CLASSIC MULLET BOAT WAIATA’s POST WAR TRIP > JAPAN
Todays woody tale features the 1934 Dick Lang built 26’ mullet boat – WAIATA (H15). Probably the most travelled mullet boat ever.
Chris Leech sent in a link to a fb post by the boats owner – Steve Rhodes, Steve had shared details and photos on the ’Sitting There Rotting….’ page.
We learnt that WAIATA was taken over in c.1939 by the Royal NZ Airforce for use in a R&R programme during the war. Fast forward to March 1946 and the airforce loaded WAIATA onto an English aircraft carrier named GLORIA headed for Japan where she continued her R&R duties for the J-Force.
WAIATA returned to NZ in 1948, and returned to civilian ownership. The article below is dated from the year 2000 and provides more background.Steve Rhodes commented he bought WAIATA awhile ago in disrepair and pulled her out and is spending ‘shiploads’ on doing her up. In the b/w photo above we see WAIATA on the aircraft carrier GLORIA along with our troops and the Corsair planes.
Great history, keen to learn more about the future plans for the ‘yacht’ (I suspect from the photos she is now better described as a launch)
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Can’t find an HMS Gloria anywhere. There was a carrier called Glorious which was sunk during the Nazi Invasion of Norway, and later a carrier called Glory which operated with the RN’s Pacific Fleet near the end of WWII, but as far as I can ascertain she never got closer than Sydney. The photo clearly shows Waiata ( or a very similar craft) on the carrier’s flight deck so we have to wonder what was the carrier and how did Waiata get on to her?
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