NZ Historic Ships
A database of historic New Zealand Ships and Boats








Name
Sea Raider(Betty T)
Built
Philips & Co, Dartmouth, 1944
Original owners
Present owners
Seafresh Fisheries Ltd, Lower Hutt.
Propulsion
GM 8V-71, 171kW
Tonnage
91 gross
Measurements
L 71ft/21.64m; B 19.75ft/m; D 7.5ft/m.
Materials
Wood
Original use
Present use
Fishing
Contact Details
Contact name  
Address
PO Box 30 888, Lower Hutt.
Web site

http://www.nzmaritimeindex.org.nz/

Telephone   Fax  
Mobile   E-mail  

History

The wooden fishing boat Sea Raider arrived at Wellington in May 1997 from Napier. She had recently been owned by J.R. Jensson of Napier, but was sold in 1997 to Turnagain Trawling Ltd., of Hastings, and her port of registry changed to Nelson. She commenced fishing out of Wellington from mid-1997.
She was one of a numerous class of 75 ft. Admiralty Type Motor Fishing Vessels (MFVs) built in U.K. during World War II for use as tenders, of which some were used as minesweepers in 1945-46. They were required for attendance on ships and crews engaged in war operations, and were designed with a view to being suitable for post-war fishing. Other classes were built to a so-called 45 ft., 61.5 ft., and 90 ft. design, but the other three types were of stated length b.p., and were actually 49ft. 10in., 64ft. 6in. and 97ft. 2in. length overall, whilst the 75 ft. class were 69 ft. 2 in. length b.p. and 75 ft. 7 in. length overall, with a beam of 20ft. A single-screw Lister diesel motor of 160b.h.p. gave a speed of 8.5 knots. A total of 227 of the 75 ft. class were ordered, of which eighteen were cancelled. Thirtyfive were reported to be still in service in 1963. They were named (or numbered) MFV 1001 to MFV 1258, which does not quite tally with the 227 ordered or the 209 actually built. Sea Raider was built in 1944 by Philip & Co., Dartmouth, England, and is of 91 gross tonnage, and 23.11 metres length overall. When built her number was one of the following: 1083, 1084, 1135-1138, 1175, 1176, 1207, 1208, 1239,1240.
She was first registered in New Zealand at Nelson on 8th November 1951 by her then owner, Albert Douglas Tregidga, who renamed the vessel Betty T after his wife. He had purchased her in 1949 as H .C. Danavick at Sydney from the N.S.W. Government Fisheries Agency, who had been using her for some type of fisheries research. She was brought to Westport, a large freezer was installed, and she made her first trip south in pursuit of crayfish over the 1949-50 Christmas period. She trawled for crayfish until about 1952, after which she switched to crayfish potting. She was sold in November 1959 to Nelson Fishing and Cool Store Ltd., went north to Napier in April 1960 and in June 1960 was sold again to Wally Watson of Direct Fish Supply (Napier) Ltd. Her original Lister Blackstone engine was replaced in 1964 by an eight-cylinder General Motors Detroit diesel of 227b.h.p. In 1979, she ran aground on the Wairarapa coast and required repairs, and in 1987 she was renamed Sea Raider.
The Royal New Zealand Navy considered buying three of the 75 ft. class MFVs, 1045, 1096 and 1135, from Singapore in June 1946, but with HDML's available, the plan was dropped.

In 2000, she commenced a long refit at Welington still incomplete in 9/2001.
NZ Marine News Vol. 46, No.4

The May 2006 NZ Gazette advised that the Betty T Fishing Company was seeking to go into liquidation.

Conversion factors Feet = Metres x 3.281
Metres = Feet ÷ 0.3048

 

 

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