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Selected Articles from Issue 36 November/December 2003
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EDITORIAL Skipper weathers the storm
When I came ashore I thought we would be immune to the perils of storms. Unfortunately this is not so. As a recent Auckland equinoxal thunderstorm passed over our premises at Half Moon Bay during the early hours of a Sunday morning, lightning struck with a vengeance. Although we thought our computers were well protected, we were unaware of the dangers of an electrical spike coming up the telephone line through the ADSL network system and entering our computers through the back door. This event caused grievous harm to our hardware, necessitating some serious upgrades and repairs. Unfortunately this delayed production slightly, and while we have taken every effort to make up for lost time, we ask for your understanding. In response to our readers and valued advertisers we have continued to strive to improve the quality and standard of Professional Skipper, and we hope that you approve of the changes in this issue. These are exciting times. The magazine continues to grow and its circulation now extends far beyond our shores with many of our readers working and operating beyond our horizons. We recognise that our readers come from all sectors of our maritime industry and it is this diversity that makes this industry so vibrant, and one we are proud to be a part of. As part of this growth we are now producing the magazine using computer-to-plate technology, and we are proud to introduce our new printers, the Business Printing Group in Auckland, who will be printing Skipper in full colour from now on. Professional Skipper has developed at our reader's directions to include information from other maritime nations, as it should. In this issue we review the Australian customs and fisheries' efforts when they initiated under the terms of international law a hot pursuit, and chased the fish pirate Viarsa I for 27 days through ice-laden southern waters as she tried in vain to escape. As we go to press these pirates aboard their Uruguayan-flagged ship are due to arrive under escort at the port of Fremantle. The Northland Regional Council has taken delivery of its new, multi-purpose patrol vessel. The Duck takes to water in Paihia. We feature the Mabel and Ernest, one of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute's new-generation lifeboats. And our waterfront business section continues to grow. Once again in this issue we bring a summary of maritime accidents and two recent reports from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission. Meanwhile, Captain Asparagus has had to return home to tend his crops, but he is still crowing about beating the Australians in his successful quest to land and release a 24kg saltwater barramundi off the coast of Western Australia. Also present are our other regular columnists who share their news and views from around the coast. Keith Ingram Editor |
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COASTAL CHARACTERS Barbara W, the little Warrior Princess By Baden Pascoe This story is dedicated to Peter Hamilton and Frank Eady. During the last America's Cup campaign I would often watch all the activity on the Waitamata Harbour. At the end of the day, when racing was over and all the support and spectator boats were returning home, the Barbara W would be returning home from Karamuramu Island with her regular tow, the Moehau, loaded with 300 tonnes of chert. She would be hard at work, her counter dug with a serious propeller wash exiting from it, a slight list to port and her white mast raking aft. She would take my eye immediately! About this time I would notice I was getting unusual looks from the other spectators. I could sense what they were saying to themselves, 'Why is that guy so interested in that funny little tug towing that old barge when he has all this to look at.'  To me and other workboat enthusiasts, watching the 46ft (14.2m) Barbara W work is like stepping back into another era. She is the perfect picture of a wooden workboat: pleasing lines, extremely powerful for her size, well managed and, like most old workboats, she has a heap of interesting stories attached to her. She is also one of the last wooden tugs still working on the New Zealand coast. To the old boys, the Barbara W is still a young lass compared with some of the other old workboats still in existence, but nevertheless she is very worthy of mention. Her construction took place soon after the Second World War between 1946 and 1948 at Lidgard's yard in Hamer Street, Auckland. I quizzed Jack Taylor as to who actually designed her. His answer was, 'Looks like she is one of Fred's'. This meant that Fred Lidgard had lofted her from a half model he had built. To me she has got that Lidgard look about her bow, similar to the Kainui and the Kaiwaka, two other Lidgard boats. Peter Hamilton, an ex-Chas Bailey Jnr pupil and a highly respected boatbuilder, was in charge of the building project. Frank Eaddy was his assistant for the hull construction. The Barbara W's timber came from a single kauri log of about 55ft (16.75m) rafted to Auckland behind Lance Julian's tug the Odin. Julian had hand-picked the log with the intention of building a new craft to replace the ageing Odin. For some reason he did not go ahead, and the log was sold to Alf Walling of Tauranga, who had ordered a new tug/pleasure launch to be built by Lidgards. Walling ran a tug and barge business doing sand, metal and log recovery in the Bay of Plenty, and was using the Naumai, (built by ER Lane), but wished to replace her with a more modern vessel. The hull construction was a great learning curve for young Frank Eaddy, as he assisted Hamilton from day one of the project. This new vessel required most of the traditional boatbuilding skills due to her counter stern and plank on rib (steam-bent timber) construction. Many of her after frames (cants) that formed the counter were cut and shaped from pohutukawa crooks. Templates were cut and offered up to the structure to ensure they represented the correct shape. They were then removed and laid on top of a selection of individual pohutukawa natural crooks. One would be chosen and shaped according to the template and then later adzed to a final shape in place. Frank recalls the effort required to operate an adze about his yet undeveloped shoulders. Once the main frames were erected it was time for the designer to determine the position of the sheer strake. This is always done by the master shipwright, boatbuilder or builder of the half model. Hamilton and Eaddy positioned yet again a temporary strip of timber as Fred Lidgard stood off to 'eye' the position where it was to be tacked to the temporary frames. Once this was done it was time to start planking. Selecting the planks was tedious work, as Hamilton would not compromise quality in any way. The two men would go though the stack of 1.5in sawn kauri to ensure only the best cuts where selected. They were then dressed and shaped to suit their position. From what Eaddy can remember another two men were employed on contract to speed things up with this part of the construction. The two contractors would plank one side of the hull while Hamilton and Eaddy would work the opposite side. Hamilton kept the corner of his eye on the two contractors at all times. Of course, contractors are always in a big hurry and often cut corners. Many of the planks required steaming to make them soft and pliable. Eaddy remembers the two contractors thinking they were going to get away without doing this. The plank would go on, the dump hole drilled and when the dump was driven home there would be a loud crack as the plank would shatter across the holes. A man of Hamilton's experience could see this coming and muttered his preconceived thoughts to Eaddy. The contractors quickly learnt that the new hull shape was a little harder to work than what they originally thought. All the holes were bored by hand using a brace and German bit. Australian hardwood ribs were then steam bent, fitted and roved in place. It would be Eaddy's job to be the 'dolly' man on the outside of the hull, which was another time consuming and noisy job. After the hull was completed, Eaddy was taken off the job from time to time to do repairs for regular customers. One job he can remember was puttying the caulked deck. He thinks his helpers were Jim Young, Tim Lees and Chris Robertson. Young men must create a bit of fun while at work. A senior tradesman by the name of Barry Read was the walking target to be shot at with blow pipes loaded with a putty wad. In 1948 the semi-finished vessel was launched bow first. Alf Walling named her the Barbara W after his nine-year-old daughter, now Barbara Weatherly. A new Gardner 6L3 was installed before launching, and final work was completed before she was steamed to her new home at Tauranga. The Wallings put her to work and often used her as a pleasure launch. Alf Walling was a keen deep-sea angler and a member of the Tauranga Game Fishing Club. He also did charter work with her, and hosted the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Willaby Norrie and Lady in 1949 and 1950. Alf would skipper the Barbara W, his wife would be the hostess and prepare the lunches, and one of Alf's friends, Ripo Toitoi, would be the deckie. Ripo Toitoi was a Second World War veteran and also had a wartime association with Sir Willaby. He was also quite keen on making full use of any alcoholic beverage that was available during the day, and as a result often became of little use to the skipper. They did catch some very sizable fish! He also took local Maori to White Island during the muttonbird season, and did 'Stand in' work during the summer season for Faulkner Ferries plus the odd pile-driving job around the harbour. Two jobs for example were the Tauranga Airport and the Punipuni creek jetty. One of the Barbara W's first and few long voyages was steaming down to Wellington with a sizeable barge named the Peter in tow. Walling had won a contract with the Ministry of Defence to do ex-wartime clean-up work in Wellington Harbour. He took a crew from Tauranga consisting of Harry Webber and two others, Blackie and Bill (their surnames are unknown). This contract lasted for about 18 months to two years. In 1950 Alf Walling lost the Peter while she was being towed by the Barbara W off the Raurimu Islands. The barge was built of Australian hardwood, and sank like a stone when she started making water. Lance and Harry Julian were called upon to do the salvage and steamed down to the Bay of Plenty in the Oden with the barge Stanley, owned by the Auckland Harbour Board, in tow. This was to be a new experience for Harry Julian, as it was his job to dive on the wreck using 'hard hat' diving equipment fed by air from a surface pump. Eventually slings were positioned under the sunken barge and she was raised to the surface. Shortly afterwards, Walling decided he would sell the Barbara W to Lance Julian and develop the road transport side of this business. Harry picked her up with a crew consisting of Snow Allen and Tai Hereora and steamed her back to Auckland. The Julians found the Barbara W's 114hp 6L3 was under-powered to tow their barge Moa, which had a 140 ton capacity, and soon fitted a new 240hp 6/110 GM diesel. They did do a few trips north to Parengarenga Harbour with the Moa to load silica sand. The Moa was then towed to Opua to be discharged at the railhead on the wharf. Later on they would do the complete trip and discharge at Auckland. They also had another barge named the Rangitoto, and she too was a regular tow for the Barbara W. The tug and her tows were often seen at Portland, Whangarei, Oakley Creek and many bays and inlets in the Bay of Islands. The Stanley was eventually lost north of the Whangaparaoa Passage in 1952 while under tow from Mangawhai behind the Barbara W. Rescue work was a big part of the Julian's business, and the Barbara W always performed well. One notable event was the recovery of the Odin and the Moa in September 1951. Although the conditions were not good, the two vessels were eventually taken in tow, but the line broke and they were both lost. The Julians also made towboats available as rescue boats for Auckland's famous 18ft Flying Squad. The Barbara W was often a welcome sight for cold and waterlogged 18ft crews. When the Auckland Harbour Bridge centre span was positioned into place by the use of floating pontoons, the Barbara W was one of the four small tugs used for what now seems an impossible task. The Julians worked her hard, and as a result had to do a number of engine changes. After the GM 6/110 had worn out they replaced it with a six-cylinder Dorman, but had problems from day one, including overheating. After a short time they removed it and returned it to Dalholf & King, who were the local agents. They were granted a refund and a new Volvo took its place. Harry was so pleased with the performance of this engine he later had one fitted to his pleasure launch. At a later stage, when the Barbara W was in joint venture ownership between the Julian family and Dillinghams, a larger, six-cylinder Caterpillar was fitted. In 1969 the Barbara W was sold to her present owners, McCallum Bros, along with the barges Pohonui and Moehau. The 1400 ton Pohonui now became her regular tow to and from Pakiri Beach with loads of sand. She did this from 1973 to 1988. This of course was a big task for such a small, wooden tug, but nevertheless the Barbara W did the job until the Wainui was purchased and refitted to take up this role. I have been told of a story when the Barbara W was working sand at Pakiri Beach with a nasty easterly brewing when other operators decided to give the exercise a miss and headed for shelter. The Barbara W and the Pohonui finished loading and headed for home in very testing conditions. Soon after McCallum Bros Ltd purchased her they removed the Caterpillar and fitted a new 375hp D343 engine. Ted Ashby and Alf Dare supervised the fitting of this new engine. Other work was done to her to ensure she could handle this increase in power and her wheelhouse was extended aft. McCallums Bros also owned and ran the rebuilt Naumai down to Karamuramu Island. In June 1986 the Naumai was wrecked on the western end of Brown's Island while outward bound from Auckland. The Barbara W now took up this run with the Moehau. Lance Cross was appointed as the Barbara W's regular skipper, and still is. The Barbara W and the Moehau often make the trip to Wharekawa on the western side of the Firth of Thames, and they also load blue chip and run to Great Barrier Island in the outer Hauraki Gulf when required. She tows the Moehau at 7.5 knots light and 4.5 to five knots loaded, at 1700rpm. While under the McCallum Bros' flag, the Barbara W has seen a few skippers, including Charlie Bishop, Daryl Shadbolt and Barrie Belk. Lance Cross enjoys operating wooden workboats. He has great respect and understanding of their abilities, and takes great care when working 'Non-shock absorbing' steel barges. Her crew respect her as well and understand her heritage. We must thank the McCallum family for keeping her maintained and in work. I am sure they also enjoy owning and operating the Barbara W, and I hope they keep her going in the future. |
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