The steam tug William C Daldy was pensioned off by the Auckland Harbour Board in 1975. After a lot of negotiation, the tug was initially leased and then sold to a local group of enthusiasts who had formed a society.
She is a big ship 135 feet overall and a prodigious draft. She has two triple expansion engines and two coal fired scotch boilers.
I remember a lot of the early days because I was the first secretary of the Tug William C Daldy Preservation Society Incorporated. The days were full, the family young, and bureaucrats helpful but dubious at our ability to keep the tug going when the might of local government could not.
When we first put her in dry dock, it was in the Calliope drydock at Devonport and some 20 willing souls steamed the ship and took her in behind an RNZN frigate for several weeks of hard work and replacement of some plating on the port bilge. the navy were anxious that the work be completed on time so as not to upset their schedule.
The best thing is to visit their site and let them tell you all about it.
No responses yet