Mystery Boat 20-06-2015
photos & details ex Jason Prew
Now the remains of the small double-skinned boat pictured above will test the Lake woodys – to quote Jason’s uncle, Kevin O’Hara, “she was pulled up from Lake Taupo last year & is now sitting at Will Shirer`s place at Kuratau”, near Turangi. Photos from Will’s camera.
Now if we get a proven ID on her – I’ll give the winner a ww t-shirt, as below. Note: the raspberry pavlova is not include 😦
STERLING GIRL
photos & details ex Wendy Muir
A question for the woodys today – are the 2 boats above the same?
Both are named Sterling Girl, but as we know with classic launches that can mine nothing.
The top photo is of Sterling Girl c.1915. She was built by Bailey & Lowe in 1913 & belonged to Robert Taylor of Birkenhead. Named Sterling girl because she had a Sterling engine.
After the Great War, he had Lady Sterling built. (She is now on Lake Wakatipu )
The second photo is of a boat on the hard in Nelson at Easter this year. Also called Sterling Girl.
So folks what say you?
As always keen to find out more at the Nelson boat.
Mystery Launch & Location 18-06-2015
photo ex Juliana Cooke (nee Turnwald)
All I can tell you about the above photo is that it was taken in 1940.
I can count 21 on board & it looks like more are about to board AND not a lifejacket in sight, no rules in those days 😉
Given the reeds & the bow ladder – suspect its on a lake – Taupo ?
A LADY CLAIRE QUESTION
photo & details ex John Wicks
Now Lady Claire has appeared in detail on ww before but I have had a request via John Wicks from her owner, Bruce Carter to see if any woodys can ID the people in the above photo. The photo was supplied by Rebecca Hayter (Boating NZ) . No one knows anything about the photo but John feels it could be pre WWII.
She was a magnificent looking launch & must have been one of THE boats in her day.
To read / view more on her click this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/02/lady-claire/
Remember you can click on the image to enlarge, then click on ‘View full size’, then move the magnifying glass icon over the image & then click on the area you want to enlarge further.
Photo of Lady Claire & Lady Eileen hauled out together – may 2014 ex Ken R
25-09-2023 Update ex John Dawson – photo below of Lady Claire berth near the old Wilson cement works in Auckland, now the site is known as Silo Park
ACTIVE
photo ex Dean Wright
The photo of the above launch, ‘Active’ was taken by Bay of Islands based professional photographer Dean Wright, so the photo location is up ‘North’.
Can anyone supply any more info on her?
Mansion House Bay On A Bad Day
photo ex Juliana Cooke (nee Turnwald)
Not sure of the date on the above photos but the presence of all the plastic fizz boats & the navy vessels in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island, must make dating the photo easier.
If you look at the top photo & out into the bay, it must have been the start of ‘the end’ 🙂 i.e. the arrival of plastic fizz boats & plywood Vindexs .There is a cluster of classics in the right hand corner.
In the 2nd photo, who can ID the launch at the wharf – given the origin of the photos, the Turnwald family, I would suspect its ‘Robyn Gae’ but it does not look right to my eye.
SYLVIA
photo & details ex Juliana Cooke (nee Turnwald)
Sylvia the mullet boat (L33) pictured above on the Waitemata harbour, c.1950/51, was owned by John Turnwald, John & Juliana would be interested to hear if anyone knows what became of her.
Input from Harold Kidd
SYLVIA was built by Harvey & Lang in November 1912 for Horace Parker and W Shraffe. She spent many years on the Manukau in the 20s. John Turnwald owned her with Sumich 1945-51 at least. She was being restored in Kawhia in 1989 and was in Raglan in 1992. I suspect that her bones may still be in that area.
Input from Robin Elliott
Not sure where she went after the Turnwalds owned her. I have them owning her from around 1946 to 1954 at least. After 1954, no mention of her at all until she crops up in the Taranaki area and is offered for sale in Sea Spray October 1964 by K. Risch of Waitara.
I also have a note taken from one of the Panmure Boating Club committee records around 1946 that she had a stove fire alongside Panmure Wharf while burning off, and 3 children were killed.
Papers Past haven’t got up to 1946 yet so I can’t provide any more details.
In the 1945/46 lists she is ‘unregistered’ but appears under J.B. Turnwald’s name in the 1946/47 AYMBA registration book.
Also…… I suspect that photograph may be older than the 1950’s. I’m not sure who the sail maker was but that style of applying the registration numbers on a piece of cloth that was sewn onto the mainsail was quite common on photographs I have seen from the 1920’s to early 1930’s. Separately applied letters and numbers were, I guess, a bit more expensive but were pretty much the norm from the 1930’s onwards.
Either that or its a very old mainsail.
Update 15-06-2015 ex Barry Davis
The photo below was taken 2012 in the Henderson Creek off Te Atatu. She was still on this mooring at least 12 months later.
Photo below ex Nathan Herbert – same Sylvia?
TUARANGI
photo & details ex Robert Brooke
The above photo is one from the Jack Brooke collection & shows Tuarangi out at the Barrier in the early 1950’s. The Brooke family in ‘Judith’ was cruising in company with Tuarangi which was owned by Bruce Winstone who was with his wife and three children. Robert Brooke remembers Bruce rowing across one evening to tell Jack that as the weather forecast was good, they would be off to Whitianga first thing in the morning. The next thing they heard was that Tuarangi had blown up while refueling at Whitianga. Luckily the family had gone shopping for provisions, and Bruce was the only person on board. He was quite badly injured and was not well for a long time.
So folks todays questions are:
1. Does anyone know what happened to Tuarangi & where she is today?
2. Who designed & built her?
Update
I had an early morning txt from Nathan Herbert, saying that he thought there had been a oops in the boat name. I placed all the blame on Robert 🙂 , who supplied the photo tagged as Wairangi. Given the comments today we can safely assume it is Tuarangi. Post headline has been changed. See details below from Harold Kidd.
TUARANGI was built by Lidgard Bros for H.S. White and launched on 25 November 1950. She was 42’x40’x12’x4’3″ and originally had twin 90hp 6 cylinder Redwing petrol engines. White sold her to Bruce Winstone in 1951.
By 1959 she was renamed SILVER FIN and owned by Dr. R.L. Kennedy at Tauranga. George N. Hale owned her in Auckland in 1964 by when she had been re-engined with twin Ford Lees Marine 4 cylinder 64.8 bhp diesels.
Barbara Cooke had this to add – Bruce Winstone had a Frostbite which was carried on the cabin top, the name being Wairangi. Both Bruce and his son Jeff were injured in the blast. After re fueling someone lit the stove to boil the kettle causing the explosion. Judy Salthouse (nee Brooke) recalls the event well.
Rawhiti – NZ’s #1 Classic Yacht Has A New Owner
It is with a mix of happiness & sadness that I can announcement that Rawhiti has been sold. She could not be going to a better home – the owner/s are outstanding people at the forefront of the classic wooden boat movement & she will be joining the CYA racing fleet.
I would be amiss to not mention the part Greg Lee played in restoring Rawhiti, boats like her only come along once in a lifetime, blokes like Greg are even rarer, the name Greg Lee is now permanently etched into her provenance.
Mystery Launch 12-06-2015
photo ex Dean Wright
The photo of the above launch was taken by Bay of Islands based professional photographer Dean Wright, so again I assume the location is up ‘North’.
Can anyone ID the vessel & supply any details on her?
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