Tinkerbell

Vessel numberHV000230

Vessel Registration Number179730

Previous NumberPU639 Q

Previous owner Maritime Industries Pty Ltd

Date1947

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 15 m x 4.72 m x 1.8 m, 30.58 tonnes (49.22 ft x 15.49 ft x 5.91 ft, 31.07 tons)

DescriptionThe carvel planked 15 metre vessel was built over two years by James Hayes and Sons, and launched for Maritime Industries Pty Ltd with the name JUDITH ANN. Hayes and Sons remain well known for many fine yachts and launches which operated on Sydney Harbour, but during the war like many yards they developed new skills.

Purse seine fishing involves dropping a net to encircle a school of fish. The open-ended bottom of the net is then drawn tight and hauled aboard and up a mast, and then opened again at the bottom to spill the catch for gutting, cleaning and packing below. The name derives from the action of a draw-string purse.

JUDITH ANN remained with Maritime Industries until about 1961. The register entry shows it changed hands again in 1962. JUDITH ANN was well known by the fisherman on the South Coast of New South Wales. One of the Puglisi fishing family remembers his first job was aboard the JUDITH ANN after emigrating to Australia in the 1960s.

The trawler was renamed TINKERBELL after 1998 and is now used as a recreational motor vessel, cruising the Australian coast. The mast that once lifted the nets aboard carries a small auxiliary or steadying sail. In 1998 the original Gardner engine was replaced with a Gardner 8LW.

In 2008 TINKERBELL retained its outward appearance of its earlier fishing days, it is now a cruising home for its current owners. The current owners see the virtues in the narrow stern, as the vessel handles a following or quartering sea more comfortably than a vessel with a wide stern.

SignificanceTINKERBELL is a purse seine trawler built by J. Hayes and Sons in Careening Cove NSW, and launched on 3 April 1947. It is an example of a large vessel built by a firm better known for its yachts and launches. The firm was forced to develop new skills building modest sized workboats for the services during World War II. It is possible that this hull was based on one of the those craft, particularly as it has a narrower stern than the typical purse seine trawler. TINKERBELL represents the diversification which took place in boatbuilding as a result of the War.