SL TAWERA

ANYONE LIKE TO RETIRE TO TE ANAU?

When Marie and I were in Te Anau tramping in the deep south of NZ earlier this year, I was reading a fascinating book "Fiordland Discovered" written by John Hall-Jones. This is a magnificent book describes the endeavours of the early pioneers and I came upon a couple of photos of the S L Tawera taken before and at her launching. Agree with me people, these sort of pix get the boiler pressure up quickly!

She was purchased by the NZ Government in 1906. Converted to diesel in 1927, she was only recently retired and hauled ashore pensioned off by Fiordland Travel. At the end, she had a Gardner diesel but her original plant and the original semi diesel are out there somewhere under water.

Ken Bradley Trustee of the Fiordland Museum Trust has been kind enough to fill in later details:

You have got the early history on the website I will give some more detail after it was converted to oil / semi diesel in the late 1920s.

After the Tawera was converted to semi diesel it kept this mode of power until the late 1940s. The engine was started by pre heating the four cylinder heads and turning it with compress air. To change from forward to reverse the engine was stopped and "thrown over" and restarted to give reverse thrust. To do this the vessel was crewed with an engineer as well as the skipper. The skipper had to be onto it when coming into the wharf, as he had only one or two chances to telegraph instructions to the engineer. It was during this era that rumors of a very good whisky, was being made by the engineer, to help fill in the long hours between instructions from the bridge!!!. It is also rumoured that quite a few soft beachings of the Tawera were made late at night next to the Te Anau wharf. These happenings occurred after the engineers instructions from the bridge were perhaps hindered  by the tipple or two having been taken on the long return trip from the head of the lake.

Skippers tended too stay employed on the vessel for many years. Capt Roberts being one of those and Lawson Burrows and Robbie Rob skippering her from the mid 1940s to the mid 1960s.  Ronny Smith was employed in the late 1960s,  then Lawson Burrows’ son "Snow" Burrows for some time after that.  Other skippers of long service were Mike Allen, Bob McGarry and Darryl Stretch.

The Tawera had several engines.  After the semi diesel it had a Gardner engine, then during the late 1960s it was changed to a Volvo Penta engine and in the mid 1980s changed back to a 8LX Gardner.  This was the power unit until it was decommisioned.

The vessel had many changes in appearance,  mainly for the comfort of passengers and crew. Originally it had a cabin for the "gentlemen" and one for the "ladies", and the skipper stood out in the open.  I interviewed a lady that had worked at Glade House in the early 1920s and they had to sit outside in the weather on the trip up and down the lake, as they were servant staff. The Tawera would have been a very wet boat in those days. On a rough crossing of the Middle Fiord of Lake Te Anau during a strong westerly or  punching into a strong northerly all the way to the head of the lake would have made a very miserable trip for the skipper.

After the change of power from steam to semi diesel, the vessel had a wheel house built just forward of the engine and a covered roof over the after section of the vessel. The lowered rear cabin was converted into a storage hold and the decking flushed out, to give quite a lot more room. The sides of the vessel were extended at the bow  to make the vessel a lot dryer.  The rear sides had canvas curtains that could be rolled down in bad weather. The next change to her appearance happened in the late 1950s in which most of the vessel was closed in. The original "Ladies" cabin become the crews area and a place to make the cups of tea for the passengers.The last major makeover for the Tawera was in the late 1980s and it was given a heritage look, and the toilets were upgrades with holding tanks etc being installed.

The Tawera carried all the Milford Track walkers from its launching to it decommisioning and all the materials for buildings, stores, pack horses.  Even in the early days this would have been a considerable tonnage and in later years this increased to hundreds of tons per year as the huts/lodges facilities were modernised.  It was also used by Alpine Helicopters in the late 1960s and early 1970s,  for freighting the loads of deer shot during the early morning, down the lake in the evening.  Some of these loads were over 350 animals and the carcases were deposited on board and removed at the desination by helicopter.  Deer carcases were stacked in the hold and also all through the seating area as well as piled high on the foredeck.  I was crew for several of these trips and the cleaning up after these trips used to take us all day.

During the winter months when the Glade House trip was not operating, the Tawera was used for taking tourists to the Te Anau Caves on evening cruises.   This was mostly through the  1960s and after that only  when the  dedicated caves launch was on survey.

An interesting yearly trip,  which was very popular,  was the annual Wapiti Hunter drop off  around the lake in late March.  We would leave early in the morning,  with the  vessel piled high with hunters, wellwishers and gear,  for what was generally a 12 to 14 hour around trip. Hunters would be dropped off at their blocks and the vessel would return three weeks later to pick them up. The pick-up  trip was not for the faint hearted;  hunters that had not washed for three weeks,  head skins that had not been salted well and deer skulls that had not been boiled the best,  all added to the flavour of the trip.  But the stories were great!!!!!!. This has all gone by the way as most hunters on the lake blocks now use their own boats or fly by helicopter or float plane into the Wapiti area.

Up to the mid 1970s the Tawera left from Te Anau after the 2.45pm New Zealand Railways Road Service bus arrived from Lumsden.  The Milford Track walkers would check into the Track Office at the then Te Anau Hotel , and walk over to the boat at the main wharf for the 3.15pm departure trip to the head of the lake.  If the lake was really rough,  a  diversion would have to be made up into the Middle Fiord to allow for a more comfortable crossing.  After the mid 1970s the vessel left from Te Anau Downs 18 miles up the Milford Road,  cut ting out the worst section of the lake and reducing the travel time to 1.45hrs.

The Tawera had it own slipway at the south end of the lake and it used to take a couple of days to hand winch the vessel out for survey.  In later years an electric motor was installed and the removal of the vessel from the Lake was improved considerably. The vessel was replated during the late 1940s by Lawson Burrows and his brother Bert, and I was involved with the first sandblasting of the hull in the early 1970s.  We used sand off the beach, dried in a  home made dryer to make it more suitable for sandblasting.   This took over a month to complete during the winter.  It was painted yearly and any tasks required for survey were undertaken at this time. . It was sometime after Safe Ship Management was introduced, that the hull was completely stripped out of the several tons of poured concrete that had been placed in her for ballast that a major problem was discovered. The lime in the concrete had reacted with the iron framing and plates and they looked like they had been peppered with a shot gun.   She was full of pins holes.  It had most likely been this way for several years with the bilge pumps coping with the minor seepage.

Fiordland Travel (now Real Journeys) decided not to repair the damage, which was disappointing for many old locals. The Tawera is now stored in the yard of the Workshop Division.  Hopefully one day it could be returned to it's original looks for heritage interpretation or totally restored as a steam vessel!!!!!. This would be a major undertaking  but larger ones have happened throughout the world as the historic significance of such items is realised. The original hull lines,  as seen in the photos attached to this article, are still there  and the original wheel is in safe keeping with the Company.

At decommisioning (1996) the Tawera was the longest serving vessel in New Zealand and it was a great pity it didn't see out 100 years of service. The Milford Track has iconic status with over 16,000 people a year walking it but there is very little left in the way of built heritage, pre dating 1932, left on the track, and what does date from this era has been extensively modified.  The Fiordland Museum Trust hopes that one day we can have the Tawera set up on our lake front to tell this story and would be a dream come true if this vessel could get up a head of steam and do a short circuit around the lake front.

 
Ken Bradley, Trustee Fiordland Museum Trust.

On mentioning my terrible steam addiction  to our hosts Vincent motorcycle enthusiast John von Tunzleman and his wife, we were immediately taken round to the good ship's last resting place a mile or so down the road.

So how's that fellows? She's all here just waiting for us... Why is it that the Brits can have Gvt sponsored steamers running on the Scottish Lochs and we can't.....

If Wanganui can have people coming from all over the Whirled to see their paddle steamer and they flock from similar places to ride the Earnslaw surely this one would work well in Te Anau.

Oh btw while I was sitting on the side of Lake Manapouri a passenger vessel roared off with its guests. The noise prevailed long after the ship was almost out of sight. Someone tell them that steam engines are much easier and quieter to live with than two stroke diesels. Oh and they don't need computers and technicians to tune them up! It wasn't as though the boat was that fast anyway and who cares if the trip is peaceful?

Please send any words of support to them.

kenandsharen<at>xtra.co.nz   over type that <at> with @ first