Mystery Launch 08-11-2017
Long overdue for a good b/w photo & a mystery launch story. The above photo is ex Lew Redwood’s fb page, where Len commented that it was taken in 1916 & that the launch has BJB on the bow.
Using my enlarging capabilities on my computer, I think it actually says BJ6 – if that helps anyone ID the vessel?
Input from Harold Kidd –
BJB was a 24 footer owned by Fred Brown of Ponsonby. My guess is that “B.J.B.” was his wife’s initials and that she had a previous name too. Haven’t had time to research that….Fred Brown is a hard name to track.
This image was taken at the Ponsonby Cruising Club’s Regatta of March 1916.
In July 1916 Brown sold her to C. Humphrey of the Hokianga and she was “railed up”. Odd that, because the railhead to the north was at Te Hana in 1916 and she might as well have been railed to Helensville. Surely she didn’t negotiate the Kaipara and the Hokianga bars. Both were pretty evil even then.
Any clues on what happened to her on the Hokianga apart from an obvious name-change?
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