 The
Royal New Zealand Coastguard Federation has acquired five fortyfour-foot
Waveney class rescue vessels from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
(R.N.L.I.) in U. K. to deal with long-distance rescues or to act as
"mother" vessels in major rescue operations. -
- Twentytwo all-weather Waveney's were
built by the R.N.L.I. between 1962 and 1982, based on a
U.S. Coastguard (U.S.C.G.) cutter design, and designed to
lie always afloat, as opposed to being launched from
shore housing by slipway or carriage. They have a length
of 13.62 metres, and a beam of 3.84 metres, displace 18.5
tonnes, and have twin diesels giving a speed of 15.5
knots. The first arrived on board Pegasus Bay at
Wellington on 25th April 1998, destined for the Mana
Volunteer Coastguard. She was lifted off by container
crane on the morning of 26th April, and sailed around to
Porirua Harbour later the same day.
-
- Subsequent arrivals are to be based
in Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Auckland and all will be
delivered over the next three years, with P. & O.
Nedlloyd giving generous support by shipping all five
vessels (one at a time) to New Zealand on board their
container ships free of charge, forgoing freight of about
$350,000.
-
- We have mentioned Coastguard
lifeboats from time to time previously, and Sumner
lifeboats were mentioned in Vol. 47, No.1. The full story
of lifeboats in New Zealand is extremely interesting, and
the following is reproduced from the Coastguard Profile
booklet published in 1997 to mark the twentieth
anniversary of the Federation.
-
- "Coastguard is effectively part of
New Zealand's history with the first community-based
rescue boats at work in the early 1860s. They began in
South Canterbury and on the West Coast. As South
Canterbury opened up to farming, Timaru had no harbour
and immigrant ships and small landing vessels had
difficulty putting settlers ashore in bad weather. Many
vessels foundered with loss of life. The first report of
a rescue boat being on stand-by at Timaru came from the
"Lyttelton Times" which reported in October 1861 that
'the lifeboat, stationed at Le Crens', could not be
launched except by taking it a mile away. On 18th June
1862 the Canterbury Provincial Secretary wrote to London
to order a double-ended 33-foot boat with a six-foot
beam, complete with launching carriage and provision for
six pulling oars and a steersman. It was built in England
for o300 and arrived in Timaru in 1864. It was named
Alexandra and the highlight of its long service record
was the rescue in 1882 of fortythree passengers when two
sailing ships, City of Perth and Benvenue, were wrecked.
The boat made several rescues, then rolled four times
with the loss of ten lives, including seven members of
the rescue boat team. The spirit of courage and
selflessness which Alexandra's crew showed in that storm
goes on to this day as rescue boats go about their
business. Across on the west coast of the South Island,
sketchy records show that an English-built thirty-foot
double-ended lifeboat was in action in 1865 at the gold
rush shanty town of Okarito, south of Hokitika. Small
sailing vessels from Australia and other New Zealand
centres converged in 1864 on the estuary port as gold
diggers arrived in droves and many vessels were wrecked
at the entrance to Okarito.
-
- Coastguard as we know it effectively
started at Sumner, Christchurch, in 1898 when another
double-ended lifeboat was imported from England to rescue
those who got into trouble at the hazardous bar. It was
New Zealand's first inshore rescue service and continues
to this day as part of the Royal New Zealand Coastguard
Federation's network. Since 1898, Sumner Lifeboat
Institution, which retains the same name today, has
provided a 24-hour service with a series of bigger and
better rescue boats.
-
- "The use of the name 'Coastguard'
started in Auckland in 1937 with the formation of a
voluntary organisation run on paramilitary lines
(complete with uniforms and ranks), which called itself
the New Zealand Coastguard. It changed its name to the
New Zealand Coastguard Service in 1947 but by 1964, when
its membership had fallen to twentytwo, deliberately
built into its title the word 'Volunteer'. That single
decision publicly recognised the development of a purely
voluntary approach to saving lives around New Zealand and
since then the name Coastguard has come to reflect its
volunteer role. The Federation was established at a
meeting in Taupo in July 1976 by eight Coastguard
organisations which felt the time had come to work
together to develop a common approach to
search-and-rescue. In a generous move, the New Zealand
Coastguard Volunteer Service changed its name to Auckland
Volunteer Coastguard Service to allow for the emergence
of a new national organisation called The New Zealand
Coastguard Federation. In 1981, H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales toured New Zealand and spent many hours with
Coastguard at Sumner, including a turn at the helm of a
rescue boat. In 1990 he accepted an invitation from the
Federation to recognise the valuable work of Coastguard
by becoming its patron and Her Majesty the Queen granted
the title 'Royal' on 17th September 1990. Today, the
Federation represents fiftyfour voluntary Coastguard
units and has full national coverage in all significant
recreational boating waters.
-
- "Many of the rescue boats today are
of the new breed of rigid-hulled inflatables,
manufactured in New Zealand, of high speed, with their
light weight well-suited to rescuing people close to
shore from small recreational craft. Some find that the
older, more traditional, ex-R.N.L.I. boats imported for
specialist roles such as the self-righting Rother class
(Greymouth's Ivan Talley and Sumner's Rescue III) or
fast, long-range, self-righting Brede class (Nelson's
Sealord Rescue) look more 'lifeboatish'.
-
 "The
newly-acquired Waveney class boat was named Nicholsons Rescue at a
sponsors' naming ceremony at Mana marina on 21st May 1998. This particular
boat carried the number 44017 in the R.N.L.I. fleet, and was built
in 1976, and carried the name The Nelsons of Donaghadee, stationed
at Donaghadee until 1980. On 3rd September that year, she was renamed
as Wavy Line at a ceremony in St. Katherine's Dock, London, by the
Chairman of Wavy Line Grocers Ltd., Uxbridge, Middlesex, and was then
allocated to the Relief Fleet, being used to relieve other lifeboats
from their station to permit them to undertake surveys and overhauls.
During this period, she served at Newhaven, Dover, Ramsgate, Hartlepool,
Eyemouth,Whitby, Blyth, Humber, Amble, Sunderland, Teesmouth, returning
to most stations for relief work on several occasions. Her R.N.L.I.
service finished, she was stored at the R.N.L.I. Poole Depot from
25th April 1997 until loaded on to Pegasus Bay at Southampton on 8th
March 1998. During her active career in U. K. waters, she had answered
230 call-outs and saved 74 lives.-
- "Affiliates of the Royal New Zealand
Coastguard Federation Inc. are based at
Auckland,Canterbury, Cape Egmont, East Cape, Gisborne,
Hawkes Bay, Hokianga, Howick, Kaikoura, Kaipara, Kapiti,
Lake Brunner, Lake Taupo, Mana, Manawatu, Manukau,
Marlborough, Motueka, Nelson, North Harbour, North
Kaipara, Northland, Opitiki, Papakura, Raglan, Riverton,
Rotorua Lakes, South Canterbury, South Taranaki, Sumner,
Taranaki, Tauranga, Thames, Turangi, Waihau Bay, Waiheke,
Waihi Beach, Waikanae, Waimakariri-Ashley, Waiuku,
Wanganui, Wellington, West Coast-Buller, Whakatane,
Whangamata, Whangaruru and Whitianga. It most cases the
geographical name is part of its formal name, e.g.
Kaikoura is Kaikoura Volunteer Coastguard
Inc.
-
- "Funding receives on-going support
from the Lottery Grants Board together with funding from
major national or local commercial sponsors, or through
community fund-raising by Coastguard units themselves.
The N.Z. Water Safety Council provides funding support
for Coastguard's 'Day Skipper' course which is seen as a
valuable aid to boating safety.
-
- "The Royal New Zealand Coastguard
Federation invites funding support from individuals and
commercial companies, and the Federation is an
I.R.D.-approved charitable organisation and donations are
tax deductible. Individuals can help by becoming a
personal member of the Federation (annual subscription
$22.50), by becoming a member of their nearest Coastguard
unit, making a donation, leaving a bequest, or by
becoming a principal, major, or contributing corporate
sponsor of Coastguard.
-
- Volume
48,
Number 4,
2000
-
- "We mentioned the Waveney class
lifeboats in Vol. 47, No.2, and other recent lifeboat
arrivals in Vol.47, No.4. The first former R.N.L.I
Waveney class lifeboat to arrive was Nicholsons Rescue,
operated by Mana Volunteer Coastguard as previously
reported. In 2000 Waveney she was renamed Trust Poriua
Rescue. The boat was built by Bideford Shipyard Ltd. in
1975 and carried the operational number
44-017.
The second Waveney class lifeboat was
named P&O Nedlloyd Rescue by Waiheke Volunteer
Coastguard. The boat was built by Bideford Shipyard Ltd. in
1975, carried the operational number 44-019 and was named
Louis Marchesi Of Round Table. She had 506 service call-outs
and saved 264 lives.
The third Waveney class lifeboat was
donated to Kaikoura Volunteer Coastguard on 20th November
1999 and named John Barton Acland Rescue, after an early
pioneer of high country station Mt. Peel, Canterbury. The
boat was built by Fairey Allday Marine in 1982, carried the
operational number 44-022 and was named The William And
Jane. She had 149 service call-outs and saved 54
lives.
The fourth Waveney class lifeboat was
named Rotary Rescue at Raglan on 5th December 1999, with aid
from Hamilton Rotary Club. Raglan Volunteer Coastguard
operates her. The boat was built by by Fairey Allday Marine
in 1979, carried the operational number 44-020 and was named
John Fison. She had 270 service call-outs and saved 102
lives.
The fifth Waveney class lifeboat arrived
in New Zealand on board the container ship Mairangi Bay at
Napier on 29th January 2000. She is to be operated by Hawkes
Bay Volunteer Coastguard. The boat was built by by Fairey
Allday Marine in 1980, carried the operational number 44-021
and was named Barham. She had 275 service call-outs and
saved 82 lives.
- The sixth Waveney class lifeboat
arrived on board the container ship Resolution Bay at
Wellington on 11th February 2000. The boat was built by
Groves & Guttridge, East Cowes, in 1974, carried the
operational number 44-010 and was named Thomas Forehead
and Mary Rowse, stationed at Plymouth, England. She had
358 service call-outs and saved 126 lives. Operated by
Taranaki Volunteer Coastguard, she was renamed Westgate
Rescue, and is to also serve as a back-up pilot boat. She
was unloaded directly into the harbour on arrival at
Wellington and spent a few days in Chaffers and Seaview
Marina before sailing for New Plymouth. With the
exception of the Kaikoura lifeboat, all the others were
purchased with a fifty per cent grant from The Lottery
Grants Board. The balance came from local business and
community sponsors. P&O Nedlloyd shipped all the
lifeboats from Tilbury to New Zealand free of charge. All
unloading charges were waived at Wellington, Napier and
Auckland.
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