Ship To Serve In Crayfish Trawling

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31045, 28 April 1966, Page 14

Ship To Serve In Crayfish Trawling

Major structural alterations will be made to the 313-ton, twin-screw motor vessel Willomee at Lyttelton to enable her to trawl and be a mother ship to five 40ft crayfish boats in the Chathams. She arrived last week-end. Mr J. Gisbey, of Invercargill, said at Lyttelton yesterday, that the wooden-hulled Willomee would be stripped of her forward hatch coaming and redecked. She would also be fitted almost immediately with a 100-ton capacity freezer, the largest to be installed in any New Zealandregistered trawler. This would mean that the Willomee would be able to bring the crayfish catch direct to New Zealand from the Chathams.

The crayfish boats and the Willomee are all owned by Mr Gisbey, who recently purchased the latter from the Pearl Kaspar Shipping Company, of Nelson. She will be fitted for side trawling, according to Mr Gisbey. He said that the Willomee had a service speed of 10 knots and was a sturdy craft. She was built at the Government

Shipyard, Hobart, in 1945, as a powered lighter to supply the needs of troops scattered round the islands of the Pacific. It was too late for her to be put to this use so that she began her career as a deep-sea trawler for Australian Fisheries. Ltd. Later, the Willomee was purchased by a syndicate who ran her out of Singapore to the China Coast. There was a strong suspicion of gun-running and she was eventually abandoned at the former port. Another purchaser was Captain W. Aspen, of Auckland, who purchased her for coastal trading but she was later acquired for Cook Strait trading by Pearl Kaspar. For the last two years she has been laid up at Nelson. Mr Gisbey believes she is a good ship as her hull is of Australian hardwood and because she is not very old. “If all goes well, we should be ready to leave for the Chathams by the end of next month,” he said. Mr Gisbey said the Willomee would be able to carry 5000 gallons of fuel and 3000 gallons of fresh water.