130 Boating New Zealand
harbour. Together the museum and the
shipyard – Lengerhane (house of anchors) and
Tersane (shipyard) – exceed 27,000m^2 in area.
Bigger than Rome’s St Peter’s Square.A ONE-OFF?
The museum’s latest acquisition – Maid of
Honour – is a special boat and bringing her
back to life was anything but easy. She was
built at the J. Samuel White & Co. shipyard in
East Cowes in 1927 as picket boat 1694, one of
the British Royal Navy’s very first ‘bell funnel’
diesel-powered barges.
The then-sovereign George V (1910-1936),
the last owner of the legendary royal cutter
Britannia (scuttled after the king’s death),
specified that 1694’s brass bell funnel be
retained – even though her twin diesels made
it superfluous – because he ‘liked the look of it’.
Unlike her older sister-ships fitted with a
single steam engine and propeller, 1694 was
equipped with twin screws. Her lengthened
round stern is also unusual – boats of the time
mostly carried a square transom. Because of
these unusual features, many observers believe
Maid of Honour might have been a one-off.
She allegedly served several Royal Navy
units, notably the Nelson-Class battleships
HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney, as well as the
Admiral-Class battlecruiser HMS Hood – for
years the largest warship in the world. In 1941ABOVE The ill-fated
HMS Hood – pride of
the Royal Navy.
LEFT Maid of Honour
was once a hard-
working naval support
vessel.
RIGHT Shipwright Mike
Summers – the genius
behind the restoration.
BELOW Rebuilding the
hull was an exercise in
research and patience.