A mystery launch – Centauri ?

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A mystery launch

All I know is the location is Auckland. Any ideas on the ID of this rather pretty launch?

Harold Kidd Info

It’s not CARRIE-FINN. She was a much later game fishing boat for Tahiti and quite different in configuration. This is a passenger vessel for the Upper Harbour and probably one of Hunter’s boats, most of which were built by James Reid. This could be CENTAUR.

11/09/13

CENTAURI was built for Tom Hunter by Jas. Reid in October 1911 and originally had twin Regal 16hp engines, replaced in 1928 with twin 30hp Kelvins after Hunter sold his fleet to J.C. Spedding in 1927. She was a 45 footer, quite a bit larger than Hunter’s other launches including CENTAUR, WHAREPAPA, REGAL, REGAL II and NIMROD, all except WHAREPAPA (Forrester, Whakapirau) built by Jas. Reid  and off the moulds of SEABIRD. Hunter had extensive orchards in Greenhithe and subdivided a lot of the land in the 1920s, naming the streets after his children, Oscar and Roland. Pauline and I had one of the houses he built in Roland Road, all the joinery being marked “Hunter via CENTAURI” which seemed strange at first sight.

PS I think this is CENTAURI because she’s big enough to be 45ft and could have twin engines. I fancy I see the starboard shaft log in the image, without prop, although what I see could also be the deadwood aft without rudder on a single-screw vessel. Often these early twin installations had a single central rudder still.

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7 thoughts on “A mystery launch – Centauri ?”

  1. PS I think this is CENTAURI because she’s big enough to be 45ft and could have twin engines. I fancy I see the starboard shaft log in the image, without prop, although what I see could also be the deadwood aft without rudder on a single-screw vessel. Often these early twin installations had a single central rudder still.

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  2. CENTAURI was built for Tom Hunter by Jas. Reid in October 1911 and originally had twin Regal 16hp engines, replaced in 1928 with twin 30hp Kelvins after Hunter sold his fleet to J.C. Spedding in 1927. She was a 45 footer, quite a bit larger than Hunter’s other launches including CENTAUR, WHAREPAPA, REGAL, REGAL II and NIMROD, all except WHAREPAPA (Forrester, Whakapirau) built by Jas. Reid and off the moulds of SEABIRD. Hunter had extensive orchards in Greenhithe and subdivided a lot of the land in the 1920s, naming the streets after his children, Oscar and Roland. Pauline and I had one of the houses he built in Roland Road, all the joinery being marked “Hunter via CENTAURI” which seemed strange at first sight.

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  3. Comment from Baden Pascoe
    I know this photo well and have pondered over it for years. At first I thought it was La Rose (Colville Marie) but when I found a photo of her being taken out of a shed in Pollen St Thames that Ernie Harvey rented, I discounted this idea. She is a work boat, passenger craft or possibly a boat build for flounder fishing. Many of the launches fishing out of Thames looked like this. Bailey & Lowe/ Chas Bailey had a standard 36’ 6” fishing boat that looked exactly like this and she would be around this size. Daffodil, later Beverley was one built for the Reddish Family of Thames and latter owned by the crack long liner Tommy Williams. The other thing that gives her away is her deep rubbing strip toward her aft end. Bloody nice looking boat and one could expect this sort of thing from a Bailey, Harvey. Lang drawing board.
    Baden

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  4. It’s not CARRIE-FINN. She was a much later gamefishing boat for Tahiti and quite different in configuration. This is a passenger vessel for the Upper Harbour and probably one of Hunter’s boats, most of which were built by James Reid. This could be CENTAURI.

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  6. I have a similar photo under construction out of Collings and Bell but is listed as Carrie-Finn Ron Wattam 32 Carroll Place. Rotorua. 3010 New Zealand. 3010 Ph. + 07 345 3553

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