CAN WE NAME THIS MYSTERY CLASSIC LAUNCH – SPINDRIFT

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CAN WE NAME THIS MYSTERY CLASSIC LAUNCH – SPINDRIFT

Recently, WW was contacted byKipp Henderson, who discovered the above photos while going through a family album.

In the second photo, Kipp believes the ‘skipper’ is almost certainly Frank Pidgeon — or possibly his son, Edward Pidgeon. Frank was Kipp’s father’s uncle and is known to have moved from Christchurch to Auckland around the mid-1930s, following his marriage.

Our records show that Frank Pidgeon was a prolific owner of classic wooden launches during the 1940–1950s period.

So, Woodys — today’s question is: can we identify the vessel?
If she’s still afloat, Kipp is keen to pass on the original photograph to her current custodian.

UPDATE – Identified by several woodys as SPINDRIFT – https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/08/08/spindrift-2/

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4 thoughts on “CAN WE NAME THIS MYSTERY CLASSIC LAUNCH – SPINDRIFT”

  1. Well This is a bit of a twist for me, So quick update. The original photo was in my inherited fathers genealogy notes. Spindrift was the name of a boat my great grandfather had. His name is Henry Albert Logan (Harry). Harry was Frank Pidgeon’s father in law. Harry had Spindrift at Port Levy out of Lyttelton near Christchurch. He is listed in the Port Levy Regatta results in 1917 and later regattas. Harry definitely built the Port Levy passenger ferry the Aphina-Nui as i have a newspaper article mentioning it. He was a Builder/Cabinetmaker and he and his sons built boats so it is likely in my mind the he built Spindrift. The photo does not look like the surrounds of Lyttelton. It looks more like the end of Rangitoto to me. Harry came to Auckland, with his son Ron, probably in 1926 to build his daughter Lilian and son in law Frank Pidgeons house at 8 Holgate Road in Kohimarama. Ultimately Harry shifts from Christchurch to Auckland then to Waiheke Island where he had Waiheke Joinery with some of his sons.

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  2. Spindrift before the bright sides were filled in with solid timber.

    On Thu, 6 Nov 2025, 12:07 am waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat

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  3. Spindrift, which I’ve always thought looks every bit an Australian/American design.

    I thought that when I first saw the photos, wasn’t sure it was NZ :-). Alan H

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  4. That is the SPINDRIFT owned by my good friend HT Morton for a period in the 1940s, before he replaced her with the VARLENE in the pate 1940s, & as I recall, he had her in some of the1930s as well.

    Harold K will know all about her history pretty much in full, I think. KEN R

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