Latura

Vessel numberHV000743

Date1924

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 7.31 m × 7.16 m × 1.98 m × 0.46 m, 4.88 tonnes (24 ft × 23.5 ft × 6.5 ft × 1.5 ft, 4.8 tons)

DescriptionLATURA is a “V” bottom, chined hull shape, 7.163 m LOA X 1.981 m beam X .457 m draft. It is built of Huon Pine on hardwood frames. Inspiration for the boa’s design was noted from the 1923 Rudder Magazine of the USA where it was advertised as “The first Everybody’s Motor Boat”.

The “V” bottom chined design was a shift from the traditional hull form of the time and LATURA was the first “V” bottom chined design to be built in Tasmania and amongst the first in Australia. LATURA also featured a raised foredeck and an open canopy over the cockpit area. The structure consisted of hardwood keel .101m thick by .152 deep with 32 Huon Pine frames measuring .038m X .038 m square spaced .304 m apart. Every second frame had a knee at the chine. The chine was set on .101 m square timber, diagonally cut, forming a triangular timber at the chine. Once framed the Huon Pine planks measuring .139 m X .025 m were hung and fixed as a carvel construction hull that was splined with Huon Pine cut from the original decking timbers.

LATURA was the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania’s oldest original club boat and on March 16, 1924, LATURA was the second of 24 boats in the first Championship Pennant of the Derwent. It was from this race that the Derwent Motor Boat Club and later, the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania, was formed.

The following is an extract from the History of the MYCT. “The four men organized a long distance motor boat race to New Norfolk on 16 March 1924, and the first Championship Pennant of the Derwent was provided for the boat completing the course in the fastest time. There were twenty competitors, and the function proved an outstanding success. The race was won by Messrs Reading Bros’. MALUNNA with H. Featherstone’s LATURA second and L. Craske’s LINDIFORD third. H C Millington’s ARISTOCRAT won the championship pennant which was donated and presented by Mrs W E Taylor.”

LATURA remained in the club (MYCT) until about 1933 when sold to the Clarks from Birchs Bay. Other owners have included Ben Price (Dover), the Choppings, Brian and Joy Hope (New Town), and David Boyes (Hobart) who organised a major modernisation of the old boat by Muirs also at Battery Point. He sold it to Dr R Rayner, then followed a succession of owners- Basil Marsden, Kay and Peter Sierzant who owned the launch from 1982 – 1996, and then Dr Lewis Garnham.

Over time LATURA was transformed to what was then a modern cabin cruiser. From being an open boat when launched, the following year LATURA had been fitted with a ‘hutch’ style cabin that was later glassed and curtained in. LATURA had been out of the water for over seven years and under Dr Garnham’s ownership, over the next seven years, the hull was repaired and the deck and cabin rebuilt and crafted back to the original William Hand design as in the Rudder Magazine.

LATURA was re-launched for the 2003 Wooden Boat Festival and has cruised extensively since then. Soon after her restoration work Lew Garnham was contacted by a member of the Wooden Boat Guild of Tasmania Martin Le Mann who resides in Bowral NSW. Martin’s forbears were responsible for delivering the first fingerlings to the Salmon Ponds at New Norfolk, Tasmania. Martin approached the Guild to see if a member could provide a craft to re-enact the trip of his forebears re-tracing delivery of salmon fingerlings. Lew and his wife Liz came to the rescue and took Martin and his wife out in LATURA to complete the re-enactment as much as was possible. Lew had fore-warned Martin that they could not get beyond the Bridgewater Bridge due to the disrepair of the lifting gear. Martin was more than happy with his cruise in LATURA with some fingerlings and a picnic lunch aboard.

LATURA has in recent years been twice in the Bruny Island boat race, once to Port Arthur and around Tasman Island and was winner of the Bruny Island Salute and the MYCT Betsy Island Race. Latura was sold to the current owners who will exhibit the craft proudly at future Australian Wooden Boat Festivals. As well they regularly cruise the Derwent River and D’Entrecasteaux Chanel waterways.

SignificanceLATURA is a wooden motor cruiser built in Tasmania in 1912. It was built by Bayes Brothers for Henry Inkerman Featherstone in 1924 at Hobart’s famed Battery Point boat and ship yards, and based on a design from American naval architect William Hand. It has a long history of operation on the Derwent at Hobart, and was one of the original motor boats that raced with the Derwent Motor Boat Club, the forerunner of the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania. Henry Featherstone was a manager of Purdon and Featherstone, one of the principal shipbuilding yards on Battery Point.