Category Archives: 1910’s

Callie

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CALLIE
photo & details ex Bob Wichman* via Bruce Pullan

Callie was built c.1916 by Bailey & Lowe for the Brown Bros. She was 39′ x 9’3″ x 4’6″ & when launched had a 35hp Twigg 4 cyl diesel engine.
In 1918 she was sold to C.W. White of Onehunga. In 1925 she was re-powered with a 140hp Steams petrol engine. Sold again in 1939 to I.G. Vickery of Onehunga. In 1940 a Gardner 24hp (seems small?) engine was fitted, this was replaced in 1948 with a 48hp Ralston diesel.

In the early 1900’s she was used as a passenger ferry to Cornwallis & Huia on the Manukau. Post c1940 she was commercial fishing for skipper Fred Vickery.

Unfortunately she was wrecked on 11-05-1968 on a sandbank at Southhead, Manukau Harbour.

In the photo above given the presence of Fred Vickery, I assume its Callie on a day off from her fishing boat duties & not when she was a passenger vessel. A note with the photo records the following people:
# ‘Gary’ standing with foot on the rail
# Beverley Wishart, red dress, black cardigan
# Fred Vickery (owner/skipper) outside wheelhouse
# Rod Vickery in water

*note: Bob Wichman’s family had an association with Callie & the Awhitu (Inverness)

Raira

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RaIra

photo ex Brian Fulton

Brian took the above photo in Woolshed Bay, Coromandel over the 2015 Xmas / New Year period. She is called Raira & is based at Panmure.

Interested to learn more about her.

Harold Kidd Update

RAIRA was designed by Charles Collings but built by her first owners, the McLeod brothers, Ted and Ray, and J. Verran, at Bayswater and launched in February 1915. She was 38′ x 38′ x 9′ x 3′ and was originally fitted with a 3 cylinder 30hp heavy duty Twigg, built in Auckland. She usually cruised with AUMOE after Alex Foster (of Fosters) bought her in 1919/20. The bridgedeckerisation was done by W.G. Lowe & Son in 1937 when owned by N.J. Campbell.
Her lines were published in the N.Z. Yachtsman magazine in 1914.

Photo below ex Jason Prew (Wairiki) of Raira crossing the Firth of Thames on the 27-12-2015

08-01-2016 Input from Jonathon Aston

Raira has been our family launch for the last 13 years and have many great memories. In 2009 we put Raira onto a large shed and over the next 3 years completely re-ribbed, refastened & re-corked her hull with thousands of copper nails & roves just like the McLeod brothers did when building her all those years ago as well as replacing all her keel bolts with new silicon bronze bolts. The stern deck was added in the 70’s & the bridge was added in 1982 by a local boatbuilder while based in Tauranga. She was brought back to Auckland in the early 90’s & has been based at the Panmure  Yacht & Boating club since.

Original lines & recent photos ex Jonathon Aston

 

 

Romance

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ROMANCE
photo & details ex Paul Drake

Paul believes today’s photo of his launch Romance (#1) on the left, was taken in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island.
Romance was built by Bailey and Lowe in 1914 and was sold 4 or 5 years later. After that she was in Napier, until 1932 when she went to Lake Taupo. The exact date she went to Napier is not known but it could have been in 1919. Romance has been in the Drake family for over 43 years.

Lots more details on Romance here https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/09/22/8829/  and here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/05/10/romance/

Can we ID the other launches? the little dinghy is very salty, love the fenders 🙂

22-12-2015 Photo below ex Harold Kidd of the launch Pirate that can be seen on the right of Romance & the dinghy.

 

 

LAKE ROTOITI 2016 CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT CALENDARS

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LAKE ROTOITI 2016 CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT CALENDARS

Once again waitematawoodys, Chris Miller & myself are rapped to have worked with the Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Assoc. on the production of their 2016 calendar.
The calendar is chocker full of photos from the amazingly popular 2015 Classic & Wooden Boat Parade. The calendars make excellent Christmas presents for those ‘hard to buy for’ friends & are great value – $10 for 1, or $8 each for 5 or more.  There is a limited amount printed so get in quick, last year they sold out very quickly.

If any woodys are interested in buying contact Rachel Jamieson via this email link

zea.rachel@gmail.com
Postage is $2.40 for up to 7 calendars, $5 for more than 7 or courier ($6 North Island $7 South Island  –  RD extra).
Payment is via direct credit – please use your surname as reference and email Rachel when you make the payment. Remember to add the postage 😉

The bank account number is:    12 3155 0140546 00  Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Assoc.

This is one of those cool win/win situations – its a great way to support the wooden boating movement & you get something back i.e. a cool calendar. Order now.
ps sorry for the slightly wonky cover photo – Rachel needs a few photography 101 tips 🙂

An Evill Boat

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An Evill Boat

I posted a few weeks ago about a 14′ clinker motorboat, built in 1914 by Miller & Tunnage that was heading north, in fact to Waiheke Island, Auckland.
You can read all about the history behind the boat here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/06/23/classic-clinker-motorboat/

Today post documents its journey to Waiheke Island.

It all started when Tim Evill called me & told me he had bought the clinker off trademe & he was having the boat & her trailer trucked up to Auckland. A few days later Tim & I have borrowed my wife’s ute, she’s a landscape gardener 😉  & Tim & I are driving around Penrose looking for a freight depot. We hook her up & head off to Bayswater to launch her, the plan being to put her on a berth at the marina for a week to take up (been out of the water for 2>3 yrs). You know what they say about plans – ‘if it can go wrong, it will’ – we backed her down the ramp & straight away the water starts p_ssing in – big time, a bucket & a big manual bilge pump could not keep up. So before she sank we started the single banger motor & did a few circles in her & popped back on the trailer.

Time for a team talk, I suggest to Tim if she was mine I would be taking her up to Pam & George at the Whangateau Traditional Boat yard & letting her sit in the back tidal estuary for a few weeks. So Tim heads back to Waiheke & the boats parked on my front lawn.

Next we borrow the ute again & head off on a road trip to Whangateau. We safely deposited her into Pam & George’s experienced hands, then I had a mission dragging Tim away from the shed & Laughing Lady (the boat not Pam). Over the next few weeks Pam sent us photos & trip reports (laps of the bay).
Tim collected her this week on a totally foul day & caught the car ferry to Waiheke Island. Home is now Sandy Bay so keep an eye out her.

Now I’m sick of calling her ‘the boat’, ‘she’ etc – so how about we suggest a few names for her – with Tim’s surname (Evill) it could be amusing – the best one wins a ww t-shirt.
And b4 you say anything Jason P, I have yours on board Raindance & will give it to you at Patio Bay. Just finalizing the logo & will be printing more – details soon.

Bayswater Launching

Love the CYA bucket
Still smiling

Back In Devonport

Dropping Off At Whangateau

Got to love those front towballs
Old Salts

On Holiday at WTB

Collection Day

At Home At Last

Post an application of the magic Houghton bronze polish

 

Classic Day Boat Heading North

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Classic Day Boat Heading North

Ran into a friend of a friend on Waiheke Island on Saturday, talked boats, talked again on Sunday via the phone & we scrolled ww & trademe to review whats currently available. The above clinker ticked most of the boxes & was not allloy :-). 24hrs later he bought her. This immaculately presented 1914, 14′ clinker tender is powered by an single banger Yanmar diesel that gives her a comfortable 6knts. Shortly she will be coming north from Palmerston North & will call Waiheke Island home for the summer months.

More details here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/06/23/classic-clinker-motorboat/

Moana & the Point Erin Causeway

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MOANA & THE PT. ERIN CAUSEWAY
photo ex Mac Taylor Collection

Today’s post shows a collection of launches hauled out at the foot of Curran Street in Herne Bay, Auckland. The launch Moana can be clearly seen, not sure of the other 3.
The construction work in the background was the building of a road from the foot of Curran St. around the base of the Point Erin cliff towards what is now the road to Westhaven & the Harbour bridge on-ramp.

Moana was a popular boat name -can anyone help ID this Moana & possibly the 3 others hauled out alongside her?

27-09-2015 Took the below photo on the family walk this morning

28-09-2015 Harold Kidd Input

This MOANA was built by Joe Slattery in December 1912 for the Collie Bros of Devonport. She was 30′ x 7’10” and had an 8hp Union originally. Sacha de Graaf owned her quite recently in Auckland. The others are a bit difficult. The left hand launch looks like a “settler’s launch” of which several hundred were built in Auckland.

Jeunesse

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JEUNESSE
photos ex John Wicks, ex John Wright, details ex Harold Kidd

The 37 footer Jeunesse was built for W J Harper and launched in March 1919 as Rambler. Harper changed his mind and renamed her Jeunesse by the start of the summer of 1919-20. None of the magazines or newspapers say who built her but Dick Lang seems a fair bet as she was built-in St. Mary’s Bay. Reportage on such things was pretty scant at that time because of the Spanish ‘Flu outbreak. She was fitted with a 40 hp Reutenberg 4 cylinder engine. Harper sold the launch Kotiro when Jeunesse was built. He kept her until 1923 when he sold her to H Hewson. N C McLean & R Kirkwood owned her in 1926. She spent a lot of time in Whangarei after that. In 1951 she was owned by S H R Smith of Onehunga, Richard Leary in 1990, John Wright in 2003 – who still owns her today.
The b&w photo above was apparently first published in the Weekly News in about 1923. There’s no info on it about the photographer, but in John Wicks eyes it’s good enough to be a Winkelmann. The colour photo is relatively recent, and shows her pretty much as she is now – great to see she has remained so true to original design. Also amazing that she has retained the name Jeunesse” for the last 95 years – quite an achievement considering how many changes most of the launches of her era went through.

Lots more photos here from her earlier days https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/11/30/jeunesse-2/

The Wellington Scene

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Phyllis
Phyllis
Doris
Wai-iti

THE WELLINGTON SCENE

photos & details ex Harold Kidd & Gavin Pascoe

Some Wellington launches for a change.

Harold recently bought a postcard of a “launch on Auckland Harbour” which was clearly Wellington. Harold keeps in touch with Gavin Pascoe of the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust on anything Wellington so sent him off a copy. Between the two of them they identified her as Phyllis but in passing discussed images of two other similar craft, Doris and Wai-iti.

You can see that they all have a modest  ketch rig and similar configurations.

Phyllis was a 21 footer built at Kilbirnie to a Rudder Mag design by G. Dennis, starting in December 1910 and launching in August 1912. She was still around in early 1916.

Doris was built in Auckland as the 28ft mullet boat Dorothy but was sold to Charlie Moore in Wellington in 1912. He converted her to a deadwood keeler with an auxiliary but she became solely a power boat pretty soon. She was still around in 1929.

Wai-iti was built by Simmonds and Hutson of Wellington in late 1924 and they also built her semi-diesel engine. She was 28ft x 9ft. She lasted until at least WW2.

Harold Kidd Update

PHYLLIS certainly is very pretty, but you’d expect that of a Rudder design.
DOROTHY/DORIS’s cabintop is a bit lumpy, but it was put on in Wellington after she had been converted to a Cook Strait-capable launch from a very basic Auckland-built 28ft fishing mullet boat and form follows function most adequately.
WAI-ITI’s hull form is very sweet but I still can’t get my head around the way her cabin ports are placed, equidistant from the top of the coaming rather than in the middle between the top of the coaming and its bottom (sheer) as is the case in most boats of the time. To me, that’s a little awkward and unsympathetic. This has been commented on before in WW in relation to a possibly amateur-built Wellington launch.

Selma

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SELMA
photos & details ex Dick Fisher

Today’s post features the Collings & Bell launch Selma which Dick’s grandfather, (H.B.Fisher), had built c1913. Interesting that the ‘photograph’ has had the same enhancement that we saw on the 1911 C & B launch – Dorothy. Refer ww post dated 01-05-2015. C&B must have had the services of a photo re-toucher. All in the days before photoshop 🙂
Dick viewed Selma at Gulf Harbour a while back & reports that she was still in good order.

Now a lot of you will know Dick & his wonderful restored ex Auckland Harbour Board pilot boat – Akarana (photos below ex Dean Wright & yours truly)). Dick is a very clever & talented man & one of his many passions is Gardner engines, he has a collection of 15 Gardner engines ranging in age from 1894 to mid 1980’s. Pictured below is a photo of a Gardner heavy oil marine engine complete with marine gearbox, that Dick is presently restoring. This engine was built by Gardners circa 1913. It is a hot bulb air start 2 stroke developing 24HP at 450 RPM .
FYI – the restoration of Akarana with be featured on ww shortly.

Harold Kidd Input

Sadly, SELMA came ashore at Stanmore Bay on 24th January 2006 and was a total loss. She was 32ft x 8ft and originally had a 3 cylinder 15hp H C Doman marine engine when launched in late 1912 for H.B. Fisher. She was in Mahurangi for several years in the 90’s and early 2000’s with an owner who maintained she was a “Logan”.
Weren’t the WW1 British pocket submarines equipped with Gardners like this?
My Barton rellies in Nottingham had a lot to do with the fortunes of Gardners by fitting the new “high speed” Gardner diesels to their red Bartons’ buses in the Midlands during the Depression. And of course the North Shore Transport Co (owned by the North Shore Ferry Co) fitted 5LX Gardners to their fleet soon afterwards.