Gleam: 42ft Fishing Boat Built By A.J. Morgan
Circa 1946
Build Date
A.J. Morgan
Boat Builder
42ft
Length
12ft
Beam
Building The Gleam
Launched on the 1 November 1946, the Gleam is a granddaddy of the NZ inshore fishing fleet. Built by A.J. Morgan in Picton just after World War Two, hard wood was difficult to find so some kiwi ingenuity was used to get the timber needed. The Gleam’s stringers were taken from timber salvaged from a century old church. It was built with accommodation for six in a bridge decker style.
However, despite the Gleams fishing legacy it didn’t start life as a fishing boat. The Gleam was originally built for J.J. Ewing who worked for an oil company in Wellington called Atlantic Union Oil Co. Unfortunately, Ewing died before the build was complete.
The Gleam sat in Paremata for a few years before Len Leo brought the boat as his farm vessel. Leo was a farmer on D’Urville Island, so the Gleam became very useful for transporting stock and materials around the Marlborough Sounds. At this time the Gleam was a big boat which made it very useful for people throughout the region. The Gleam was used for the mail run, transporting materials for the Farewell Spit lighthouse and even for sea burials.
Jack Guard and the Start of the Gleam’s Fishing Career
In 1953 Stephen Godfrey (Jack) Guard brought the Gleam. Guard is said to have liked the lines of the boat and its size made it useful for transporting timber and supplies for his boat building yard in Pukatea Bay, Marlborough Sounds. In the mid-1950s Guard moved his business to Haven Road in Nelson but he kept the Gleam and used it for chartering, transporting goods and passengers. At this time the Gleam had a much larger interior making it a very comfortable passenger vessel. It also had a 110hp diesel engine.
However, by the late 1950s/early 1960s Jack Guard decided to give commercial fishing a go. This started the Gleams commercial fishing career which continued with Jack Guards sons. The Gleam fished in Nelson, around D’Urville Island and in the Marlborough Sounds. In the 1960s John and Chris Guard, Jack Guards sons, used The Gleam to transport the mussels they hand picked around the Pelorus Sound. This was quite hard work, so they then moved onto dredging on the Gleam for oysters, mussels, and scallops in the mid-1960s.
The 1960s to Today
In the late 1960s/early 1970s they changed fishing tactics again and decided to give trawling a go. Chris and John didn’t want to do so much passenger work anymore and wanted to convert the Gleam to a more functional fishing boat. It is said that Jack Guard was not keen on changing the boats shape so when he was away one day, John and Chris Guard took a sledgehammer and chainsaw to the back of the wheelhouse and removed the back section of the cabin. Jack Guard was not impressed!
In the 1970s Chris Guard skippered the Gleam whilst John Guard skippered the Da Vinci and Phillip Guard skippered the Destiny G.
The Gleam continued fishing until 2015 with several changes and upgrades along the way including a new shaft and engine. But none of the changes were as dramatic as the changed cabin shape. During these years the Gleams wheelhouse was open to visitors after a days work dredging for shell fish. Chris and John’s younger brother Phil, eventually took over the Gleam and later passed it onto his son Darren Guard.
Today the Gleam has become the centre of The Gleam Team Trust which has been set up to provide free education tours through the Nelson marina and harbour. The tours will educate visitors about the history of fishing and the fishing industry in the Nelson region whilst promoting the seafood industry as a whole. To do this the Gleam is undergoing a major refurbishment and will be resurveyed again.
References
To research the Gleam we used Seafood New Zealand, Skipper.co.nz and YouTube where Darren Guard has uploaded a interesting tour of the Gleam’s exterior and recounts her history. We also used the book Voices from the Sea – The stories of some Nelson and Marlborough fishing.
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