MOVARIE 

story & photos ex Russell Ward

Bridgedecker “Movarie” was built for W Macpherson by W & G Lowe St. Marys Bay and launched in 1938. I was told that she was largely the work of Cyril Tercel (Lew’s brother) who was not long out of his time. The Motor Boat and Yachting 17 June 1938 article records that she was built as a “game fishing vessel and was very successful”. It seems that WW2 got in the way of Macpherson’s plans and HDK elicited that he apparently died in 1953 back in England.

We are not sure of the origin of her name –Macpherson’s house in the UK was called “Movarie”. I had always assumed the name was a contraction of the daughters’ names -as were many boats names– but not so. Doubtless Harold will find out in time.

Macpherson sold “Movarie” to Vic and Robbie Sanders not long after launching and they had the wheelhouse lowered and a dodger put aft. It gave her a purposeful, striking and handsome appearance, but IMHO she is not pretty. Her hull is gorgeous though.

“Movarie” was chartered to the navy and served on offshore patrol duties for the duration of the war. The second picture shows her in this role. .

After the war, the Sanders kept her until 1956 and later bought “Lady Crossley”. “Mpvarie” kept her original 40hp Russell Newberry engines until 1960 when they were replaced with Fords. One of them still survives albeit rather rusty. You can still buy them in the UK though very expensively. Lovely engines and easy to live with, popular with the barge people. Despite what you might expect, her shafts were inward turning –outward turning gives maneuverability, inward gives power. Anyway she would handle as a twin-screw boat but just more ponderously. Our RNZN minesweepers “Inverell”, “Kiama”, “Echuca” and “Stawell” had the same arrangement and were a handful too as many captains found.

We owned “Movarie” for five years from 1996 –you will recall that, in another Woodies entry, I blamed my buying a fizz boat on Andrew Johns and “Ruamano”. I was sad that the last surviving Sanders brother had died not long before. His son John said he would have been delighted to talk about her and gave me a lot of information and a few family photos.

Frustrated by her run down state and machinery, I took her out of the water for a couple of months early ’97. I replaced the flogged out Fords with newer ones and took the opportunity to replace the fuel tanks, the tops of which were rusted through. I put new steering gear in, attended to some interior woodwork and generally tidied her up. I also put her back to the original type masts.

She is a magnificent sea boat we enjoyed her company.

09-04-2016 – photo added – Movarie & unknown game fishing boat. Photo ex Hylton Edmonds via Ken R.