Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum: February 2010

23 February 2010

Grand old speedboat returns to Hobson Wharf

One of New Zealand’s most elegant early speed boats, Piri Pono, is back on display at Voyager following a period of time in storage. Taking her place at the northern end of Hobson Wharf between Blue Water Black Magic and Rapaki, Piri Pono is a twin-cockpit, 12-seat runabout commissioned by the founder of the Farmers Trading Company, Robert Laidlaw, for holiday use on Lake Taupo.

The 8.59m (28ft2in) Collings & Bell-built boat was launched in 1929, providing the Laidlaws with a fast and spacious vessel for exploring the many bays of Lake Taupo. Called up for service in WWII, Piri Pono was the Air Commodore’s barge at Hobsonville Air Base in Auckland’s upper Waitemata Harbour. A canopy was fitted to protect the occupants from the spray, while the varnished mahogany was covered with Air Force paint and roundels.

Repurchased by the Laidlaws following the war, Piri Pono went on to become a pioneering water-skiing boat, before changing hands several times and undergoing multiple restorations. Piri Pono was eventually gifted to the museum by Alan & Jenny Gibbs and Robin Congreve in the early 1990s.

As an aside, Piri Pono was given its name by Laidlaw, who himself was referred to by one of his close friends as his Piri Pono, or faithful friend. Laidlaw was seeking the same in a boat, so gave his new boat the same name. The literal translation for ‘piri’ as a verb is ‘cling to’ while ‘pono’ as a noun means ‘truth’. Not exactly the same, but both are great names for this sleek 81-year old.

Length: 8.59m

Beam: 2.13m

Engines: Twin 106hp Graymarine, six-cylinder, side valve, petrol

Speed: 30 knots

Piri Pono in her earlier days

Piri Pono on display at Voyager

19 February 2010

Steam crane Rapaki open for inspection

Voyager’s steam crane, Rapaki, is open to visitors again following a period of refurbishment by our steam engineer, John Downie. Sitting proudly at the northern end of Hobson Wharf at the entrance to the museum marina, Rapaki represents a bygone era of shipbuilding and engineering dating from Victorian times – the ‘age of steam’.

Launched in 1926 in Scotland, Rapaki was purchased by the Lyttleton Harbour Board to meet the port’s demands for a heaving lift crane. The 80-ton (lifting capacity) self-propelled floating crane cost £4,200, and her delivery voyage took 109 days via the Panama Canal. Numerous storms and shortages of food and coal were all overcome in arriving in Lyttleton on July 27 1926. Rapaki’s career spanned 62 years, and included stints with the British Ministry of War in the Red Sea in 1941, and the three years following with the US Navy in New Caledonia to clear a backlog of having loads from Livery ships, and refloating damaged vessels from the Pacific war. Rapaki was finally retired by the Lyttleton Harbour Board in 1988.

Rapaki was purchased by Voyager from the Lyttleton Harbour Board in 1993. She was towed to Auckland in July 1993 by the Royal New Zealand Navy tug Arataki to take up residence at Voyager.

Length: 51.82m

Beam: 15.91m

Depth: 3.69m

Draught: 1.96m unladen

Gross tonnage: 745 ton

Displacement: 1415 ton

Builder: Fleming & Fergusson Ltd, Paisley, 1926

Crane Builder: Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd, Parkhead, Scotland

Engines: Two 400 HP Fleming & Ferguson vertical, two-cylinder, direct-acting steam compound

Boiler: Anderson Engineers Ltd Scotch-type wet-back, multi-tubular, 130 psi, installed 1979

Bunker capacity: 145 tons coal

Coal consumption: 2-3 tons per 8 hour shift

Lifting capacity: 80 ton @ 50 ft radius

All motions of the crane are steam powered and mechanically controlled. One engineer controls the hoisting and slewing from the house at the base of the jib and a second engineer controls the clutches inside the machinery room.