The Auckland-based steam tug William C Daldy is the only working steam tug in the Southern Hemisphere. Restored as a working vessel and listed with Heritage New Zealand as a protected object, the William C Daldy is also a valuable training site for for maritime certification. The latest project involves working alongside Motat and the Auckland Steam Engine Society to convert the steam tug to wood-based fuel from coal – offering a valuable prototype and testing bed for other coal burning machinery. The Freemasons Foundation helped fund the project, enabling the vintage vessel to retain its current survey and be berthed at Auckland’s Maritime Museum Viaduct for all Aucklanders to appreciate and enjoy.
Background
The vision of the Society is to maintain the Daldy as a living part of Auckland and New Zealand's maritime heritage for the 2035 centenary of its commissioning and beyond; and to provide current and future generations with hands-on experience of historic and evolving steam machinery technology.
The tug became a familiar sight on the harbour, running trips and charters and participating in the annual Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta as flagship, and more recently in the Moana Classic Boats Festival.
The revenue from these events helped to cover the running costs of the tug and the Society was fortunate in the support it has received from lotteries, trusts, companies and other organisations.
However, Covid put an end to trips and charters and delayed essential work on the tug. The current berth at Devonport wharf is causing damage from the tidal rips and wash from the ferries.
The Sustainable Future Working Group was set up at the AGM in September 2023 to secure a safe berth for the vessel, source funding to enable her to be brought back into service and identify options for the sustained operation of the vessel.
The Survey
Essential work is the two-yearly maritime survey which involves having the ship placed in a dry dock or on a slipway for hull cleaning, hull plate thickness testing
and associated repairs plus propellor shaft and seals testing and all sea valve seals checking and replacement as necessary.
The cost of slippage and getting up to survey is estimated to be over $200,000- more than we have in reserves at the moment. But, unless this work is completed in 2024, under current regulations, the Daldy will be out of time and would require being surveyed to contemporary standards, which would be almost impossible for this heritage tug to meet. That would also mean that the Society would miss the Summer 2024/5 of sailing and thousands of dollars of income.
Additionally, the Society has a verbal commitment from Eke Panuku that the Daldy can berth at the Maritime Museum if it has transitioned away from coal burning. The Working Group has been working with MOTAT and the Auckland Steam Engine Society on options for wood-based products and is confident the transition can be achieved over the next 18 months.
“I would also like to give my personal thanks to Judith Miller and the Freemasons Foundation for your generous support, without which we would not have been able to bring the ship back into survey this year. Since coming off the slip at Titan engineering we have had one very successful “shake down” run. As I write this I am about to meet with the engineering superintendent (Ken Pointon) to work on the logistics of our transition to a wood based “biofuel” from coal. We have secured the product from an Auckland factory and are designing a permanent solution to fuelling the ship.
I also want to thank Roger Carson for his wise counsel as we worked to keep the William C Daldy operational. We are planning a good steaming season this year!”
Peter Stone – Sustainable Future Working Group.
