Egeria, Queen of the Fleet

This feature article originally appeared in AFLOAT Magazine and is the latest edition of Foul Bottoms with John Quirk exploring historic vessel restoration, wooden boatbuilding heritage and Tasmania’s maritime traditions.

For those who watch the glorious Parade of Sail at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, the fleet is led by one of the most beautiful and interesting motor launches. Egeria, named after a Roman water nymph ‘of particularly wise counsel’.

This 62 footer was built in Huon Pine, blue gum and teak by Purdon and Featherstone at Battery Point in Hobart in 1941 to a design by the British naval architect, boatbuilder and engineer, Peter Thorneycroft, as the ceremonial vessel for the Marine Board of Hobart. The Thorneycrofts were an innovative family of boatbuilders, designers and engineers. Some of the daughters built and ran the wave testing tanks. They even built lorries. They also supplied the two R.J. six cylinder diesel engines developing 120 bhp at a languid 1,500 rpm. They were numbered 139 and 140. Egeria was taken over by the Navy and used to patrol the Derwent throughout the war.

She must have clocked up a few sea miles because in 1944 her exhausted engines were replaced with identical ones which were intended for her successor. The Harbour Board had not expected for her to be handed back after the war and had planned for a replacement vessel which was never built. She served as the official launch for the Governor of Tasmania.

Governor’s Launch

In 1964, two six cylinder GM 671s were installed, 62-years ago as I write this. These are probably the most successful marine diesel ever. These seven litre two strokes were produced for 58-years from 1938 to 1995, with some estimates that 1.5 million were made. They normally gave 170 bhp at 2,100 rpm and could run up to 20,000-30,000 hours between major overhauls. The range spanned from engines with a single cylinder up to 16, all using the same components with 71 cubic inch cylinders or 1,163 cc.

In 2005 the Marine Board of Hobart became part of the Statewide Government Business Enterprise Tasports. The decision-makers sitting around the table could see no point in owning an old wooden vessel.

They decided to get rid of her. She was offered to a number of yacht and boating clubs. Three turned her down. But the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania felt strongly that this historic vessel should not go quietly into a nautical rest home, nor, God forbid, fall into the hands of a museum. She deserved to enjoy an active retirement, and they came up with an idea about how she could do that and fund it herself. Negotiations were intense, but the Club had a whip-round and in 2007, managed to raise the one dollar purchase price. She would retain her role as the Governor’s Launch and the flagship of the AWBF and the Statewide Scout Regatta for five years.

My dad said that when looking at taking on a boat, you should always imagine seeing it from the wrong end of a two-inch brush. There is normally a bit more than that to consider with a boat of this size. Like deck leaks. In 2012, it was discovered that the deck and some bulkheads had rotted and required replacing. Volunteers removed all the soggy bits ready for professional shipwrights who spent five months replacing it. One of them was concerned he might have to do more work to repair the demolition by enthusiastic amateurs, but they treated Egeria as gently as their own boats.

Fortunately, The Tasmanian Community Fund recognised the importance of this vital work. Since its establishment in 2000, it has awarded $140 million in grants to more than 3,200 community projects. It made a generous donation of $46,000 to help with re-decking.

In 2015, volunteers carefully removed one hundred chrome plated fittings and, with half of it funded by a generous benefactor, sent them to Melbourne for re-plating. Then the really hard part, they put them all back again.

In 2016, she went into the marine equivalent of the intensive care section at Max Factor when she had her topsides splined. This means pulling out all the old caulking, fairing the joints then running a special saw along the length of each seam to make a V-shaped groove. Then you epoxy in a tapered length of the same timber as the original hull and drive it home. The hardest part is holding the saw. When I tried it, we had to rig a pulley block over a line to try to take some weight off the saw.

Ashes

Then the splines were planed and topsides sanded to death to remove all the original paint, ready to be refinished. When you have gone to all this trouble, you don’t just want to slap on some leftovers from your garage. The Club chose to have her spray painted with Jotun paints. These were developed for tough Nordic Sea conditions over a hundred years ago, so the balmy air of Hobart would be like perpetual springtime compared with Norway. You will be able to see the 11-year-old paint finish in February at the Festival.

OK, you have saved this beautiful ship and kept her in brilliant condition, using her for the purpose for which she was built, cruising the Derwent. How do you pay for it?

Fortunately, the new owners had this in mind from the beginning; let others share the delights of cruising aboard her. They started with dinner cruises with a two-course dinner being served in the MYCT clubhouse restaurant. As interest increased, she conducted harbour cruises and historic trips with an historian narrator aboard.

Increasingly popular are the ashes spreading trips. Egeria has a conical ashes holder atop a stainless tube fitted with a control lever, so several relatives can share this solemn occasion. A much classier operation than the disposing of my dad’s ashes, they were just tipped over the side of the St Mawes ferry in Cornwall.

Last year, the new bridge across the upper Derwent at Bridgewater was being constructed using barges and sectional panels. Egeria planned trips to inspect the construction site with a technical representative on board to explain the engineering behind the construction. It was thought maybe there would be demand for three trips with a full load of 26 passengers. She did 26 trips.

The river is now navigable to New Norfolk, and plans are in hand to provide trips to the upper reaches. These are particularly spectacular in autumn when the deciduous trees along the riverbank show their magnificent colours.

In the last season, Egeria carried out no less than 90 separate charters. All maintained and crewed by volunteers from a motor yacht club, many of whom have their own boats to maintain. It is an amazing display of management, dedication and enthusiasm. So, get out on a cruise when you are at the Festival (5-8 February 2027) and enjoy the harbour. Tea always tastes better on a wooden boat. Did I mention there are tea and scones aboard?

All enquiries and bookings can be made with the MYCT with office staff open all business hours Monday to Friday. For more information: www.motoryachtclub.org

This feature article originally appeared in AFLOAT Magazine. To explore more stories like this, browse the AFLOAT Magazine archive or view the latest edition of AFLOAT Magazine.