PIONEER II
photos ex Terry
This ones a mystery to me, I was sent the two photos with a note saying the smaller one is of the launching from Collings and Bell at St Marys Bay.
Who can tells us more about Pioneer II ?
Pioneer II
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Winsome II
WINSOME II
details / words from Harold Kidd. photos ex Ken Ricketts ex Brian Worthington
Winsome II was built by Lane Motor Boat Co in 1924 for David Teed, the Mayor of Newmarket (after whom Teed Street is named) with a 100hp Stearns engine and named Maude T (about the 4th of that name). Teed died in 1925, prematurely, and his estate sold her to Captain Emanuel who renamed her Latex (a very long story there). Emanuel sold her to W S Pratt, the manager of the Northern Roller Mills in 1931 and she was bought for the RNZAF in 1941 for service at Tauranga, a secondary seaplane base. She was sold by the Crown in 1946 to Andrew Donovan who removed the, by now clapped out, Stearns and replaced it with a brand new 1946 Chrysler 8 cylinder marine engine, renaming her Winsome after his daughter but added the “II” when he realised that the Pickmeres still had Winsome in Whangarei.
Andrew kept her for many years. He died in 1989. She went to Whangarei where she was kept in the Town Basin. Then she was sold to Havelock where I saw her recently, still in splendid order.
When Andrew registered her on Lloyds Yacht Register in 1964 he put down that her designer was W. Hand, the famous American yacht and powerboat designer of the twenties and thirties. No mention had ever been made of that before but there is likely to be more than a germ of truth in the claim in that US yachting mags like Rudder and Motorboat and Yachting were avidly followed by New Zealanders, providing more relevant models for our waters than, say, the English mags. Certainly, it is likely that the design for Maude T/Latex/Winsome II was lifted from a Hand design published in such a US mag and that US “look” was faithfully reproduced.
Despite what the Register of British Ships says, Pratt did not own her through to 1941. She was owned in Tauranga by D Cambie from about 1935 onwards and used for gamefishing which is why she was taken over by the RNZAF for Tauranga work in 1941 as a local launch in good nick, I imagine.
Note – Winsome II has been featured before on ww but with poor photos – the above photos warranted an updated post. Alan H
12/03/2015– a recent photo below of her in Picton marina wearing her WW II livery.
22-10-2015 Update
The photo below from the Northern Advocate, Monday, February 12, 1973 was sent in by Judy Donovan, Andrew Donovan’s daughter, it shows Winsome II starting in the first Bay of Islands international billfish tournament. The start was a ‘Grand Prix’ style e.g. a drag race 🙂
27-01-2021 photo below added
Aristos
ARISTOS
details ex Ken Rickets & Alan H. photos ex KR
Aristos was launched in October 1985 & designed by Des Townson, in fact the only launch Townson designed that was built. I understand there was a small launch designed but not built. Aristos was built by Noel May, is 36 feet long, 3 skins of kauri in the hull, with solid mahogany coamings & glassed ply decks .
She is powered by twin 60 HP Nissan diesels & cruises at 8 knots.
She sleeps 6 & was built for Ian & Vivienne Stembridge . She remained in the Stembridge family from new until early 2013. Being kept the whole time at Whitianga.
Aristos has recently been sold to Ray Haydon & Sarah Elleray of Auckland.
Note: Noel May also built in 1993 a very similar launch Summer Wine (view her by entering her name in the ww search box)
Marie – A call for help – Sailing Sunday
Marie L2 – Lipton Cup Jan 1933
Marie L2 – Lipton Cup Jan 1934
MARIE – A Call for help
photos from PapersPast – NZ Herald
There are very few yachts that so clearly reflect the essence of our kiwi yachting roots, that evoke the memory of days gone by & that rekindle the desire to relive ones past as does the ‘Mullety’ . There iconic yachts are unique in that even today there is a strong active fleet & they are still competitively sailed. The Lipton Cup is one of the events on the sailing calendar & in 2012 will celebrates its centenary.
The purpose of todays post is to plant a seed in the minds of our classic boating community, that hopefully will result in this rather famous mullet boat being on the start line of the 100th Lipton Cup.
How will this happen? by someone – an individual, a group of enthusiasts & or a corporate sponsor stepping up to the mark & taking custodianship of Marie. Lets be very clear, we are looking for a genuine restorer no dreamers, no gunners i.e. “I was gunner do it but now its in the shed”.
I’ll let Harold Kidd tell her story
“Errol Fensom has done a great deal to foster and preserve old mullet boats. He still owns the 24 footer MARERE (I1) but, some years ago rescued the 22 footer MARIE (L2) and preserved her for restoration.
Errol reckons it’s time to pass MARIE on to an energetic restorer or syndicate of restorers, so she’s available for free to a good home.
Her history is impeccable.
Roy Lidgard built her in 1918 on his return from WW1. He was working at Lane Motor Boat Co at the time and built her in their yard in Mechanics Bay. She was an instant success, eventually winning the Lipton Cup 5 times, 1923-5 and 1930-1. Her owners over the years have included Roy, Fred and Vic Lidgard, Ashton and Berridge Spencer, Milton Wood, Gordon Kells, L.R. Matthews and R.H. Wood, A.L. Barker and several others more recently, all sounding like a Who’s Who of Auckland yachting.
She’s had a strake or two added and the centreboard removed, although the case remains. A lead deadwood has been added of considerable weight and that goes with the yacht, almost enough to recast and provide the 1 ton of internal ballast required by the Restrictions, usually a major outlay. There is no rig.
This is a great opportunity to restore an authentic and important 22ft mullet boat in time for the centennial Lipton Cup race in 2021 which the Ponsonby Cruising Club will most certainly promote widely.
Contact Harold Kidd or Alan Houghton for more information.”
Harold@hklaw.co.nz or waitematawoodys@gmail.com
As always ww is interested in more photos & details so if you have any – send them in.
Update & photo from Dennis Rule
I believe I owned this boat in the early 1970’s, approx. 1973 – 1978, although she was then named Vagabond. I was told by her previous owner that she was Marie and the racing history he supplied supported that theory. She was certainly relatively narrow in the beam which I believe was a point of difference in Marie. She had been built up, cabinised, and her rig shortened by then and had a Ford 100E petrol engine with no reverse. The centrecase leaked like a sieve (recall that 1,000 pumps at a pint a stroke was the daily routine when sailing her). I shudder to think that I took my wife and two infants all over the Gulf in her in that condition with floorboards often floating. When I sold her to buy a Southerly 23 I thought she was a gonner, so it is fantastic to know she may have another chance.. I kept her on a mooring at Bucklands Beach (the pics are at BBYC hardstand).
Incidentally my brother Arnold Rule and his son Alan have owned the 26′ mulletty Bluestreak since 1973. I believe there is a story there.
I would love to know if the boat I owned is the Marie.
Mollie
MOLLIE
Mollie is currently for sale on trademe & Harold Kidd commented that she is most likely the Mollie built by Lane Motor Boat Co. in December 1911 for P R Colebrook which he replaced with the second Mollie (now Raiona) in 1919.
She is 39′ long & carvel planked . Currently powered by a a 120hp Perkins that pushes her along at 8 to 9 knots.
Anyone able to add more to her history?
Acquiesce
Acquiesce
photos & details ex Tim Brown
The existing ww post on Acquiesce prompted Tim to send me the above photos (reproduced from slides) of Acquiesce taken while owned by Tim’s uncles, Tinny and Bunty Brown while they owned her for a few years during the 1960s (Tim thinks).
Some look like they are on a cruise (Barrier?) and spent some time hanging out with the scow Owhiti… The question of the day, whats the other launch alongside Owhiti?
To view more on Acquiesce click this link https://waitematawoodys.com/?s=Acquiesce&submit=Search
More photos just in from Tim. That bow is something else 🙂
The launch along side the starboard side of the Owhiti was if Tim recalls, owned and built by either the manager or foreman of Shipbuilders. It certainly has a distinctively flared bow….
CYA Classic Journal #99
CYA Classic Journal #99
For the ww readers that non CYA & RNZYS members, I have attached the latest edition of the CYA Classic Journal. To view a better quality version click the below link below. Enjoy 🙂
Tiri – Radio Hauraki Quiz
Tiri – Radio Hauraki Quiz
photo ex Chris Leech & the limited edition book ‘Radio Hauraki – The Pirate Years (1966-1970)’ by John Monks.
OK who can ID the classic launch at the rear of the photo?
The Minerva
THE MINERVA
A great read by Russell Ward
In my youth –well I’m still young ain’t I? – I used to admire a lovely old counter-sterned boat that used to moor in the Wade River. It is now not on the cruising agenda, but we quite often used to call in as part of a cruise. Sometimes if it was a really lumpy trip across to Tiri, we’d sneak down the Whangaparaoa Peninsula and sneak our way up to Stillwater to lick our wounds. There was a thriving motor camp and store there and at night the silence was profound. Just nature all around. The tide was very strong and every day, about sunset, an old Labrador dog used to ease himself into the river and swim across to the Stillwater side. He would end up miles down river because of the tide and we never saw his return swim. Maybe he had a girlfriend or food source over on the other side. The term “dogged determination” sprang to mind.
But I digress. Moored just under the headland that is upstream of the WBC moorings was a fine old ship. She had the rather gracious name of “The Minerva”.
(From Steamers Down the Fith by the late Bill Laxon).
Built as an Auckland harbour ferry in 1910, she was relatively shallow draft to cope with the creeks and estuaries. She was fitted with a coal fired scotch boiler and two 14 nhp compound engines made by George Fraser and Sons -a pioneer Auckland engineering company. This firm ran from 1862 -1955 and was a major builder of the heavy machinery a developing country needed especially when there was gold to be found in them there hills. For those interested, there is an early 1900 reference to the company at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH19000926.2.72.8. The firm transmogrified into Tappenden Motors in the ‘50s and the asset stripping raids occasioned by Rogernomics sealed the company’s fate. It was under the spaghetti junction down from the University’s Owen Glenn Building.
The Minerva’s time on the Auckland Harbour came to an end in 1922 and she was taken round to the Kaipara (where her shallow draft was an asset) by Charles West to be converted to a tug for towing timber to the McLeod’s mills. As an aside, John McLeod was the first settler in Helensville. A sawmiller, he built his wife Helen a stately villa. And you always wondered why it as called Helensville.
The good ship steamed until the late 1940s. With an abundance of timber scraps, it had been good economics to keep her in steam. Now when I used to see The Minerva in the 1950>60s in the Waiti River, she had been diseasiled but I subsequently found out that her boiler went to a market gardener down south and one of her engines was left abandoned on the Helensville wharf up to the mid 1950s. As Bill Durham said in Steamboats and Modern Steam Launches “Come and get ‘em”. Alas the boiler has yet to be found and everyone seems to have forgotten her engine. Anyone who knows where it is can happily contact me and all will be treated in confidence.
The Minerva’s time as a workboat came to an end in 1945 when she was converted to the pleasure boat I knew. Lewis McLeod retired and took her over to the milder east coast where I first met her. She went seriously downhill when she was sold for commercial fishing and even worse things in 1964. The Minerva presently lies under cover at Kerikeri somewhat north of here and a group is fighting to restore her. As an aside Russell would love to know how she got the name The Minerva.
(as an aside, the writer Peter Gill, of the great story above in the ‘Bay Chronicle’ was a previous owner of my old girl Raindance, named Lady Gay (Gai?) in Peter’s day)
St. Clair
St Clair
photos & details from owner John Newton
The 34′ sedan St Clair was built for Lionel Barney by Brin Wilson in 1956 and is kauri carvel construction. ww readers may recall that it was used as a ferry for St Clair lodge at Vivian Bay on Kawau Island . Piers Barney who runs Norma Jean charters has recollections of collecting passengers from Sandspit when he was 10 years old, Piers had to stand on a soap box to see out of the wheel house.
She was surveyed for 39 passengers to Kawau limits and amazingly carried up to 20 x 44 gallon drums of diesel for generators and bags of wheat and meal for all the chooks and muscovy ducks at the lodge, so a really solid little launch.
Piers father Lionel used to enjoy racing it in fun races against other boats off Kawau Island Yacht Club where she did very well reportedly getting up to 13 knts with a 100hp Ford engine. She hasn’t seen that sort of speed since, perhaps because of the new heavier sedan cabin.
St Clair was bought by John and Helen Hager and refitted to a comfortable sedan in 2006 by Robertsons Boats. Current owners John & Natasha Newton bought her in 2011.
