ARAB
Now the caption says yacht but she looks more comfortable with the launch tag. The under-power photo is dated c.1900 & the moored one 1915.
photos ex ‘Sir George Grey Special Collections (Auckland Libraries)
Harold Kidd Update
You’ve got to worry about whoever wrote the captions to some of these recent postings. ARAB was built by Collings & Bell in September 1913 for John Ayling of Ponsonby and had a 3 cylinder 15hp Doman engine. She was 32’x8’6″. She used to winter at Henry Thode’s slip in Cox’s Creek.
Ayling sold her to W. Grundy of Onehunga in 1918-19 but she was brought back from the Manukau in the winter of 1920 by Bruce, Ferguson and Maude who raced her effectively with Ponsonby Cruising Club (see illustration on p83 of “Vintage NZ Launches”). In 1922 she was sold to Myrhe of Christchurch and shipped down. Later owners included C G Beaumont, under whose ownership she was in NAPS patrolling out of Lyttelton in WW2 as Z 127. In 1953 she was owned by M Cunningham of Lyttelton. She was alive (but not very well) until quite recently.
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I bought her in 1978/9 for $1400 in Nelson. I had to sell my 1974 GT Ducati to pay for her.She was sitting on the hard in the port with opened up planks and a fordson tractor engine married to an ancient alsa craig gearbox that would start slipping at over 5knts, sitting in her. The sedan top had been removed and a amidships wheelhouse and bulwarks added. The story that came with her was that the bloke that was rebuilding her had died of brain cancer before managing to finish her. After a non stop working stint of several weeks I had her launched. I headed off to the Bay Of Islands,but had to stop at Picton and tie up at the fingers by the ferry terminal. The fordson was burning more oil than diesel so I managed to persuade one of the local carriers to drive out on the finger with the wheels on one side of the truck up on the wooden sleepers on the edge of the wharf and using his hiab I was able to lift the engine out and on to the wharf all for a case of beer. Those were the days. I stripped the engine on the wharf borrowed a nearby yaghties car and took the pistons to Bleneim to have them expanded and new rings fitted. The engine was reassembled and the truck and another case of beer had the fordson back in the bilge. I was 27yrs old broke and girlfriend was playing the piano at local pub to pay for the beer and repairs. I then motored to the Bay of Islands with the foolish confidence of youth and plenty of incidents along the way, after a confrontation with the local gendarme who sensiblly tried to stop me going. In the Bay she replaced my 26ft by 6ft 1907 cruiser sterned longliner. I sold her in Auckland in the mid eighties and believe she went to Tauranga.
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You’ve got to worry about whoever wrote the captions to some of these recent postings. ARAB was built by Collings & Bell in September 1913 for John Ayling of Ponsonby and had a 3 cylinder 15hp Doman engine. She was 32’x8’6″. She used to winter at Henry Thode’s slip in Cox’s Creek.
Ayling sold her to W. Grundy of Onehunga in 1918-19 but she was brought back from the Manukau in the winter of 1920 by Bruce, Ferguson and Maude who raced her effectively with Ponsonby Cruising Club (see illustration on p83 of “Vintage NZ Launches”). In 1922 she was sold to Myrhe of Christchurch and shipped down. Later owners included C G Beaumont, under whose ownership she was in NAPS patrolling out of Lyttelton in WW2 as Z 127. In 1953 she was owned by M Cunningham of Lyttelton. She was alive (but not very well) until quite recently.
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