33 thoughts on “Ovodin / Odin”

1. I do apologise for sounding pompous but it tends to aggravate me when I read an historical paper in which I find inaccuracies.
   I do enjoy my retirement and my weekly dose of woodys thank you Alan.
   Cheers Dave

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2. Thank you so much Captain Stanaway for your most learned & valuable knowledge of all this. — Even though I have been pleasure boating for 74 years, I have never heard of these identification letters for vessels, & it goes to prove, that none of know everything, (especially me at times), & we are also never too old to learn. — Thank you from me, I really appreciate all you have shared with us all so much. Can your advise the Museum? I took their words as gospel of course, along with the name as I also interpreted it– KEN R

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3. And Monas Isle is in the hands of the above….

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4. Sad!

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5. Mahoe was last spotted in a paddock in pukekohe. Hidden under a ramshackel lean to. Her wheel house neatly removed and placed on foundations as a viewing platform/ chicken coop .
   Alongside was a small parris launch full to the decks with stagnant fresh water. I was surprised her lightweight construction hadn’t popped like a pumpkin.

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6. An “Oil Engine” was any internal combustion engine, not necessarily diesel or semi-diesel.
   In another post I referred to an H.M.W. engine, should be HMG– Hanseatische-Motoren-Gesellschaft–Hanover-Germany.Maybe it was the “Mahoe” that was blessed with that make.
   Tudor Collins had a very interesting life.Seaman-kauri bushman-radio and electrical wizard and talented photographer.I knew him and his two older brothers Jim and Bert.
   Some of Harry’s boats were ODIN–sank. Te Kopuru-burnt. Miss Hauraki- went to Rawene with scow Esme and rotted away.Mohala-went back to Hawaian tug and Barge.Otapiri-was fishing out of Auckland. Mona’s Isle-went south, was last in Lyttleton. Tangaroa-scrapped.Barbara W went to Wgton. Sea Toiler went to Noumea. Alert went to Bluff.
   Who knows were Mahoe went????she looked very much like Odin.

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7. Yay 😉

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8. And the ticket to run an O.E.V. was the P.V.O.S. Certificate of Competency.
   PVOS being” Power Vessel Other than Steam.” which was commonly called the “10ton” or “Restricted ” or” Extended River Limits”. Most of the later day tickets on the Waikato were “restricted” meaning one tug in one area. e.g. Hamilton-Mercer-Tuakau -Puni. My E.R.L. covered the whole of the Waikato system and on the other side East Cape-Nth.Cape.
   It will all be changed now though.
   I thought “Odin” had a German H.W.M engine before the F-M.

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9. Thank you David – the case is closed !!!

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10. OK, the Museum entry is wrong, so what’s new? The boat is ODIN, confirmed by the Register of British Ships as being owned by Whitford at the time of the 1934 stranding.
    Let’s move on?

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11. A prime example of inaccurate journalism and data inputting in the past.
    Before motor vessels were classed MV there was OEV (Oil Engine Vessel) which was sometimes shortened to OV.
    My grandfather had a towboat
    O.E.V. Idler this was to differentiate her legally from being a steam vessel.
    Normally her name ODIN and port of registry would be shown at her stern. I have never seen shown name and classification on a commercial vessel before, especially on a sidelight screen.
    The Auckland Museum curator is quite amenable to having information corrected as I have done in the past.
    As I have pointed out to Baden when writing historical tomes they must be 100% accurate or you end up with these situations.
    She is definitely the ODIN
    Regards Capt David Stanaway

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12. Just been zoomed in on the image from the museum website and As an ex typesetter (albeit 20 plus yrs ago) I find the kerning between the two O and the V to be different. The second has consistent tracking across the ODIN with the front OV having a distinct separation. Also having used the museum collection for many years for other things, i’d never take anything they’ve written as gospel, as such i’d hardly call it case closed just yet.

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13. Just a little more ref: Watts index ownership section , page 156 Whitford, James Thomas, saw miller., Odin 1932-37.
    It is easy to see many features of Odin that mirror those of Lady Eva.(both built at Whangarei) When Lady Eva was launched in 1913, she was the talk of New Zealand. She had a modern 120 English diesel of 120 h.p and many good features of towing launches of the time. Notice Odin’s towing hook mounted on the missen mast. That is what they did in those days. But having a towing point so high is a lethal thing. Great way to “gurt” a tug (tow comes along side, pulls and over goes the tug).

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14. Sorry to rabbit on, but John Solem was a Norwegian boatbuilder who had the passenger launch THOR on the Whangarei Harbour and was naturalised in 1912. When he was building ODIN in May 1916 she was washed off the slip and badly damaged. She was originally going to be called THOR II. He sold THOR (I) to J. L Nordstrand when he went off to the Front in 1917. He named his only daughter Thora. He eventually died in 1933 owning the store at Oneroa.

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15. The following is exactly what is printed in the Auckland War Memorial Museum records for the Tudor Collins Collection for this vessel;

    Catalogue title

    [View of a boat resting on rocks]

    Identifiers

    PH-2013-7-TC-B907-04 (Reference Number)

    Creator

    Collins, Tudor Washington, 1898-1970, photographer

    Description

    View of a boat anchored on a shoreline. “OVODIN” is written on the top of the cabin of the boat. A few planks of wood, and an object, are visible in the body of water in the foreground. An island is visible in the distant background.

    Collection

    Collins, Tudor

    Part of

    Collins

    Physical description

    82 mm. x 107 mm. (1/4 plate)

    Production

    Collins, Tudor Washington, 1898-1970, photographer (Creator)
    Silver gelatin dry plate
    Support: Glass

    Format

    Negative

    Availability

    � Auckland Museum CC BY (Copyright)
    Pictorial staff access only (Access Notes)

    Citation

    [View of a boat resting on rocks],Collins, Tudor Washington, 1898-1970, photographer,PH-2013-7-TC-B907-04

    I rest my case — KEN R

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16. A fine looking ship and a fine discussion.
    Makes for a pleasant change of topic from the somewhat boring topics involving the number of coats of varnish on coamings etc etc banter
    These boats like Odin and others that are still around today in working order became the workhorses that assisted in the building of the facilities we all use still. Mostly built by the same companies that created the fine pleasure crafts we all know and have seen.
    To be encouraged. C

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17. If ODIN (and I’m sure now she was), she was originally built at Onerahi in 1915 for passenger service on Whangarei Harbour, probably without the wheelhouse.

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18. I can’t except in relation to this 1934 stranding when, obviously, the name was taken from Tudor Collins’ photos.

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19. Good discussion guys, this sort of thing flushes out fact. The main reason why I think this is Odin , is that I showed this photo to Harry Julian, and he commented that this was what she looked liked before she was converted to a full on tow boat. He said the work was done at Lidgards and I then asked Jack Taylor. He said they did a heap of work to her, larger beltings/sponsons almost and tug style bulwarks, modifications to wheel house . Even more work was done when the Vivian was fitted. Can any find a ref to M.V. Ovodin? I have never heard of one.

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20. I Love it!!! great sense of humour Harold!!! — OIL VESEL — most impressive eh??

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21. Hey, maybe everybody’s right here? How about the name being “O.V. ODIN” ie “Oil Vessel ODIN”?
    I can’t get enough resolution to check if there’s separation between OV and ODIN.

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22. That’s 6th November 1934 of course, sorry. Those pics were in the Herald and the Star.

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23. Fantastic to have your input Harold, I have been fascinated by this series of images & you have now answered all my queries — cheers — K

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24. Which year Harold?

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25. OVODIN (sic) came ashore on the rocks between Hadfield’s Beach and Orewa on 6th November and was badly holed. She was towing the PWD barge WAITI to Motuora when the towline broke off the Puhoi River mouth and fouled the prop. Both came ashore but were refloated the next day. OVODIN was owned by H Whitford of the Silverdale Mill.
    Don’t think she was ODIN.

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26. Further to my above comments have always been fascinated by OVODIN, ever since i found the images, & would love to know just where she is, it must be handy to road access, as the man with the hat is wearing street attire, has obviously got very close to her by vehicle & she must be on the mainland somewhere, with road access. He could not have climbed around rocks for any distance looking like that.
    Perhaps someone can identify the land mass & point in the background of one pic taken from the port side.
    Being a Tudor Collins photo, since he lived & worked in the Takatu Warkworth Leigh areas, I tend to think that very probably this is somewhere in that general locality, although he loved the B.O.I. so it could possibly be somewhere up there
    Re the ODIN comparison, I can see no sign of a towing post for barges on OVODIN & tend to think she may have been used as a ferry at that time at least, not a tow boat, nor are there any large fenders as shown in the image of ODIN ex Harry’s book -she could not have been used as a towboat at the time this was taken, as she has no fenders at all, also, there is also no sign of any fishing gear, so I don’t think she was being used for fishing.

    Really looking forward to more input form readers especially as to her position . — KEN R

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27. Correct – thx. But I trust Baden’s eye, so maybe there was a name change at some stage?

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28. Hi Alan,
    If you look closely at image 2 magnified it quite clearly has ” OVODIN ” painted on the board over the starboard wheelhouse door. Seems Mr Ricketts had the spelling right after all !

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29. Good Morning Gentlemen, Thank you for your input Baden, as usual it is interesting, but unfortunately on this occasion, is not accurate, as to the which boat she is.
    I have also looked at the image of ODIN, (which I knew well in real life), in my copy of Harry’s book, “The Sea Is In My Blood,” & firstly they look different — the wheelhouse on ODIN is longer & “rounded” on the front, whilst OVODIN is flat across, also, ODIN looks shorter, but most of all, if you study the name on the starboard navigation light assembly which has the man with the hat & bag, standing by the stern, you will see quite clearly, the name on the upstanding back of the assembly reads “OVODIN” — Sorry chaps — KEN R

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30. What were his other similar tugs? I saw one at Gulf Harbour only a few years ago. Odin, Barbara W….

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31. More on Odin. I also have a photo taken from a cliff top of this grounding from a weekly news. I can not put my hand on it at this time. This happened south of Cape Rodney by Leigh from memory.
    Odin was built in Whangarei in 1915 by John Solem and it looks like he ran out of money before she was finished and was pressed by the next owner to sell her at a very low price. She had a 40-45 hp 3 cylinder Fairbanks Morse engine.The Julians bought her in 1940 and in 1941 replaced the engine with a 120 hp 6 cylinder Vivian (made inCanada). She was a very powerful tug in those days and could now take on the likes of tow launches like Lady Eva in the log trade. The Julians did a heap of work and between Lance (Harry’s father) and Harry they ran her night and day. I will note Harry was approx. 17 years of age when he started skipping her. Later when the Vivian did a big end in they replaced it with a 6/71 GM. She was lost at with barge in one of the bays near Port Charles.

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32. Thanks Baden – Mr Ricketts typing strikes again 😦
    I will amend. Alan

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33. These photos are of the Odin, later owned by Lance & Harry Julian. Photos of her in his book “Sea in my Blood”

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