Build Date
1910
Boat Builder
George Niccol
Length
80 Feet 4 Inches
Beam
21 Feet 5 Inches
Combine’s Early Years
Built as a schooner-rigged deck scow Combine was one of the later and smaller scows to come out of New Zealand. She was built by George Niccol in Auckland out of recycled timber from other less fortunate vessels. This is how she got her name – combine.
Her first owners in 1910 were Jean Kathleen Niccol, George McLauchlin Niccol and Ada Beatrice Niccol who only owned her for one year. John Williams also owned Combine in 1910 but his ownership lasted until 1912 and Winstone Ltd., owned her for the longest from 1910-1945.
Draught
3 Feet 6 Inches
Weight
55.73 GT / 39.23 NT
Official Number
130069
Combine’s Mishaps
During her years Combine had several collisions in Auckland. In 1911 with J. Williams at the helm she crashed with Pupuke. With W.J. Lane as skipper she collided with Hazel Craig in 1915 and Kaiapoi in 1926. She also had a collision with the Northern Steamship company’s ship Otimai in 1935 with S. Hakanson in charge and then in 1939 she struck Eaglehawk.
As well as collisions Combine struck some other problems a time or two as well. In 1915 she both foundered in Auckland with J.E.I. Thompson at the helm and was stranded on Waihara Beach with W.M. Thompson as skipper. In 1937 she two more incidents, springing a leak at Tutukaka Heads and getting stranded in Auckland. D. Scott was in charge for both of these incidents.
In 1921 Winstone Ltd., converted her into a barge and reregistered her as such. But this didn’t even last the year as she was converted back to a scow within the same year. This back and forth continued many years later when she was again converted into a barge by Winstones Ltd. It was whilst working as a barge that Combine met her end traveling from Mercury Bay fully loaded with timber and under tow by Monas Isle. Combine was unmanned so when she sprung a leak and started sinking there was nothing that could be done. The tow line was cut and Combine capsized and sunk to the bottom off Kennedy Bay, not far from Whitianga. There were salvage attempts days later but they weren’t successful and Combine was abandoned to the sea.
References
To Research Combine we used the book A History of New Zealand Scows and their Trades by David Langdon.
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