SEQUEL urgently needs another chapter
Many Thanks to Malcolm Lambe (custodian of Laurent Giles EOS) for alerting us to the plight of this elegant little motor cruiser called SEQUEL. Information is a bit scratchy but this is what we know.
Firstly, and most importantly - SEQUEL has an appointment with a large, angry chainsaw on the 1st May unless someone puts their hand up.
She is currently lying at the historic Hibbards slip and shed in Port Macquarie, NSW. She is about 27ft long. She currently has no engine. We think that she was built around 1913 by Pritchard Bros in Careening Cove with a triple skin or double diagonal construction with a fabric membrane between skins.
According to an early history, Pritchard Bros started business in Balmain in 1868 carrying out work for the Navy. They were contractors for the Royal Navy for over 30 years and supplied the Admiralty with every class of boat from whalers to steam launches. The firm was also involved in a large amount of yacht and launch building. In the early part of the 20th century they started up at Careening Cove. In circa 1900 Mr H E Pritchard and his father were the first to successfully develop a vessel ZEPHYR whose beam was equal to its length!
In the 1920s they concentrated in engineering and devoted themselves to launch building and the manufacture of the Pritchard propeller used very successfully by yachts and then by most of the speed boats in Sydney. The propeller was seen as efficient and causing very little drag when sailing.
There is a record of her being used as an Admiral’s tender in New Guinea. Initially we assumed this was during WWII but perhaps it was shortly after her launch during WWI? What we do know, is that at some stage she had a machine gun mounted on her bow.
In more recent years she has spent time moored in Pittwater - off Gonsalves Boatyard in Palm Beach and then ended up in the Harbour before being taken North.
The most recent owner died tragically last year when he drowned at Coffs Harbour. Although the vessel was left to his son, he doesn’t have the funds to maintain or restore her.
Are you brave enough?
Contact us at SWS if you are tempted.