CLAUDE ATHERTON AND ASPASIA
D BY DAVID FIELD
uring 1958 while serving my fitting and turning apprenticeship at HMNZ Dockyard, Auckland, I crewed in weekends for a part time commercial fisherman Claude Atherton, father of yachtswoman Heather Lidgard.
Claude and Mrs Atherton lived in Alberon Pace, Parnell, and his vessel Aspasia was moored in Hobson Bay near the Parnell Baths. Each Friday afternoon Claude collected a 50lb (23kg) block of ice in a sugar bag from AFFCO in Tooley Street and somehow transported it to Aspasia (he did not drive). After finishing work and disembarking in Quay Street from the Blue Boat I would walk to Tamaki Drive and meet Claude at the boat, which if the tide was high he would have previously brought out into the Harbour to clear the rail and road bridges near his mooring spot. I would step aboard and Claude would smartly get under way to arrive off Waiheke's western shore and anchor, before having meal and turning in for the night. A variation to our usual Friday night routine was when Claude beached Aspasia at high tide, against a cattle race on the north side of Matiatia Bay. For the next few hours we scrubbed the hull and after floating off next morning, headed for Claude's estimated closest fishing spot. Aspasia was a wooden double-ended vessel of very robust construction which I believe had been built in the United Kingdom. She was powered by an air cooled Ruston model 2YB diesel engine and the vessel was set up for long line fishing. Accommodation was provided by two bunks and the cooking facility was a primus. There was no toilet.
After an early breakfast on the Saturday morning fishing began in earnest. My job was to prepare the bait and put it on the hooks which Claude paid out in the chosen fishing spot. Later, as Claude retrieved the line I would take off the fish, place them in the insulated fish box and cover them with broken ice. The most common species caught were snapper and gurnard. The day's fishing was usually successful and after our evening meal we would turn in to our bunks for a well-earned sleep. On Sunday we returned to Hobson Bay and prepared for Claude to sell the catch from the Tamaki Drive roadside. I would partake of lunch, in the form of a young snapper steamed on the primus and served with bread and butter and a cup of tea When the fish box was empty I would thoroughly clean it with fresh water and a disinfectant. By late afternoon the fish had been sold and with Aspasia clean and shipshape it was time to leave for home.
On some Sundays I went to Claude's Parnell home for an evening meal. He worked as an engineer and welder for over 25 years at Mason and Porter Ltd whose head office and factory was until 1962, in Cleveland Road, Parnell, near his home. Many years ago I read that Aspasia was being used for fishing in Northl and. Is she still in use, either commercial, or as a pleasure craft?
VIP.S89
