Tassie: Yes, Parahaki and her identical twin Ruamanga were built to handle rescue work as well. The chairman of the NHB at the time, Sir Ralph Trimmer, had some pretty big ideas for the future of Whangarei. Apart from the refinery there was also a large glass works proposed for the town and as it's a deep water port he intended for it to become one of the countries biggest. He ordered two more tugs from Brookes a couple of years later – the Waitangi and Herekino. They were smaller, more manoeuvrable, more powerful and better suited to harbour work. For a while Whangarei had the best fleet in the country – it was known as Trimmer's navy. The pilot boat boat was built to a very high spec and was very luxurious inside. Unfortunately the glass works never went ahead and there was very little rescue work. Ralph was probably too big for Whangarei and rumours started that he had had the pilot boat built as a gin palace for the board members.
Strangely enough, one of the major political parties is currently pushing for Whangarei port to become the major NZ port – 50 years after Ralph had envisioned it.
After many years service in Whangarei the 2 rescue tugs went up to the Cook Islands in the Pacific and are now stationed in the Marshall Islands.
Author
Topic: 1960s Refinery Tug: Parahaki (Read 2339 times)