146 Boating New Zealand
with HAROLD KIDDVINTAGEVIEW
Charles Primrose Murdoch was
the first Commodore of the RNZYS
when it received its Royal Warrant
in September 1902, and Ida wore his
Commodore’s pennant. After buying
her from the Jagger brothers in 1899,
he set to work tuning Ida.A Bailey far
from home
IDA PART 2
H
e took the North Shore Sailing Club’s Dunning Cup
and the Parnell Sailing Club’s Jagger Cup in his first
season with her. At the beginning of the 1900-01
season the New Zealand Herald reported that she
now was “greatly improved in sailing powers”. In
December 1900, in a howling northeaster, Murdoch had a well-
deserved victory in the Open Race at the Ponsonby Regatta.
By now he was Vice-Commodore of the Auckland Yacht Club
and clearly set to replace John Wiseman as Commodore. In fact,
Wiseman resigned in September 1900, but suggested that C.A.
Harris, the owner of the large oil launch Queen Of Beauty should
take his place.
Factions were at work which we can only glimpse at this
distance. Next Wiseman withdrew his resignation. After some
interesting politics, Wiseman resigned again and Murdoch
swept in as a very popular Commodore.
Murdoch was Commodore with Ida from 1901 to 1907,
during which time he guided the club through a name change to
the ‘New Zealand Yacht Squadron’ in 1901, to the receipt of its
Royal Warrant a year later. It is fair to say that the foundations
of the modern club were laid during his tenure of office.
Under Murdoch’s vigorous and progressive policies the
Squadron grew to a permanent maturity, with rented clubrooms
in Palmerston Buildings, the status of a Royal Warrant (giving