Marlin

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Marlin a

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MARLIN
Woody Baden Pascoe recently sent in the above photos of Marlin seen here in the top photo at Whitianga c.1968 after being re-powered with a Caterpillar 320. 
At this time she was owned by Alf Clow (photos are courtesy of the Clow family). Alf bought Marlin off Rolly Smith who used her for game fishing. It is believed that prior to Rolly Smith she was owned by the Thames Harbour Board (who went bust).
 
The thinking is Marlin was build by Sam Ford, but there is know knowledge as to the launching date.
The second photo shows the new Cat 320 being lowered into Marlin, seems a rather large donk for the size of the boat. Thence the last photo of her flying along with Clow family on board.
The dinghy on the stern is from the hands of Howard Pascoe 🙂
Any woodys able to shed more light on the history of Marlin?
Input from Barbara Cooke – Rolly Smith was my uncle. He purchased Marlin during the early years of WW11 for the purpose of deep sea fishing but due to government fuel restrictions this wasn’t permitted. He and his young family farmed at Fletchers Bay, top of Coromandel. After the war they returned to Whitianga where Rolly operated Marlin for chartering and game fishing. In later years his son Bruce skippered Tuatea, another game fishing vessel in Whitianga.

 
Input from Ross Dawson – Papers Past, Thames Star 11.3.1926 tells us…”the Harbour Board’s new launch Marlin, was brought down from Auckland on Tuesday by the Dredgemaster,..Mr Roche” and in the same newspaper 31 March 1926 says…”…the launch passed government inspection on 10.3.1926….fit to ply with 8 passengers within extended river limits when not towing and with suitable canvas over the cockpit, or with 16 passengers within river limits proper….length 31.75 feet, breadth 8.25 feet, depth 2.87 feet, horsepower 30-35, crew 2. Registered as “Marlin” …” So, no builder but it shouldn’t be too hard to find a reference to the launching about Jan – Feb 1926, in the Auckland newspapers.

The Thames newspaper notes Marlin being in Whitianga in 1933.

 
Input from Harold Kidd – Can’t say I was confident about my last posting. Did some more digging and found that the Thames Harbour Board commissioned this launch from Sam Ford as a towboat, largely used for their dredge. She was unnamed but was completed in early 1926. Her dimensions were 31’6″ loa, 8’3″ beam and 2’6″ draft and 2.87tons displ. Things can’t have worked out as she was up for tender in August 1928 (again unnamed). The Secretary of the Harbour Board was later charged with embezzling a large sum from the Board and it folded shortly afterwards.
So the memories of all concerned were absolutely spot on!
Now we have to sort out what her name was before it was changed to MARLIN. Lovely boat! How nice it’s Sam Ford. 
I’m just in the process of preparing a series of Boating NZ articles on him. This boat just shows the breadth of his skills at much the same time as WHAKAARI and before his Art Deco cruisers.
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9 thoughts on “Marlin”

  1. LA ROSA referred to above, was called THE ROSE in the later 1940s-60s era, when she belonged to the Tindales, the owners of New Lynn Taxis, at that time.
    She had a “coamings job,” done by Roy Lidgard for him, & she was powered by a twin or 3 cyl Lister Diesel. – KEN R

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  2. Great to find this about her. A boat I have known for a long time. I am sure the LOA of 31 odd feet is her length from stem to rudder post . She was longer than that, 35′ to 36′. The reason Alf installed this engine was he set her up as a little trawler. He then sold her to Jack (Bill) McLardy. He removed the Cat and installed either a 6 cylinder Trader or Dover Ford. She as wrecked on one of the Mercury Islands. Alf then had Bay Fisher built, pos the first concrete trawler built . Would be interesting to know her original name. More that likely named after one of the local muddy rivers.
    Nice looking launch never the less. Info on Thames work boats is hard to find. Ernie Harvey moved to Thames shortly before this, wonder if he put a tender in for this build. La Rosa ( had another name) poss Colvill Marie was built around this time. Shame all Ernie’s launch photos fell off his workshop wall and were lost.

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  3. PS “early 1926” not “early 1928” is what I should have written about her build date.
    More haste less speed. Should have been attending to the mechanics of closing of our office down at 5pm today for the duration of the Coronavirus, instead of playing on WW, but WW is more interesting!
    If it’s any consolation, the 1918-9 Spanish Flu virus was far worse.

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  4. Ross’ posting came in before I pushed the Send button on mine. So there we have it all!!
    The power of WW!

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  5. Can’t say I was confident about my last posting. Did some more digging and found that the Thames Harbour Board commissioned this launch from Sam Ford as a towboat, largely used for their dredge. She was unnamed but was completed in early 1928. Her dimensions were 31’6″ loa, 8’3″ beam and 2’6″ draft and 2.87tons displ. Things can’t have worked out as she was up for tender in August 1928 (again unnamed). The Secretary of the Harbour Board was later charged with embezzling a large sum from the Board and it folded shortly afterwards.
    So the memories of all concerned were absolutely spot on!
    Now we have to sort out what her name was before it was changed to MARLIN..
    Lovely boat! How nice it’s Sam Ford.
    I’m just in the process of preparing a series of Boating NZ articles on him. This boat just shows the breadth of his skills at much the same time as WHAKAARI and before his Art Deco cruisers.

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  6. Hi, Papers Past, Thames Star 11.3.1926 tells us…”the Harbour Board’s new launch Marlin, was brought down from Auckland on Tuesday by the Dredgemaster,..Mr Roche”
    and in the same newspaper 31 March 1926 says…”…the launch passed government inspection on 10.3.1926….fit to ply with 8 passengers within extended river limits when not towing and with suitable canvas over the cockpit, or with 16 passengers within river limits proper….length 31.75 feet, breadth 8.25 feet, depth 2.87 feet, horsepower 30-35, crew 2. Registered as “Marlin” …”
    So, no builder but it shouldn’t be too hard to find a reference to the launching about Jan – Feb 1926, in the Auckland newspapers.
    The Thames newspaper notes Marlin being in Whitianga in 1933.

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  7. Rolly Smith was my uncle. He purchased Marlin during the early years of WW11 for the purpose of deep sea fishing but due to government fuel restrictions this wasn’t permitted. He and his young family farmed at Fletchers Bay, top of Coromandel. After the war they returned to Whitianga where Rolly operated Marlin for chartering and game fishing. In later years his son Bruce skippered Tuatea, another game fishing vessel in Whitianga.

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  8. I have always thought that this MARLIN was built by Leon Warne at Russell in December 1925 for gamefishing as CIGARETTE but was renamed MARLIN shortly after when hired by Capt Mitchell and later Zane Grey in January 1926. Quite a different boat from the Warne Brois 1936 MARLIN with its raised foredeck etc. The Clows and the Warnes were gamefishing out of Russell early on in the sport.

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