Category Archives: Working Boats

Cristina

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Cristina

CRISTINA

When you are out & about over the Xmas/NY period keep & eye out for Cristina an Athol Burns design, built by Frank Dellabarca of Island Bay. Currently owned by Martyn Barlow (Nelson) & doing an extended cruise (mostly solo) of the NZ coastline. As of today she is in the BOI & will be heading back down to Kawau & Great Barrier over the next week or so.

Cristina started life as a commercial fishing boat until the late 1990’s when converted to current configuration in Picton and went back in the water in 2000. Powered by a Isuzu 6BD1 120hp – Length: 11m / Beam: 3.3m / Draft: 1m
Martyn has owned her for 6 years & keeps her in Nelson but had her in Mapua for the first couple of years
She has been to the Chathams and tuna fished off the West Coast.
A very pretty, salty looking craft.

Martyn has done a youtube clip of Cristina underway

John Dory

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John Dory

JOHN DORY

photo & details ex Baden Pascoe

How it used to be done in the old days – want to bet the trailer was not registered 🙂

This is a classic kiwi shot taken c.1998 after Baden & his father had done a big refit on John Dory. The tractor is a early 1940’s CASE. John Dory was launched down this same road in 1970, the only difference is that it took 3 hours with greased ways & a local tow truck to get her to a spot where she would float for the first time.
(Baden looking very ‘trim’ in his triathlon days)

 

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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.

 

Alice

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Alice

ALICE

photo ex classic launch nz

Seen here on her trials at Auckland : The new launch, Alice, which was built for the use of the Inspector of Fisheries in the Bay of Islands.

Interested in any more info – designer, builder, year etc + what happened to her.

Harold Kidd Update

Looking at her you can tell

1. she was built as a commercial vessel because of her dee front cabin; no fancy raised foredeck for workboats at this point

2. from the background buildings she was built in Auckland

3. she was built post 1920 because of the dodger

4. she looks like a Chas Bailey Jr workboat and the name ALICE was a favourite of his for yachts and launches he built.

In fact she WAS built by Chas Bailey Jr. and launched on 20th September 1921 for the Inspector of northern fisheries, Flynn. She was 36ft oa and had an Auckland-built 30hp 3 cylinder Twigg engine.

I don’t know what happened to her afterwards, but what a cracker!

Update #2

I had another look at my database. She was superseded in fisheries work by COLLEEN but continued to be used by the Government in the Bay of Islands for servicing Cape Brett lighthouse etc until August 1942 when she came ashore at Russell in an an extremely heavy easterly gale and may have been a total loss then. Not sure of that….wartime news censorship and all that.

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)

Mystery Launch 23/10

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photos ex Ron W & Harold Kid

Harold thinks its a Collings & Bell work boat but we are all scratching our heads to ID her any further. When you consider there were 1000’s of these ‘little’ launches built, we might be scratching for a while 🙂

Harold has sent in a better pic of the launch which he took off  the Collings & Bell original glass plate. You can see a square-rigger in the background.

Harold Kidd Update

I have always thought that this is probably C. & B. of which there were 3, this one being launched in November 1912. I have a much better copy of this image with more background.The other two were 20 footers of the same general configuration but the 1912 version was a 32 footer. Maybe it’s a 20 footer? The sidelight boxes look pretty large.  I’m pretty certain it’s a Chas Collings negative from his quarter-plate camera but I’ve always thought it was a later image as it is associated in my Collings collection with images from the 1930s. I’ll check with other pics.

Update #2

She’s not any of the 3 C. & B.’s but very similar. The last of the C. & B.s had the same little dodger (a very early example of a dodger installed ab initio), the same bollard forward, but her foredeck was raised. Tentatively, I think this is OZONE, built for Fred Woolley in June 1912, probably off the same moulds as the 32ft C. & B. This OZONE is NOT to be confused with the Percy McIntosh-built OZONE which did a lot of game-fishing in the Bay of Islands and is now rumoured to be at Mahurangi. This OZONE (if it is her) was a total wreck at Tawharanui Point, Takatu in January 1930.

Woody Weekend

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If you are at a loose end this weekend I would encourage you to attend the Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition.

The Tino Rawa Trust is again hosting the Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition at Karanga Plaza (next to the Viaduct Events Centre) this Friday 4th to Sunday 6th October, 10am – 4pm daily. The event is run alongside the 2013 Auckland Heritage Festival ‘Maritime Heritage On The Waterfront (Sept 28 – Oct 13) promotion.

There is an amazing collection of classic yachts & launches, classic dinghies, small yachts & picnic boats on display. Plus some wonderful Robert Brooke line drawings of our classic fleet & models on display. This years event focuses on the acclaimed designers Jack Brooke & Bob Stewart & will include a selection of their vessels. I have included above a few ‘quick snaps’ I took today as the vessels were starting to arrive.

Remember to check out the CYA’s permanent on-the-water display at the CYA Marina, Heritage Landing, Silo Park at the Wynyard Quarter.

Cheers Alan

Sierra – ‘Horse Float’

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Sierra - 'Horse Float'

Sierra – ‘Horse Float’

photo ex Dave Jackson

The above photo of “Sierra” was taken in the Hokianga – no date sorry.
Now when I showed the photo to Harold Kidd, he was good, he correctly ID’ed the location as Hokianga & the Omapere Wharf and the launch most likely ex Fell’s Boatyard, established in 1905 at Kohukohu by Joseph Fell. But Harolds not that good, he did not know the names of the horses 🙂

Sierra is now in the CYA fleet, colour photo below. Any details on her past would be appreciated.

Scan 131820005

08-01-2016 photo at Kawau Island ex Tom Kane

Sierra Kawau Jan2016

13-01-2016 Input from John Mortimer

In the late 1950’s l lived on a remote and marginal sheep and cattle farm on the Waima River in the Hokianga.
In a direct line, Rawene was only 3 miles away,by river it was 5 miles and by road 30.
The river was the obvious highway and the Sierra, owned and skippered by Fred Young was our main means of communication.
Several contracts relied on the Sierra. The school contract took children to and from Moehau school morning and afternoon. Most farmers  on the river had poor or no road communication and the cream output from farms carrying anything from 20 to 120 cows went  down to Rawene in the Sierra to Rawene for transshipment by pontoon to the dairy factory at Motukaraka. Empty cans from the previous day we loaded on board and delivered to farm jetties on the up river journey next day.
The mail was delivered three times week and the  Herald on the afternoon return trip. If there was no one on the jetty , Fred would send the rolled newspaper to the deck with a dexterous flick of the wrist.
The launch also carried morning passengers to Rawene to do their shopping. They returned when she went back to Moehau in the afternoon at 1.30.
A conversation overheard in the open cockpit in the stern on a sunny afternoon:
First Lady – I read  the Truth for the recipes.
Second lady – I read it for the horoscopes
Third lady – I read it for the scandal

A burst of laughter from all three.

When the dairy factory closed and the Moehau school roll fell her days in the Hokianga were numbered. I understand that she spent her last summer at Opononi  taking visitors around the harbour and then sailed out over the bar, round the turbulent seas at North Cape and down to the Waitemata where she was used as work boat during the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Her name was always mentioned in conjunction with the name of her builders, Fells of Motukaraka. I understand that there were three sister ships, the Sierra, the Nevada and the Santa Fe.
Sounds more like an old song to me.
She approaches her hundredth year with dignity and grace of an old timer who may well live for ever.

 

Building a sawn frame boat

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Building a sawn frame boat

This mini movie of a stunning timber boat being built in Scotland, it is a fishing boat but the craftsmanship & finish is amazing to see & a real insight into the trade. Sawn frame boats were built in New Zealand as most of our early shipwrights were from England, Ireland or Scotland. Most of the ships built by the likes of Lane & Brown, Henry & George Nicoll and many more use this method. In small boat building it died out by about the late 1930’s. For example W.G. Lowe built most of their 40-50 fishing boats with sawn frame, Kia Ora, Moata. Percy Vos only ever built two, Waipawa and Waimana. Plank on steam bent frames (ribs) and three skin suited this size boat better and they were far more economical to build like this. The boat in the video was built in 1963 right at the tail end of the wooden boat era.

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