This was a contract landed from the Launceston Marine Board for a wooden 52-foot pilot launch in 1956: "There were very high specifications for this vessel and it was a bit of a departure from the yachts we had built. But it was a very good boat and an interesting job. She was designed by the late Bruce Thompson, a Tasmanian naval architect." "She was based at the pilot station at Low Head in northern Tasmania for several years before being sold to Trevor Brown, of Hobart, who used her for the Maatsuyker Island mail run. Then she was sold to pilot services in Sydney for the Torres Strait service off Cairns, Queensland. I saw her in Southport, Queensland, in August 1989 and she looked in very good condltion. Her current owners however, Mr Harry Littler and his wife, carol, have spent a great deal of time and money restoring her. She is now moored in Sydney and they have done a wonderful job." The gaff-rigged Captain Mackenzie was built of Huon pine planking over hardwood ribs and backbone with varnished Burma teak trim and laid decks. She has a beam of 12 feet and draws six feet. The boat's original 12Ohp Thornycroft diesel is still chugging reliably on.
Solquest
This 38-foot ketch was launched in 1957. She was designed by Jock and built by Max creese for Len Staples, of Hobart. He took her voyaging to the USA with his wife and two sons, but she hit a reef within reach of Honolulu. Solquest was salvaged and repaired but in the end, under a new American owner, was wrecked off the coast of Mexico. Len Staples wrote a book, "The Golden Window", describing her trips. She had a central cockpit and had a beam of 12 feet and a draught of six feet.