Category Archives: Non Waitemata

A Brief history of the Kawau ferry transport 1946 -1990

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KAWAU ISLE NORTH HARBOUR KAWAU ISLAND 1970s
MAIRIE 1954 MANSION HOUSE FERRY Builder Roy Lidgard
KAWAU ISLE MANSION HOUSE BAY WHARF 1962
KAWAU ISLE SANDSPIT 19.9.90
Ken Ricketts sculling towards Kororo
FRED LADD MANSION HOUSE BAY 1950’s
Kawau Isle berthed at Maritime Museum
Kawau Isle 60th Anniversary Skippers
Kawau Isle 60th Anniversary at Bon Accord
Kawau Isle
Kawau Isle at Riverhead Hotel

A Brief history of the Kawau ferry transport 1946 -1990

photos & details ex Ken Ricketts

MAIRIE

Purpose built in the early 1950’s by Roy Lidgard, in his boatbuilding shed in Smelting House Bay Kawau Island, for Alan Horsfall owner of the Mansion House, in Mansion House Bay, Kawau, for the carriage of passengers & freight, to & from the Mansion House, to the Sandspit at Warkworth, which was the embarkation point, for the vast majority of the guests, & virtually all freight, food, & most importantly, for boaties, grog, during Mansion House’s time as a hotel /guest house, which was up until about September 1967, at which time it was bought by the Government of the day & turned in to a historic place, under the Historic Places Trust.

A few lucky commuters travelled in style, by amphibious aircraft from the 1950’s onwards, — a Grumman Widgeon, piloted by a the famous, Freddie Ladd,  a delightful, colourful, extroverted, & very learned, & tremendously skilled, pilot,  see pic on the beach of Mansion House Bay, c.1954, (this photo along with the one of Mairie was scanned by Ken from 8 mm movie footage shot from his families launch, Juliana, c.1953-55, thence the poor quality). Ladd usually had Christmas dinner on Juliana, & later Gay Dawn, an entertained the Ricketts family with his seemingly endless supply, of real life anecdotes.

Mairie was approx 42 feet long & powered by a 4 cyl Kelvin diesel & served the Island & Mansion House for many years. In her later years such was the demand for her services that Lidgards built (1952) another boat for Mr. Horsfall, called Kawau Isle, slightly bigger & powered by a 6LW Gardner diesel, which in later years, took over most of the passenger load & left Mairie to do the donkey work, with the freight side of the logistics. The 6LW I understand, has fairly recently been replaced by a newer 6LX Gardner in Kawau Isle.

KAWAU ISLE

Kawau Isle is a traditional kauri timber motor vessel built in 1952 by Roy Lidgard at Smelt House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour. She is 45 feet in length, powered with a 6LW Gardner diesel engine and cruises at 7.5 knots.

For around 30 years the Kawau Isle operated a ferry service between Sandspit and Kawau Island. More recently she worked from Half Moon Bay as a charter boat and then Whangarei as a school ferry. She currently plys her trade ferrying day trippers to & from the Riverhead Hotel, on the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour.

In the bow on photo with the ‘Riverhead Ferry’ logo, the men on the bow are all past and preasent skippers of Kawau Isle. This photo was taken at Kawau Island, Bon Accord Harbour November 2012 during a cruise to celebrate the 60th anniversary to the launching of the ferry.

Note : Mairie & Kawau Isle replaced the ‘Nancibel’ – (may have been Nancibelle), which was powered with a 4 cyl 4-53 GM Detroit & ‘Kororo’ which was powered with a P6 or 6-354 6 cyl Perkins. Both of these boats were painted bottle green & given there appearance probably built in the later part, of the early 1900s. You can see the Maritana stern on, behind Kawau Isle in the 1962 pic at Mansion House Bay wharf. The back end of Kororo can be seen in the photo of a young Ken Ricketts sculling the dinghy.

A question ex Don Macleod

Refer below article / photos that appeared in DIVE Magazine Vol 11 No3, of 1972.

Is this the same launch, Nancibel, that serviced Kawau Island. (click photo to enlarge)

Nancibel _ DIVE Magazine

Update from Don 02/12:

The divers got into real trouble that weekend at the 20 fathom reef, Mayor Island, 3 cases of the bends, one of which died (Henry Liason).

There was another boat that hit a Mayor Island rock that weekend. It was the Edward G which flooded its engine room at the time

that Henry Liason was surfacing from a very deep dive.

Tauranga divers went out and salvaged the Gardner engine from the Nancibel the week after she sank.

 

Severn

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SEVERN

SEVERN

photo from  Paul Drake, details ex Harold Kidd

Severn (actually in the Register of British Ships and RNZYS records as The Severn), shown in the above photo at Three Mile Bay, Taupo where she resides,  was built by Logan Bros for Colonel G. Arnold Ward of Tauranga and launched in March 1910 when she steamed down to Tauranga. The event was reported in the Bay of Plenty Times of 18/3/1910. She originally had an 8hp (rated) 2 cylinder Union engine, a make much favoured by the Logans because of its simplicity and reliability. Ward sold her to H J Day of Tauranga in 1922. Day sold her to B. Sladden of Tauranga in 1925; Sladden had her until 1947 when a half share was bought by P D Simmonds.

Harold has pics of her at Tauranga in the 30s when Charlie Millett worked on her.

In 1964 she was still in Tauranga owned by D W Reid and fitted with a 4 cylinder Graymarine.

Mike Leonard owned her at Whangamata in 1994 when I had extensive correspondence with him. I photographed her on Taupo in 2008.

This launch is super-easy to track as she was a British Registered Ship until relatively recently plus most of the owners were Squadron members and reported any changes of ownership and engine.

Mansion House Bay c.1950

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Mansion House Bay c.1950

photos from Helen & Richard Andrew’s family collection (grand daughter & her husband of Henry Allen -Tiromoana) ex Ken Rickitts.

The above postcard of Mansion House Bay Kawau Island, was written by Alma Allen (Tiromoana) in the early 1950’s & sent to Esme & Joe Coggan — their daughter & son in law &/or Helen their grand daughter as a little girl, now Helen Andrew.

Ken has attempted to ID some of the boats &  can identify Mananui (P.R.Colebrook’s days), Valsan (Arnold Baldwin era) & very importantly to Ken the Lady Claire (in the Stan Headland era), Headland had her cabin sides beautifully varnished, which disappeared later. Ken believes the photo was taken circa 1953-55.

Note Valsan anchored off the end of the wharf & with the stern tied to wharf — A.D.B. used to take family away for about 10 days at Christmas, then swap crews, for a “men’s” crew, & cruise. He never tied to the wharf when the family were there & never left the wharf, when they weren’t there, so this is without doubt, taken in the second half of a Christmas period. — He, & Len Peckham, (Lady Sandra) took unplanned turns, at sharing the wharf in this manner in this era.

04–09-2024 INPUT ex JEANETTE RHODES – These wonderful stories of Mansion House’s bygone era have promoted me to add my bit.  I became a baby of Mansion House in 1941. Mother was a housemaid there. We lived in the staff quarters right behind MH. The Hooks cottages were there and their only daughter was my playmate. As I got older and smarter l collected the beer bottles thrown overboard by the yachties, receiving one penny for each one from the shop. When the Americans came in on their ships, they’d take me to the tuck shop and buy me everything a kid could dream of.  I also joined the staff with their ukeleles on the wharf to welcome / farewell the large weekend ferries arriving from Auckland with 100’s of passengers. I knew all the songs.  Long streamers were held by passengers and staff on both sides as the ferries pulled out.  New Year Balls were unimaginable with everyone dressing up and drinking, eating, dancing like there was no tomorrow. Midnight, the less drunk ones would climb up the huge Kauri pillars in the lounge and kiss the ceiling. Tradition it was !
The snake pit at night was out of bounds to me but I used to spy on the adults drinking and doing silly dumb things with each other.  I also knew very well, the Vivian Bay Barneys and their boat St. Claire. Great memories of a bygone era.

Alwyn

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Maroro, Alwyn,Waharoa
SEVERN

ALWYN

Currently for sale on trademe. Listed as a 1927 Logan (however Harold Kidd believes she was launched in April 1910). Fully reconditioned BMC Diesel, 4 berth. Two Burner gas cooker & BBQ. Chemical toilet. Fish Finder GPS .VHF Radio. Gas Detector 120 litres diesel .120 litres water..Steady sail. Solar charging system.15k spent 4 yrs ago having cabin & decks covered in marine ply & fibre glassed by professional boat builder.

Asking $35,000, – an affordable entry into classic boating.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=661146172

 

GREAT NEWS ON THIS LOGAN FROM HAROLD – 24/11/13, read the comments section for details on the uncovering of this Logan.

Hey, this has been an extremely valuable exercise in that a “new” Logan launch has been found. If this launch IS ALWYN, then she WAS built by Arch Logan after the Logan Bros yard closed down. I was always aware that there was a launch under construction or at least ordered at the time they closed down. 

So I had a good trawl today on Papers Past using a variety of key words and eventually hit the jackpot. In the NZ Herald of 10th February 1912 there is an entry saying that J. Horton Swales (who I knew had built all his own many yachts and launches until then) had had a handsome new 32ft x 7ft10in x 2ft launch built by Mr. Arch Logan of Stanley Bay. SO, Arch built THREE launches after the closure, ALWYN, DOREEN/HAKU/COQUETTE and NGAIO. 

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa and I’m delighted to have erred because we now have a new Logan. I wish I had known that when Robin and I wrote the Logan book. Mind you, I’ve found a lot more Logan boats since the book went to press, but none as significant as this one, I think.

Therefore the owner does have an ARCH LOGAN launch built in late 1911 (not 1927, but that’s relatively unimportant in the scheme of things). 

That must add a heap to its intrinsic value!

SS Romp

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SS Romp

SS ROMP

photo ex classicboatnz

Now I know nothing about this vessel but I’m sure Russell Ward (Mr Steam), our waitematawoody of the month, will chip in with some more info.

Over to you Russell 🙂

Harold Kidd Update

Russell, where art thou?

I don’t want to steal his thunder but she’s too nice a little thing to be left in the lurch.

Percy Ginders, her long-term Ngunguru owner, thinks she was built by Robert Logan Sr around 1885. That’s certainly possible. She was a 25ft launch used on the Tauranga Harbour between 1910 and 1918 by Soljak & Rosenfeldt for bringing in flax gathered by maori workers in the various estuaries. She appears in Whangarei in 1927 as an under 5hp motor launch. Percy secured her around 1969 and did a lovely job of restoring her shapely hull and installing her steam plant which I understand is an A.C. Mumford unit.

Percy ran her on tourist trips up and down the Ngunguru River for many years (and may still do so).

Now, come on Russell, bring us up to date?

‘The’ Rothesay’s

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ROTHESAY

photos & details from Paul Drake 

Paul Drake has suppled the above photos of the ‘old’ & the ‘new’ Rothesay. The ‘new’ photos are as Paul knew her as a child in Taupo when she was owned by Don McLeod. Paul thinks she was about 40 feet. She is fairly distinctive forward and to his eyes the wheelhouse is perfection. The dodger sides were canvas in those days and she had a mast. Don McLead owned two Rothesays. The first was a  32 foot Bailey and Lowe, ex “Government” boat which Don bought as a near wreck when he returned from WW2 and ran commercially before upgrading to the larger Rothesay. Paul thinks the ‘new’ has survived as Tamure. Enter Tamure in the ww search box to see more on her & possible links to Rothesay.

The ‘old’ Rothesay was last seen c.1960 on the hard up the Tamaki River looking very sad & unlikely to be still going.

Photo A – New Rothesay, Western Bay, Lake Tauto, probably late 1950’s > early 1960’s

Photo B – ‘Old’ Rothesay with a full load sporting additions to her cabin and a sponson

Photo C – ‘Old’ Rothesay with Don McLeod at the helm, operating as a commercial boat at Taupo, post WW2

Photo D – ‘Old’ Rothesay on the hard at Taupo in the 1940’s, probably whilst still the ‘Government Boat’& most likely not named Rothesay. Probably a Bailey & Lowe, 32 feet

Harold Kidd Update

H.D. Heather had 5 ROTHESAYS. That doesn’t of course mean that there may have been other launches named ROTHESAY. His attachment to the name was that it was the name of his mansion in Mt. Eden Road Auckland.

ROTHESAY (1) was built by Bailey & Lowe for W.J. Jaggs as MAVIS in 1909. She had a Holliday engine. Heather bought MAVIS in July 1911 and renamed her ROTHESAY. I have no dimensions and no image. Heather sold her to E.D. Holt of Cape Runaway in September 1912.

ROTHESAY (2) was built for Heather by Bailey &  Lowe in December 1912 as ROTHESAY MINOR. She was 32’/32’/7’8″/2’6″ and had a Sterling 18-25hp Model B. There is a launching pic of her in the MM”s Bailey & Lowe collection which I’ll have to go and see. No trace after this.

ROTHESAY (3) was built by Bailey & Lowe at Sulphur Beach for Heather and launched in early December 1914. Heather used her as a dayboat for fishing in the inner Gulf. She was 26’/26’/’6’6″/1’6″ and had a 6-10hp Sterling Kid engine. Image is attached. This was a typical 1914 launch with a raised foredeck and flush-decked but with a steering position in a neat house amidships, ultra-modern at the time. My eldest son Simon rescued her from the boneyard in front of Dave Jackson’s yard at Sulphur Beach about 1993 when she rejoiced in the name AFRICAN QUEEN. We stored her at a friend’s farm but she was destroyed by a Transpower bulldozer along with another treasure that I don’t want to think about.

ROTHESAY (4) was built by Lanes in 1915 but didn’t do much during WW1. She was a bigger boat at 35′ oa and had a 6 cylinder Wisconsin engine. Heather sold her top David Teed in March 1921. Teed renamed her MAUD T but sold her to W A Wilkinson in July 1923 and he renamed her SPEEDWELL. She’s pictured at p.93 of Deacon and my book “Vintage NZ Launches” and is now in Auckland as ROSEMARY M.

ROTHESAY (5) was built for Heather by Bailey & Lowe in early 1922. He died in April after only one trip in her. She was a big launch at 40’/40’/9’6″ and had a Sterling Model FH 4 cylinder engine. She was put up for sale immediately and disappears, obviously after a name change.

I have a pic somewhere………..

To summarise in relation to the 2 Taupo ROTHESAYS; assuming they were ex-Heather ROTHESAYS

1. The “old” ROTHESAY is an early configuration with a dee-front cabin-top typical of 1910, so is possibly MAVIS/ROTHESAY(1). I will look at ROTHESAY (2)/ ROTHESAY MINOR’s pic at the MM but I think she’s likely to be a flushdecker.

2. The “new” ROTHESAY on Taupo, now Stephen Ford’s TAMURE can’t be ROTHESAY (3) (brutally dead) nor ROTHESAY (4) and seems too small for ROTHESAY (5), so she could be ROTHESAY (2). The pic at MM will settle that. I’ll try and get there this week.

13-07-2018 Update from Paul Drake

After reading on WW that (old) Rothesay was now located on the Awanui River, Paul did a google search & boom – here she is, crying out for some time on the end of a water blaster.
P1160558 (2)

Marguerite

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Marguerite 

Possibly built by Collings & Bell c.1919/23. Hull is d/d kauri, 44′, sleeps 9, all the mod cons fitted & overall including the traditional interior not too messed around with, so could be returned to her finest without too much effort.

BUT BUT BUT – why do people list a boat for sale & do not include the boats name in the listing 😦

Can anyone put a name to her?

details here http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/motorboats/auction-659271279.htm

Harold Kidd Update

She’s MARGUERITE, built by Collings &  Bell at St. Mary’s Bay for H.S. Harrison of Stanley Bay and launched in late January 1920. She originally had a 120-140 hp Van Blerck 6 cylinder, a top US-built engine of the time for which C&B were agents. The Van Blerck is not to be confused with the JVB as fitted originally to NGAIO although from the same designer, Joseph van Blerck. Harrison sold her to C.G. McIndoe of Remuera in October 1923. He renamed her her LADY UNA and she kept that name for many years. McIndoe passed her on to H L G McIndoe (son?) in 1945 when she was re-engined with a 142hp Chrysler. In 1950 the Chrysler was replaced with a 200hp Scripps.

Robin Elliott photographed her in Paremata in 2000, looking pretty good. She later came north, to Whitianga, it seems.

Lovely boat.

Rangiora

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RANGIORA

photos & details ex Harold Kidd

Rangiora was built in 1964 at McGeady’s yard in Summer Street, Ponsonby, to a McGeady design by McGeady with considerable input by her first owner Gordon Collie of Paton Road, Howick.

She was a breakthrough McGeady design with the substantial beam of 15ft on an overall length of 52ft. Her original engines were twin Fords.

Tony Vazey bought her in the 1980s and replaced the Fords with twin GM 4/51 supercharged diesels. He kept her at Westhaven, always absolutely immaculate as you can see from these images.

In late 2001 Tony sold her to Nick Tansey of Wellington. These days she can readily be seen from the shore on her marina berth in Wellington, a very beautiful hull with totally aesthetically pleasing topsides.