Information courtesy of Marjorie and Walter Holmes

Trawler sets out for New Zealand. The following article appeared on Reuters in 1965………A 100 ton trawler, 88 feet long, sets off today on a 12,000 mile trip to New Zealand. The skipper-owner, Mr Walter Holmes, of Cleveleys, Lancashire, is 68 and thinks he is too young to retire. “Prospects are better in New Zealand for small trawlers,” he said. “This is something I have had in mind for many years.”
The trawler, LOCH LEIN , will carry sufficient food for 100 days and will refuel at Las Palmas, Panama and Tahiti on her nine week trip. Mr Holmes” son, Walter, aged 37, flew from New Zealand for the voyage. The other four members of the crew were selected from scores of applicants.

The following is from an article by Marjorie Holmes

In 1985 LOCH LEIN was carrying fuel and freight to Kawau Island. We hadn”t seen her for over 10 years. She had been out of our family ownership since 1970 and during those years she had been used for fishing by JBL and then, amongst other things, used around the Hauraki Gulf as a freight boat. So we made a special effort to see her when she made one of her trips to Kawau.

LOCH LEIN was built in 1947 at Bremerhaven in Germany, one of 4 for the Irish Government. In 1962 she was for sale in Lowestoft, England and my father in law, the late Captain Walter Holmes Snr. bought her for £16,000. He had returned to Fleetwood from New Zealand some years previously to take several new trawlers out on trials for the Boston Deep Sea Fishing Company. He had owned many fishing vessels in the thirties and forties and this was his latest and last. Although retired and in his mid sixties he could never sever his connection with the sea and ships.

Trawler sets out for New Zealand. The following article appeared on Reuters in 1965………A 100 ton trawler, 88 feet long, sets off today on a 12,000 mile trip to New Zealand. The skipper-owner, Mr Walter Holmes, of Cleveleys, Lancashire, is 68 and thinks he is too young to retire. “Prospects are better in New Zealand for small trawlers,” he said. “This is something I have had in mind for many years.”
The trawler, LOCH LEIN , will carry sufficient food for 100 days and will refuel at Las Palmas, Panama and Tahiti on her nine week trip. Mr Holmes” son, Walter, aged 37, flew from New Zealand for the voyage. The other four members of the crew were selected from scores of applicants.

“Fly” Holmes aboard LOCH LEIN

Fly Holmes aboard Loch Lein

The following is from an article by Marjorie Holmes
In 1985 LOCH LEIN was carrying fuel and freight to Kawau Island. We hadn”t seen her for over 10 years. She had been out of our family ownership since 1970 and during those years she had been used for fishing by JBL and then, amongst other things, used around the Hauraki Gulf as a freight boat. So we made a special effort to see her when she made one of her trips to Kawau.

LOCH LEIN was built in 1947 at Bremerhaven in Germany, one of 4 for the Irish Government. In 1962 she was for sale in Lowestoft, England and my father in law, the late Captain Walter Holmes Snr. bought her for £16,000. He had returned to Fleetwood from New Zealand some years previously to take several new trawlers out on trials for the Boston Deep Sea Fishing Company. He had owned many fishing vessels in the thirties and forties and was his latest and last. Although retired and in his mid sixties he could never sever his connection with the sea and ships.

He put a skipper and 5 crew in her and she fished out of Fleetwood, fishing mostly the Minch and north of Scotland. In the middle of March 1965, he was phoned with the news that she had caught fire whilst in Ayr harbour. He drove up to scotland immediately to find the crew gone with the exception of the engineer. LOCH LEIN’S wheelhouse was almost gutted and the electrical wiring all but destroyed by the fire. So he, and the engineer, with the aid of torches and oil lamps and a borrowed steering wheel sailed her down the coast to Fleetwood.

For two years my father in law had been trying to obtain an import licence to bring LOCH LEIN to New Zealand. He wanted to resettle there and wanted to bring his ship with him, but it was not easy obtaining the licence in those days and it was through our efforts with the then Ombudsman Sir Guy Powles that it was eventually granted. The fire held up her leaving Fleetwood and also meant that his son, Walter, had to go to England to help him with all the added work to prepare her for New Zealand. This took about four months of hard work and lots of headaches.

There were about 100 applicants answering the advertisement for a crew of four. The ones taken on were…George Gill (navigator), Ken Fraser and Bill Parkinson (deckhands) and Mike Bellinger as cook. George, a ticketed fishing skipper, turned out to be a first class navigator. Mike was a big and likeable Canadian actor and casino croupier amongst other things. In spite of his impressive cooking references, Mike’s term as ship’s cook was short lived. After sampling his efforts, all on board unanimously voted that he be banned from the galley and Ken Fraser took over from him. But Ken’s temper was failing and, about halfway through the voyage, it got the better of him when his anger and spite caused him to throw a drawer of cutlery over the side.

When LOCH LEIN was ready for her voyage, a fishing crew was engaged to take her on trial for two weeks and fish the north of Scotland. She had all new electronics and it was a good opportunity to test the equipment. It was a shock all round though when, during the dark early hours of the first morning out, she came to a grinding and shuddering halt.
Of course, there was the usual pandemonium when it happened. It was dark and hard to see at first, everyone was suddenly up on deck and the first thing that the crew did was to inflate the liferaft and throw it over the side followed very quickly by the four men who called out to Wally and his dad urging them to follow. It was a bit easier to see by this time. Wally went to the side of LOCH LEIN and, looking over, could see a shingle beach. He grabbed a ladder, put it over the side, and climbed down on to the shingle, all the while hearing the men on the other side calling out. He couldn’t help feeling a bit devilish when he walked around the side of the boat and called out to the men bobbing about in the liferaft. They had beached on the north east coast of the Isle of Man. There were a few red faces but they all agreed how lucky they were when they refloated with the rising tide with no obvious damage done

The morning they left Fleetwood for Auckland was fine with a good weather forecast. It was September and they would be leaving the cooling temperatures behind and advancing into the southern hemisphere spring. The skipper’s car went with him, lashed to the deck. Friends, onlookers, TV and radio were there to give them a good send off. Of course, there were those who shook their heads at the thought of such a small ship making such a long trip. What the men on board weren’t aware of though was the incompetent mess the person who had been given the job of stocking the provisions for the voyage had made. Fortunately there were stops on the way.

The trip down the coast of Spain turned out to be rough and uncomfortable, but by the time they reached Las Palmas the weather settled down and was to stay good for the rest of the voyage.
Las Palmas turned out to be very interesting. Tied up alongside the wharf ahead of where LOCH LEIN berthed was an ex US Navy patrol boat. 100 feet in length she had been beautifully converted to a pleasure craft for her owner Mr Evinrude, who was on board. He invited Wally and his father over and they were certainly impressed with the comfort of the ship, and quite taken with the grand cabin where the bar was equipped with drinks mixers, each one a miniature Evinrude outboard motor.

Whilst in Las Palmas Loch Lein’s fuel tanks were topped up. She carried 7000 gallons of fuel with 40 x 44 gallon drums of fuel lashed to her deck. Making excellent time across the Atlantic, her next port of call was Curacao and then Panama where she took on a further 5000 gallons of fuel. Arrangements had been organised in England by “Carnet Contract” with Shell Oil which enabled LOCH LEIN to be fuelled in any port and to be paid for in New Zealand.

The last (and longest) leg of the journey was to be from Panama to Auckland non stop. It was expected to take five weeks taking an almost direct route through French Oceania. There had been one or two problems in Panama. Bill had gone ashore on his own, hoping for a pleasant social evening somewhere. When he arrived back on board some hours later, he was in a sorry state. His face was cut and bleeding, his clothes were torn almost to shreds and his wallet and money were gone. Without money it had taken him hours to get back to the boat. Poor Bill, he got no sympathy whatsoever and took himself off to bed to recover his dignity and allow his wounds to heal. Another problem was Mike’s white alsation. He was a handsome dog and very well behaved, but when he jumped ashore at Panama and had a little run along the wharf, the patrolling Panama Zone Police warned that the dog would be siezed if allowed to repeat his misdemeanour.

Coming through the Tuamotu Archipelago was a delight. The warmer temperatures and continuing good weather meant that the days were very pleasant indeed. George Gill’s navigation was spot on and except with a few problems with food selection, everything went quite smoothly. Caesar the alsation needed exercise and kept everybody busy with a rope ball which Ken had made for him. He lost his popularity somewhat with Wally’s dad on the day that he was down in the engine room. The deck door was open and Caesar came along. He stood looking down with the rope ball in his mouth. When the skipper looked up to see the dog standing there, he said “Hello Caesar.” At which point Caesar dropped the ball down splat into a drum of dirty diesel, covering the skiper with the smelly stuff. The language that spurted out was ripe but Caesar thought it was fun.

The thought of five weeks with no stop was probably a bit daunting for the six men on board. The necessity for getting along well with each other was ever present on the skipper’s mind. There were a few tense moments when one of the crew who liked his grog became quite demanding on the ship’s store. The skipper’s rule was ‘No excess of liquor’. This was where Mike’s size came in handy, but it wasn’t known except to Wally that he really was a big softie. The others looked at his size and bulk and when he said “No,” they took him at his word. So time passed pleasantly enough, each took turns at 4 hours on watch and 8 hours off. Hours were passed doing a bit of painting and caulking the deck seams.

LOCH LEIN was making her way through the Tuamoto Archipelago when the unexpected happened. It was 01:00 hours. On watch was George Gill who picked up the flashing signal and immediately called the skipper and the rest of the crew. The signal which read ‘STOP! YOU ARE RUNNING INTO DANGER,’ was repeated several times. The skipper stopped the ship. It was a calm night and she drifted until daylight when she was able to pick out the outline of two vessels against the silouhette of a low, flat atoll about four miles distant. They later found out that the atoll was the small island of Marakau.

As the skipper moved his ship closer it soon became clear that one vessel was a high sided, wooden cargo vessel and the other a French frigate. Soon a lot of activity began to take place between the cargo boat and the shore. Cargo, mainly timber, was being ferried ashore and what seemed unusual cargo was the bags of soil and coconut palm seedlings which were about 18″ high. All were part of the French government’s efforts to encourage cultivation on small islands that were very short of natural soil.

French Polynesia consists of 130 islands, in 5 groups, the Society Islands; Tubuai Islands; Marquesas; Gambier Islands; and the Tuamoto Archipelago. The last named is the group where the islands are mainly coral atolls. In 1966 the French commenced nuclear testing on the island of Mururoa. It became obvious later that when LOCH LEIN passed through the area the previous year, preparations for the testing were well under way and the French authorities were exercising keen surveillance and caution with foreign vessels passing through the area.

The cargo boat was recognised as one of the old ex-Auckland cement boats and was being used as a freight boat between the islands. The skipper owner was Chinese and he and his immediate and extended family lived aboard.

Radio contact was established between LOCH LEIN and the frigate. Captain Holmes was told that he was in French territorial waters and a restricted area. The small atoll was Marokau (also known as Shark Island), situated 300 miles from Tahiti and about 250 miles nor’ west of Mururoa. Shortly two naval officers from the frigate arrived alongside LOCH LEIN and climbed aboard. They were extremely courteous and asked to be shown around the ship. They were keenly interested in the electronic equipment that had been installed prior to leaving England and questioned the need for such in a fishing boat. They requested the skipper to proceed to Papeete the following day.

There was still a lot of activity between the cargo boat and the island. It wasn’t very long though before LOCH LEIN was visited by some of the island residents. Sitting in the massively built punt was the chief’s wife and several other happy and laughing islanders. Everyone was invited to visit the island and the skiper and George Gill were the first to go. They boarded the punt and were rowed over a distance of about half a mile with a coral reef only feet beneath them. Gifts were exchanged, a bottle of Scotch and cigarettes from Captain Holmes to the Chief who in return gifted a Tahitian head dress made of white shells. Living in a rather nice little house was a French agricultural scientist who was helping the island residents establish a coconut plantation. This would be their only reasonable source of income and it was for this purpose that the bags of soil were being freighted to the island. The absence of soil from the ground shell atoll was, of course, very apparent.

It turned out to be a very happy and enjoyable day. The skipper and George Gill returned aboard, this time by outboard motor instead of oar power. The rest of the crew then paid their social call, it all ending with Wally having to round them up and see them returning, reluctantly, to LOCH LEIN

This very pleasant and unexpected interlude was further enhanced by the extremely warm and placid weather. During the trip to Papeete, the French frigate kept out of sight. Obviously they were in radio contact with the French authorities and had informed them of the instructions given to the New Zealand bound ship. Ten miles from Papeete Captain Holmes radioed for a pilot and just over an hour later LOCH LEIN was tied up, stern first, to the wharf. Within a short space of time a ‘corrugated’ car arrived with a gendarme and plain clothes police officerwho boarded LOCH LEIN and introduced themselves. They, too, carried out a thorough inspection from stem to stern and were also interested in the powerful radio and radar equipment.

Once again it was courtesy plus. Wally and his dad were asked to accompany the officers to the Papeete Police Headquarters and were required to take the ship’s papers with them. They were there for about three to four hours during which time they were interviewed by the Chief of Police with whom they had lunch. Obviously, during their stay, their credentials and papers were being checked by radio with the overseas authorities.

With everything in order and acceptable to the French police, LOCH LEIN , her skipper and crew were given complimentary permits to stay as guests for two weeks in Papeete. They stayed for a week and were able to do some sightseeing visiting, of course, the famous Quins Bar. Quins was known all over the Pacific in those days. It was a bit of a let down, though, not a bit like it had been envisioned, in fact quite a bit on the sleazy side. Mike did very well though, he was quite a charismatic person and it seemed that wherever he went there was always someone ready to be his slave. Even in the barber shop in Panama where he went to have a haircut they fell over backwards to cut his hair just the way he wanted, and then they didn’t charge him. Poor Wally in the next chair got his hair cut in the shortest possible time and was charged the earth.

It was in Quins where the crew of the Walberg made themselves known to Wally. The Walberg was a Baltic trader, about 80 feet in length. She had no electrical equipment, her navigation lights and other lighting were oil lamps and her old, single cylinder Bolinder engine blew its exhaust when fired up to leave the wharf. There were a few rare stories about some of her passengers and their involvement with dubious activities in Britain. They made it to New Zealand and for quite some time the Walberg sat inside the Orakei breakwater, deteriorating fast. We believe now that she ended her days up a creek in Tonga.

Loch Lein’s arrival in Auckland merited some time on radio and TV with a full page in the (now extinct) Weekly News. Mike Bellinger did very well, he auditioned for and landed a place with the TV programme Town and Around. George Gill went crayfishing in the Chathams, Bill Parkinson went on to Australia and Ken Fraser got a job at Kia Ora fish market. LOCH LEIN fished for a couple of years and then was chartered to go to Minerva Reef by David Fifita, another interesting story.

Click to enlarge images

Loch Lein before conversion

The converted vessel