Professional Skipper Magazine from VIP Publications

HAWERA, THE BOAT THAT WOULDN���T BURN BY LYNTON DIGGLE I t���s hard to give a story a title that will stand out among the many arresting ones in Professional Skipper. This story involves the vessel Hawera, bromeliads, garden art and chickens. However, ���Hawera, Bromeliads, Garden Art and Chickens��� didn���t really fit as a title for such an august magazine as Professional Skipper. Read on. Built in 1912 by WH Brown in Auckland, Hawera was a steam powered wooden 32.3 metre coastal cargo vessel, ordered by the Patea Shipping Company, who also owned the Patea Co-op Dairy Co. The same year Patea Shipping Company sold Hawera and three other ships to the newly formed South Taranaki Shipping Company. For many years the Hawera plied the waters between Patea and Wellington carrying cheese, butter, wool, meat, hides and tallow, mostly destined for Britain. Hawera was rather accident prone. In October 1912 she struck the eastern wall at Nelson and was carried on to the beach with her stem broken, then salvaged by her builder, and repaired and re-launched over the breakwater. In February 1914 she damaged her rudder on the Patea Bar, ran aground in Mana Bay in February 1917, and stranded yet again in November. She dragged the river bottom opposite the railway viaduct in 1920 and struck snags in June 1922. But wait, there���s more! In June 1921 she stove in her side at Patea on the end of the eastern breakwater. Making water she reached the wharf and was beached for temporary repairs. She later grounded in May and December 1927 and again in February 1928. In 1937 she again struck blocks from the eastern wall and was slipped in Wellington for repairs to her rudder. Four shades of grey: The second world war had now started , and there were concerns of German commerce raiders lurking in our waters. The New Zealand Navy needed minesweepers and Hawera was purchased in June 1941and conversion began but not completed until 1943. Together with Kapuni, Hinau, Manuka and Rimu, they swept New Zealand harbour entrances and coastline. They were designed to find magnetic mines, and though 20 were laid in June 1941, these were not discovered until after the war ended. However, the Niagara was sunk by a contact mine in June 1940, and HMS Puriri struck one and sank in May 1941 while on mine clearing duties in the Hauraki Gulf. In April 1944 the War Cabinet approved that the Hawera and Kapuni be loaned for transport and supply to islands recently liberated in the Pacific. Hawera, with a crew of 22, went to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati), and Kapuni to the Solomons. Both covered thousands of miles between the island groups and Suva where they were based. Hawera was at one time within 100 miles of Japanese forces, but kept clear of action, though she is said to have narrowly missed being attacked by an American submarine while in the New Hebrides. Others were strafed by American bombers, as they do. Hawera finally arrived home to Auckland in October 1945 and the crew paid off. The co-opted vessels were eventually sold back to their former owners. Hawera was sold via AG Frankham Ltd agent of Auckland for ��250 and AG, as he was known, eventually retained the ship. He intended to rebuild her in a similar fashion to 64 Professional Skipper January/February 2013 the Kapuni but never quite got around to it. AG had other vessels servicing the Kaipara Dairy Company. Hawera lay in Auckland���s viaduct harbour being cannibalised for other ships. Her engine went to the Coronation, the wheelhouse to Kapuni. Now rather derelict and needing constant pumping she finally sank in June 1952, allegedly by vandals interfering with the pumps. Refloated by the Harbour Board, she was beached in St Marys Bay until 1956 when she then was in the way of building the harbour bridge. Now the bromeliads, garden art and chickens bit. Hawera was towed in March 1957 to the upper harbour at Whenuapai and parked at the bottom of Frankham���s large property where she still lies in the mangroves. This was a chicken farm run for AG by a manager, Claude Jeffries. Frankham however, was a member of the Egg Marketing Committee. Not a lot of people know that. Local stories abound about how the Hawera was used to store wheat with nesting boxes fitted. I could just imagine cockerels crowing in the crow���s nest and black Orpingtons laying in the lazaret. Not true, merely local gossip. A pity because it makes a good story. In 1996 the then Auckland Regional Council, in their wisdom, decided the Hawera was a navigation hazard, demanding it be burnt. A job for the Whenuapai Fire Brigade. On the 18th March, Hawera was smothered in diesel, a match was lit. It smouldered a bit but refused to burn. Most of her thick Kauri timbers are still intact. Ironically Hawera, in Taranaki, has always had an association with fire. The name Te Hawera which means ���the burnt place���, came about many years ago after an incident between two feuding Maori tribes in the area. One tribe surprised the other in the dead of night and burned their village to the ground. Te Hawera eventually became shortened to Hawera, but the district continued to live up to its name. In 1884 a hotel was razed and in 1888 a large fire destroyed five businesses. Again in 1912 much of the main street was destroyed by fire. Not so our Hawera, the boat that refused to burn. Eventually the property was bought by Peter and Jocelyn Coyle and converted to a bromeliad and palm garden. Garden is perhaps an understatement. More like a park and a visitor���s delight. Here is one of New Zealand���s premier bromeliad gardens. Acres of amazing plants and exotic palms. Not only, but also, the garden is adorned with many sculptures. The ���garden art��� bit. The owners regard the Hawera, lying at the bottom of this garden paradise as their main piece of garden art. Perhaps a fitting end to a ship with such a chequered history. See: New Zealand Naval vessels by J. McDougall, Little Ships of Patea by Ian Church and unpublished notes by W A Laxton.

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