Build Date
1905-1910
Boat Builder
Claude Wells
Length
32 Feet
Beam
6 Feet
Everything We Know About Minerva
One of the early boats built by Claude Wells at Little Bay. Minerva was 32ft long and 6ft wide with a Orion Petrol Motor. She was built out of Kahikatea.
Felix Ward owned her for a time and is believed to be the person Minerva was built for. Ward was a Marlborough Sounds farmer having brought Forsythe Island in 1899 and farmed it until he died in 1909. Felix’s son Frederick Ward took over managing the farm after his father’s death and this included Minerva.
However, Minerva would meet her end on Forsythe Island. She broke her moorings during a storm and crashed onto the beach. After taking a pounding on the beach she was declared a total loss and Fredrick Ward had to get a new boat for the farm. This boat was the Nora.
References
To research the boat Minerva we used the book Boats for a Lifetime by Yvonne Fell.
Related Posts
Nora – 32ft Launch used as a farm vehicle for Forsythe Island in the 1920s.
Tanekaha – 32ft launch built by Claude Wells at Little Bay.
Kelp – 30ft. launch owned by Olof Nielson of Bulwer Bay.
Luna – 28ft. launch used for commercial fishing around the Marlborough Sounds.