Ana Maree

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As launched

ANA MAREE

photo & details ex Ken Ricketts

Built by Oliver & Gilpin in 1965 for Sir William Stephenson for his lakeside property at Lake Rotoiti.

She was built for the Queen to use, whilst she stayed at his property, for the Royal Visit of that time, according to Roy & Shona Markovina, the present owners.

They are unsure as to whether or not the Queen actually went on the boat, but are fairly confident she did so.

As one can see, she is a very classic & original Oliver & Gilpin, with the possible exception of the flying bridge, which may have been added later.

The boat was sold to a gentleman, unknown at this stage, who took her to Auckland, who sold her to a Mr & Mrs Graham & Margaret Radford, who had her for a number of years & kept her at the Sandspit. They eventually sold her to the present owners, who have had her for 21 years & she has been moored at Gulf harbour for all of that time.

She presently has a 6 cyl., 135 HP Ford Diesel, but originally had a Chrysler petrol engine, in her early days on the lake, according to info Ken has been given by Roy & Shona.

She is presently (Nov 2013) on the hardstand at Gulf Harbour in the process of a hull repaint.

Harold Kidd Update

I spoke to my cousin Ted Gilpin about this boat, as so many launches were built in the Oliver & Gilpin style and claim O&G provenance and she’s not on the list he prepared for me some years ago of true O&G launches. Ted does remember building her for Bill Stevenson but doesn’t remember her under that name and doesn’t think the Queen ever went on her.

PS I got a shade worried about Ted’s recall so rang his younger brother Jimmy to find that Ted is actually going into a home today, and has lost a lot of his memory. Jimmy clearly remembers the commission. They had built JOANNE for Bill Stevenson which impressed him greatly. He ordered a smaller version for his Lake Rotoiti property. Ted and Jimmy went to the Lake and measured up Stevenson’s boatshed and Ana Maree (he thought she was called ANNE MARIE) was built to fit it. She was launched in May 1965 with a 220hp V8 Chrysler Crown. Jimmy is sending me up a press cutting of her launching which I’ll post.

B/W Photo added ex Brian Worthington of Ana Maree / Anne Maree / Anna Marie (spelling?)

White Cloud

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WHITE CLOUD

A 1968 McGeady bridgedecker, the current owner knows little about her past other than she is believed to have been a charter vessel at one time.

Can anyone provide some more details?

Harold Kidd Update

According to APYMBA’s yacht and launch records WHITE CLOUD was built by Supreme Craft (McGeady) in 1966 for J.S. Menzies of Hill Road, Manurewa and was fitted with an 80hp Foden diesel. Her dimensions were 36’10” x 34′ x 12′ x 4’3″. Menzies still owned her in 1973.

26/01/2015 Photos below (ex Ken Rickett) show White Cloud leaving the Supreme Craft shed/yard.

Caprice

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CAPRICE (another one, there are a few out there)

34ft Classic Launch – Kauri-plank, built by Lanes Totara North. 60-70 years old. For sale on trademe asking $30,000 – not a bad price to a classic that certainly looks like she is a Lane.

Has been in the family 35yrs, genuine reason for selling, well maintained, an oldie but a goodie. Sleeps 4, 60Hp Fordson Diesel, colour sounder, chart plotter, AM/FM radio, VHF radio, 12v fridge, dual battery system, portaloo toilet, life jackets, 2 burner gas cooker, plus lots more extras.

Type Caprice in the WW search box & to see more photos

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=661455150

Harold Kidd Update

For a start, she wouldn’t have been built at Totara North. All T.M. Lane & Sons’ launch production was relocated at King’s Drive, Mechanics Bay, Auckland in 1905, even for launches used at the Totara North mill like MAPU. I would lay bets that she was built in 1916 by the Grandison brothers as a clone of the Lanes launch REGINA.

Updated photo 28/01/2014 sent by Roger Guthrie who saw her & meet the owner in Mongonui.

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)

Maiebe

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Maiebe

MAIEBE

photo & details ex Harold Kidd

The ex-Mary M, ex-Regina, built by Lanes in December 1912 as a flushdecker which had a “bridgedeck”, tramtop and dodger put on in the latter part of her life. She went ashore and broke up in the violent storm of early February 1936 when owned by Bert Prosser.

Meander

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MEANDER

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photo & details ex Harold Kidd

A classic Sam Ford bridge decker of the mid-30s, Meander, seen here about to be craned into the Waitemata on 31st August 1937. She was built by Sam Ford at his Ellerslie property for Syd Guest of Whangarei, 32’ x 9’6” x 3′ and powered by a Graymarine 6-91 de luxe.

She was a stock Ford 32 footer of his “streamlined class” and had been on display at the Auckland Winter Show.

She took part in NAPS out of the Bay of Islands and Whangaroa in 1942-4, skippered by Syd Guest with deputy skipper Murdoch McDonald and crewmen Dick Hutchings, Kelvin Lacy, Jack Cumming, Chris Rogers, Bert Young and Will McNaughton. She had patrol number Z33.

Meander spent most of the intervening years in the North but was bought by Aucklander David Vaasen in 2005.

Photo update (2x colour) from Mark McLaughlin (Mapuna) of Meander underway near Westhaven in 2007.

Ken Rickitts commented that she was an example of Sam Ford at his best, particularly the varnished tuck, very rare in those days, Ford only ever did 1 or 2 that Ken knows of. Fantastic to see her again after over 50 years, a beautful boat – Ken R

Harold Kidd Update

Ken is right about MEANDER, she’s a gem.

Sam Ford is sometimes sneered at for lack of build-quality and poor materials. In fact, you got what you were prepared to pay for and his top-quality boats were top-quality boats. Nobody, however, sneers at his designs which were “state of the art” by their contemporary international standards. Most have lasted, as-built, over the many years since their construction and are still stunning examples of motor-launch design.

I have been researching Sam intensely for some months and am continually impressed by the man.

CYA Launch Cruise to Riverhead Hotel

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Maggie
Raft up – Maria,Jeunesse,AlleregryMonterey
Raindance,Rorqual,Lucille
A visitor from Milford Creek
St Ayles Skiff
St Ayles skiff
At anchor
Pirate, Endeavour
Raft up
Lucille, Roequal,Raindance
Pirate, Summer Wine
Maria
Silens
Jeunesse
Mahanui,Castaway
Rorqual
Monterey
Sierra
Endeavour

CYA Launch Cruise to Riverhead Hotel

Sunday 10 November saw 18 classic launches cruise to the historic Riverhead Hotel on the banks of the upper Waitemata Harbour. This bi-annual event is one of the most popular on the Classic Yacht Associations calendar & saw around 150 people making the trip (some by car) to enjoy a BBQ lunch in the hotels garden bar.

My were joined on-route by the just completed & launched St. Ayles skiff, built for CYA member Mike Mahoney (Tawera) at the NZ Traditional Boat Building School. Details here http://nzcoastalrowing.org

Maro

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MARO

photos from Helen & Richard Andrew’s family collection (grand daughter & her husband of Henry Allen -Tiromoana) ex Ken Rickitts.

Ken is fairly certain this is Maro, his thinking is based on the fact that he saw Maro regularly in the mid to later 1940’s & given that the owner of Maro (Les Webber) was close friends of Henry & Alma Allen whose photo collection this photo came from. The NAPS number (329) should provide the answer.

Ken is uncertain who built her but suggests she is 34 – 36 ft long, circa 8 ft 6 inches beam, possibly built by either – Baileys, Dick Lang or even the Lanes (not Garth). Or perhaps none of those.

Les Webber, owner & founder of the Plummer Hat Company in Auckland, owned her in the mid to later 40s until 1950, & possibly for a period before that. He replaced her with the Amakura eventually, in 1950 -1955.

When Ken knew her she had a Graymarine 6 cyl approx 90h.p. petrol engine. She was used very regularly & had not been “fiddled with” as far as I could see, at that time.

Help with a positive ID & any details on her would be appreciated.

Remember – if for what ever reason you can’t reply in the comments section or if you have photos of a vessel – you can email me on the link below – 

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Harold Kidd Update

It’s MARO all right, but certainly was “fiddled with” and Ken is “Wildly” astray.

1. She was built as the 33 footer THISTLE by M. Forsyth of Bayswater in late 1909, early 1910 

2. Harold Wiles and Percy Howden bought her in the winter of 1922.

3. Wiles seems then to have taken over ownership.

4. Wiles re-engined her with a 40hp Stearns, for which he was NZ agent.

5. Wiles handed her to Colin Wild to rebuild in November 1925, replacing her “compromise stern” with a tuck stern and lengthening her by 3′ 6″ in the process.

6. After the rebuild Wiles renamed her LADY MARGARET.

7. When Wiles commissioned Wild to build LADY MARGARET II in 1928, he sold this launch, LADY MARGARET I, to Dr. C.J. Long.

8. When LADY MARGARET II was launched, Long changed her name to MARO, took out the high-powered Stearns, which went into MOLLIE (later ALCESTIS/RAIONA) and put in a Universal 4 cylinder.

9. She remained in Long’s ownership until just before WW2 when L R H Webber bought her and was her skipper with NAPS in 1942-3 as Z25.

and so on…………………