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Later on, Tom bought a sizeable plot of land at 116 Balmoral Road and from there they ran a small poultry farm that supplied the nearby shop. The shop's other specialty was smoked fish and this was sold and supplied to Peter Pan Catering and the odd restaurant and hospitals along with the other offerings. They ran this business up until 1965 with Karl managing it along with family help. I would imagine it was an integral part of the local community. The next step in growing this business was better quality and lower cost wet fish, so Tom and Karl found the 25ft launch Nancy Olive sitting on a mooring at Blockhouse Bay and bought her for £25 in 1927. She was very underpowered as she had a 4hp Miller milking machine engine. They had limited fishing and boating knowledge so they did a deal with a local Manukau fisherman who had punts but no launch to tow them. Roni thinks this fisherman's name was Mr Johnson. A wide range of fish was provided to the shop and the relationship went rather well. Later on they shipped the Nancy Olive by road to Auckland and re-engined her with an Essex car engine fitted by Joe Allely and used her on the Waitemata and the inner Hauraki Gulf. She was eventually sold for £50 in 1932 to Jim Smith, later known as "screaming skull" when he ran his ship-to-shore radio station at Port Charles. He used her for crayfishing and Roni says she was paid for by live crayfish that was picked up by the Lady Jocelyn on her return trip from Whitianga and later delivered to their shop. One day during the early 1930s during a family trip to Waiuku to visit relatives, they saw a nice-looking counter- stern auxiliary sailing cutter of about 45ft in a very rundown condition. She was named the Comet and was a well-known boat on the Manukau, with quite a history. Once again, negotiations were completed and she was taken to Les Colthard's boatyard at Onehunga to make her seaworthy and a new (but old stock) 24hp ex John Chambers, VT semi-diesel Gardner was installed. This replaced a very old Union petrol engine. Once re-launched and sea trialed, Tom and a mate set off on a voyage around the North Cape and down to Auckland. They stopped off at the Three Kings and filled her little fish room with hapuku, making the trip quite a worthwhile event apart from the adventure. Once in Auckland they slipped her at WG (Theo) Lowe's yard, had her cut her in half and new planks spliced in to lengthen her. Now refitted, the Misa Bros were the proud owners of quite a serious 51ft fishing boat. The Comet did not look out of place in the Viaduct with the growing fleet of Dalmatian boats. They had spent far more on her than they wanted to, in fact they could have almost built a new boat for the same money. From a distance she did not look unlike Kia Ora's Kia Toa, Kia Mia and other WG Lowe boats that were later built for the community. She was fitted out for Danish seining and carried the registration AK 99. Roni remembers Tom initially skippered her while Karl looked after the shop and other matters, so they employed skippers to run her. Ron Marks, Tom and George Munro, Ned Hoff and Alan Whitehead were some of the names, all legendary in the game of Danish seining. One of the problems with Danish seining was the massive wear and tear on the rope and the continuing purchase of this rope was a huge issue and cost. Some of the other small boats converted over to trawling and in the early 1950s the brothers decided to convert the Comet to a trawler. By this time they had already replaced the little Gardner as The cod end comes alongside of the Comet. A fine catch for a nice little old seine boat she did not even produce enough power for seine net fishing and they often had to lay anchor while retrieving the nets. Through a relationship that existed with the Dalmatian Embassy, somehow the Misa brothers imported one of the first German MWM diesels. This engine was rated at 60hp. This fit-out was short-lived as on November 6, 1950 she struck a rock south of Takatu Point, near Leigh. The crew of two, M Freer and H Hussey, rowed six miles to Leigh for help. She eventually became a total loss and all they could salvage was some of the deck gear. During this time the Comet not only supplied fish for their shop but the majority of it went to Sanfords and the Auckland Fish Markets, thus establishing a long relationship. You need a powerful, reliable connection while at sea, whether to stay in touch with the office, manage your business, or allow guests or crew to stay in touch with loved ones at home. You can rely on the Tracphone V7 and mini-VSAT broadband to keep you connected via: · E-Mail · Multiple VoIP telephone lines · Video conferencing · Instant messaging www.enl.co.nz · Internet browsing · Access corporate networks (VPNs) · Weather and chart updates · Data transfers sales@enl.co.nz Electronic Navigation Ltd, 65 Gaunt Street, Westhaven, Auckland. Ph 09 373 5595 Nelson Branch: 78 Vickerman Street. Ph 03 548 4987 January/February 2012 Professional Skipper 55 VIP.S81