Lady Thelma – I wonder what happened next?
In the above photo of Lady Thelma it appears as if things are about to escalate, the crew have a look that says – someone has just shouted very loudly that things were not as they should be 🙂
The photo below show a much more relaxing day out – I suspect this was taken before the top photo.
Location – Wade/Weiti Rivers, Warkworth?
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Both photos are from the Auckland Museum’s Tudor Collin’s collection.
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Much of Tudor Collins’ neg and print collection has survived and was acquired from the Collins estate some years ago by the Auckland Museum.
When William Bond shut down Marine Photos in the early 1970’s (Palmerston Buildings was demolished to make way for QE II Square) he gave all his glass negs and a large number of film negs (all taken by Nelson Stedman and Max Frommherz 1935-1958) to the Auckland Museum where they are known as the ‘Bond Collection’. Around 6000 marine images in all.
What he took to Waiheke were his own film negs, around 5000 negatives that he shot himself 1958-1970+ after he bought the studio off Max Frommherz..
Open to correction here but when I heard from several horrified contacts on Waiheke in the mid 1980’s that Marine Photos’ negs and prints were blowing around on the Waiheke tip, they did not indicate that there were any glass negs among the boxes that they found in the tip. If so it’s just another crime in the same tragedy.
After Marine Photos closed William Bond worked for the Auckland Museum (as Museum photographer and curator I think). Much to the chagrin of the Museum, after Bond’s death a number of non-Bond negatives from existing Museum collections (Winkelmann, Collins, Breckon, etc) surfaced at Waiheke and were offered for sale to the Museum who reluctantly had to buy back their own property or risk seeing them appear in auction rooms.
for all that, we are still lucky to have what we have.
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The Herald obviously used another shot from the same Tudor Collins 1932 series as a space-filler in 1935. I’ve sent a copy to Alan. It confirms the site as Mahurangi. Makes you think about the dates of some of the illustrations in newspapers and magazines though! I hope they paid Tudor for the pic.
photo added to post . Alan H
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Ouch! Judith Wallath
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Looks to be stuck in the mud, possibly at Warkworth, and rather frantic with the river running and the taught anchor chain of another vessel looming close to the right.
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I guess they re- used photos:
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22071, 29 March 1935, Page 8
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No, it was 17th November 1932. The announcement she was to have a bridgedeck fitted was in the Herald of 30th November 1932.
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Tudor was in with Glyn Parry in organising the Parry Kauri Reserve in Warkworth. He owned land at Takutu. He did get around with his photography and sadly many of his glass negs were held by Marine Photos and were ditched at the Waiheke tip when the proprietor died. Tudor had an interest in Jane Gifford: I seem to recall his brother Reg owned her.
Yep, if that pic was taken from the village bank of the Jade River (the Collins house was on the bank by the old Masonic Hall) that would account for the farmland being visible on the skyline. Also the high position of the photographer. I’ll go for the Warkworth venu.
Also the grounding, Nath: You are right; though they are calm enough about it. Like when you have a butt puckering moment, act cool and don’t run about gesticulaing and shouting. Then they’ll say “He really stuffed that one up, but man he was cool about it”. On anoraks!
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Boat going astern has pickup up a shore line around the prop, tide turned from top photo as rocks have water going from right to left .
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Lady Thelma was owned by Stu Opperman who worked for Lidgards and rebuilt her topsides.
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It was published in the ‘Herald in 1935?
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Probably in the early 1930s when she was owned by Bert Waters of Atwaters Ltd. Certainly it’s before 1932 when she had the bridgedeck added.
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I agree with the stuck hypothesis. Classic froth on the water for an astern move requiring a few revs to break the suction.
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To me those “rocks” look more like a damaged negative from which the print was made. There is no water movement around them.
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I tend to think it must be the Warkworth River, because Tudor Collins in the early & mid 40s had a property at Takatu Peninsula. edited by AH
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Looks like ‘stuck in the mud full astern’ to me! Dinghy responding as it is sucked/pulled into the side of the boat
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The anchoring scene looks situation normal -anchoring crew quite relaxed posture. Quite a tide running there. Mud/sand close by but must get deep quickly. Rocks in the foreground. And that farm fencing on the skyline. Wade didn’t have much of that sort of stuff. Sandspit or Whangateau? Five men two women -are the other three women laying out the lunch below? White ducks on the crew, big ensign and jolly caps. Canvas side screens aft. Usually a wife’s job to see the dinghy paynter didn’t get wound up. Dinghy down by the head a little -some water shipped? But oars in the dink so they haven’t come far. Just come across from Mansion House for supplies from Sandspit? Used to be able to get them from a shop at the motor camp in the ’50s 60s. But those rocks….
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