By the early years of the 20th century the coal ports, Westport and Greymouth, had developed an active yachting scene which grew out of Gold Rush rowing and sculling regattas put on to provide the West Coast miners with another opportunity for betting on top of the local horse races.
In Greymouth, Westport and at Moana on Lake Brunner, a core of competent centreboard yachts were racing by 1903.
These centre-boarders occasionally escaped the obstacles of the river bars in ‘Ocean Races’ or ‘Ten Mile Races’ and went out into the rollers of the Tasman, often a hazardous undertaking because of the freakish bar conditions and the rough waters outside in the prevailing westerlies. However, the bulk of their racing was done on the Buller River at Westport and the Grey River at Greymouth which were just wide enough to provide reasonable sailing.
Moana on Lake Brunner, inland between Hokitika and Greymouth, became a favourite venue, especially at its annual regatta. Because Moana had its own railway station, many Greymouth and Moana yachts did a circuit between the two venues and regattas by train. The railway connection to the Westport network did not come about until the 1940s so Westport boats had to be shipped by coastal steamer to Greymouth.
The first Greymouth Regatta for many years was held in December 1903. There was a fleet of 22 centreboard yachts in two classes, First Class open length, and Second Class 18ft and under. A big contingent arrived by train from Lake Brunner. The wharves were cleared of railway wagons and provided excellent grandstands for the many spectators. In 1904 there was another Greymouth Regatta with as many starters. Yacht racing was now established on the West Coast.
A Westport Regatta was planned for December 1907 with total prizemoney of £140. The top yacht in Westport at the time was the newly-arrived Mohawk. This 22ft patiki-type was built by Bailey & Lowe in Auckland in September 1906 for Napier yachtsman W.H. Stevens. After racing her in Auckland with several firsts for the season, Stevens sold her to A. A. Wilson, the Crown Prosecutor in Westport. With her Auckland pedigree, Mohawk was clearly the hottest boat on the West Coast, but something of a handful in the confined Buller River where it was difficult for her to stretch out.
The Greymouth Sailing Club was formed in October 1908 to hold regular races on top of the Annual Regatta. Typically, there was a decent fleet of around 12 entries, the mainstays being Ruby May, Irene, Lipton, Spray, Secret, May, Rambler, Briseis, Preston, Myra, Glance, Thistle, Elsa and Torea, mostly locally built wine-glass stern open boats. The top boats were probably J S Robertson’s Irene in the First Class and Capt. McPherson’s Lipton in the Second Class.
Greymouth yachtsman Andrew William Steel was born in October 1886, the son of Andrew Steel, a carpenter and a member of the local Naval Volunteers. Andrew senior died in 1892. Although born profoundly deaf, young Andrew became a highly competent cabinet-maker. In the winter of 1909, he joined with 20-year-old Clarence George Moss in building Alert, a smart centreboard yacht, to dominate the Second Class racing in Greymouth and, with a handicap advantage, to challenge Westport’s Mohawk. She had her first sail on November 9, 1909.
One can only guess at the origins of her design, but Alert was a very pretty yacht, of noticeably more advanced design and rig than the local yachts. Her loa was 17ft 5ins and she had a generous beam of 7ft 6in. She was ‘half-decked’, open, but with forward and side decks. Her rig was a gaff sloop, small enough to be able to be handled by a crew of two in the light but efficient, with a high aspect ratio for the time. I think that Andrew, as a cabinet-maker, instinctively built the structure of the yacht as light and as strong as the materials available would permit. He probably built her out of kaikawaka, a strong, light cedar which has since been favoured by South Island boatbuilders like Joffre Kroening, the legendary Greymouth Idle Along builder from the 1930s.
Alert’s first races were in the Greymouth Regatta on December 27, 1909 in both the First-Class race on a handicap of five minutes and in the Second-Class race on a handicap of two minutes 30 seconds in which she came second to Ford and Hutchings’ Ruby May on a longer handicap. Alert took part in the Greymouth Sailing Club’s races from then on.
In early February 1910, in the 10 mile ‘Deep Sea Race’, outside in the Tasman, Alert was sailed by a crack skipper, “Mr. Freyberg, formerly of Wellington, [see SIDEBAR] who availed himself of every current and the westerly breeze, while most of the other boats got too far towards the south-west and could not command a return breeze. The Alert made the buoy in two hours, while most of the other competitors got into a southerly set from which they could not recover ……” The only other boat that was able to make the buoy was the Lipton which had started at scratch.
Steel and Moss got Alert into top form at the 1910 Greymouth Regatta on Boxing Day 1910. In the First-Class Sailing race for “Ten Sovereigns and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Challenge Cup, value four guineas” over six miles against the fancied Rose from Westport, Alert came in first. She repeated the win in the Second Class race for Five Pounds and a cup (12 starters), winning easily with two minutes to spare. Not a bad haul in one day, for the cash value of the prizes is now equivalent to $5,500 and the 10 sovereigns alone are now worth $8,000!
Alert became increasingly dominant as time went by, winning most races in Greymouth and Lake Brunner easily. She won the Ocean Race in February 1911 by over 30 minutes in the long green swells coming in from the south-west and a “nasty jobble” over the bar. All the competitors later agreed that these races were too dangerous and should be abolished.
Cup today.
Alert first met Mohawk at the Westport Regatta on December 26-30, 1911. Mohawk had had little opportunity for racing so the contest was eagerly awaited. In the Three Mile race Alert came in first, ahead of Mohawk. In the Six Mile race, for prize money of £15 for first and £5 for second, the positions were reversed. Going into the Moana Regatta on Lake Brunner on January 5, 1912 there was an extra train from Greymouth and return at excursion fares. Mohawk was entered but did not arrive. In the outcome, Alert won both the First-Class sailing race on a handicap of six seconds and the Second-Class race on scratch.
The Grey River Argus now remarked, “Alert’s performances are as follows; Regatta races (12), seven firsts, three seconds, one third, one fourth. All regatta races were sailed by Mr J. Fitzsimmons. Greymouth Sailing Club’s races (17), seven firsts, one second, two thirds, three fourths, four not placed…… three doubles, viz Greymouth December 1910, Lake Brunner, January 1911 and 1912.” By then she had won £90 in cash since she was launched.
Andrew Steel built a 22ft launch, Nita, for H.S. Scrivener which had its maiden voyage to Westport and back in January 1912.
Alert was Greymouth Sailing Club Champion in 1911 and in the Championship race in March 1912, she “simply played with her two opponents, winning as she liked.”
Mohawk, touted as “without doubt the finest yacht on the West Coast”, did come down for the Greymouth Regatta on Boxing Day 1912. But Ruby May showed remarkable form on the day, winning both First and Second Class races handsomely on a longish handicap. Mohawk trailed in fifth in the First-Class race, followed by Alert in sixth.
Sailed by J. Fitzsimmons, who had the helm in most regattas, Alert again won both the First Class and Second Class races at the Moana Regatta in January 1913. Clarence Moss had now bought Andrew Steel’s interest in the yacht. His father, George Thomas Moss, presented a trophy for the winner of the First Class race. Clarence sportingly presented it to W. Hornsby, the second-place getter with his yacht Emily.
After this race, Alert’s winning streak tailed off. The new boat Comet, built and raced by the Beckett brothers of Cobden, was season champion with the Greymouth Sailing Club (now the Greymouth Aquatic Club). Mohawk was entered for the 1914 Greymouth Regatta but did not appear. The war news was becoming progressively grim.
In December 1914 Clarence sold Alert to Charles Hornsby of Lake Brunner who had raced Tui since 1906. She now became undisputed champion of the lake. On 1st April 1917 Alert and two other boats, Irene and Foam, were out on the lake when they were struck by a sudden heavy squall. All three yachts capsized. By the time launches got to Alert, Hornsby and his crewman Emil Nybery were dead. Alert was hauled up in a shed and never sailed again. In 1941 her rig was put into an Idle Along hull.
Andrew Steel had already moved to Auckland where he worked as a cabinet-maker with W. Rodwell in Grey Lynn. Being deaf, he was exempt from military duty. He married Elizabeth Ann Hamilton in 1916. They had three daughters, Annie Joan (1917), Mona Mary (1919) and Phyllis Dawn (1921). Andrew became prominent in affairs of the deaf, receiving an award for his services. Andrew died in 1963.
Clarence Moss went overseas with the 20th Reinforcements but survived the war, returning to New Zealand in late 1919. He married Constance Hopkins in 1920. They had a daughter Clarice in 1922. Clarence died in 1981.
The story of Alert is one of skill, courage and sportsmanship at a time when New Zealand was inventing itself as a nation. BNZ
WHICH FREYBERG?
There were three Freyberg brothers who were prominent in Wellington yachting at the time, Oscar, Paul and Bernard (later Lord Freyberg). The Freyberg on Alert was in Greymouth at the time competing in swimming events against Clarence Moss’ brother Eric. The youngest Freyberg, Bernard, was studying to be a dentist in Wellington in February 1910 and was N.Z. 100 yards swimming champion and also had a lot of experience in the brothers’ 14ft centre-boarder Moana. Paul was working as a law clerk in Wellington. Alert later featured in New Zealand Yachtsman magazine for which Paul later wrote as “Boat ‘Arbour Bill.” Oscar was a journalist in Wellington but also a competitive swimmer. So was the Freyberg on Alert Bernard, Paul or Oscar? I think it was Bernard.
