OUTSTANDING IN A PADDOCK – Duke of Marlborough

Posted on by

OUTSTANDING IN A PADDOCK – Duke of Marlborough

When I received the photos above the first thoughts were ………… where and why. 

Chatting with the sender, Ant Smit, I learned that the location was the MacKenzie Basin, which is situated approx. 1/2 way between Christchurch and Queenstown in the South Island. The area is almost the dead centre of the island.

Ant advised that a friend was on a motorcycle tour and spotted the boat and couldn’t not stop and snap a few photos.

I quick chat to my WW steam guru – Russell Ward and we learn she was purchased ex Picton and should currently be viewed as ‘art’. Lets hope there is a long term plan to restore her.

Her back story is a good read and she appeared on WW in May 2020 – link below. We learned then she was made of steel in 1987 and was originally named – James Torrey, and was used for trout fishing tours on Lake Tarawera –  lots of details in the story. In the photo below we see her at Picton when she was running as a commercial passenger vessel.     https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/05/17/ss-duke-of-marlborough/

Anyone able to enlighten us more on her future 

INPUT ex DAN CONAGH (owner) – I can confirm that I’ve purchased and moved the Duke to a section of land I own in Twizel. Our intention is to restore, repaint and return to service on one of the lakes in the MacKenzie District.

Unfortunately the boat is showing the signs of having been stored next to the ocean in Picton. The hull has some rust that requires attention. The wooden topside has some sun damage. New varnish required, and the PVC roll up sides are beyond repair. The photos in this article are very recent as I was up there on Saturday cleaning up all the coal spread across the floor inside.

Discover more from waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 14+ million views

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

8 thoughts on “OUTSTANDING IN A PADDOCK – Duke of Marlborough”

  1. Steel is excellent for a boat provided you run the correct ‘sacrificial anodes’ which in the case of the ‘James Torrey’ was a magnesium rod along the underside of the keel. As the ‘James Torrey’ it ran in fresh water and it took passengers to do the various walks around Lake Tarawera.
    Weather conditions on the lake 3 to 8 hours after dropping off clients could be dramatically different and I have been in that boat as it bounced over lake boulders whilst picking clients up – try doing that with a wooden boat.

    Russel was largely right in his ‘boiler story’, but I did arrange to pick it up from the Auckland wharves after it arrived by ship, ‘cepting my ‘arranged transport’ broke down.
    Having a ‘brain fart’, I got up at 3.00 am in the dark and set off in my Model A truck and drove with a torch over the Mamaku’s as my battery had died. I arrived in Queen Street, Auckland midday with very little in the way of brakes and no idea of where to find my shipping papers – it was stressful.
    Eventually I did and arrived at the wharves waving my papers ………..

    “Ah, you’re the Lloyd L**** trucking company.” said the man in the booth.
    “Yes.”
    “How many of these have you got ?”
    “One.”
    And I got told where to go.
    And that boiler weighed near a ton and the four inch tyres spread out like pancakes and the truck took on an alarming lean. Leveling her up, I had an audience at that point who followed me across the road to the gas station where I put 60 p.s.i into the rear tyres to get them off the rims – I only stopped because the crowd started muttering and creating distance between themselves and those tyres.
    Got back home to Rotorua 8 pm as it took me three attempts to find my way out of Auckland.

    Like

  2. Does anyone know what happened to Roger Frazer’s of boat? The clinker that was for sale also?

    Like

  4. G’day.
    Tried to post on the article however unsure if it’s worked.

    I can confirm that I’ve purchased and moved the Duke to a section of land I own in Twizel.

    Our intention is to restore, repaint and return to service on one of the lakes in the MacKenzie District.

    Unfortunately the boat is showing the signs of having been stored next to the ocean in Picton.
    The hull has some rust that requires attention. The wooden topside has some sun damage. New varnish required, and the PVC roll up sides are beyond repair.

    The photos in this article are very recent as I was up there on Saturday cleaning up all the coal spread across the floor inside.

    Happy to provide any additional info or updates if there’s any interest.

    Cheers.
    Dan.

    Like

  5. Can confirm that I have purchased and moved The Duke to a section I own in Twizel.
    The intention is to repair, paint and return to operation on one of the Mackenzie District lakes.
    Unfortunately The Duke is showing signs of deterioration from a few years of storage next to the water in Picton. The PVC drop down sides have sun damage and have split /ripped. The Timber topside requires some TLC and the hull has a few rust spots that need attention.
    The photos above were taken some time after Saturday. I spent the day onboard cleaning up all the split bags of coal that covered the floor.
    Happy to provide progress updates if anyone’s interested.
    Cheers.
    Dan

    Like

  6. Can confirm that I purchased and moved the Duke from Picton. It currently sits in my section just out of Twizel and is showing all the signs of sitting on the dry next to the ocean.
    These recent pictures look to have been taken sometime after Saturday (just passed) as I spent the day cleaning up all the split coal bags inside.
    Sadly all the drop down pvc sides are falling apart so need some rapid attention. The hull mostly is in good condition and the wooden topside is ok too.
    We plan to repair, paint and return to operational condition on one of the Mackenzie District lakes.

    Like

  7. Point of order, Fearless Leader Alan: ’tain’t a woody! You are gonna have to accept wooden Vindices I am afraid. Dammit you accept tupperware Logans…..

    Good part: At least she’s free from corrosive water and air in the dry hot heart of the Mackenzie. Steel doesn’t like being neglected in salt water -she’ll last there until the vandals start. Upper-works is wood so that’ll rot first.

    Wonder if they need the machinery for a garden feature…… We could lighten the ship for them.

    Lloyd Lewis had the excellent Wellington designer Bruce Askew draw her (I seem to recall). Steel hull built in Taranaki and Lloyd built the upperworks. Again, memory, folks and it’s 30+ years back!

    He got the boiler built by Quick in UK. But when the builder seemed loath to part with it, Lloyd took a flight over and sussed the situation out: The firm had bellyflopped.

    Lloyd got his bolt cutters out and snatched his boiler from under the noses of the receivers. They were not happy and threatened the rack, execution and all else. But Lloyd was not the sort of man to argue with and came home with his boiler (on the seat beside him on the plane???). Joke: It would weigh several cwt!

    He built the engine himself -Leak designed compound. Being a good engineer, it all went well and he took fishing trips on Tawera -the fishermen became members of the James Torrey Society for the day…..

    E&OE as the lawyers say…

    Thanks Russell – most of the above and more is in the early WW story that I linked to.

    Vindex’s …………….. computer says no. There is a beauty filter which they fail to pass thru 🙂 Alan H

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment