The 1929 Chas Bailey & Son built motor launch – Shenandoah has made several appearances on WW and we have seen her – as launched, in her war fatigues, restored and sadly neglected – way too many mentions on WW to list the links, just type her name in the WW search box to view.
Today thanks to Bruce Papworth we get a look at Shenandoah at sea and her crew war crew ashore – in the 2nd photo we get a rare sighting of the photographer – Tudor Collins, that is him second from right. He would have been on board Shenandoah in his role as photographer. Bruce P commented that he believed Hick Goodfellow was the captain. In the third photo, showing the Whangarei Town Basin there is a great collection of craft that had been commandeered by the NZ Navy for war service – that I can identify- we have:
Q03 – Shenandoah, Q08 – Lady Margaret, Q01 – Wirihana, Q02 – Maristella, Q12 – Lady Shirley and Z38 – Ranoni. In the last photo we have L>R Lady Margaret, Maristella and Wirihana. For more background on these craft, click on this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/11/23/whangarei-town-basin-1943/
The 40’ ex workboat Northern Star was built c.late 196o’s by Roger Carey in Picton, then c.2009 she was converted to a trawler cruiser / live aboard.
Forward motion is via a rebuilt 6LX Gardner that is keel cooled. Like all good southerns woodys there is a diesel heater to keep toastie below.
From her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) we see that she is very well fitted out for extended cruising.
INPUT ex Russell Ward – photo below taken 20+ years back, in Picton marina. Russell commented that they all looked so much better in working colours than in the stark white that present owners use.
Twice this year the Don Brooke designed 37’ launch – Tranquila, previously named Dundonald, has made a cameo appearances on WW. Now thanks to Ian McDonald spotting her on tme we get a better look. (fyi – recently sold)
Specs are – built in 1986 from double diagonal kauri (f/glassed) and powered by a Ford 120hp 6.2L 6 cyl. diesel.
Following up on Mondays story based on Dean Wrights photo gallery for Waikawa Bay marina, I was contacted by Greg Billington in regard to a photograph featured of his boat – the 33’ Baily built ‘Skipjack’. I’ll let Greg tell the story –
“You will see in the photo (number two above) that the mast is down, it is hinged because I formerly kept her in the Okahu Lagoon, which meant going under the Tamaki bridge. It is a new alloy mast, by the way, and considerably shorter than the former very heavy timber mast. On the occasion, some years ago that I laid it on its side in a beam sea crossing Bream Bay, I decided the timber mast was too much deadweight to bring back up! However, that the mast is hinged is convenient for a rather unexpected reason. I discovered that in winds around 20 knots, the new mast would vibrate. My first thought was to adjust the stays, but it made no difference. Then I learned about ‘vortex shedding.’ You may know that this can occur around any cylinder and in fact has caused the failure of even very large structures. At certain wind speeds, vortices form on the downwind side and create vibration. As it happens, it is easily remedied by doing a couple of turns of a rope or stay around the mast. In the marina I just lower the mast to the bow rail.
I’ve had Skipjack in Waikawa for 3 years now. Assuming that many Auckland boaties may not know too much about the Sounds, I thought some comparisons might be of interest. The Sounds comprise nearly 20 per cent of our total coastline – so lots of scope for exploring. However, it contrasts with the Gulf in several ways. First, it is adjacent to Cook Strait. Need I say more? On one occasion I spent three days in a bay because I couldn’t leave. It was not possible to see the other side of the Sound through the williwas. Another time I was alarmed by a crash and found my inflatable had been picked up by the wind and hurled into the stern. The slack painter was promptly severed by the prop and I watched with incredulity as the dinghy took off and literally flew for about 50 metres.
Then there’s the tides. It is a strange spectacle seeing enormous surface turbulence above depths of 50 plus metres, and for a Gulf boatie, being above 140m depth less than half a click offshore seems most peculiar. Then there’s the challenge of anchoring. Most boaties here rely on the network of club moorings because the magnificent hills of the Sounds, tend to go straight down. The Gulf is blessed with great bottom for anchoring. The Sounds are not! And finally, the water temperature…where I habitually dropped the pick in one of many bays in the Gulf islands and dived over for a decent swim, here, on a blistering hot day in mid-summer, one plunges in – and out! But the low temperature probably explains why good antifouling can go a couple of years and need nothing more than a soft waterblast. There are no goddamn barnacles!
But lest you think this is not a great place to boat, I include a pic of Skipjack anchored in Mistletoe Bay“.
Todays woody story features the Dick Lang built launch – Lady Margaret. And comes to us from Bruce Papworth – I’ll let Bruce tell the story (minor edits) The photos are from the Ted Clark photo album, taken by Tudor Collins
“I was a personal friend of William A Clark (Ted ). Ted had this boat built in 1938 at a cost of 13,000 Pounds, a lot of money in those days. I have written this to fill in a number of gaps in the history of the Lady Margaret named after his wife.
Like Johnny Birch I had a number of trips away on this boat with his grandfather Joe Birch and Ted and can still remember them well. Up until Ted sold the boat due to poor health at the time to Jim & Nancy Francises. Nancy France as young girl and pre marriage to Jimmy would also go away for weekend with Ted & Margaret as they had no children of their own, they enjoyed having young people aboard. Even though more than once the odd tea pot got lost over board when helping out.
Lady Margaret was loaned to Navy (NAPS # Q08) for the duration of the war and Ted joined the Navy as its Captain. Margaret his wife ran his business, Clark Potteries, which manufactured earthenware Clay pipes for sewage systems. He told me that they never refused an order to sail even though other boats did due to the weather. Not every day was a calm day over that period you just go. Based In Whangarei they would cover the area between Whangarei and Leigh out as far as Great barrier with trips often to the radar station on the Mokohinau Islands he told me.
The boat had two Fairbanks morse engines fitted when new, later being replaced by two Foden’s in the early 1960’s. She was armed with a Bren gun on pedestal on the roof of the wheel house and on the stern where two depth charges. The Bren gun was often test fired at the goats on the cliffs of miner’s head Great Barrier. Ted said he had the fuses for the depth charges set to maximum as if we rolled one off the stern we would not be far enough away if it went off.
At the end of the war the Navy returned the Lady Margaret having restored her back to her pre war state. New paint and varnish job top and bottom as its colour was a grey colour like Many of the Navy vessels of the time.
The interior of the boat has changed since the sale from Jimmy Frances – in the bow were 4 bunks, then a bulk head to a toilet and wash room (no shower ) either side and another bulk head up a couple of steps to the wheel house beneath where the twin Foden’s and to one side a Stewart Turner generator.
Lady Margaret was fitted in those days with an auto- pilot (Bendix brand), around the spokes of the helm, Ted had fitted a stainless band around the outside of wheel, this was to stop you getting thrown to the floor when the auto pilot was engaged as if a spoke grabbed you in the pocket of your pants you would end up on the floor. In those days the helm had an electric motor driving the chain to the shaft of the rudder
From the bulk head of the wheel house you went down two steps and the galley on one side where the sink and small oven sat. Across from the galley on the opposite side was a large heat absorption refrigerator then another bulk head into the main cabin and in the middle of the main cabin sat a folding island table, underneath the table were the biscuit tins. The seating either side could sleep four, moving towards the stern two cupboards one either side that contained the wet weather gear and the outboard motor for the dinghy, on the stern there where two davits .
There was no landing tuck on the stern in those day Jimmy Frances added that in his time .
Memories are made from the people you have known and the things you do together.”
Recent photos below of Lady Margaret – looking very regal
UPDATE 26-07-2023 LADY MARGARET – NAVAL REQUISITION 2.2.1942 EX FACEBOOK P. BUDDLE via K Ricketts
Todays classic woody is the launch Varua, and was one of the craft that Dean Wright recently photographed at Waikawa Bay Marina. Certainly has that ‘Sounds’ boat look to her i.e. built to take a few green ones over the bow.
And that woodys is all we know – so who can help us added more details to her history and how she came to be berthed at Waikawa marina.
INPUT ex John Gander: ‘Varua’ 1959 built by Bob Swanson when his boatyard was in Blackwood bay Queen Charlotte Sound, now owned by Gavin Cooper used often and very well maintained. Bob Swanson built a lot of launches along similar lines. Very likely that Bill Orchard was in on her building he did his time with Bob Swanson, Bill used to walk over the hill from the from his parents home in the Kenepuru Sound.
14-12-2022 INPUT EX GREG BILLINGTON – I believe Varua was built in 1954 by Swanson in Blackwood Bay near Waikawa. A 12 tonne, 40-footer, she was owned for a long time by a chap who I think was known as ‘Brownie.’ He sold it to my brother John, about twenty years ago. At that point, she was pretty decrepit but with a sound hull. John commissioned local boat builder John Cooper to refurbish her, which included replacing the old Nissan with a 130hp Perkins, glassing the topsides, full paint job, replacing the electrics and plumbing and installing the davit for lifting the dinghy. I took her for her ‘maiden’ voyage after Cooper’s refit, resulting in a fine groper off Witt’s Rock in the Strait. My brother kept Varua in Waikawa for a while and then motored her up the East Coast to the Waitemata. However, not long after, he sold her (to switch to sailing), and she was bought by a couple of guys in Paremata, so headed south again. I’m unsure how long they retained ownership, in any event, John Cooper’s son, Gavin, bought her and she came back home to Waikawa. Gavin told me she had not been so well looked after, and he gave her a refresh and upgraded the cabin.
Following on from last Mondays story where we shared Dean Wright’s recent Southern trip and a gallery of photos from the Havelock marina todays photo gallery comes to us from the Waikawa marina. Some stunning woodys and remember – click on photos to enlarge 😉
A lot of woodys that are new to WW and they will morph into WW stories in their own right.
Enjoy 🙂
13-12-2022 INPUT EX MARK MCLAUGHLIN
The big bridgedecker with 4 ports is RAHEMO (launched as Strathmore), built by Dick Lang.
Others I can positively identify are (from the top):
VECA (Arthur Sang)
VAGABOND (Joe Jukes)
?
?
?
RAHEMO/STRATHMORE (Dick Lang)
HUNTRESS (possibly McManaway designed/built?)
VARUA (Bob Swanson)
OSPREY (Harold Saunders)
PALOMINO (Bob Swanson)
TOANUI (Roger Carey)
Yacht ANNA JANE (?)
NUKUMEA (American “Bartender” design by George Calkins)
YVONNE (Bob Swanson)
PEARL (?)
Unknown fishing boat
KATOOMBA (Dorman Engineering, Nelson – not wood, built in Corten Steel!!)
Unknown (possibly Bruce Askew?)
CORYLUS (Bruce Askew)
TAREPO (launched TAREPA)
ARCTURUS (McGeady)
? (looks like a McManaway or Morgan fishing boat design?)
? (under the covers)
CRISTINA (Athol Burns)
PURUATANGA (launched as MARIANJO)
Most of these have featured previously on WW, so a quick look in the search bar will glean more details if interested.
I was contacted by Chris McMullen during the week with a suggestion that I make contact with noted kiwi yachtie and boat builder – Gilbert (Gil) Littler. Now when Mr McMuMullen ’suggests’ something I normally respond pretty quickly, second only to suggestions from Robert Brooke 🙂 24hrs later I’m having coffee with Gil and his wife Susan – why am I telling you this? Because Gil has just penned an amazing book titled – SHIPWRIGHT BOAT BUILDER YACHTSMAN 1962-1992. The 100+ page book is split into 3 sections:
Part One – A brief history of the Bailey Family
Part Two – My Apprenticeship Years
Part Three – My Yacht Racing Years
I have squirreled away a copy for summer boat reading but I did do a quick dive into some of the pages and its a wonderfully refreshing read, more like sitting in a comfortable spot afloat and listening to Gil entertain you with his life story. Lots of photos and illustrations also to view. In CMcM’s words – This book is a gold mine of history and information. Written by a guy on the floor in the boatshop and a foredeck hand on a very famous Kiwi Yacht. By winning the One Ton Cup put New Zealand on the yachting map.
The $40 – + P&P – 100+ page book is self published so obtaining a copy is not as easy as walking down to your nearest book store but it is worth the effort. So to order a copy:
Gil & Susan are currently traveling so do not expect an instant reply 🙂
My 2nd Pick Is The Mahurangi Cruising Club Year Book
Now the title may sound a little boring but the contents certainly are not. Always a fantastic publication pulled together by design guru Steve Horsley. This year the theme is restorations and of interest to all woody boaties is an article on electrolysis. Plus a 16 page photo gallery of the 2022 regatta – all that for $20. As we speak its at the printers – so to secure / order a copy either email BOAT BOOKS crew@boatbooks.co.nz or call 09 358 5691 (Boot Books 22 Westhaven Drive)
Copies will be available at the normal random outlets but BB is the safest bet.
During the week we were contacted by Graham Hunter who was seeking information on the 33’ launch – Seaflyte. Graham was sent the above photos by an old friend, Kevin Short, who commented that the photos were taken during the Christmas of 1972, at the time she was owned by a a family named – Brown who lived in Glendowie.
Seaflyte was berthed at Westhaven for years but they may have taken Seaflyte to Half Moon Bay when it opened. The flying bridge was added and the only access to the cabin is by the 2 sliding doors. Kevin commented that Graeme must have taken these photos, because he is sure that is him in the photos.
We know she had 2 x 100hp Fordson engines and was built from double planked kauri to handle the Cook Straight. Both Graham and Kevin would be interested to know what became of the launch.
The launch Corinthia was built / launched in 1967 at the Shipbuilders yard in Auckland. She has made several cameo appearances on WW, link below to a 2013 story that showed her alongside the jetty at Arran Bay, Waiheke Island. It appears that the exterior has not changed much but now today thanks to a heads up from Ian McDonald re a tme listing we get to have a peek down below.
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