Category Archives: Working Boats

Dolly – AK1901

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DOLLY AK1901

A bit of a sober story today, probably brought on by its Election Day in NZ and probably the biggest one in my (voting) life time. Most of the time WW is politics free, so I’ll bite my tongue today.

The photo above of the launch – Dolly comes to us from a fb post, via Ken Ricketts. It shows the early 1900’s 33’ launch – Dolly that was lost at sea in early December 1927. On board were owner/skipper Joseph Henery Maslam and crew Thomas Hook.

I have done some research and the story goes like this –

Maslam left his home town of Whangrei on November 14 with the intention of buying a small fishing launch and returning to Whangarei, the launched purchased was Dolly.

About November 18  he engaged Hook to work for him as a fisherman, on the same day Maslam had the Customs Dept. inspect the launch and confirm the Marine Dept. fishing license number AK1901 was painted on the side of Dolly. The departed Auckland on November 22, heading to Little Barrier to fish, and the intention was to take the catch to Whangarei. The departure date was confirmed in a telegraph that Hook sent this wife on November 22.

On December 3 a fisherman named Matthew Janovich, owner of a launch named  Busy Bee, who sited Dolly that night in Nelson Bay, Kawau Island. At the time in a conversation with one of the men he was told Dolly had been fishing for Hapuka. When Busy Bee left the bay the next morning, Dolly was still there. Janovich is on record stating that there was a strong southerly gale for a couple of days after he had seen Dolly, the weather compelled Janovich to return to Auckland.

Dolly was not sighted again and a hearing in Auckland Magistrates Court found that Dolly was lost at sea on or about December 5.

(Thanks to Sun Newspaper – December 8 1927 and the Northern Advocate = 31 May 1828 for intel)

Question of the day – do we know who designed / built Dolly and when she was launch – she was 33’ x 9’ x 3’ – and possibly powered by twin engines 

Tamahine

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TAMAHINE

Bay of Islands woody – Dean Wright sent in the above photos of Tamahine, photos are ‘photos-of-photos’ so a tad hazy. The original images are held by Reb Aplin, the current owner of – Pearl Diver. Tamahine used for game fishing out of Waihau Bay on NZ’s east coast.

Can we learn more about Tamahine – under all that gear there is a very traditional looking hull.

ANNIE – Maybe One For The Lakes

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ANNIE – Maybe One For The Lakes

Todays 26’ double-ender, woody named Annie probably started life as a lifeboat. Carved into her stem is ’S1’ which may have indicated starboard side #1 lifeboat.

The story goes that she was owned by the Connells Bay Store, Waiheke Island and used as a supply vessel c.1950’s > 1960’s, a large front hatch supports this. No engine but was previously powered by a For 60hp inboard. The shaft and prop are still in place.

Hauled out at Mangawhai several years ago, her restoration may to a halt not far in – could be a nice lake boat project. (Tme heads up thanks to Ian McDonald)

Woodys Classic Launch & Motorbike Stillwater Picnic Trip Report

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Woodys Classic Launch & Motorbike Stillwater Picnic Trip Report

Saturday was one of those days when what weather conditions you had depended on where in Auckland you where. A few woodys made the call early and stayed home, the glass half full woodys were rewarded with a good day. The only H2O arrived around 3pm as we were getting ready to head back down the river. Once out of the river mouth it was ‘thank god’ for GPS, sea mist and a light drizzle covered the coastline.

As always its great to catch up after winter and see who’s been doing what to their craft.

Big thanks to the skippers and helpers that assisted with the wharf docking, made harder by a bin-liner (my new name for Bayliner plastic launches) that was claiming squatters rights at the end of the wharf. Good skipper handling skills and many lines saw everyone alongside without any grazes or bruises.

Lastly special thanks to Mark and Sue Edmonds for co-ordinating the location and organising the classic motorbikes that joined us on the lawn. Everyone was very smitten with the 3 wheeler –  I understand a Morgan with a Matchless V twin transplant. 

MILFORD CRUISING CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY 1923 > 2023

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MILFORD CRUISING CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY 1923 > 2023

Rather a big weekend in and around the Milford Creek – the Milford Cruising Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend. I would have lost money on that – for some reason I wasn’t aware there had been woodys sliding in and out of the creek for that many years.

Yesterday I joined a group of past commodores, life members, patrons and quests for afternoon tea – so many familiar faces . Clubs need to do more of this, the collective age in the room would have been seriously high, and sadly the numbers are dropping.

Todays photos are to give you a snap shot of the amazing photo gallery that has been pulled together recording the clubs history – the club rooms are open Sat & Sunday from 10am > 4pm for anyone and everyone to visit and experience the exhibition.

Also today at 2pm there will be parade of vessels out of the marina , down the creek and along Milford Beach.

Clubroom address is 24 Craig Rd. Milford 

Quest

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QUEST 

Back in May 2022 WW ran a story on the relaunch of the 1959 Roger Carey built 33’ double-ender – Quest , link below. The story goes that she was Roger Carey’s private boat and when sold was converted to a work-boat and then later on returned to pleasure use fit out. Her current owners did an amazing job of refitting her after a long spell on the hard in Picton. 

The Relaunch of Quest

If her looks aren’t enough to weaken your knees, the engine room will – tucked away is a Gardner 5LW.

SUNDAYS QUIZ WINNER – ALISTAIR McRAE Correct Answer Was –

Moana + William C. Dalby To Be Scrapped

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MOANA

In the photos above we see the game launch – Moana under tow from the yacht Bounty, the photo is dated February 1965 and comes to us from the Tauranga Library collection via Dean Wright.

Moana is an unknown to WW so would love to learn more about her.

UPDATE – No Longer A Mystery – Ian McDonald has pointed out the previous WW stories on the launch – can not understand why the WW Search Box didn’t pick those up 🙂

Links below

WW May 2023  https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/05/14/mystery-launch-14-05-2023/ WW Oct 2016  https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/10/01/the-moana-mutiny/

UPDATE – Photo below of Moana ex Brian Worthington via Ken Ricketts

QUESTION OF THE DAY – does Auckland care about its waterfront heritage?

How can the below even be a consideration 

Woodys On Tour – UK

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Woodys On Tour – UK

While most Kiwis heading to the northern hemisphere had France on the radar, Murray Deeble was swanning around Britain feeding his other addiction in life – classic automobiles eg the Silverston Classic Festival and the Goodwood Revival. 

Luckily Murray took a few wrong turns and ended up in Windermere in Cumbria. Lake Windermere is found in the Lake District National Park and is Englands largest lake, more importantly it is home to ‘Windermere Jetty – an on-the-water museum of boats and steam launches built at a cost of 20 million pound.

Murrays photos above are just a snap shot – checkout the displays here

https://lakelandarts.org.uk/windermere-jetty-museum/

STILLWATER WOODYS WATERFRONT PICNIC – OCT 7TH – RSVP NOW waitematawoodys@gmail.com

NZ Airforce Maritime Craft

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NZ Airforce Maritime Craft

The owners of the very fine 36’ Colin Wild 1939 built launch – Rehia were recently going thru a family photo album and uncovered the photos above from one of their grandparents. The grandfather in the late 1940’s > early 1950’s was a mechanic based at the Hobsonville airbase servicing the fleet of maritime support craft.

In my eyes in the photos above there are 3 different craft but it has been suggested that the top 2 photos are the same boat. Also the size of the airforce insignia on the bow of the top craft looks very large , maybe not a NZ vessel?

Can we ID the craft.

INPUT EX John Bullivant – The top 2 photos are of US built 63ft Maiami class crash boats. The RNZAF had a few of these operating from Hobsonville and Laucala Bay in Fiji . The class was originally powered by 4 Kermath 500hp ‘Sea Raiders’ (linked nose to nose in pairs) but later were powered by twin 630 hp Hall Scott ‘ Defender engines as standard, – some with V drives. A number of variants were made. Top speed was around 36 knots (16 model 168s were built with twin Packard 1250hp for a speed of around 48 knots) Boats were used by Russia, UK, Australia, Sth Africa, NZ and the Dutch.

INPUT EX Mitchell Hutchings – the two photos below show the two vessels featured above. The first one is of the 63’ Rescue Launch 276 and the second of 313, both at RNZAF Hobsonville.

WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL

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R Tucker Thompson

WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL

Today I wanted give you a heads up about an upcoming woody event – the 2023 Whangarei Maritime Festival , October 14>15th, at the Town Basin.

The venue is already a very cool destination for anything maritime based, but over the weekend it will buzz with non stop activities – 30+ boats on display, free boat rides, food and entertainment, trade displays, talks and movies, arts and crafts market. Check out the Festival Sound programme below + the link to the festival website.

https://www.whangareimaritimefestival.co.nz

Check out a previous WW story on the venue https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/03/27/wooden-boats-whangarei-town-basin/

Saturday is a big day for NZ – hopefully the nation awakes up and heads off to a polling booth. Depending on the result I’ll be at the festival on Sunday, if the worst happens on Saturday night, probably best I’m not behind the wheel of a vehicle – I’ll be investigating setting up bryonbaywoodys 🙂

FESTIVAL SOUND PROGRAMME

Downloadable Event Booklet Below

updated-promo-bookletDownload

WHANGAREI FLASH BACK

The photo below has appeared many times on various social media sites, but this is the best reproduction I have seen – comes to us ex Dean Wright via the Tauranga Library collection.