AILSA
photo & details ex Harold Kidd & ww
Harold purchased the photo of the terribly well-dressed young people that appear to be on their way to Pine Island for a picnic in a ‘garage -sale’.
Initially he had no clue as to the name of the launch, just the photographer’s name, however given that the photographer was Guy Kelsey (born 1902) Harold is confident that the photo was taken on the launch Ailsa owned by Guy’s brother, Ernest Cracroft Kelsey (born 1900) a marine engineer, then of Parnell.
Ailsa was 23’x 7′ and was built in late 1913, probably on commission from Peter A Smith who fitted her 8-10hp Alpha marine engine and probably by a St. Mary’s Bay builder for one Graham. Devonport Dentist O.H. Wright sold her to Kelsey in 1919. She seems to have gone to Tauranga around 1926.
I’m unsure where the photo of Ailsa under power came from, possibly from classicgameboatnz. AH
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Hi Harold, That thought had occurred to me but it’s quite possible she was just a small charter boat. I’m not aware of a jetty in Riverview at that time which could have comfortably accommodated anything very much bigger.
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The Kelsey AILSA disappears from Auckland around 1928 and an AILSA turns up as a hire launch at Riverview owned by Reginald Shirtliff around 1930. But the Auckland ALISA was only a tiddler; maybe too small for a “hire launch”?
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Is this the same “Ailsa” which (according to the Nancy Pickmere Heritage of Kerikeri book) was based on Kerikeri river in Riverview as a charter boat in the 1930s-50s and owned by the Shirtliff family?
We are trying to learn more about the history of our jetty, now known as the electric boat company marina (back then it was a stone and steel wharf or jetty). We think it might have been where the Kerikeri “Ailsa” was based, known as “Shirtliff’s landing”. Or was that somewhere else?
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Now that’s what I call ” sweet ”
She’s a little stocky at 23ft she almost looks shorter than that even.
I notice the lids to the hatches are not hinged but the middle window of the screen is.
Detracting a little – She’s very much like Kathleen M seen in the recent Whangateau post, Geoff stuck his head under the cover and took a photo of her. Kathleen was the Taupo Yacht Club Patrol Boat P3 21’6″ Believed to be 1918 ( I’m not sure how this was known because not much else was / is )
Pam
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