evans currently has a house modeled off the launch Protex which was built in NZ in 1907 and is now owned by the Sydney heritage fleet.This was chosen as the vessel will be required to carry a payload and earn her keep on a harbour where one encounters 4 seasons in an afternoon.
Elsie Evans has had several wheel houses on her,each representing the type of work she carried out.
The OHFI(Otago harbour Ferry Incorporated)required maximum covered seating for our purpose which is as a cross harbour ferry.We expect to be able to carry 22 persons which is a far cry from her original number of 51 then down to 37.
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Interestingly, she was described at the time of building as “on somewhat similar lines to the PRESTO.”
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