LADY AVA
photo ex Jason Prew
Another photo from Jason Prew’s camera during his trip up the Tamaki River with Otira to the recent Chris McMullen workshop CYA visit. On route Jason photographed some of the many moored wooden boats.
Lady Ava, originally named Miss Ava, she was built by Ernie Lane at Picton in 1931. She has appeared on ww before (link below). I wonder if her grey colour is a ‘between coats’ finish, she certainly looked smart when white 😉
C & B JUNIOR
photo & details ex Barry Davis
The above stunning photo of C & B Junior was one of two photos that Barry Davis ‘found’ when poking around the Collings & Bell boat sheds after the yard closed down as a result of the reclaiming of the area for the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Barry ‘found’ this photo on the floor in the then very derelict older of the two C & B boat sheds just shortly before it was finally pulled down in 1961, a good two years after the business had closed. Barry has had the photo & one other (Dorothy – a previous ww post) filed away for decades & how thanks to ww they can be viewed. Junior was built by C & B in 1913. And while a wee thing at 20′ x 5’6″ x 3′ she is in my eye perfectly proportioned, not an easy task in a boat this size.
Given the inscription on the photo, she may have been built for W.H.M. Davis, or perhaps that was the photographer?
So woodys what became of C & B Junior?
ps photo below (ex Harold Kidd) of the Collings & Bell yard, with the 36′ Carrie-Fin on the slip. Carrie-Fin was later shipped (on Makura) to Tahiti for a wealthy American sport fisherman, Eastham Guild.
Update from Harold Kidd
She was built by Collings & Bell for themselves as an advertisement for their skills, one of several such launches they built as demonstrators. Her actual name was C & B JUNIOR. Davis was the photographer. She was launched in April 1913, a few days before this image was taken. Her dimensions were as stated . She had a 10hp 2 stroke Eagle engine. Alf Bell had most of the running of her, entering quite a few launch races with her.
She was a trend-setter with her dodger, something quite new at the time, and obviously immensely practical.
Collings & Bell sold her to J Harris of Grey St., Onehunga in early 1914. He renamed her CYNTHIA. In late 1914 he fitted a 9-12hp 4 cylinder 4 stroke Aristocrat engine. In 1917 he sold her to D. Herd and she “disappears” shortly after, probably a name change.
Collings rarely published his lines because he thought of himself as an innovator, especially with his hard chine “concave-convex” planing hulls.
It seems that when the St. Mary’s Bay yard closed a lot of material was left lying around. Barry liberated the two lovely images of C & B JUNIOR and DOROTHY, but hundreds of Charles Collings’ own glass plate negatives were either shied into the bay by apprentices or left lying around, mostly cracked or broken. I have a number of these, all much the worse for wear but hugely interesting.
An earlier launch of the same dimensions was exhibited at the Auckland Winter Show in 1910 with a smaller dodger. That one was was really the trailblazer and was one of several of their launches called just C & B.
Terribly minor point; for whatever reason, when C & B JUNIOR was sold to Harris, Collings & Bell fitted a 6hp 2 stroke Perfection engine in place of the Eagle. They were agents for Perfections and I suspect that the Eagle may not have proved satisfactory. The Perfection was built in Detroit by Caille and one of the better American marine two-strokes (of which there were a great number).
ALBACORA
details & photos ex Hylton Edmonds, Karen Moren & B Worthington
Albacora was built by Mac McGeady in 1954 for Pat Edmonds (Hylton’s father). She was to be a big game fishing boat in the Bay of Islands. She was 36′ & when launched powered by twin 90hp Graymarine engines.
The photo above is from a postcard (image a ‘little’ enhanced) of when she went up to Fiji in 1969 to start another successful game fishing career, operating out of the Fijian Hotel on Yanuca Island near to Sigatoka on the Coral Coast. While in Fiji, kiwi boat builder Ben Hipkins raised her cabin top to increase headroom.
Hylton has a rather nice collection of classic woodys – with Zane Grey & Lady Eileen both in varying stages of restoration at his Russell, Bay of Islands yard/shed.
Link to Lady Eileen https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/05/22/lady-eileen-3/
Update from Hylton Edmonds
Hi Alan,
Great to see Albacora back in the lime light, and taking yours and a few of your correspondents lead in the quest for accuracy, if I could just correct a few things as follows,
Albacora was 38′ 6″” x 11′ 6″ x 3’6″, mostly full length kauri of 1 1/2 ” thick.
Her cost as-built was 4,500.00 pounds, transported by Hammond and McIntyre from Summer Street, down Franklin Road to Quay Street. She was launched at 7.5 tons by Mrs. Eileen Bronson (a well known fisher-woman of the day) on 13 September 1954 at Admiralty Steps by the floating crane Mahua.
She had twin Petrol Morris Commodore’s of 50 HP each.
Unfortunately these were the only motors readily available for her first season of 1954 /55, and were replaced the next year by twin 4 cylinder Lees Marine Fordson Diesel’s of 75 HP each. The work was done at Deeming’s on Tapu Point (as all the work in NZ was done) including changing her from wet exhausts to dry. A great friendship between Dad and both Roly and Ted Lees ensued. These were later replaced in her last years in New Zealand with twin 6 cylinder Lees Marine Fordson’s of 115 HP each.
Albacora had a successful Game Fishing career and at the time of being sold to Marlin Investments in Fiji in 1968 she had 4 World and 7 New Zealand records to her name.
Albacora was only ever in Auckland twice, firstly when she was launched in 1954, and secondly when she came back down from Russell to go as deck cargo on the USSCo Tofua to Fiji in the May of 1968
In the mid 70’s she was sold to a Mr. Dick Evison who was setting up Turtle Island Resort. Details became sketchy after that until in 1980, family friend and well known yachtsman Dick McIlvride saw her in a derelict state up the Nadi River.
Acting on a tip off that Albacora was still “alive”, and a hoping to fulfill a life long dream of bringing her back home, – a trip to Fiji 5 years ago was made primarily to find out once and for all what happened to her. The late Dick Smith of Musket Cove was most hospitable to me, but confirmed the sad news, that Albacora had indeed been a wreck up the Nadi River, but then purchased by the owner of (adjacent) Plantation Village (a Mr. Reg Raffe) in the November of 1982. She was re-floated, towed over to Malololailai and hauled up onto the hard between the 2 resorts. A rebuild was intended sometime after the Christmas/Summer Holiday season. Tragically on March 1st 1983 Cyclone Oscar decimated not only most of that side of Fiji, but Albacora as well. She (as was most of the buildings on the island) pushed into a heap by bulldozer and burnt.
My Father always said, as all McGeady Boats were, – she was a strongly built boat, and a comfortable sea boat, and to me Albacora was a very good looking well proportioned classic sedan launch, that acquitted herself well in every respect, but as we all know, – wooden boats in the tropics…… a very harsh environment to say the least.
Rukahia & Erewhon
photos & details ex Clive & Judy Barnes
Todays post is a a 2 -4 -1 , two boats one owner. The above is Rukahia, the Barnes first launch & they were told she was built in 1964 at Waiheke Island. She is 30′ long & powered by a 130hp TS3 Commer. The photo of her exiting the breakwater at Westhaven was taken by me (AH) earlier this year during the CYA Classic Yacht Regatta.
The launch below is Erewhon the Barnes current launch & is an example of how its sometimes a wee bit hard to keep track of a boat given multi able name changes. Erewhon she was built (tbc) by Allan Williams at Milford & launched in 1977 and named Edelweiss, which then became Falcon, then Vera & finally (for now) Erewhon.
She is 28′ long & powered by a 80hp Ford. She is moored these days at Whangamata.
Anyone able to expand on the history of these two boats?
![PIC_0103[2]](https://i0.wp.com/waitematawoodys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pic_01032.jpg?w=580&h=436&ssl=1 "PIC_0103[2]")
LADY ELLISON
photos & info ex Mark Jarvis for Steve Simms
Lady Ellison was built in 1950 & given her shape & those trademark windows in the side of the centre cabin coamings she is most likely of Sam Ford pedigree. Length is 36′ , beam 11′ 4″ , draught 2′ 9″.
Her present owner Steve Simms of Motueka lives aboard & has had her for 8 years. Steve sails her regularly in the Abel Tasman Park & across to the Marlborough Sounds. He believes she has always been called Lady Ellison.
Previous owners were Bruce & Betty McNab & they owned for 37 years & kept her in Havelock. They replaced the BMC commodore for the current Ford 120hp.
It is believed that she went to Paremata after leaving Auckland but no dates. As a kid in the 1950’s Mark Jarvis lived in Paremata & remembers a similar looking Sam Ford moored in Browns Bay, Paremata with a yellow painted cabin, he suspects it was this boat. Adding to this is when Steve purchased her she was yellow and green (see photos below) & Steve then raised the centre cabin by 9″ & gave the windscreen a visor & added side moldings to the cabin edges.
Anyone able to confirm the Sam Ford link & supply more info on her ?
Photos Below As Purchased
![2007-04-20%2000.44.39[2]](https://i0.wp.com/waitematawoodys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2007-04-202000-44-392.jpg?w=386&h=290&ssl=1 "2007-04-20%2000.44.39[2]")
![2007-04-27%2000.23.38[2]](https://i0.wp.com/waitematawoodys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2007-04-272000-23-382.jpg?w=190&h=143&ssl=1 "2007-04-27%2000.23.38[2]")
![2007-04-25%2023.44.39[2]](https://i0.wp.com/waitematawoodys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2007-04-252023-44-392.jpg?w=190&h=143&ssl=1 "2007-04-25%2023.44.39[2]")
![2007-04-20%2000.44.13[2]](https://i0.wp.com/waitematawoodys.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2007-04-202000-44-132.jpg?w=580&h=436&ssl=1 "2007-04-20%2000.44.13[2]")
Harold Kidd Update (edited by AH)
The hull was built by Sam Ford c1952-3 for Albert Ritchie Hammer of 22 Dommett Ave Epsom. Hammer worked on her for 6 months at Sam’s yard and she was launched at Okahu Bay. Somewhere I have a pic of her on her way to be launched. The treatment of the coamings and Ford trademark windows is a bit clumsy compared with Sam’s usual treatment of them, but probably a combination of the current owner raising the center cabin by 9″ & Hammer’s handy work rather than Sam. She was first registered with APYMBA in 1953 with the call-sign ZMZL and was still in Auckland in 1957.
PS Hammer died in 2001 aged 84 but his descendants may be able to fill in LADY ELLISON’s early history.
06-072015 Harold Kidd Update
John Blundell has emailed me to say that he knew Bert Hammer well. He ran a second hand furniture shop (and was an auctioneer) on Broadway Newmarket. John got to know him when he started work at the family firm, Fisher & Blundell around 1953-4 and sailed with him on Hammer’s keeler VECTIS (Bert Woollacott, 1929, originally B15, then C15, then F15). They broke the mast on one night race to Kawau.
John’s later memories of Hammer were when he owned BOUNTY which was famous for its escapades in the South Pacific when owned by Errol Flynn (?)…..any comments on BOUNTY.?She’s outside my timescale. She was part of the fleet that went to Mururoa to protest against the French nuclear tests. She was about 40ft oa and a heavy double-ended ketch.
Finally John makes the point that Bert Hammer never married so he doubts if we will hear from any descendants!
DOROTHY
photo & details ex Barry Davis
How today’s photo ended up on ww is a little amusing, but first some details that were printed on the back of the photo. Dorothy was built by Collings & Bell 1911 for W.J.Quelch Newton. She was 35′ x 8’6″ & powered by a 12hp Doman Block 5 1/4.
Obviously the photo has been retouched e.g. the helmsman is hand drawn & out of proportion to the size of the launch but the retouching was done a very long time ago & at the Collings & Bell yard. How do we know this ? Well Collings & Bell closed down with the reclaiming of the area for the Auckland Harbour Bridge. As an adventurous school boy Barry ‘found’ this photo on the floor in the now very derelict older of the two Collings & Bell boat sheds just shortly before it was finally pulled in 1961, a good two years after the business had closed. Barry has had the photo & one other (a later ww post) filed away for decades & how thanks to ww they can be viewed.
So the question is what became of Dorothy & where is she today?
Harold Kidd Update
I wrote an article about W.J. Quelch and his many yachts and launches in Boating NZ a few months ago. He owned some great boats; launches WAIHIRI (C&B 1910), MARORO (1920) and yachts ETHEL (1913), ALEXA (1915), GRYPHON (1917), VIDA (Colin Wild 1931).
DOROTHY was indeed built for him by Collings & Bell and launched in November 1911. He sold her to R E Fry by 1916. She went through the hands of Len Cunningham (1917) went to Takatu Point and (I think) was sold to Tauranga in 1920 owned by M Sinclair of Matakana Is. Unfortunately there were several DOROTHYS, on the Waikato, the Manukau and at Whangarei, as well as on the Waitemata, so they are easy to mix up.
I suspect a name change in Tauranga.
Quelch had Collings & Bell build him DOROTHY Q in 1923, a Van Blerck-powered flush-decked 38 footer, later 100hp Stearns. She became DORIS (one of many of that name!) when Quelch exchanged her for JEAN with Sam Leyland in 1930. Quelch then exchanged JEAN for WANDEROO with L Schischka.
SILVER SPRAY
Today’s post has links back to yesterdays post that involved the Ravenhall family.
It starts back in 1926 when Silver Spray was built by Joe Slattery for Charles Ravenhall of Remuera. Silver Spray is 26′ LOA, 7′ beam with a 2’6″ draft, These days she is powered by a 4108 Perkins & has been beautifully restored & maintained by her owner & craftsman Mark Stapleton. Mark also maintains several other immaculate classic launches – Lady Margaret & Kailua for there owners.
The Ravenhall connection goes deeper in that Silver Spray is today housed in one of the Ngapipip Road boat sheds & back in 1930 Mr Charles Ravenhall was responsible for the shed sites in Ngapipi Rd being surveyed off for the construction of the sheds, with Silver Spray being the first vessel to be housed there. The Ravenhall shed was a small building , with a small window on the streetscape. The sheds were built as a result of the construction of the railway bridge across Hobson Bay.
Mark Stapleton had the pleasure of taking Charles Ravenhall’s son, Leslie & his family for a day trip on Silver Spray to celebrate Leslie’s 81st birthday.
The history of Silver Spray includes lives on Lake Rotoiti , Lake Taupo & homed twice in its 90 Years in Ngapipi Rd.
History is a wonderful thing but its now 2015 & Mark is retiring from boating due to health reasons & he has asked ww to help find a new minder for the old girl. To quote Mark “I would like to find another carer for her as I am confident in the right hands this boat has decades more life left in her. She is a delightful little boat & I have had many fantastic adventures with her “. Given the skills of Mark & the attention he has lavished on her, that is an understatement.
Silver Spray comes with a crated complete spare engine & extensive new parts inventory.
She is in running order with full inventory of kit including – radio, fire extinguishers, life jackets, flares, Epirb, lines, anchors , dinghy, mooring .
Silver Spray is presently housed in her own shed and can be viewed on the hard by appointment. Mark can be initially contacted on email at stapleton.restoration@gmail.com
The boat shed is also for sale separately. That should excite a few people, these things are like hens teeth & very rarely change hands.
So woodys, who is looking for or knows someone who is, a smaller classic wooden launch with wonderful provenance & maintenance history? This is the perfect boat, size wise in terms of easy maintenance & while I would hate to see her leave the Waitemata, she does have lake boat written all over her.
As an aside – Silver Spray is fast, she has blown the socks off my Raindance & other classics launches twice her size, in numerous CYA Patio Bay Rudder Cup classic launch races. Mark is always trying to squeeze an extra knot out of her – hence the sails in several photos, which he always told the race handicapper were there for safety (steadying) reasons – yeah right 🙂
02-08-2015 Photos ex Lynette Hatrick (nee Ravenhall)
The photos below of the Silver Spray during restoration were taken in the August 2003 before my Dad – Ronald and my mum – Bev Ravenhall went for the birthday cruise on the Silver Spray.
Mark Stapleton was passionate about restoring this boat and we all had a great time looking over it in the shed. That is my Dad in the photos.
HUKARERE
Story compiled by Alan Houghton from info ex Diane Hopson (daughter of original owner Les Ravenhall), photos ex Diane & Ken Ricketts
The building of Hukarere, which means ‘foam driven by sea’, involved two key people; Mac McGeady who built the hull & her owner Les Ravenhall, a builder who spent his summer holidays outfitting her. Ravenhall was assisted by his two brothers Ron & Wilf. His three daughters – Diane Hopson aged 11 at the time & her elder sister aged 13 & the ‘baby’ aged 3 were all involved as well. In the summer of 1948 New Zealand was in the middle of a Polio epidemic, so school was out for an extended period, giving the daughters a lot of free time to help out.
It’s said that McGeady based the hull on a Chris Craft design that Ravenhall saw in an American magazine in 1948 (refer clippings below).
Diane recalls the hull arriving & being placed on the front lawn, neighbors in those days must have been a lot more accommodating than they are today as Ravenhall worked night & day outfitting her. Diane recalls that the engine was already installed when the hull arrived. The work must have been undertaken at a cracking pace as the hull arrived in early December 1948 & she was launched at Okahu Bay on Anniversary weekend 1949. Diane says she leaked like a sieve & they had to work the bilge pump the whole way to Islington Bay on the maiden voyage. The building process & this first trip set the scene for a lifetime love of the sea & the boat for the entire family.
A few years after launching (c.1954/55) Ravenhall decided to rebuild the deck house & add a flying bridge. This gave Ravenhall direct door access to the engine room under the flying bridge rather than having to pull up the floorboards of the main cabin. At this time he replaced the original Lees Marine petrol engine with a Perkins diesel.
The Ravenhall family used to spend every weekend aboard, from Labour Weekend to Easter, and all summer holidays. In the winter she was hauled up into the family boat shed in Ngapipi road for maintenance. The boat shed had been in the Ravenhall family for years – originally owned by Diane’s grandfather – Chas W Ravenhall who owned the launches Silver Spray and Ismay.
Hukarere was invited to take part as a patrol boat, when the Gothic came into Auckland Harbour, for the Royal visit. Diane recalls being anchored out in the Rangitoto Channel for about 8 hours in a rough sea, a day she & the family did not forget. For many years Hukarere was designated the NZ Herald press boat for the Auckland Regatta (refer photos with ‘Press’ burgee flying). In this role she was often involved in rescuing the little racing yachts when the wind was just too much for them.
As a result of changing family circumstances the descision was made to sell the boat in 1960 & buy a beach house. Hukarere had a new owner at Waiheke Island where she was moored for a number of years.
As always interested in what became of her post 1960 & where she is today.
Design Inspiration
30-06-2015. An update from Ian Rawnsley (great son-in-law of Chas Ravenhall)
Last week, my wife (youngest daughter of Les Ravenhall) and I went down to the boat sheds on Ngapipi Road to check which shed used to house Hukarere and, thanks to Glenn Burnnand, we were able to establish, as believed, that it was shed 15.
The last time that we saw Hukarere was in March 2000 when, by sheer chance, on a visit to Waiheke Island, we saw her in Matiatia Bay and was owned by a bus driver.
I understand that it has been sold several times since then.
11-11-2015 Photos Added Below
The photos above show the arrival of Hukarere at the Ravenhall family home in Mission Bay. Seen are the 3 Ravenhall sisters (Diane, Barbara & Briar) & a mix of uncles and neighbours on hand to supervise & admire. Photos ex Ravenhall family via Ken Ricketts.
LYNMAR The above photos were taken recently while Lynmar was hauled out for some maintenance at Geoff Bagnall’s yard at Milford. ww knows nothing about her so any input would be great. New Photos Below (ex Brian Worthington via Ken Ricketts) ww loves the sedan top 🙂
NOHOMOANA (Rasputin)
photo & details ex Russell Ward
As Russell says – no prizes for guessing whose stable this woody came from, pretty obvious its a Sam Ford.
When Nohomoana was in the ownership of Capt. John Watson (c.1967) who was a great friend of Russell’s father, they cruised together for many seasons in their launch Naiad. Prior to Noho, John had Wanderer the 30 foot old woody. Russell’s Dad had Ngakiwa at that stage.
Russell was told that Nohomoana means “She floats on the water”. Engine was a 6 cylinder Ford Lees Marine conversion.
Russell would like to know where she went and whether the name was changed. He has spoken to Bill Belton about whether his boat Moana was her.
Noho spent a lot of her time filtering the waters of Half Moon Bay through her planking and a lot if time was spent pumping the bilge.
Harold Kidd Update
This one has always puzzled me.
First, the maori name. “E noho ra” is a common way of saying goodbye, by a person leaving, to a person staying behind. The verb “noho” means “remaining”, “being in a place”, so I guess “nohomoana” could mean exactly what Russell says, “floating on the sea”, in a nicely poetical way.
As NOHOMOANA, she first pops up in 1952 owned by W.S. Wagstaff. In 1953/4 to 1962 at least she was owned by J.R. Butcher. Her engine was a Graymarine (unspecified). Again her build date is stated to be “1941” which is implausible.
J.R. Watson owned her in 1973. Webb & Taylor owned her in 1983 when they (allegedly) sold the rights to the name NOHOMOANA to Gary Barnett of VALHALLA and renamed her RASPUTIN.
As to her origins, there were a couple of Sam Ford standard express cruisers being built at the outbreak of war in 1939 which “disappear” and I think she’s one of those, LADY NGAIRE, for example, which he built for Shelley B. Atkinson and the boat being built alongside Atkinson’s launch as a replacement for Vern McGeady’s burnt out LADY PAT.
MOANA was on Lake Taupo in the 50’s. I don’t know how she fits into this conundrum but I’m sure she does.
Someone out there will have the answers.
30-07-2015 – photos of Rasputin at Westpark Marina ex John Wicks
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