12 thoughts on “Another Unknown Launch”

1. Same boat all right and probably the same occasion with the same group aboard, one shot going upstream and one downstream, the shot printed in the Herald being taken at a few more rpm. It looks as if Tudor Collins took both shots at or near Warkworth and sold them to the Herald.
   Good Sleuthing. I like it!

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2. I can’t imagine helming from that tiny ‘bridge’. Pacific had a narrow low profile one very similar, ‘must have felt like a meerkat in them. Incidentally a similar angle of the same scene is in a Nov 1930 newspaper captioned Mahurangi river, when boisterous weather prevented cruising in the gulf.

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3. The power of prayer……..Nathan is correct, this is VIVEEN in her early form, as launched in May 1924, although painted differently from her original light blue. The “wheelhouse amidships” described at the time is a transitional (and rather ugly to modern eyes) “bridgedeck” and it was placed directly above her 35hp Kermath. This type of claustrophobic structure popped up on several launches at the time, usually flushdeckers originally, and MAIBE was just one.
   But there’s no doubt that this is VIVEEN and I’m obliged to Nathan for his sharp eyes.
   When Percy Mason bought her in 1933 he had Percy Vos build a much bigger, raked windscreen bridgedeck which was thought to be excessively large at the time but looks just fine to us today.
   Good result…thanks Nathan!

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4. To prepare for my possible descent, I’ll say that all I can see different is a porthole and unknown geometry of Viveen’s transom

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5. I’ll post pics of VIVEEN and MAIBE tonight. I’ll pray, in the meantime, for your immortal soul.

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6. I’ll be damned if this isn’t Viveen

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7. Will have a look, don’t even know where she is now..

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8. I’m sure this pic originated from me. It’s not a Williams boat as he started building well after WW2 and this launch is 1920s or earlier. It’s not VIVEEN, Percy Mason’s first boat (see my column in this November’s Boating NZ). I suspect it’s MAIEBE, ex-MARY M, ex-REGINA, built by Lanes in December 1912 as a flushdecker which had a very similar “bridgedeck”, tramtop and dodger put on in the latter part of her life. She went ashore and broke up in the violent storm of early February 1936 when owned by Bert Prosser. That storm was often talked about in my family because my father’s yacht WAKANUI went up on the beach at Waiwera during it, while my mother was at home 8.5 months pregnant with me! He got hell for years.
   I’ll check with pics at home tonight. I would think Warkworth River too, and I’m sure the original image I have at home has a Tudor Collins backstamp.

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9. I am alomst certain it’s the Warkworth River, not far from the wharf, & it also looks circa early 1930s styling, which I think is too early for Alan Williams, — looks a bit like Percy Mason’s first boat, the name of which scapes me on the spur of the moment, but she has a pic in here — KEN RICKETTS

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10. Hi Gary
    Email me some Nau Mai photos & I’ll post them up here . Cheers Alan

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11. Looks very like Nau Mai, but smaller so prob built by Williams in Milford I would say

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12. Could also be Henderson creek. That was a popular trip for launches in the early 20th century. There was room in the Henderson Pool for 3-4 launches. Could be a bit tricky getting up there these days!

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