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Geranium

Vessel numberHV000395

Vessel Registration NumberYG532N

(not assigned)No 1393

Previous owner Royal Australian Navy (Australian, founded 1913)

Builder Royal Australian Navy (Australian, founded 1913)

Vessel type Royal Australian Navy Vessels

Date1950

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 10.36 m x 10.36 m x 2.67 m x 0.91 m (34 ft x 34 ft x 8.75 ft x 3 ft)

DescriptionSmall craft such as this were often attached to larger survey ships where they were carried aboard and launched to operate close inshore and gather data. GERANIUM was attached to HMAS BARCOO from 1952 to 1956, HMAS WARREGO from 1956 to 1959, and HMAS BARCOO again from 1959 to 1964.

The RAN Hydrographic Service is responsible for surveys and charts around Australia. It is constant work improving the detailed knowledge of the long coastline. The general outline had been recorded in the early 1800s, but earlier surveys needed to be checked and there is always a need for more accurate information, helped along by advances in technology. During World War II, areas often had to be surveyed to assist in planning and executing military operations to regain territory from the Japanese forces in the Pacific, or support ground forces already established in poorly charted locations.

It was renamed SAMANTHA when bought privately in 1972 when the navy disposed of the vessel, and it has been a recreational motor launch since that time. In 2010 it retains the exterior configuration and general layout of its time as a Survey Motor Boat, with an extension of the cabin top aft over the whole cockpit. In 2016 it was given the name GERANIUM again, a name that connects to an earlier RAN survey ship from the 1920s.
SignificanceGERANIUM is a wooden 34 Ft Survey Motor Boat built at the Garden Island Dockyard in Sydney, NSW and used by the Royal Australian Navy from 1950 to 1972.

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