Category Archives: 1920’s

Lorna – Sailing Sunday

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LORNA – Sailing Sunday
photo ex Brian Peet, details by Harold Kidd

Brian sent Harold the wonderful photo above of Tom Townson’s yacht Lorna which Tom owned in 1929/30. Brian was seeking confirmation on the location of the photo. Brian commented that he  assumed the photo was probably taken in the mid reaches of Auckland Harbour – probably around where Westhaven is now located.
Harold commented that the big building in the background has to be the Farmers Trading Co. building, later remodelled, but with the right number of windows.
The yacht has to be in the vicinity of Beaumont Street but that he could not figure out the orientation and the position of that reef which, logically, should be the Westhaven Breakwater at a high tide. What was not helping things was that he could not see the Destructor on Fanshawe Street nor the Gasworks and could not figure out which was Beaumont Street which logically should be directly ahead of Lorna.

Lorna was built by Dale Spencer as Alarm in December 1920 for himself. Sadly Dale Spencer drowned with his 8 year old son when the 26ft mullet boat Celox went to the bottom between Motuihe and Waiheke in March 1921, only a few weeks later. The probable  main cause of the sinking was that she was racing under kite which had to be sheeted to weather in those days, a recipe for disaster in a big mullet boat. History on Celox & the sinking here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/02/01/celox-sos/

NEWS FLASH
Further evidence that launches are the new hot item in the classic boating world – the British Classic Yacht Club has voted to allow motorboats at its next annual regatta – Panerai British Classic Week at Cowes, in July 2016

http://www.britishclassicyachtclub.org

Norma

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1928
1929
1939

NORMA
photos via Nathan Herbert ex Manukau Yacht & Launch Club collection

Three photos today of the 40′ launch Norma. The top one is dated 14-01-1915. The middle one records her in 1929 winning a MY&LC race for launches helmed by ladies. Also featured are the yachts ‘Sea Gnome’ & ‘Sylvis’.
The bottom photo is from 1939 & shows Norma & the 26′ launch ‘Marina’ being off loaded (lorry?) & re-launched into the Waitemata Harbour. I’m sure Harold can enlighten ww followers the reason these launches made the trip from the Manukau.

Can we expand some more on Norma – designer/builder etc?

Harold Kidd Input

There were several NORMAs. This Coulthard NORMA was built at Onehunga for the Jeffs brothers and launched in November 1913. She was a 32ft flushdecker with an anonymous 10hp engine but had a 30hp 4 cylinder Wolseley installed in the winter of 1919. The Jeffs sold her to C. “Shorty” Schnauer in January 1921. In the 1930s she was sold to Whitianga for game fishing. She was owned there by Bill Clark and was in Whitianga until at least 1980.
I don’t know this MARINA under that name. There were many MARINAS, another one game fishing out of Mangawai in the early thirties owned by Franich but it can’t be this one.

SEA GNOME was one of the square bilge 14 footers built by George Honour that formed the basis of the so-called “Sea Class”, 14ft “flatties” most with names starting with “Sea” that latter morphed into the Auckland Y Class. Honour built her in 1921 and she was an immediate champion. Chuck Auger owned her for 14l years and took her to the Manukau in 1927. She raced on both harbours. The Y14 on her sail was her Manukau number.
SYLVIA was a 22ft mullet boat designed by Dick Lang and built by Harvey & Lang in October 1912. She was on the Manukau from 1924 to 1930, mostly owned by C. Paul.

Elma

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ELMA
photos & details ex Bruce Pullan

In Thursdays post on ww of the Onehunga Basin, Harold Kidd commented on the launch Elma owned by Bruce’s grandfather, Reg Pullan. Bruce was told that his grandfather was not the first owner of Elma & that her original name was Huia. She was 22 foot & the original engine was a single cylinder De Dion. The suggested builder is Bailey & Lowe (looking for confirmation). The photo above is when she was with a later owner, but still on the Manukau.
Below is an invoice from John S. Gibbons of Onehunga for engineering work in 1923 for work on Elma.

Harold Kidd Input

ELMA was probably the HUIA first owned by W Partridge of Onehunga in 1909 although the raised foredeck is early for 1909. Partridge sold her to T. Higham in 1911 and she disappears from the reports after 1918, probably when Reg Pullan bought her and changed her name probably after his wife-to-be Elma Welch.
There were just so many HUIAs that it’s almost impossible to establish who built this one. Bailey & Lowe built at least one, the 40ft steam launch HUIA for the Seagar Bros in 1902, but I can’t match HUIA / ELMA one to any builder.

A Few Photos From The Start of the 2015 Coastal Classic (click on photos to enlarge)

Cyrena

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CYRENA
photo ex Mac Taylor Collection. Details ex Harold Kidd

Cyrena (on the left in the photo above) was built by Peter A Smith, the Alpha marine engine agent in St. Mary’s Bay for himself in 1923. Like W R Twigg, Smith contracted to build launches, his input being the engine which usually cost over half the total price. He contracted out hulls to local builders, usually those handy to his premises in St. Mary’s Bay. This hull was built by Dick Lang before he left for Sydney during the transition of his business to Sam Ford so Sam Ford took some credit in advertising. She was 37ft x 9ft and was fitted with a 25hp Alpha (Danish) engine. Smith named her Cyrena and she was launched around Christmas 1923.
Smith sold her to the Manukau in September 1924. F G “Boy” Bellve of Herne Bay bought her and brought her back to the Waitemata in January 1926 and had her until he commissioned the keel yacht Cyrena from Collings & Bell in late 1938.

Bellve sold the launch Cyrena to A M White of Ngatapa, Gisborne who renamed her Maritza and had her trucked over to Lake Waikaremoana on 6-7 October 1938.

Whats say the woodys re the dark hulled launch on the right on the photo above? And the yachts E24 & A17 ?
The photo below ex classicboatsnz shows her being launched at Lake Waikaremoana.

Harold Kidd Input

E24 is LOLOMA, my old boat and Jason’s too. The twist in her counter is quite evident. She got it when she was teeboned in a race at Whangarei in January 1915 and cut to the waterline. The repairs to her double-diagonal hull starboard amidships were botched. It took me a lot of effort to (almost) get rid of it 70 years later. She was built by J.J. O’Rorke as WARATAH at Arch Hill in late 1909 as a transom-sterned 26 footer with a varnished hull but had a solid counter fitted shortly afterwards,
A17 is NGA TOA built by Colin Wild for the Winstone brothers in 1926. Oddly enough, Boy Bellve, who owned the launch CYRENA and later the Collings & Bell yacht CYRENA, bought NGA TOA with A.G. Taylor in 1946 and owned her almost until he died.

25-09-2016 – photo below from the Tudor Collins collection, emailed to me by Ken Ricketss.

cyrena-1930s

Pal O’ Mine

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PAL O’ MINE
photo ex Scott Taylor ex Historic Auckland, details ex Harold Kidd

Today’s post is a little piece of eye candy for Jason Prew & Nathan Herbert with the hope that it will speed up work on their projects – ‘My Girl’ & ‘Lucinda’. The launch (#72) above is Pal O’ Mine, built by the Tercel Bros in 1924, a hard chine design probably lifted from Rudder/Motor Boating magazine e.g William Hand. Powered by a 125bhp engine she certainly had some zoom zoom.

Do we know what became of her?

Photo below ex Jason Prew of Pal O’ Mine warming up before an Auckland Anniversary Regatta race. Jason’s launch My Girl seen the background.

The Smuggler’s Cave

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THE SMUGGLER’S CAVE

story by Peter Stein, movie ex Roger Guthrie

Back in the early days of ww (2013) I did a post featuring a really cool black & white ‘home’ movie from the late 1920’s. Peter Stein’s father (also Peter) featured in the movie & its production & Peter jnr. has kindly written an article, below, on the movie, the people featured & the location.

The cameramen doing the filming were Alec and Alan Lambourne.  The Lambourne’s house (now owned by the Brooks) is above the jetty in Arran Bay.  They had the jetty  built in the early 1920s.

The three girls were Joan Woollams, Cynthia Restall and Shirley Vicary.  Joan was the dark haired girl who rowed the dinghy.  The Woollams owned the house on the south side of our house (Arran House).  An early scene shows them picnicking at Bulls Bay (Anita Bay) at the north-eastern end of Waiheke.  The “Smuggler’s Cave” is in the main headland between Bulls Bay and Hooks Bay and is easy to find.

The smugglers were my father, Peter Stein who was a Master at Auckland Grammar School from 1918 to 1965.  He was the one on the oar.  The other smuggler was Arthur Nicholson also a Master at Auckland Grammar School who later became the first Headmaster of Tauranga Boys’ College.

Our boat the “Pelican” was their transport.  She was named after Sir Francis Drake’s round the world ship which during the voyage had a name change to the “Golden Hind”.  The Pelican was 14 feet long and was an ex ship’s lifeboat.  She was clinker built.  The motor was a 5hp single cylinder “Du Brie” which gave her a speed of between 4 and 5 knots.  Ignition was the current from 4 large 1.5volt dry cell batteries passing through a coil.  The motor was started by crank handle and had a dog clutch so there was no reverse.

The tender was the dinghy “Beagle” named after Charles Darwin ship “HMS Beagle”.  She was 10 feet long and was heavily planked which made her ideal for boating activities around rocky coastlines.

The Coastguard vessel was the “Waitangi” which I described in my article about “Beautiful Waiheke” (posted on 2 September 2015).  The skipper was my Uncle Tom Stein and his armed assistant was Dean Ellingham another holidayer from Arran Bay.

It must be remembered that this was the late 1920s and home movies were in their infancy.   The cast were a group of people who only came together when they were holidaying at Arran Bay.  My father told me that they all had a most enjoyable time putting it together which is evident from the film.

Special thanks to Roger Guthrie for forwarding this footage to waitematawoodys.

Wynyards (Lushington’s) Bay + Wirihana 1

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Wynyards (Lushington’s) Bay
photo ex Mac Taylor Collection

Now I’m sure to some / most of you the bay in the above photo will be very familiar but not to me. I have a good hunch but I’ll let you all chip in. Remember you can click on the image to enlarge & if you click again on the enlarged photo it will zoom in even more.

Wirihana 1
The 2nd part of today’s post is a great photo, below, I found in Mac Taylor’s album, the launch is the first Wirihana (1) – there is a great story found at the link below concerning Wirihana (1), which most likely became Lady Gay (1) + how Wirihana (2) & Lady Gay (2) fitted into the scene. Great reading & a fine example of the ww blog really working.

Wirihana Who ‘Built’ Her?

Update

Seems everyone is right on the button with ID’ing the location – Harold Kidd sent me a link to the Henry Winkelmann photos (post card) ex the Auckland Museum collection below, taken in 1899. It is ‘Rodmershaw’ the residence of Mr Lushington.

I’m very familiar with the location as early one morning during a Mahurangi Regatta weekend, I had to retrieve my #1 kauri clinker dinghy from the beach after it went walkies in the night & washed up there, undamaged. The gods were smiling on me that weekend 🙂

Update from Harold Kidd
The photo below, ex Auckland Museum collection,  shows Mrs Lushington sitting on the ballast of her husband’s Robert Logan-built yacht MURITAI in 1899 at the property.
The 22ft mullet boat on the beach behind MURITAI is the 22 footer BELLE built by Hewson & Melville in 1883 also owned by Lushington. BELLE was converted to a deadwood keel yacht & later renamed LOTUS.

Muritai & Belle (Lotus) c1899

Pam Cundy Input

Pam sent me the photo below of of her partner, George Emtage, grandfather Captain George Samuel Emtage. They lived in a bay just around the corner from the bay shown above and worked for the Lushingtons and the Chandlers on Motuora. The excerpt from the book Jade River tells the story of how George’s family inherited Motuora island.

Crusader & Something Cool To Do This Weekend

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CRUSADER
photos ex Mac Taylor collection & Ken Ricketts. Details ex Harold Kidd

Crusader was built for Rev. Jasper Calder and Charlie Goldsboro by Collings & Bell in the winter of 1929, originally without her later bridgedeck. She replaced Calder’s 20ft mullet boat Ngaro. During the 1930’s Calder would hold church services aboard the launch in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island during the summer cruising season.
The photo (MTC) above shows Crusader running down the harbour on her way to winning the NZ Power-Boat Association’s race for the ‘My Girl Trophy’ for cruisers steered by ladies. The insert is of Miss E Herrick, who was at the helm.

The xmas 1948 photo (KR) below shows Crusader anchored in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island. By this stage she was sporting a bridgedecker

29-01-2016 photo of CRUSADER (1935) ex Nathan Herbert
Screen Shot 2016-01-31 at 10.56.49 PM
31-01-2016 Update ex Paul Drake
Recent photo of CRUSADER – taken Feb 2015 at Whangamata from on board Paul’s brother Nigel’s launch FREELANCE..

DSC03926
LOST – we are still trying to track down the ‘My Girl Trophy’ so if anyone has it tucked away, drop us a note.

Also if anyone had an old NZ Power-Boat Assn. burgee, I would love one………… you can see it flying on the bow of Crusader (has a propeller in the center). Would swap a ww t-shirt for the burgee 😉

Looking for a classic wooden boat fix in the weekend?

Visit the Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition at the Viaduct. Hosted by the Tino Rawa Trust.
This years feature designer is Des Townson. The exhibition will showcase the best of his designs in two displays – a static out of water display of the Starling, Zephyr and Mistral sailing dinghies and rafted up on the Visitors Berth will be a selection of bespoke Townson yachts including ‘Serene’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Talent’, ‘Infinity’ and the one & only launch Des designed ‘Aristos’ will be there as well. You can view more on Aristos here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/03/09/aristos/

In the exhibition marquee will be half models and memorabilia.

TIMES: Saturday 3rd October and Sunday 4th October between 10am to 4pm. Entry is FREE
LOCATION: Karanga Plaza and Visitors Berth, Viaduct Harbour. (Between Team New Zealand Base and the Viaduct Event Centre).

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Lady Sam

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LADY SAM

Collings & Bell built Lady Sam in 1925. Approx. 32’ long & constructed of kauri planks. She is powered by a 80hp 6 cyl. BMC diesel.

She underwent a major refit & near complete rebuild in 2002. Home is the Coromandel Harbour. Recently for sale on trademe.

Can we confirm & expand on her history?

Auckland Woodys Welcome His Majesty’s Ship

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AUCKLAND WOODYS WELCOME HIS MAJESTY’S SHIP
photos ex Russell Ward. details ex Harold Kidd

During the discussions on last weeks post on the very fast CMB, Russell sent me the above impressive photos from when HMS Renown (tbc) visited Auckland. An impressive number of woodys featured. How many can we ID? – I have attached a numbered, L>R (1>7) photo below.
There is potentially some confusion as to the date/year of the visit & whether in fact it is HMS Renown or her sister ship HMS Repulse.
Renown came here solo in 1920 with the Prince of Wales and again in 1927 with the Duke & Duchess of York.
Maybe it’s Renown in 1927 but it could be Repulse in 1924 or Renown in 1920 (fyi Luana that can be seen in the photo was launched in late March 1920 only a month before the 1920 visit).

Update from Barry Davis

Robin Elliott is correct in saying that this is the 1920 visit of the Renown. Below are a couple of photos from the Auckland Weekly News dated 29 April 1920, unfortunately they are not that clear. The small steamer in the foreground and to the left in the second view is the Onewa, the tug closing in on the bow is the Te Awhina.

24-09-2015 Photo of Te Awhina below – ex Russell Ward

Te Awhina