Pearl: The Last Boat Claude Wells Built For Himself
1918-19
Build Date
Claude Wells
Boat Builder
34ft
Length
7ft
Beam
Claude and Bernard Wells
A Wells family favourite, Pearl was the last launch Claude Wells built for himself. Pearl was built with double skin kauri and was installed with a 18hp Lister engine. Claude used Pearl to sub-contract the fortnightly mail run to Port Gore, from Jack Orchard.
In 1931 Claude gave Pearl to his son Bernard Wells, making her the first of four boats Bernard Wells would own in his lifetime. Bernard had secured the mail run contract from Havelock to the areas around the Outer Pelorus Sound. This was a tough job as the mail needed to be delivered no matter the weather or tides. But it was also a reliable income.
Bernard upgraded the engine to a twin cylinder 40hp Lister diesel motor. After a while Bernard needed a larger boat so in 1935 his father, Claude, built him the Wakanui. A while after this Bernard sold Pearl to his brother, Francis Wells.
Francis Wells
Francis used Pearl to provide a passenger service in the Marlborough Sounds. This included taking holidaymakers to the guest house at St Omer. He also helped his brother Lionel Wells deliver supplies to the gun emplacements in the Marlborough Sounds during World War Two. During Francis’s ownership the Pearl was updated again with a 4 cylinder Gardner that had been taken out of the Miss Picton. Working on this engine in Pearl taught Francis a lot about Gardner marine engines. It is said this is what gave him the confidence to later travel to Raratonga and salvage two Gardner engines from the wreck Rannah. Francis purchased the wreck and through a lot of kiwi ingenuity removed the engines to transport back to New Zealand for his launch the Valmarie.
Francis later sold the Pearl to his brother in law Alan Schoder and his sister Pearl who lived at Wakatahuri and worked as the bays postmistress.
Alan made some big changes to Pearl adding a cabin and pilot house and setting the boat up for commercial fishing. Alan fished with Pearl until his death in the late 1960s. At this time Pearl was in need of repairs and was sold to two Anderson brothers of Blenheim. They based Pearl on the Opawa river but again Pearl needed repairs.
Norman Wells and Beyond
Later another brother, Norman Wells (Bernard’s younger brother) brought Pearl. He towed her to Nelson for repairs before setting Pearl up for commercial scalloping. Norman Wells renamed Pearl, Rotonui and fished with her until his retirement. Norman’s son Graham Wells then took over fishing Rotonui before later selling it. In Boats for a Lifetime he admits to regretting the sale as he always did well fishing with Rotonui.
Colin Wishart then brought boat Rotonui/Pearl and fished in the Mapua, Nelson area before selling her to someone in the Canterbury region. At this point not much is known though it is rumoured the Rotonui/Pearl sunk while fishing in this region.
References
To research the boats built by Claude Wells and his sons we used the books Boats For A Lifetime by Yvonne M Fell and Voices from the Sea; The Stories of Some Nelson and Marlborough Fishing Families. There is some discrepancies between these two books as Fell states Bernard Wells purchased Pearl in 1932 but Voices from the Sea states Claude Wells gave Pearl to his son Bernard in 1931.
We also used the 2009 anniversary edition of Marine News which outlines the history of the Sounds Wrecking Company.
Related Posts
Valmarie – Built by Claude’s son Francis Wells the Valmarie was the largest boat built at Wakatahuri
Majestic – Pearl is said to have helped the Majestic deliver personnel and supplies in the Sounds during WWII
Winsome – Built by Claude Wells sons, the Winsome is a 49ft pleasure boat
Southern Isles – Wells built fishing boat and pleasure boat