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In those days seining was extremely hard y work, the only machinery on deck was a winch with a horizontal shaft and two friction drums ented on each side. Rope coilers were not invented d at this time and the skipper and deck hand got ging plenty of practice coiling ropes and dragging ther the coils for'ard, eight coils aside. The other issue was that the boats did not have a lot ong of power and when working against strong or. tides and wind they often had to anchor. es The motor of the day was the K series e Kelvin with a six inch bore with a nine e inch stroke running at 750rpm. These were very simple and reliable engines and most of the Dally boats had either the two, three or four cylinder model. The A driatic Some time before Ned and Vladimir in her prime purchased Adriatic she had a major workin g at se a refit at Percy Vos's yard in Hamer me Street. She was a very tidy boat and at some time in the mid 1940s they replaced her engine with a new eo K3 purchased from Auckland agents Leo and Vivian Walsh. o feel very uncomfortable. They had very little extra money so Leo and Vivian let them The other challenge was reading, pay it off when money was available. How is that for a deal? writing and simple arithmetic, as his schooling was arithmetic Knowing the man Ned was, he would have paid this back as very basic. In 1963 he decided the only place for him was out soon as he could. All was going well with the partnership and on the boat fishing, so he returned to what he did best and supplying their fish to the Auckland Seine Boat Association enjoyed. Ned never ventured far in Adriatic, mostly in the produced a good income for both Ned and Vlado. gulf, sometimes a few trips up towards Cape Rodney and when Tragedy struck in 1947 when Vladimir died as a result of the tarakihi were running down towards Tauranga. He knew being flung from an overcrowded tram whilst making a turn on his home turf and where all the snags were better than most the corner of Bond Street and New North Road. This was a huge Auckland seine fishermen. blow to Ned, as he not only lost his business partner and relative, In 1970 Ned and Olga moved to 117 West End Road with he lost a close friend. Ned enjoyed fishing with Vladimir and it is retirement in mind and in 1971 Ned retired and sold Adriatic to Jim Bassett. For a man who had worked as hard as Ned, sitting down watching TV was a hard thing to do and there was only so much garden he could dig, so he got a job as a car park attendant for JBL Fisheries who had purchased The Auckland Seine Boat Association. However, in a very short time he was down at the Viaduct helping unload the boats and cleaning them up after the fishing trips. understood that Ned mourned his death for quite some time and One project he did for JBL was to set up one of their boats did not go to sea for two months. Southwind for seining. He also had a job with Bulk Sea Foods, Ned had to raise money to pay out Vladimir's family for his a business owned by his son Paul Nola and Peter Buffalora. share of the boat. From now on Ned employed deck hands, some I understand Ned never turned down a fishing trip when a good and some not so good. Ned eventually got on top of things skipper needed a stand in crew and one can imagine the skipper and his business went from strength to strength. In 1949 Ned milking Ned for tips on good fishing grounds and other useful and Olga had a purpose designed fish shop and home built at seining or fishing skills. This led to his last command, as he 172-174 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn. This was named Adriatic ended up skipper of Jay Linley from time to time, poles apart Fisheries and quickly became part of the local community. Olga in technology and gear from where he and Vladimir started out ran the shop while Ned caught the fish, keeping the best of the with Adriatic in 1943. In 1994 he was slowing down, spending catch for the shop and selling the rest to the Auckland Seine Boat more time at home doing jobs and preserving fruit, so I guess Association. Olga was a top-notch shop operator and took pride that was retirement for Ned. However, he made regular trips in presenting the catch and filleted cuts. Peter Nola remembers down to the Viaduct, just to see what was going on and who was that she had give-away pencils branded with the name of the catching what. shop and the telephone number. On August 31, 2003, aged 95, Ned passed away. In my mind Ned's fishing trips normally started on Saturday morning he was one of the many characters on the Auckland waterfront and they returned on a Tuesday morning to unload. Often he who enhanced the culture of our city that was founded on would fish the inner grounds on a Friday, returning the same maritime activity. day. However, around 1962 Ned decided to have a rest from fishing and put a skipper on Adriatic. This man may have FOOTNOTE: If any readers have knowledge or photographs been Aksel Larsen who I wrote about in Professional Skipper of early Island Bay fishing boats, could they please contact me issues 89 and 90. Right from the start Ned did not enjoy retail at badenhp@xtra.co.nz. I am keen to find out more about the and found it hard communicating with the public as he had a history of Adriatic. Her name was changed when she came very strong Dally accent. This often tested him, making him to Auckland. Ned never ventured far in Adriatic, mostly in the gulf, sometimes a few trips up towards Cape Rodney May/June 2013 Professional Skipper 29