Lifetime of boats and books

By ROBIN BAILEY

Being able to pursue two great passions at the age of 84 is no small achievement. Aucklander Neville Ward has managed to do so successfully for most of his life.

Boats and the English language are the great loves of the Howick former teacher. A sailor since childhood, he has only recently given up active boating after selling the 9.1m (30ft) Piver Nimble trimaran Taraiti that had carried him to most parts of the Hauraki Gulf.

His interest in language led to a series of books, particularly two about his favourite, the coastal trader Rewa.

A gaff-rigged cutter, the Rewa was built at Kirita Bay, on the Coromandel, in 1886 by a retired ship's carpenter called Chips Hunter. Built for a local farmer, the little ship was first named Rosalie after one of his daughters.

Today the Rewa is berthed at the National Maritime Museum at Hobson Wharf in Auckland. That is where Neville Ward can be found on Wednesdays, as one of the museum's team of volunteer guides. It is a role he has been undertaking almost since the museum opened in 1993, giving him the opportunity to pass on his knowledge of things maritime to visitors from around New Zealand and around the world.

"I don't like taking parties around," he says. "For one thing my voice won't hold out for too long and for another I feel it is better to introduce yourself to someone showing interest in an exhibit and explain a bit more about it. Often that can lead to introducing them to other features of the museum they may not have discovered."

The veteran sailor/teacher has written two books about the Rosalie/Rewa, To be a Sailor Boy and By Rosalie to Auckland. His others are Grandpa's Boat, a tale of family cruising that has more than a hint of autobiography and The Immigrants, a work of fiction that portrays with a certain amount of grim realism what early settlers endured to get to New Zealand.

Ward's interest in the sea is partly inherited. His father served in sailing ships on the Liverpool-Calcutta-Boston run before surviving a shipwreck off San Domingo. He arrived back home in Britain in time to join the rest of his family, who were about to set sail for a new life in New Zealand.

"I think it was a too tough a life for Dad and he was happy to stay ashore. In fact he hardly ever talked about his time at sea."

Unlike his father, the young Ward, who lived at New Lynn, was quick to get himself afloat, first by canoe in the Whau Creek, then venturing further afield in a 10ft sailing dinghy. His sailing career progressed through Frostbites, then to an 18ft trailer-sailer and into a 24ft catamaran. That multi-hull experience eventually led to ownership of his last boat, the trimaran Taraiti.

Ward's career as a primary-school teacher was interrupted by service overseas during World War II with the RNZAF after he was rejected by the Army because of astigmatism.

His 70 years of active sailing involved a stint of 16 years as secretary of the Shelly Bay Cruising Club and 20 years as radio operator/duty officer for Auckland Volunteer Coastguard. All of which makes him an ideally suited to impart his accumulated maritime knowledge to museum visitors. It is a talent that is appreciated by museum chief executive Larry Robbins.

"Neville is not a typical volunteer guide," says Robbins. "His particular interest in Rewa and sailing ships and his encyclopaedic knowledge of our vast diversity of exhibits never fail to amaze our visitors. He's a national treasure."

Robbins adds that the museum is always looking to add to its vital band of volunteers, including qualified skippers and boat crew. Also in demand are hosts for the daily guided tours. Anyone interested can call volunteer co-ordinator Richard Pomeroy on (09) 373 0800. There's no age limit, as Neville Ward so ably demonstrates.