WILLIAM C DALDY as built
The Auckland steam tug WILLIAM C DALDY of 1935
WILLIAM C DALDY as built
The twin-screw coal-fired steam tug WILLIAM C DALDY was built in Scotland in 1935, for the Auckland Harbour Board. She retired from the Harbour Board in 1977 and since then has been run by the William C Daldy Preservation Society. The vessel is normally moored at Devonport Wharf on Auckland's North Shore, and is steamed around the harbour on charters or public trips several times each year.
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Built |
1935 by Lobnitz & Co., Renfrew, Glasgow, Scotland. Yard number 986.
Launched
1st October 1935
Left U.K.
7th November 1935
Arrived Auckland
30th January 1936
Official Number
157787
Total Price
£30,499 Sterling including delivery to Auckland
Owners
Auckland Harbour Board
Registered tonnage:
348 gross
Speed
13.4 knots on trials
Bollard Pull
17 tons (at approximately 1,300 I.H.P.)
Registered Length
127 feet (38.7 metres)
Beam
34 feet 6 inches (10.5 metres)
Draft
15 feet (4.5 metres)
Boilers
Two coal fired Scotch boilers, with 3 furnaces in each
Engines
Two triple expansion steam engines, surface condensing.
980 Indicated Horse Power each. 110 - 115 revolutions per minute.
Propellers
Two 11 feet (3.4 metres) diameter
Bunker capacity
130 tons
Coal consumption
Long tow 1 ton/hour. Harbour work 3 - 3.5 a day
Crew (in working days)
10 - Master, Mate, 2 deckhands, 3 engineers and 3 firemen.
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1st October 1935 - WILLIAM C DALDY launched by Lobnitz & Co. at Renfrew, Scotland
The WILLIAM C DALDY was named after the Auckland Harbour Board's first chairman.
She was built in Scotland and delivered to New Zealand for the total sum of
£30,499. The voyage from Glasgow to Auckland took 81 days, calling at Algiers,
Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Djakarta and Townsville.
26 Feb 1936, she made a trip to Tiri Tiri Matangi Island, with Harbour
Board Guests, including descendants of William Crush Daldy. En route, she
did a full speed trial, and her speed was measured at 13.8 knots - rather more
than the 13.4 knots she had achieved on a blustery day on the River Clyde
back in Scotland.
Thereafter, the WILLIAM C DALDY settled down to her normal working life
- assisting ships as they moved around the port of Auckland. She was
assisted in this by the 1908 tug Auckland Harbour Board tug TE AWHINA.
In the early days of the tug's working life, there were still occasional
visits to Auckland by square rigged sailing ships. These would give the
'DALDY some of her longer tows, well out into the Hauraki Gulf.
The 'Daldy was busy through the War years, with occasional
'rescue' trips outside the Waitemata. In March 1942 she was off North Cape,
to take in tow the disabled tramp steamer SINGKEP and tow her to Auckland.
June 1944 saw the 'Daldy once more off North Cape, where the
steamer KOTOR was ashore. With help from the KAIMIRO, the KOTOR
was refloated, but the WILLIAM C DALDY was then in trouble herself from the
bad weather. With decks awash, the water in the bilges was rising, and she had to
run for shelter, before eventually returning to Auckland.
Life as a harbour tug continued for the WILLIAM C DALDY after the War,
working with the TE AWHINA, until in 1958 they was joined by the new twin screw steam
tug AUCKLANDER. The three tugs were kept busy with the large variety of passenger ships,
cargo ships and tankers calling at the port.
1935 - WILLIAM C DALDY on trials
30 January 1936 - WILLIAM C DALDY arriving in the Waitemata from her builders
Working Days on the Waitemata
WILLIAM C DALDY assisting NIAGARA, with MONTEREY in background
23 January 1938 with PAMIR in the Rangitoto Channel