Lady Mary is currently listed on trademe & unless the owner updates the listing, will remain there a while i.e. almost zero details on the boat. So woodys who built her & when?
What we do know is she is 22’9″ long with a kauri carvel planked hull. Currently powered by a 30hp Volvo Penta diesel. At approx. 23′ you wouldn’t want too many people up top 🙂
The cradle she is hauled out on is familiar to me – its at Geoff Bagnall’s Milford yard, Raindance has spent time in that cradle 😉
I was sent this movie, filmed in late1929/30’s by the Lambourne brothers (Allan & Alex) nearly 2-1/2 years ago by Roger Guthrie, it was back in the very early days of ww & since then a lot more people have checked onto the site – in fact over 100,000 people. On ww last week I bumped into Peter Stein whose father (also Peter) appeared in the movie. Peter has written a very cool synopsis of the movie & the (now) classic launches that appear in the movie. I suggest you read Peters words & then watch the movie. Enjoy 🙂
The film “Beautiful Waiheke” by Peter Stein
Introduction:
The film was produced by the Lambourne brothers Allan & Alex in the late 1920’s early 1930’s. The Lambournes owned a large furniture shop on the corner of Ponsonby Road and Pompallier Terrace. The Arran Bay house was built in 1910 and remained Lambourne property until 1964 when it was sold to the Jorgensen Family.
Water transport for the Lambournes was the launch “Nga Whare” which is the round bilged craft in the film with the two portholes in her topsides. She was sold when I was a very young boy so I remember little about her.
Our property is next door to the Lambournes. Arran House was built circa 1885 for Andrew and Mary Croll from the Isle of Arran, Scotland. They were two of Waiheke’s pioneers. Andrew was a very fine photographer and albums of his photos can be seen at the Waiheke Historical Society Museum on Onetangi Road. Among the photos are scenes of the Annual Regatta organised by Andrew and held at Arran Bay circa the late nineteenth century. These events were well supported by “boaties” of the day. The albums were kindly donated by the Crolls of Sydney. Mary Croll was a very good artist and she put many scenes of the “bottom end” on canvas. Some of her mural work is still on the walls of one of the bedrooms in Arran House. My father, P.A.S. Stein purchased Arran House from W.J. Connell (owner of Connell’s Bay Store) in 1924 and it has been in our family ever since.
The Waitangi, the launch with mast and crosstree in the film was built in 1923 for Mr Cadman. It was a classic John L. Hacker design with sharp entry and flat stern section. The original owner named her “Karamana”. She had an aeroplane engine in her and we understand she was capable of 25knots which made her one of the fastest launches on the Waitemata at that time. Harold Kidd has a very good photo of her racing on the harbour (added below. AH). In the latter 1920s she ended up on the Tamaki Drive breakwater. My father bought the severely damaged hull and had her restored by Chas Bailey & Sons. He renamed her the “Waitangi” after his father’s steamer the TSS Waitangi of the Northern Steamship Co. My grandfather Peter Anton Stein was a Captain of various Northern Steamship Co. vessels from 1895 to 1908. Chas Bailey told my father that the Waitangi had brought them good luck because the next launch off their slipway was the legendary “Shenandoah”.
The Waitangi was 28 feet long (8.5m), had a beam of 7 foot 3inches (2.2m) and draft of 2 foot 8 inches (.8m). She was built in kauri and the bottom was double skinned from the bow to the wheelhouse. The rest of the vessel was single skinned. Her Auckland mooring was in St Mary’s Bay in front of the Ponsonby Cruising Club at the bottom of St Mary’s Road. Maintenance was carried out at Collings and Bell Boat Builders adjacent to the PCC.
About 1930 my father replaced the old Studebaker engine with a 105hp Kermath marine engine. Allely Bros. of Beaumont Street imported the motor and installed it. It was known as a 6 cylinder flat top. The pistons had a bore of 4” (100mm) and each cylinder had two spark plugs. It was double ignition with one spark plug connected to the magneto and the other one the distributor. Maximum speed was 18kns and at this speed the motor burnt 8 gallons of petrol per hour. Petrol was bought in 4 gallon cans and there were two cans to a box. We still have an old Atlantic box which we use as a vegetable bin at Arran House. Petrol in the early 30s was 1 shilling and six pence a gallon. A 50% rebate brought the price back to a respectable 9 pence a gallon. My father told me that the best run home he achieved was Connell’s Point to Kings Wharf in 1 hour and 12 minutes.
The film:
The film began with shots of the Guthrie family aboard their launch “Alcestis”. It then moved to shots of Arran Bay taken from different location around the Bay. The people setting out down the path are coming from the Lambourne’s house.
The aquaplaning sequence was filmed from the shore and the “Nga Whare” which was the tow boat. My father was the young man with one of the Lambourne girls on his shoulders. Years later I learnt to aquaplane on the same board.
The “Waitangi” then heads to Bulls Bay with my father as pilot. The majority of the film is shot at Bulls Bay (Anita Bay) on the north eastern end of Waiheke. At the northern end of the bay are many small rocky islands and the launches are filmed going through the channels between the rocks. These are not hard to navigate but should be done at ½ tide or more.
The “Coughing Caves” are in the southern point of Bulls Bay. With a northerly swell and incoming tide, waves enter the caves and when the top reaches the ceiling of the cave the air behind it is compressed until it bursts out in a cloud of spray. The boy in the dingy, Reg Crawford, is trying to get as close as he safely can to the emerging spray.
The “Whirl Pool” is in the long reef extending from the northern end of Bulls Bay. Riding the swell in and out of the pool could be quite exciting as seen in the film.
The homeward bound shots of the Waitangi in the storm were taken in the channel between Pakatoa and Waiheke.
Harold Kidd Input from previous ww post
Waitangi was built as KARAMANA for F.B. Cadman in 1923 by Bailey & Lowe to a design by Hacker. KARAMANA = CADMAN in pig maori. She was later bought by Auckland Grammar School teacher P A S Stein and rebuilt as per the 2nd photo below. She was fitted with a war surplus 6 cyl Green sohc aero engine producing 120-140bhp, bore 5.5 ins, stroke 6 ins (you work out the capacity). She was pretty radical.
03-09-2015– comments
1. The Lambourne launch was called NGAWAI I think, not NGA WHARE. She was later bought by the Andrews family on the Hokianga. I remember her as a child during WW2 laid up in a shed with a Chrysler engine. Maybe another NGAWAI but she looks the same. 2. KARAMANA/WAITANGI was built by Bailey & Lowe in 1923, not by Chas. Bailey Jr who built SHENANDOAH in 1929. There’s some conflation there.
Today’s photo of Flirt was sent to me by Judith Wallath whose recalls that before WW1 her uncle Fred Briggs, solicitor of Whangarei, owned this small launch and used her on the Whangarei Harbour for fishing trips and outings. He had four sisters and with friends they had wonderful times at Urquarts and Smugglers Bay etc. In 1915 Fred left NZ with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and on the strength of his NZ boating experience was made sub-lieutenant in the Motor Patrol headquarters at Torquay in England, patrolling the English channel looking for submarines etc.
This photo of Flirt was possibly taken in Urquarts Bay. Fred on the left. Judith commented while she was anchored in Urquarts last summer they saw a launch somewhat similar to Flirt though slightly longer, moored there.
Any of the woodys able to contribute to details on Flirt & what became of her?
Harold Kidd Input
This FLIRT (there were several) was built for J.F.S. Briggs by Percy McIntosh in Whangarei and launched about October 1912. She was 25ft with a 4hp Palmer engine, upgraded in April 1913 to a 5hp Zealandia. Briggs sold her to E.J. Jones who raced her at the Onerahi Regatta until December 1919 as FLIRT. Jones changed her name to VICTORY soon after, but I lose track of her in 1921, probably because of another sale/name change.
MILADY photos ex Ian Mason & B Worthington. details ex Harold Kidd & Geoff Rogers
Milady was designed and built by Billy Rogers and was the last boat out of his Curran Street shed before it was taken under the Public Works Act for the Curran Street Harbour Bridge approach road. This has been confirmed to Harold & myself by Geoff Rogers who had recently left school to join his father and was on the job when MILADY was being built.
She was commissioned by one of the directors of Dorman & Long who were the head contractors for the Harbour Bridge construction. He was an Englishman who didn’t want Billy to use his typical sweet sheerline but insisted on a straight sheer which was what he was accustomed to with the type of power boats used in English sheltered waters like the Norfolk Broads. The owner had two cabinet makers come and do the interior fit-out for him while she was under construction. Milady got her name from the confectionery company (Waller & Hartley’s Milady Toffee Co.) in Blackpool, England that her first owner’s family owned. She was originally powered by a 6 cyl Chrysler Crown petrol engine.
Unconfirmed data (ex Ken Ricketts)- The original engine was later replaced by a Ford diesel c.1957 by her then owner, Charlie Hardman, who sold her about 1959 to Bill Luxton, who had a beach house at Whangamata. She was owned by a G S Bright somewhere along the way & in 1973 by Trevor Titchener. In her early days she also had an owner by the name of J M Kenny who had her call sign registered as ZM2412.
She is presently in Whangarei undergoing extensive repairs after finding some rocks at Kerikeri about 5 years ago & has been undergoing repairs & refit for the past 4 years by local semi retired boat builder, Ian Mason. Ian hopes to have her back in the water for this coming summer (2015/16). She presently has a fairly new naturally aspirated 130hp Ford diesel, which had replaced a 90hp naturally aspirated Ford diesel before that. The previous owners were 2 gentlemen from Auckland, who had, had her for about a year, but Ian Mason can’t recall their names.
While the exact details of who designed & built today’s launch Swanee are unclear, she is rather unique in that she has remained in that same family for over 50 years. Built from kauri she is 33′ long with 8’9″ beam & 2’8″ draft, currently powered by a 60hp Ford diesel.
You can see from the photos that she is very well appointed with everything one needs for comfortable cruising – electric flush toilet, freezer/frig, electric capstan & all the safety gear.
Over their period of ownership the Weber have ensured Swanee remained in great condition with a major 2 year out-of-water refit in 1970 that saw her re-ribbed with pohutukawa (you could back then 🙂 ) & new topsides. In 2004/5 her topsides were glassed & 2 pot painted & she was rewired.
Owner Ralph understands, from his mother, that she was built c.1920 in Auckland for Sanfords. Then later sold to the McLeod family of Helensville. Then she went to Dargaville and then owned by Matich Bros and later by Dr Maurice Matich. The Weber family, Ken & June, bought Swanee in 1961 and now ownership is with their son Ralph Weber of Matakohe. Currently moored at Pahi.
Ralph commented that Harold Kidd had previously mentioned that she may possibly have been the – ‘Sister Lola’ & built by Bailey & Lowe, if so she ‘raced’ with the Ponsonby Cruising Club.
Ralph sent ww photos of Swanee over a year ago & contacted me recently to say that unfortunately life has moved on & the family have had to make the difficult decision to sell Swanee after 50+ years of ownership, so today’s post has a degree of sadness but could offer a lot of happiness to someone looking to buy a classic launch. For a 33′ launch, Swanee is a lot of boat, you can see in the photos that there is no shortage of living area & she comfortably sleeps 5. After 50 years you end up nothing what works best & where on a boat 😉
Boat aesthetics is a very personal thing & with some people practicality is #1, but if I was buying her I would be off to see a good sympathetic wooden boat builder like Geoff Bagnall & returning her cabin windows to a style a little more in keeping with a 1920’s classic. People forget that these old girls are wood & the cost of a wee bit of restoration like this would not be great. After all there is little else that needs doing to her.
She sports rather a racy (flat aft) bottom so with a bigger motor I would imagine she would perform very well.
So woodys – can we find a buyer for Swanee or know something that is looking for a classic wooden launch? Being based currently at Pahi she does present some interesting scenarios e.g. you could keep her there for a few seasons & have a floating family bach. A group of guys could get together & buy a good fishing / man bach on the Kaipara. Or simple put her on a truck & return her to the Waitemata.
Now I do not normally like to talk money in ww posts but the overall 2nd hand boating market is just so soft that when I think something is great value, I will – well woodys someone could own Swanee for less than $30K. , that is real value, you could not build a garage for that.
If you or anyone you know could be interested – contact Ralph, initially via email on weber.bros@xtra.co.nz
Also interested in any info /photos on her past.
Harold Kidd Input
SWANEE was certainly built as SISTER LOLA pre-October 1920, possibly by Harvey or DIck Lang. I don’t know where the Bailey & Lowe reference came in, although Bailey & Tyer did build a 33 footer (unusual dimension) just pre WW1. Lang too had built a 33 footer in 1916 and just could have used those moulds. I can’t find a direct report of her owner as SISTER LOLA but am pretty sure she’s the boat reported in the Auckland Star of 28th August 1920. If so, her hull was built professionally and she was finished off by her first owners Pavitt brothers and Verran at Bayswater. There again the Verrans were Northcote people and Bailey & Tyer were at Hall’s Beach, Northcote Point. She was sold to Arthur Sandford of Vine St., Ponsonby in late 1922, early 1923. He changed her name to SWANEE probably after the Al Jolson song “Swanee”. Sandford was, for a time, a professional Vaudeville artist and no doubt sang that song on stage. She had a 6 cylinder Studebaker car engine in 1925. Sandford sold her to Alfred McLeod some time between 1934 and 1939. McLeod joined the Squadron with her in 1939. She then had a 30hp Hercules engine which he replaced with a 100hp Meadows ohv 6 in 1947/8 (probably a war-surplus engine). The rest of her history on the Kaipara is well-known. There’s a big dose of conjecture in the above. I’ll check with the Verran family.
Update 30-08-2015
B/W photo added above ex Ian Miller whose wife Rosalind’s late father, Doug Hazard, crewed on Swanee in the 1930’s
Update 06-03-2023 – photo below ex Kauri museum, Matakohe via Diane Wilkinson fb
(The) COLLEEN photo & details from Janine Leighton
The above photos were sent to me by Janine Leighton, the granddaughter of Charles Aspden who built (or co-built) the launch (The) Colleen in the 1930’s. Charles was living at Northcote Point then. Notes on the back of the photos record that the vessel was apparently sold in c.1939 to Charles Shelley (sp?), an Auckland furrier.
Janine & ww would like to know what happened to her post this & does she still exist?
06-03-2021 Harold Kidd Input – Designed and built by Arnold (Bill) Couldrey for Charles Aspden.
The photos of Maria were sent in by her new owner Nick Voerman, Nick until recently owned Rosemary M. In Nicks words his last project ‘needs lots of love’, I think that an understatement but Nick has a track record of bring these old ladies back to their finery so fingers crossed. Nick has built a model of Maria which I’m sure will be his inspiration for the restoration project. Below are examples of 2 other models Nick has done, one on the 1915 Lanes – Rosemary M & one on the 1923 Bailey & Lowe – Rotomahana
Nick believes Maria (nick named tuk tuk) may have spent time at Kawau Island & possibly moored off Devonport, can anyone add to what Nick / ww knows about her? She is 21′ long & powered by an air-cooled 2 cylinder Lister engine (that will get Baden Pascoe fizzing)
1915 Lanes – Rosemary M
1923 Bailey & Lowe – Rotomahana
11-03-2016 photos ex Nick Voerman
Hows this for a transformation – all finished & re-launched & looking very smart 🙂
Today’s post on Lady Nell is a request from her current owner, Trevor McKay, for some clarity on the information he has been supplied about her & also an attempt to uncover more of her past.
The photo of her alongside the wharf is as Trevor bought her in February 2009 off Steve Hansen of Kauwau fame (he owns the big steel ex navy job in the back ground). Steve bought her from an insurance company after she was damaged off Snells Beach when a storm broke a large yacht loose and smashed into her. He repaired her and then Trevor bought her in an exchange/cash for the Bailey & Lowe launch ‘Countess’ about 5 years ago.
Steve told Trevor that Greg Lees (boatbuilder at Sandspit) had given him a bit of back ground e.g. built 1960ish, design and built by Jack Brooke (but Robert Brooke has later commented – ‘not one of Dads’), she lived a while in the Tamaki Channel, she was bought by the Snells Beach owner, Barry Cranston, from the Jones brothers of Auckland, who kept her at Pine Harbour. Cranston owned her for 3 or 4 years.
Rumour has it that Lady Nell was named after a ‘Madam’ from a house of ill repute 😉 in Ponsonby. Not sure if she was built for the lady or just named after her, this rumour supports the view that due to her roominess she had been know as quite a “Party” boat.
She’s powered by a pair of the small four cylinder Fords, 63 hp, when Trevor bought her she had mechanical gear boxes but he changed to hydraulic a couple of years ago.
She cruises at about 7.5 knots but is very economical.
TE HONU photos & info ex Bruce Dickie & Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H
Te Honu was built by Brin Wilson in 1963 & is 34′ x 10′ 6″. Her first owners were a family by the name of ‘Tuttle’ or ‘Turtle’ according to one of her current owners, Bruce Dickie, Bob believes they were in the cartage business in the Takapuna area, She would have been one of the last boats Brin Wilson built in Porana Rd Glenfield.
She is presently owned by father & son team of boat builder Bruce & his son Logan, they bought her in February 2015 off a Mark Wilson, who had apparently owned her for approximately the last 15 years & had kept her at Pine Harbour. Home is now Gulf Harbour & she has been hauled out in the Brin Wilson shed for the last few months for a ‘makeover at the hands of Bruce & Logan, assisted by a number of members of their family.
She is stall largely original except for the flying bridge which Bruce is working at improving the aesthetics of during the refurb 🙂 She is still powered by the original 100 HP 6 cyl. Lees converted Ford diesel.
We look forward to seeing her back in the the water later in the year.
Harold Kidd Input
According to APYMBA records, TE HONU was built by Brin Wilson in 1961 for K S Turtill & Sons with a 6 cylinder Ford. She was 34’x32’x10’2″x3’6″. Later owners included well-known Accountant Jack Anderson of Blomfield Spa, Takapuna (1973).
The full ownership was recorded as K.S., M.I., P.H. and I.S. Turtill. Ken Turtill (1914-2000) was an Army Captain in WW2 and a POW. He lived at 132 and later 258 Hurstmere Rd Takapuna around the time TE HONU was built by Brin. He was a student liaison officer at the time. Good bloke.
MERITA photo ex Pam Cundy at Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard
All I know about today’s launch are 3 things – her name , the photo was taken at Great Barrier Island in 2013 & she is a fine looking vessel. So folks what do we know about Merita?
Photos below ex Brian Worthington & Ken Ricketts
09-11-2015 Input from Murray Morrissey.edited by Alan H
Merita was named after a bay in the Far North.
Merita was built by Murray’s Father in law – James (Jim) Dymock of Takapuna. She was built in his brothers building yard ( Bill Dymock) behind the Waitemata Power Board in Taharoto Rd.
Murray is not sure of the hull design but the cabin top was designed by Brin Wilson. She was launched in 1965 in the Milford Creek where she spend her early years. In those days she sat in a mud berth in front of the Milford Cruising Club. She was powered by an A.E.C. – war surplus tank engine – a beautiful sounding engine that pushed her along at 12-13 knots.
She was sold in 1971 to a Mr. Robertson who lived in Red Bluff Rise in Cambells Bay. From there Murray lost track of her.
Murray can clearly remember standing near the cliff face at Kennedy Park, Castor Bay, watching her heading northwards on the day she changed hands – with a heavy heart. She was a beautiful boat.
Merita was back in the Milford Creek in the late 1980`s or there abouts – crying out for some TLC. Murray then saw her at Gulf Harbour in pristine condition a few years ago & was very happy to see someone was looking after her.
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