Riverboat rises again

WHERE'S WAIRUA? The bow of the Wairua can just be seen at low tide in this photo from the 1980s. PICTURE: MARK CAMPBELL

The Wairua was built by Yarrow and Co in 1904 at Poplar in east London, on the banks of the Thames. In the mid-19th century, Yarrow pioneered the kitset boat, which had proved to be popular in Britain's remoter colonies, many of which had neither railways nor roads, so navigable inland rivers were the main means of moving people and goods.
In New Zealand, the kitset boats were the backbone of the Whanganui River steamer fleet of Hatrick and Co. Designated a national highway by Government, the Whanganui was one of New Zealand's few navigable rivers and penetrated deep into the remote and rugged heartland of the central North Island. It had the largest catchment area of any New Zealand river and even after1900, it was decades before there were reliable all-weather roads going inland.
The Wairua was 65 feet (20m) long and eight feet (2.5m) wide. Being so narrow and having an average draught of only one foot (30cm), it could float its way to damn near anywhere there was knee-deep water and was ideal for use on a shallow waterway like the Whanganui. During construction in England, the Wairua's plates were bolted together until the hull was completed, then they were individually numbered in sequence and disassembled, the parts shipped in crates by sea, rail and horse-drawn wagon to their end destination where they were reassembled in the order of their numbering.
Initially powered by steam, the Wairua was driven by a single propeller in a unique "tunnel hull". Pioneered by Yarrow, this system allowed the propeller to sit tucked inside a cavity in the bottom of the boat's hull, allowing the vessel to "bottom out" in shallow water without damaging the propeller. Its engine was a two-cylinder compound of 66 IHP (indicated horsepower), which had been built by Simpson Strickland & Co in the UK, and was powered by a boiler built by Thornycroft. Regrettably, this boiler proved to be more trouble than it was worth, so the steam machinery was replaced by a Thornycroft internal combustion oil engine of 70 BHP.
When completed, the Wairua and its twin, the Waiora, joined a small fleet of similar vessels on the Pipiriki to Taumaranui run, which was pioneered by the MV Ongarue in 1903.
These were heady days where overland travel was concerned. The construction of the main trunk railway had only reached as far south as Taumarunui, so to get from Auckland to Wellington, you left the train at Taumarunui and travelled by riverboat to Wanganui (a two-day journey with a stopover at Pipiriki) and then catch another train to Wellington.
This was to be the Wairua's lot until the river trade began to decline. The main trunk railway was completed in 1912, so considerably fewer travellers used the Whanganui. Then in 1936, the Whanganui River Road to Pipiriki was opened and traffic declined even further.
By the 1940s, many riverboats were laid up and the Wairua was returned to Wanganui where she was stripped of her decks and superstructure to become a mooring hulk for other vessels. Eventually, rust in the hull popped through and she sank just up-river of the Hatrick office, opposite Moutua Gardens in Wanganui, sinking slowly into the mud until eventually, only a portion of the bow remained in view.
By the mid-1980s, Dave McDermid, Mark Campbell, Kevin Clark and Roy Harkness had become involved with Vance Crozier, owner of the MV Waireka, the only working riverboat left on the Whanganui River.
Vance was keen to spearhead the return of traditional tourist trips to Pipiriki by boat and while they were doing this, the four became keen on the idea of acquiring their own riverboat, so there would be another riverboat working, as in the days of old.
They were aware of the existence of the Wairua wreck, which was close to the riverbank and would therefore be easy to salvage so, inevitably, they decided to give it a go.
"One evening we were sitting around having some dinner and we said 'let's have a crack' at salvaging the Wairua," Dave says. "Crozier was keen on salvaging the Waimarie, but the others, including me, weren't so confident in our ability to do it. It was a good deal larger than the Wairua and would have required far more resources than we could manage. However, we were pretty confident we could salvage the Wairua and reckoned that by pooling our resources we would be able to restore it." Assisted by Loader and Company, which made a digger and driver available for use, in October 1987 the team acquired poles to lay in the mud at low tide so Mark Buckridge, the digger operator, could drive out to the wreck.
This proved to be less successful than anticipated, so they accumulated old earthmoving tyres that worked a good deal better, enabling Buckridge to dig a substantial trench around the outside of the hull. Wairua's hull was completely open along the top, there being no decks or superstructure to impede access, so Buckridge was able to scoop out large quantities of sediment from inside the hull as well.
At the end the hull was completely exposed and proved to be in less than good condition. Roy was all for leaving it there and as the tide returned and it refilled with water a magnificent photo was taken of water pouring out through the numerous holes, but the others were all for forging on, so the work continued.
Although it was now fully exposed, the hull could still not move because the bottom was filled with compacted silt, so over the next few days they organised a fire hose from the shore and as the tide receded they used the hose to blast the silt loose, which allowed it to rise to the surface and be carried away by the tide. This worked well on the mud, but the bottom was lined with coarse beach sand and stones that would rise, only to fall back.
This time it was the Fire Brigade Social Club that rose to the occasion. Deciding this was an opportunity for an exercise, they arrived in a fire engine equipped with a "type A" ejector, a powerful piece of equipment normally used for pumping out basements and the like. The fire crew got it going and promptly sucked the bulk of the material out.
Next, wooden beams were fastened across the sides of the boat so the team could begin to stuff the hull with empty drums and sealed plastic containers, which would keep water out and provide flotation, only to be forced to suspend operations while the river was in flood.
There was concern that the hull would refill with silt, but when the waters receded it was discovered that this didn't seem to be the case, so the work continued.
"After a particularly grubby, drawn-out day, we went over the road to the Federal Hotel for a beer and at the time we were pretty broke," Dave says. "Mark Campbell had a good win on the pokies and I won a bottle of whisky in a raffle. The Federal used to shut early and when it come around to closing time most of the people in the public bar would get tipped out, but we were sort of like celebrities by that stage, so the publican let us go to the lounge bar and drink with his mates." They trooped to the lounge and were having another drink when Dave's daughter Isabella and Kevin's son Nicolas turned up, knocking furiously on the hotel doors to tell them the boat was floating!
While they were drinking, the tide had come in and the boat had risen. Racing to the riverbank, they were able to winch the hull out of the hole it was floating in and beached it on the slipway behind the Sea Cadet building. There they were able to add more flotation containers and clean some more of the mess out of it. Mark Buckridge then turned up with his jet boat and using it to to tow the hulk, they dragged the Wairua under the town bridge and on to the Putiki slipway.
"Since the stern was higher in the water than the bow, we took it on to the slipway stern first," Dave says. "But we made a few errors there. "We took it up the slip too quick, we hadn't realised how much silt and water were still inside and it all rushed to the front, which was not well supported and the weight of it bent the hull. "I wasn't too worried about that though for when the time came for plating we would straighten it out. In spite of all, we had made it! This was probably the first successful salvage of a Wanganui riverboat." ¦Part 2 next week.