Lady Thelma Whau River 2014
LADY THELMA
photo ex Nathan Herbert
I probably should know something about this launches past – but I do not, but thats probably due to the fact she is tucked away up the Whau River.
So woodys – who can shred some light on this old girl?.
waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily 
Thanks for the replies guys. Our wider family who are descended from Stan and Thelma Waters will be thrilled to hear the update. I never knew my maternal grandparents Stan and Thelma Waters but I do know the Lady Thelma and other boats Stan owned were an important part of his life. His love of boating and being out on the sea runs deep with my mum, aunt and uncle, cousins and siblings all owning boats of one sort or another.
LikeLike
Hi Stuart, Lady Thelma is on a mooring at Hudsonville Point, on the northern side , just down from the Greenhithe Bridge. Her owner is Glenn Johnson. he has her in good shape, I did qwn her for about 4 years and did a lot of coastal trips during that time,
Regards
Glen Kirk
LikeLike
Hi Stuart- she is on a mooring at Hobsonville, last seen a week ago.
LikeLike
I last saw it in the water ways at Whitianga .I also remember when it lived in Milford Creek in early 70s owner by a Mr Roberts
LikeLike
Hi. Can anyone tell me where this boat is now? I’m a grandson of Stan Waters. My mother is the youngest of Stan’s two daughters and we’d love to know where she is now.
LikeLike
The Irishman would have been Tony Slattery who lived in Albert Road, Devonport. The person who spoke to you must have been a member of the Waters family. Odd though, that Bert Waters sold her in 1936 to A.T. Newdick. Anecdotally, she apparently spent a while in Whangarei owned by Dr. Simmons, possibly between Hoyes and Waters.
LikeLike
Thanks for the info Harold, I was approached at Westhaven, when I had Lady Thelma out for Maintenance, he told me his family had owned Lady Thelma from the 1930’s for 30 years and he had photo albums of their annual Christmas cruises for that period, he related the Court story to me and it seemed credible, he also told me that he and his brother had covered in the cockpit and that later Collings and Bell has added the Bridgedeck.
I purchased her about 1985 from a Irishman who had her moored at Torpedo Bay, he assured me that she was built as a bridgedecker in 1938.
She was very neglected and we stripped her back to bare wood and added a Rimu interior , replaced several ribs, her present owner has had her for 9 years and she looks in pretty good shape now.
LikeLike
There are fundamental problems here, caused by the demon anecdote.
1. Frederick Court was George Frederick Court, the brother of James Alfred Court and Albert John Court. None of the brothers had a wife named THELMA.
2. LADY THELMA got her name from Basil Stanley Waters (known as “Bert”) who founded Atwaters Piano Ltd in 1930. He married Thelma Clare Ogilvie in 1931 around the time he bought the launch.
3. LADY THELMA was built as CHRYSLER in 1929 by Collings & Bell for R.M. Hoyes the Auckland Todd Motors Chrysler agent. Her name was changed to MOERANGI in 1930. Waters changed it to LADY THELMA in 1931-2 when he bought her and had Collings & Bell substantially rebuild her from a go fast racer into a family bridgedecker. She retained her APYMBA number 93.
4. Ray Esdale, a former owner, came up with some of that supposed early provenance (not the Court stuff, which is nonsense), but that was well before the internet and Papers Past and he was right about her builder.
5. I suppose it is vaguely possible that her British Registered Ship number 153987 may have been preserved carved into a beam, but probably not.
6. There’s a great pic of CHRYSLER, MY GIRL and LADY MARGARET (the 1929 Colin Wild one) racing which I think has been on WW before. If not I can supply it.
LikeLike
Am amendment to my comments above, it would seem that , Alfred Court would have been Frederick Court, brother of George & John Court
LikeLike
I owned her for several years in the 80′, also met the son of a owner from the 1930’s, whose family converted her to a bridgedecker, her history as told to me is, built 1913 by Collings and bell for Alfred & Thelma Court, parents of George & John Court of department store fame. She was built as a fast cruiser with the Sail Rock race in mind, she has a Gull Wing design in her aft quarters,
38′ x 9’6″ she had a large petrol engine and 175 gallons of petrol .,
She now has a 100hp , 6cyl ford, and is moored in the upper harbour
LikeLike
Pingback: Lady Thelma | waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news
Really fascinating what they did with some of these very old boats — another MAVIS B in a way I guess — at least she hasn’t changed since the 1940s — KEN R
LikeLike
PS I recall now. She was bought by A. T. Waters of Atwaters Music Shop and handed over to Collings & Bell in the mid- thirties to convert into an “express cruiser”, hence the Collings look. I have sorted out her pre-WW1 provenance at home and will post when I get home in a week or two.
LikeLike
Something about the hull shape was saying Collings and Bell to me… There was a similar sized C&B bridgedecker in Whangarei late 90’s which had a similar hull.
LikeLike
If she’s “virtually original” that’s wishful thinking on Ken’s part once again. A former owner, Ray Esdale, did considerable research on her many years ago and was satisfied that she was built by Collings & Bell c1912 as a flushdecker and that was evident in her internal structure. She has been LADY THELMA only since 1930 and may have been one of the many HINEMOAs for a time before that. In the 1960s she was briefly LADY BETH. My extensive file on her is at home, unfortunately and I have some nice pics in an intermediate stage of alteration from flushdecker. Those “Lidgard & Shipbuilders” porthole surrounds probably came from Fosters during a 1940s revamp.
LikeLike
I recall her right back to the era of 1946 onwards & am delighted to say she is still virtually original.
Have a recollection she may have belonged to a building contractor by the named Hall in the 1940s era. The porthole surrounds are similar to those used on some R Lidgard & Shipbuilders boats of that era — TAIPARU, WAKATERE ( Lidgard) NGAPUHI (Shipbuilders) etc., so I feel she may well be a Lidgard of the same era — later 1930s — KEN RICKETTS
LikeLike