New lease on life for old lifeboats in Whanganui

This boat is said to be a former lifeboat from the cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov, which sank in the Marlborough Sounds in 1986. Photo/Bevan Conley

There are at least three former lifeboats in Whanganui - the remnants of larger ships that have come to grief.

Former navy man Richard Cox highlighted the plight of what he believed was a lifeboat of the former Wellington-Lyttelton ferry Wahine. It was wrecked in Wellington Harbour on April 10, 1968, in New Zealand's worst sea disaster.

That lifeboat was bought by Whanganui engineer Graham Tulloch, and since his death has been left sitting on his disputed property in Ikitara Rd.

Former seamen will track the boats that they know through time. Upokongaro's John Hair, now 73, was a seaman all his working life. He helped rescue people from the Wahine and is certain the Ikitara Rd boat is a former Wahine lifeboat.

It was designed to hold 90 people, and powered with a Lister diesel engine, he said.

Mr Tulloch was "a bit of a hoarder" and got the boat from Rodney Beets, as partial payment for a metal boat that Mr Beets wanted.

Prior to that the former lifeboat had been in Wellington, Picton, Nelson and Auckland, and a cabin had been fitted to it.

Mr Tulloch tied it up at Whanganui's Town Wharf, and used it. When it was set on fire by vandals he took it home to his own section to keep it safe.

Wellington's Rhys Jones is planning a commemoration of the Wahine sinking next year - 50 years on. He was interested to hear about the former lifeboat in Whanganui, but said it would be of little interest in its present state.

He knew of another former Wahine lifeboat. It's being used as a sailing vessel by Outward Bound.

Mr Hair has his own lifeboat project. It's a former lifeboat from a boat he worked on, the Arahanga, "the workhorse of New Zealand's Tranz Rail ferry fleet". It was found to be corroded in 2000, and taken to India for breaking up.

The Arahanga lifeboat was built to hold 45 people and Mr Hair hopes to "resurrect" her.

He said there was a third former lifeboat in Whanganui. It was once aboard the Mikhail Lemontov, a Russian cruise ship that sank in the Marlborough Sounds in 1986. In that maritime disaster only one person died - an engineer who went down with the ship.

This lifeboat has also been fitted with a cabin, is in use, and is tied up at the foot of Pakaitore/Moutoa Gardens.