GUNNER A Bayswater marina boats dropped me a note asking what I knew about the ex workboat – Gunner that was berth near him at Bayswater. I answer was – nothing, so I popped down and took the above photos.Very distinctive looking small ship so one of the Work Boat chat group should be able to enlighten us.
Input & photo below from Cameron Pollard – she was built by Lane’s in Picton
KAHU SINKS AFTER COLLISION WITH TRAWLER
Boat builder Greg Lees sent in the sad photo above of the launch Kahu semi submerged after being T-boned by a fishing trawler. I’m a little hazy on the location, but I understand it was near “Cooks Rock’ in/near the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound at the tip of the South Island. I’m told everyone was taken off both vessels and the trawler taken under tow – BUT Kahu was left to fend for her self. In the above photo she had been ‘afloat’ for 2 days and was about to be taken under tow, with the hope of beaching her. The prognosis isn’t good so woodys, fingers crossed she can be saved. Link here to a WW story on Tahu https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/01/21/kahu-a-peek-down-below/
Update – Interesting spin on things – not sure what the actual situation is
She sank in Cook Strait on Saturday the 17th of April in the AM in a strong southerly north of the brothers. The Westpac rescue helicopter located the 3 crew and the yacht Chatham Whisper was able to recover the 3 from the water then transferred them to a coastguard boat out of picton near Cape Koamaru. The boat was completely submerged but was able to be recovered but had been crashed into by a fishing boat while it was under the surface. https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/124906808/boat-found-drifting-towards-cook-strait-power-cables-raised-from-sea-sits-in-lower-hutt-marina
Photos below ex Ross Giblin at STUFF – see above link for stroy re the recovery. Alan H
Today’s launch photo comes to us via Peter Smith’s fb and shows the launch Irini on Lake Tarawera.
Back in August 2013 Harold Kidd commented in a post that Irini was built in 1904 by Bailey & Lowe for the Government Tourist Department. She was built at the same time as her sister ship – Patiti, both launches were railed to Rotorua in mid July and taken to the Rotorua lakes by bullock wagons. The exact locations are a little cloudy as the boats may have swapped lakes at some stage e.g Irini was intended for Lake Rotomahana but is tagged as being on Lake Tarawera in the photo.
Marcus Petraska sent in the above photos that he snapped on Easter Monday, in Opunga Cove in the Bay of Islands. Tamaroa was built / launched in 1953 by Collings & Bell, she last appeared on WW back in September 2020, where thanks to Eric Stevens, a previous owner (1994>2010) we got to have a peek down below and read a brilliant history lesson on her. Link below. https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/09/21/tamaroa/
Mason Bay – would have to one of the saltiest woodys afloat. Built by Curnow & Wilson c.1956/57 – and this time thanks to Gary Underwood you can read her history at the link below to a September 2015 WW story. Gary owned her then, not sure if he still does? https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/09/22/mason-bay/
Input from Brian Kidson – The builders of Mason Bay were Curnow and Wilton, not Wilson, of Nelson. George Curnow and Maurie Wilton were boat builders with ER Lane of Picton until moving to Nelson in the mid ’30s to start out on their own. They stayed in business till their last fire in 1966 when Nalder and Biddle carried on their boat building and repair work. Mason Bay was launched on the 11 April 1956 as the San Giuseppe for Mr T Lamacchia of Island Bay, Wellington. That was from the workshop fore-mans notebook at the time of building.
Sometimes I crop / trim photos down, but today’s photos are as taken – the water and light is just so BOI’s 🙂
MARORO Back in November 2020 I spotted Brian Thomas’s launch – Maroro, tied up at the marina in Thames, top photo. Over Easter Angus and Charlie Rogers came across Maroro cruising in Te Kouma Harbour. Nice to see her underway. A very salty ship, love the deck-chair on the stern – perfect spot to take in the scenery.
Manaia has made several appearance on WW, link below the backgrounds her early days . She was designed by Alex Collings and built in 1965 by Percy Vos. Now thanks to a nudge from Alan Sexton and tme – we get to see the results of some of the recent work on her. She is looking very smart for an ex Harbour Board Pilot boat 🙂
Currently offered for sale but you’ll need a 25m marina. Contact waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Very early start yesterday – left the marina in the dark, no issues with that but it was a 3.60m high tide so the harbour was full of junk / driftwood. Just off North Head there was a loud clunk, followed by multiple clunks – had collided with a 12m+ very bendy Pohutukawa branch, thankfully it was dispatched without having a relationship with the propeller. The reason for the early departure was a quick trip to The Slipway Milford for a trip to the beauty parlour – 2 hour turnaround – water blast the bottom, fix a few scrapes and dents – Raindance was starting to look tad like a work-boat 🙂 Amazing what you can achieve with the right tools, product and a heat gun 🙂 thanks Jason Prew.
Along side Raindance on the #2 railway slip (there is 3) was Eileen Patricia, also getting some TLC, heads up – never ask EP’s owner to ice a cake for you…… 😉
As I was heading out of the creek, I had to wait while the very smart ex workboat – Te Hauraki came into the marina, on route to The Slipway Milford for some work to her decks. She always looks the part – her shape and paint scheme work perfectly.
The Minerva Talking with woody – John Wright the other day and he mentioned that he spotted an old framed photo in the dump bin at the Te Atatu Boat Club, a quick bit of bin diving reduced the photo, which John sent me a copy of and asked for more intel on the vessel – The Minerva, the photo is captioned – ?.N. Jones Family 1986.The rear of the family has a lot of detail, but sadly very hard to read – it says she was built by Chas Bailey, most of the other detail is just too hard to read. Well jackpot – Minerva featured extensively on WW back in March 2015 and we uncovered a lot about her provenance.Snapshot – built in 1910 as a Auckland harbour ferry, she had a very shallow draft for negotiating creeks and estuaries. Her original power was steam via a coal fired boiler, that fuelled two 14hp George Fraser & Son engines. Around 1922 she moved over to the Kaipara Harbour and worked there until the late 1940’s. Around this time she was converted to diesel power and remained a work boat until c.1945. Around then she came back over to the east coast and was rallied and rolled into 1964 when she dropped out of site. There was a reported sighting of her back in 2015 under a cover in Kerikeri. Read / see more here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/03/04/the-minerva/ Does anyone know her current status / condition?
Photo below dated July 2019 ex google + link to TVNZ story on the restoration project. Both ex K Ricketts
Sad Woody Day Across The Ditch Received a note from one of our Australian WW followers – Andrew Christie given me the heads up on the recent demise of – Nering, the 42’8” Percy Tripcony (Breakfast Creek Brisbane Australia) carvel hull cruiser built in 1950 – that went ashore on Double Island Point south of Fraser Island.
She was a very similar boat to the South Passage also from the same builder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2aFp8lLK24 She was of note in that she had a passage connecting the forecastle cabin to the trunk cabin under the bridge deck on the starboard side a layout used in a few Moreton Bay bridge deck cruisers of her period.
Nering had fallen on hard times recently and had sold twice in the past few years at rock bottom unloved wooden boat prices. Reports are she was on her way from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales to Maryborough for a restoration. Double Island Point is a stopping point for boats heading north across the Wide Bay bar.
Social media chat reports that Nering was beached as she was taking on water and sinking. Her crew managed to safely get ashore and call the alarm. Always sad to see a woody come to an endlike this, but you have to question the decision to take her to sea, given her condition and again on-line chat says her bilge pump/s were worked overtime before she left the dock.
Following on from Sundays story on Matahorua the sailing cutter tied up at the Riwaka river / estuary , today we follow the camera of Tim and Pauline Evill as they explore the craft that call Riwaka their home ‘port’.
A fine collection of woodys, all appearing to be well loved – if you had the Riwaka agency for marine varnish , you wouldn’t remain in business for long 🙂
I was sent the above photo of Tiakina by Lindsay McMorran, they took the photo of her berth in the Viaduct, Auckland.Lindsay commented that she is an ex Wellington pilot boat, built c.1952 and her normal home port is Dunedin. Tiakina is visiting Auckland for the A-Cup regatta.
Anyone able to enlighten us on her background / past?
Input from John Bullivant – another photo below of Tiakina. John also commented that she may have been built in the UK.
Input and photos below from Cameron Pollard – She was built in the UK. After being disposed of by Wellington Harbour Board she did a stint as a tuna longliner.Refit to pleasure use was done at Jorgensen boat yard.
A couple of photos below – I took today at the Viaduct
Input from Paul Drake – TIAKINA (to take care of) designed by Alex Collings and built by M,W. Blackmore and Son in Bideford England, planked with 52mm makore and powered with two ERL 5/75 Crossleys, each 250hp. She departed Exmouth on October 1 1953 with a crew of eight and arrived Wellington February 12 1954. She required slipping at Colombo after weather damage crossing the Arabian Sea. Voyage distance was about 14,100 nm (26,000km). At 83 feet LOA and 80 tonnes, she was the largest pilot boat on the NZ coast. After just two years service she required major remedial work due to ‘green’ timber being used in her construction. This work took nearly two years and was done by Wellington Harbour Board’s shipwright staff. In 1982 she was extensively rebuilt and re configured by Jorgenson’s of Picton and continued in service. In 1992 she was retired and sold to Auckland owners for a bargain price. She was used for fishing etc before ending up in Dunedin where she fell on better times and is now clearly well loved and transformed into a luxury charter boat. As a retired Wellington pilot, it is heartwarming to see a boat I knew so well still giving good service after nearly 70 years.
18-03-2021 Input from Captain Charles Smith – Like Paul Drake’s fine comments above, I am similarly heartened to see that Tiakina is being well looked after and regularly used. I can add a little to the history. I commenced a 48 year piloting career on Wellington Harbour as skipper of Tiakina in 1972 before being promoted and I experienced many severe conditions and hard knocks whilst on board. Having experienced many other pilot vessels she was firmly my favourite. Tiakina suited the robust sea conditions at Wellington entrance. She was built to last although the constant knocks alongside ships at sea eventually took their toll with framing, particularly on the shoulders. Assembling construction timbers took time. Timbers used included 52mm thick makore hull sheathing, heart pohutukawa branch was used on the stem and stern crooks and the keel was one length of heart tallowwood or ironbark. Being severely tested in daily service it took a team of shipwrights to keep her in service. Heart kauri was used in many places. The nineteen week voyage from the UK via Suez, and north Australia (30 September 1953 to 12 February 1954) was made without the benefit of radar, AIS, PPUs, gyro compass or ECDIS – just skill and a magnetic compass by the eight crew. The contract made by the Wellington Harbour Board was for a price of £35,000 with £5,000 allowed for the delivery voyage. The Harbour Board sought quotations from builders in NZ and Australia before settling on M W Blackmore in Bideford UK. Radar was fitted on arrival in Wellington at a cost of £1,590. Tiakina was constructed to operate in open water conditions off the port entrance after pilotage was deemed to be compulsory from 1 October 1952 (after a collision between two large ships in the entrance channel in May 1950). With port managers at the time having lived through WW2, Tiakina was also designed to be a cruising examination vessel in times of hostility, hence her generous accommodation.
YESTERDAYS MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ WINNER – Albert Birnie, Onehunga. The correct answer was – Cyrena, built in 1923 by Dick Lang for Peter Smith
