Below is what I would label a call out on the vessel Winsome II. Waitematawoodys poster Ken Ricketts describes the tale below as a short epistle based on what he himself knows about Winsome II & her history. Ken is hopeful that todays posting will encourage others with facts & memories of this fine launch to contribute. Below I have included Ken’s disclaimer on the tale.
“I would ask readers to note, that some things I say, are written as speculation, possibilities, or probabilities, & not necessarily actual fact, & I have written these specifically & in particular, to gel others minds in to action, & in turn, put their fingers to their computer keyboards, & once again, if my comments are not factual, ask those who do have the facts, to reply, or comment, & enlighten us all. With this post, all I really want to do, is ‘get the ball rolling’, because she is indeed, a beautiful boat, with very individual characteristics , & to me, aesthetically fascinating & lovely”
Ken’s Story
I believe she may have been built in the later 1920s or earlier 30s, by her general style, as at the last time I saw her, & as she appears, in the pic I took, circa 1948.
Since I am uncertain as to who built her, whilst I have some ideas, I will not speculate, or offer an opinion on this, & feel she may in fact, be older than she appears to me, as above.
However, I do know that she belonged to the late Andy Donovan, a shipbroker & shipchandlery man, from way back, in the 1930s to the 1960 at least, & I have been told, he also owned her back in to the 30s, but this was hearsay to me. He seemed to have owned her forever, to me as a young teenager some of that time.
He always kept her outstandingly, & used her very regularly. He was a brilliantly experienced, very dedicated boatie, of the “old school,” in my view. I met him a good number of times, as a young lad, & he was, it seemed to me, a friend to everybody he met, a very likable, jovial person, & everyone seemed to know him, or know of him, at that time.
I know his family have continued in the boating industry after his death.
My late father, Ralph Ricketts, had a couple of tiny business dealings with him, circa 1943, when he offered to buy my fathers 12 foot dinghy, & in turn, sold him a very small second hand Evinrude outboard motor.
Winsome II, has I’m sure, had a number of engines, & my recall is not necessarily accurate, on the first engine, when I came in contact with her, in 1946, but I think it may have been, either an 8 cyl in line, Chrysler Royal, or Chrysler Imperial, but whatever it was, she was certainly very quick for her day, & always put on a good turn of speed, bow up a little, & stern down, just a tiny bit. The above engine was replaced by Andy, with a V8, & I was told at that time, it was one for which he had the agency, & my recall is that it was either a Flagship, Crusader, or Chris Craft, — sorry I can’t be certain of which one, but it was a long time ago.
One thing I always loved about W II, was that she had a varnished tuck, which to me, was the epitome of perfection boats sterns, “a la” in American, or American styled boats back ends, & sadly not enough NZ boats had this, in my view.
Another thing, was the early use in the later 40s, of a scoop over the above water line, stern exhaust, directing it down in to the water, which actually took the exhaust gasses slightly below the waterline, very rare in those days in my experience,
She also had extensive use of gold leaf on her combings, one of the things that made her absolutely stunning.
She had a fab., “long, sleek, low, fast, look,” about her to me.
She is indeed, another one of the great beauties, of our wonderful fleet of classic launches, & is, as far as I know, still beautiful, & in general, very original today.
Would love to know of her recent past, & her early days before 1946, if anyone out there can help, also correction anywhere I’ve got it wrong.
I believe she has been in the Bay Of Islands for a number of years.
Harold Kidd Update
There is an element of truth in what Ken says, especially about her postwar career, but her early history is very convoluted and her origins are much more interesting than Ken comprehends. Andrew Donovan was the brother of Des and Brian Donovan, both well-known in Auckland’s marine scene as yachtsmen, boat builders and designers. Brian was the chap left on the reef when SHENANDOAH stranded as related elsewhere. They were also my distant cousins (amongst whom is included Dave Dobbyn!). Andrew was a boat broker and importer of boat goodies, an engaging man about town, and a staunch Squadron man. But his ownership of WINSOME II did not start until 1946 and lasted until his death in 1989.
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.
PS 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 as providin Certain;g more relevant models for our waters than, say, the Engilsh 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.
PPS, 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.
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