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Natoma

Vessel numberHV000764

Builder Bayer Bros

Date1912

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 9 m (29.53 ft)

DescriptionNATOMA was built for a Melchior Arthur Jenny, from a design thought to have been adapted by Alfred Blore from lines printed in the classic boating magazine Rudder. The four Bayes brothers built many vessels, including the steamboats UBEANA, SILVER CROWN, KOOYA and the fishing boat D.J.V. (HV000570). Jenny was Austrian by birth, but had spent many years in New Zealand and was a citizen from 1893. He was involved in boating there before he came to Hobart in 1913. He departed during 1916, and its understood he commissioned NATOMA during 1914. It is first noted in the press taking part in a race in 1915, but the owner is not recorded.

The 9.3m long NATOMA has a beam of 2.3m and draws 0.7m. The vessel is now powered by a 22hp, 1500rpm twin cylinder diesel. Its hull is Huon pine with a deck of marine bonded ply. The cabin is Huon and King Billy pine.

While in Hobart, Jenny had been active with the St. Johns Presbyterian Church, and around the time of his departure he donated NATOMA to the Presbyterian Mission for use in the New Hebrides. While under Presbyterian ownership Natoma was generally operated by one of its congregation, R. J. Chipman, a Hobart mechanic. Plans were abandoned to take it to the New Hebrides and it was leased to the Tasmanian Health Department to operate as a patrol boat stationed at the Barnes Bay Quarantine Station during the 1919 influenza epidemic.

NATOMA operated as the umpire’s boat at the 1921 Hobart Regatta, loaned by her new owners the Thompson brothers, but also found time in the same event to race as a First-Class Motor Boat, coming third to SNAKE and ARISTOCRAT II. It obtained much the same result on handicap at the Lindisfarne Regatta on 26 February, only that second place was taken by DARRACQ, despite being “of course” first across the line. The Thompsons advertised NATOMA for sale on several occasions including in 1922-1923, but appear to have remained owners until at least the late 1930s, regularly racing the vessel in the 1920s as well as loaning her for further use as an umpire’s boat for rowing races till at least 1931. Although she does not appear in Opening of Season programmes from 1925 to 1938, NATOMA appears again on 21 October 1939, entered by B. Thompson.

NATOMA was advertised for sale in 1953, and was sold to E. H. Pulfer, Sen., accountant and Commodore of the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania. For many years’ owner of the launches MOERANGI and ORANA, he purchased NATOMA because ORANA was too big to race around buoys. In 1954 he entered NATOMA in the Speed Boat race at the Hobart Regatta but it was one of four boats disqualified on technicalities.

From 1935 to 1964 NATOMA was owned by two generations of the Pulter family, of Lindisfarne, and was then sold to Jim Head and fitted with a 28hp Dave Brown tractor engine.

Mr. Head lived at Queenstown but the boat was moored at Kingston and looked after by Kettering fishing identity Murray Sward. From 1973, the vessel was used as a fishing boat for 20 years by Bill and Vera Coad, of Cygnet. Owners since 1994 were Doug Francis, who sold it in 1995 to Henry and Kay Jacobs, of Rose Bay, who began the most recent restoration.

With the recently completed restoration of NATOMA under its current owners Joseph and Kathleen Basile, the bronze and brass fittings have been retained where possible, including the solid bronze rudder. It remains in good condition and in regular use.

In the early days NATOMA was powered by a 28hp Boulton and Paul engine, and skippered by Robert Joseph Chipman, who lived at The Bluff, Bellerive. One of whose sons, John, lived at Lindisfarne when interviewed about NATOMA and remembered many trips on the launch and its several successes in regatta events. "She was a pretty slippery boat in those days," he said. He was delighted to hear of the vessel’s restoration. "It is just great to see these old boats kept alive".

Text compiled with reference to research by G Broxam 2019.
SignificanceNATOMA is a wooden motor launch built in Tasmania in 1914, It was built at the well-known Purdon & Featherstone shipyard at Battery Point, Tasmania by the Bayes Brothers and is a rare example of their output. It has a long history as a recreational vessel and was used during WWI as a patrol boat around the Derwent and D'Entrecasteaux Channel region.