Tag Archives: David Reid

Welly Woodys

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Mataroa

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Waiata

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Little Tasman

Welly Woodys

Rob Uivel has been promising me some photos of his recently re-furbished 36′, 1928 Joe Slattery launch Mataroa  for some time, well last weekend the Wellington weather gods smiled & delivered up a near perfect day for a classic woody launch cruise – in the photos above we see Mataroa joined by Waiata (32′, 1913 built by David Reid), both boats had a jaunt around the inner harbour, finally anchoring and rafting up in Oriental Bay. After a pleasant swim and lounge around while heading home they spotted Little Tasman coming out of Clyde Quay marina. Fantastic to have the 3 beautiful classic’s together. All 3 woodys have been featured extensively on ww & you can see / read more on them by using the ww search box.

REMEMBER: This Sundays CYA Classic Woody Launch Parade & Riverhead Hotel Cruise. Non CYA boats welcome. RSVP (boat name & approx. crew numbers) to Angus Rogers    rsvp email link  Scroll down 2 ww posts to see details 😉

Included also below are photos of Prima Donna, which Rob feels bears some resemblance to an old Auckland boat called All Black.

27-02-2017 photo below of All Black dated 1910 ex Maxwell Uivel

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Iawai (Tidesong)

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Iawai (Tidesong)

The above photos were sent to me by Andrew Pollard, owner of the 1913 Tom Le Huquet launch Aumoe.
Andrew received them from the grandson of Aumoe’s original owner, Mike Brookfield.

Can anyone ID the launch? (done)

Harold Kidd (+ Baden Pascoe) Update

She’s the 55 footer IAWAI, built for Judge H.G. Seth-Smith of Russell by James Reid’s brother David Reid at Customs St W in late 1911. She had a 40hp (rated) heavy duty 4 cylinder Buffalo engine. She was the largest pleasure launch in Auckland at the time. Seth-Smith donated her to the Government in 1915 for war work. The Government sold her to R.B.S. Hogwood in 1922 and then she went to Auckland metal and carrying contractor A.W. Bryant and used for commercial work, heavily modified from this configuration, but looking very smart. I’ll post a pic later. Baden and I struggled over this pic for some time until Baden hit the spot.
In 1933 she was renamed TIDESONG and run by C.D. Cooper until 1938 when F.D. Cadman bought her and had her renovated by Joe Wheeler at Bayswater. She was taken over by the RNZAF as W95 by 1942 for towing at Hobsonville. She also possibly went to the flying boat base at Lauthala Bay. There is some confusion in the RNZAF records on this (and her correct W number).
Post war she was used as a hire launch at Gisborne and Tauranga. She finished up being a total loss when she sank at anchor in Shipwreck Bay, Northland on 23rd June 1972 when owned by Roy Callister of Browns Bay.

Photos ex Harold Kidd

23/02/2015 – A message from Shelley Arlidge , the Curator at the Russell Museum

Hi Alan,
I was able to narrow down the date of that photo of Iawai to about a five year window. Your commentators say that she was built in 1911. There was a Russell Regatta in 1912 after a gap of some years and then every year after that until the 1950s. There is a building in the background of your photo of Russell’s first town hall. It collapsed in a storm in 1916 and a new one wasn’t built until 1922. So this photo must have been taken in the years 1912 to 1916.

Waiata & her builder

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WAIATA & HER BUILDER

details & photos (b/w) by Harold Kidd, colour photo ex Rob Uivel

Waiata is featured else where on several ww posts but Harold’s below brings every together.

Rob Uivel owns the neat little launch WAIATA which is a remarkable survivor from the pre-WW1 period, 101 years old and going strong still. WAIATA was built by David Reid at his yard in Drake Street, Freeman’s Bay and launched in November 1913 for Devonport enthusiasts Edward Percy Earle and Alfred George Lunn who were keen competitors in the highly popular NZ Power Boat Association races in the “under 9 knots” category. Her first engine was a 14hp (rated) Britt engine but that was changed in 1921 for a 14hp Westman engine, for which W.R. Twigg was the local agent.

She held the NZPBA championship pennant several times during WW1. She also took part in the search for Count von Luckner when he and several other German prisoners of war escaped from Motuihe in the launch PEARL in December 1917. Earle dropped out of ownership in late 1919. Lunn became Commodore of the NZPBA in 1920 but sold WAIATA around 1922. She pretty much drops out of sight except for being recorded as being used as mark boat for Devonport Yacht Club and other clubs’ yacht races right through the 1930s. It would be interesting if WW people could fill in the gap between then and now.

David Reid was a very good boat builder indeed and had the agency for the very fine Buffalo marine engine. He had a prodigious output of launches culminating in the very fast Cascade in early 1916. David was the son of Robert Reid whose business he had taken over in 1904, and the brother of James Reid who was equally important as a launch builder. However, David suffered from asthma so badly that he sold his business, machinery and moulds to T.M. Lane & Sons and left for Queensland in late 1916.  It was a very great loss to this country.

photo below of 1st owner – Alfred Lunn

Buffalo Bull & Waiata

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Buffalo Bull & Waiata

BUFFALO BILL & WAIATA

Photo ex Harold Kidd of Buffalo Bill (nearer the camera) & Waiata. Both were built by David Reid of Drake St Freemans Bay.

Note the boy on the cabin top of Buffalo Bill with a .22 to ward off orcs (or seagulls).

Enter Buffalo Bill in the waitematawoodys search box to learn more.

Buffalo Bill

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BUFFALO BILL

Now when a lady in her 70’s asks for some help, there is only one answer – & it starts with Y.

So waitematawoodys lets see if we can help out here.

Back in her teens (1942-52), her father, Reginald Morven Ellis, owned the Lanes built launch ‘Buffalo Bill’. The Buffalo Bill was the family boat & she would love to know if its still around & whats happened to her over the years. The photos shared with us are a little ‘ropey’ but with a name like Buffalo Bill someone must know more about the boat.

Harold Kidd Update

See what I mean when I say that “Lanes” is the default position for launch builders?
BUFFALO BILL was built in December 1909 by David Reid of Drake St., Freeman’s Bay for himself to advertise the fact that he was the agent for US-built Buffalo marine engines. She was 32′ x 7’8″ x 2’6″. David Reid also built WAIATA (below). He built BUFFALO in 1908 and BUFFALET in 1911.
Soon after she (he?) was built, Chas Chambers of Birkenhead bought her (him?). Jack Finlayson of Northcote bought the launch pre-1939 and changed the name, but it appears to have reverted to BUFFALO BILL in the 40s when Ellis owned her. Sorry I have no word of her after the 50s, probably a name change.

Update 16/12/2013 – photo (b/w) ex Harold Kidd of Buffalo Bill (nearer the camera) & Waiata. Note the boy on the cabin top of Buffalo Bill with a .22 to ward off orcs (or seagulls).

 

Meteor

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METEOR
Another owner looking for more info on their launch.

‘Meteor’ was built in 1912 by David Reid and about 1948 registered as H-1 and renamed Heather C.  Owner at this stage was F C Conway. The current owners don’t even have a photo of her.
The coloured photo above is what she was like when purchased by a previous owner.  She was purchased while lying in mud and was too nice a boat to leave her there.  The owners did some work to her to use over the summer period & now she is back on the hard in Whangarei for major work.

Update from Harold Kidd:
There is considerable puzzlement about the provenance and names of this boat. She is supposed to have been built as a 28ft mullet boat by David Reid along the lines of the other 28 footers he built for fishing, as did Harvey and Lang at the same time. She was probably built for the Ponsonby fisherman George Murphy and called METEOR originally, then went to Hooks of Putiki and had several subsequent names, SCUD, VALKYRIE and HEATHER C. Some of these 28 footers had no centreboard, but this one must have, as she was registered as an H Class in 1948. Several other 28 footers were made into launches as their hulls were eminently suitable once the centreboard slot had been sealed, for example TWILIGHT (now dying on a farm near Kawakawa) and ZITA.