Lady Daphne

Vessel numberHV000310

Vessel Registration NumberHT4437

Date1939

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 9.19 m x 8.84 m x 3.51 m x 1.52 m, 9.65 tonnes (30.15 ft x 29 ft x 11.5 ft x 5 ft, 9.8 tons)

DescriptionLADY DAPHNE was built for Cliff Thwaits from Portland on the west Victorian coastline. The 9.19 m long hull was carvel planked from demolition kauri and launched in 1939 under the name VALIANT. It was built as an open boat with a wet well and fished for barracouta. It was one of the longer couta boats - they were normally around 8.0 to 8.5 metres long.

Thwaits eventually sold it to Wally Croft in San Remo, and from there it went down to Stanley in Tasmania. It appears to have then changed hands three or four times. Reg Douglas owned it in Devonport, using it for crayfishing; he renamed it LADY DAPHNE. The wet well was still intact but there was now a small aft wheel house and a focs’le cabin, along with a 30 hp Lister diesel.

In 1989 it was purchased by Bill Jarvis, who used it as a pleasure boat. He sold it in 1991 to John Skromanis who added a larger deck house. In 1997 Skromanis swapped it for another boat with Rodney Abra, who renamed it RHIANNA and relocated the vessel to Launceston. The wet well was sealed over and access created through to the focs’le.

The next owner in 2003 reverted to the name LADY DAPHNE and gave the vessel a complete overhaul. The vessel was sold again in 2005. Papers with the craft show it was built by Locke in 1939, and with help from the Victorian Couta Boat Association and the Queenscliff Maritime Museum, it was identified as VALIANT. Later on, the craft was recognised by a former crewman who had worked on board when the boat was located in Stanley and still called VALIANT.
SignificanceLADY DAPHNE is a fishing boat built in Victoria in the late1930s. It is a well fishing boat and couta boat built in 1939 by Peter Locke, one of the major influences on couta boat development in Victoria. It had a 50 year career in the fishing industry before becoming a recreational craft. The superstructure has been modified a number of times since then.

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