During the week Owen Aspden sent in the above phot of the 1904 schooner – ENDEAVOUR.
Owen commented that she was once a familiar sight around the New Zealand coast. Bought by the Aspden Shipping Co. in the 1930s then sold to the NZ Navy for service on the NZ coast in 1943 and bought back again by the Aspden Shipping Co. after the end of the war.
In April 1940 enroute from Auckland to Portland at night she encountered a small yacht upside down 3 miles off Tiritiri Island. The yacht was hoisted onboard and later by phone from Portland to Auckland it was established that three young Naval Reservists had been on the yacht and had drowned.
Again in June 1940 at the time of the Niagara sinking she was leaving Portland for Auckland with a load of cement when the call came through that the Niagara had sunk off Whangarei Heads. She proceeded to the site but there was only oil to be seen on the surface.
In in her later life it was used on Stewart Island to service salmon farms and from there sailed across the Pacific as a floating circus, unconfirmed. Do we know what became of ENDEAVOUR.
When your morning dog walk looks like this
You do this 🙂
We are enjoying a stunning late summer in Auckland, made even better by the arrival of hot cross buns from Beabaes Bakery in Westmere, voted best in Auckland. But you better get there early Dave Giddens (ALLERGY) lives down the road and is a ‘seasoned’ regular 🙂
INPUT ex DENIS O’CALLAHAN – The round bottom coastal trading vessels, like the ones built by Meikeljon at Omaha, were always called schooners, irrespective of the rig.
Last weekend I did three things – looked at the long range weather forecast, looked in Logbook to see how many days I’d used the boat since xmas and decided to head away for a week.
Solo trip – needed to clear the head and say hello to the boat.
Did a lap of Waiheke Island, including a trip to Rotoroa Island. In the end it was 6 days, as I ran out of LPG and I’m not a happy camper without several cups of coffee and a hot dinner 🙂
As always there was some serious food involved – big ups to Man o War Vineyard , their midweek lunch was ✔️✔️.
Spotted a few woodys but the bottom end of the island was very quiet , which was perfect. The run-about is owned by Tobias Forsyth (also owns MV CALLISTO) and from memory is powered by a 350 Chev V8, if your are into zoom zoom and I am – 50 mph ……..
I haven’t been to Lake Rotoroa in probably 10+ years , this trip was very different – only person other tha myself was the ranger – slightly eerie, the cemetery particularly. But glad I visited – great set up and walks are easy.
A recent email from Rosemary Wakeman is what WW is all about – connecting the dots. I have reproduced the email below (slight edit)
“Doing a major tidy-up of old family photos – that I presume my kids will throw out upon my demise.
I have photos (and letters ) of ESME, a launch my late Uncle Ernie Sisson owned ( part owned ? ) in the 1930’s. She was moored in Tauranga ( on a swing mooring I guess) I presume he sold her before he went to war in late December 1940. I think he managed the grocery store Self Help in Tauranga. He was killed in 1943, navigator on a Lancaster Bomber shot down over Germany 08-11-1943.
Two thoughts .. was Esme still afloat? – and would any museum or collector like the photos and letters mentioning her? “
The name ESME has appeared numerous times on WW but todays launch at 22’ is too small for the others . Also keen to learn that engine was in her, based on the back of the post card – the claim of 12-13 knots is impressive.
So woodys can we help Rosemary out.
INPUT EX HAROLD KIDD
Esme was owned by A. Hunter in 1930 but she’s a lot older than that. My pick is about 1904/5 with that rakish bow and “torpedo stern”. Ernie Sisson owned her in October 1939 when he modified her cabin top. He did a very good job as you can see. I have a photo of her on Charlie Millett’s slip at the same time as the bottom photo above. Some of the old Tauranga hands should have more information on her?
Its only just March and we could be closing off this years competition to find the boat that most resembles a block of flats. The vessel above was sent in by an anonymous reader and has to be the winner, I can’t see it being bettered.
But in this PC world we will let you all decide – vote below.
The 2nd question today woodys is how far from the dock would you venture as a passenger? And to those that know the vessel – yes I know its not a woody – its a swimming pool eg concrete. On a serious note – its a liquidation sale – $1 reserve – cheapest man cave ever.
INPUT ex TONY SIMPSON – photo below of Kiwa around launching. Built in ’70s by the gentleman pictured, Dennis Twist. Built in his backyard. The whole superstructure was rebuilt 2003 for America Cup viewing.
AFTER WONDERING WHAT THIS WEEKENDS TALKS AND TOURS HOSTED BY THE AUCKLAND MARITIME MUSEUM AND THE TEAM BEHIND THE AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL WAS ACTUALLY ABOUT – I DISCOVER AN INSIGHTFUL OVERVIEW ON ONE OF THE WOODEN BOAT SITES I FOLLOW – this one – Southern Wooden Boat Sailing – is based in Australia – click the logo below to view the overview 😉
Earlier in the week WW was contacted by Patrick Fyers who sent in the above photo. Patrick commented that the boat was built by Wharepoa farmer / boatbuilder – Arthur John Innis. He built 3 kauri planked boats.sometime between 1917>1920.
In the photo we see her being drawn along Pollen St, Thames on skids by Clydesdale horse. The destination is the Curtis Wharf at Grahamstown.
The original photo was supplied by Dudley Troughton, Innis’s grandson..
Patrick obtained the photo from a friend whose great uncle built the launch (I assume thats A J Innis)
Note- the photo is vaguely familiar, may have appeared on WW before but I’m unable to find it)
YESTERDAYS QUIZ – No winner. The launches name is – ROYANA, she was designed and built by Woollcott in 1949. Powered by a Yanmar 3JH. Home is Stillwater, Auckland. People were all over the place re design / build – Shipbuilders, Hartley, Parris, Jackson, Frank Pelin and more 🙂
Stories like todays make me very happy – its no surprise to regular readers that I’m not a fan of fly-bridges on classic wooden craft, particularly ones that have been added post the original launch date.
Last year when the Wooden Boat Bureau sold the 1967 Owen Wooley designed and built 32’ launch – AWARIKI there was a discussion with the new owners re the fly-bridge and I gave my standard line – “take it off now, otherwise you will get used to it and it will stay” 🙂
Fast forward to Monday night when I get an email asking about my thoughts on removing it. The launch was hauled out at the Slipway Milford and the crew there had been not so subtly suggesting to the owners to give the green light on removing it. The hardest working crew member at the yard – Maddie Malcom did some photo-shopping to a photo I took of AWARIKI in Chamberlain Bay (2nd one above) and the owners were sold 🙂
So flybridge gone, bow rail removed, coamings to be returned to vanish, new upholstery and some differed maintenance righted and she will be a ’new’ boat.
The photos above show Jason Prew in his happy place – top-chop is his middle name.
More to come as work continues ……. 🙂
INPUT ex KERRY LILLEY – previous owner and also worked on the build of the launch whilst doing his apprenticeship at Owen Wooley’s yard. The photos below were given to Kerry by previous owners.. She originally had a mast (mast step still there). Kerry commented ‘Nothing stays the same I built and installed that flybridge 30 plus years ago’
PRETTY SAFE TO ASSUME TODAYS WOODY WONT BE ON THE START LINE AT THIS WEEKS CLASSIC SAILING REGATTA…….
One of the WW crew was recently doing a dock-side mooch at Westhaven marina and spotted the K-Class yacht HELEN looking very sad and neglected. Check out the size of the oysters. Other than health issues there is no excuse for a craft like HELEN to be in this condition – Bob Stewart would not be impressed.
A Busy Time On The Wooden Boating Event Calendar – five events both local and overseas – circle the calendar.
4. Auckland Wooden Boat Festival – Mar 1>2 – a 2 day speaker series featuring topics such as the building of waka, navigation, women at sea, history, environmental and sustainability topics, and boat building. Venue – Auckland Maritime Museum. https://www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/events/auckland-wooden-boat-festival
5. Auckland on The Water Boat Show – March 6th > 9th – Venue is Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.
BUILDING THE CLASSIC LAUNCH – GAY MERILYN (Tee Gee > Stokin) – Part Two
Following on from yesterdays story on the launch – GAY MERILYN, today thanks to more input from Gwenyth Frear we get an insight into the building of the launch – we hand over to Gwenyth to tell the story – Enjoy (photo ex 35mm slides)
“We had always had boats of one sort or another, and owned the launch LORNA DOONE at this time, but that’s another story! Keith decided he would build another one more to his liking….
Keith thought he would like to build launch about eleven and half metres long, so when we went to Auckland in late 1969, we went to one of the large bookshops to see if we could find some plans. But as we were starting to look at design books, there didn’t seem to be anything he wanted. Someone overheard us discussing plans and the pros and cons of the matter, and tapped Keith on the shoulder. “You should get in touch with John Lidgard he’s the man who can help you”, he said. So, no sooner said than done!
We found out where he was and went to see him in his workshop and came home with a set of plans, a bandsaw, an abundance of enthusiasm, and not much else. In the course of our looking around, we made the acquaintance of one of the workmen working for John. He said he came up to Cooper’s Beach each year for his holidays, and that he would look us up and see how Keith was getting on. No doubt he was fascinated by the idea of a raw farmer tackling a tradesman’s job with no know-how, and no equipment!!
Keith mentioned to the manager of Northland Motors in Kaitaia, that he was thinking of building a boat, and the next thing we got notice that there was a motor sitting in the shop waiting for us!! Now we were well committed to the job!! So Keith and Barry (my brother) got down on the floor at home and started drawing out the plans from the instructions Keith had been given.
The Big Building Project
The first thing to do was to order the timber from Lane and Sons’ timber mill at Totara North. Keith was able to get timber from the last of the kauri trees that were milled there before the restrictions came in that no more kauri was to be cut down.
We were milking a sizeable herd of cows at this time (two people in a walk through cowshed) , and there was all the usual farm work to be done as usual, so we knew it would be a slow job.
The question was where to build it? That was no problem….there was the round barn next to the cowshed. So it was cleaned out and the work began. The first job was to put the building frames in place, starting at the bow of the boat, and placed in order the full length of the boat. Once this was done, then the stringers went on, all screwed and glued into place. The four skins of the kauri went on, one by one, placed diagonally a different way each time. This was the most tedious job of the lot. For a whole twelve months, nothing was done after the first skin went on, until an older man took pity on him and came to give a hand now and then. After that was done, then the fibre-glassing was done….the first coat of resin was put on over fibre-glass cloth, sanded down, and then another coat of resin before the final coat of white fibre-glass paint.
In May of 1973, the hull was ready to be turned over. The keel was in place with the hole for the rudder bar already done. The day for turning it over came, and was a matter of great curiosity for the neighbours. It proved to be a very long job even with some of their help. An endless chain was used for this, and it went up inch by inch, finally making it after eight or nine long hours.
The dairy cows were sold that year, with beef cattle replacing them. So Keith was able to work full time on the boat after that. The motor went in (Ford 110 hp) and the work continued uninterrupted until it was completed by September 1974.
Then getting her out of the shed was the big question on everyone’s mind! How could it possibly be done? The gap between the barn and the cowshed wasn’t as long as the boat, so what was Keith going to do about it? But it was done slowly with the tractor, and the help of grease on large pieces of plywood, and the trailer being jacked around bit by bit on that.
She waited on the trailer until early the next morning, when she was towed down the road to the ramp at Totara North before the traffic began. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the tide to come in to launch her. By this time there were quite a few onlookers, all asking the same question….will she float straight?
The tractor backed into the water, and she slid into the tide with a waiting fishing boat ready to take her to her mooring. She floated perfectly, right on the water line, as she was meant to.
At Christmas time that year, when the man from Auckland came up, we gave him and his family a trip down the Whangaroa Harbour. He looked it all over from a tradesman’s point of view, and said, ‘Well, if anyone had told me that a farmer with no boat building experience, and no tools apart from a band-saw and hammer could produce something like this, I would never have believed them’
On the big silver bird today heading back to Auckland. Today we have a glimpse at a rather fine speed boat – MISS JAMAR that caught both my self and Angus Rogers eye.
Today woodys we have a gallery of photos of the 1895 Bailey Brothers built yacht – TE UIRA. She was one of the first NZ designed and built racing craft to be exported to Australia (Victoria, Melbourne).
TE UIRA has had a colorful past and been very close to a Beehive restoration several times. Luckily she found the right owner who commissioned a full restoration that was only completed late last year by Cygnet Wooden Boats.
Won’t bore you with the full details but lost my IPhone yesterday, spent hours visiting lost & found + police etc but there are some honest people out there and later in the day I recovered it. So relived.
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