Wellington Maritime Unit OC Sergeant John Bryant stands beside Lady Elizabeth III

Based in Shed 19 on Wellington's Waterloo Wharf, the Wellington Police Maritime Unit consists of a sergeant and seven constables - three Senior Launch Masters and four Launch Crew. The unit differs from its Auckland counterpart by being an area resource and not a district resource.

The service provides 24-hour coverage to he public, based on shifts from 0700hrs-2300hrs weekdays, 1000hrs-2100hrs week ends. After hours response is on a call-out basis, with crew able to be on the water within 15 minutes from receipt of an emergency call.

The operational area for the unit is a 90 nautical miles radius from the entrance of Wellington Harbour. This encompasses the Marlborough Sounds, Wairarapa Coastline, Kapiti Coast, Tasman Bay, Wanganui, Castle Point and Kaikoura. Most of the tasks, however, are within Wellington Harbour and Cook Strait.

Wellington's Maritime staff also undertake GD duties, including a set requirement of traffic duties. "We aren't solely water police," says Unit OC Sergeant John Bryant. The amount of time spent on the water depends on the time of the year, with more land-based operations completed during the quieter winter months. "We have less jobs in winter, but they are also generally more nasty." The biggest swells experienced were during a life raft exercise with the rail ferry Arahanga in 1997, when waves up to 9.1m high pounded vessels involved. "There were an awful lot of sick people around that day," says John.

The unit has two vessels - the 17.5 metre launch Lady Elizabeth III and a 4.6m inflatable which, is used for patrolling the inner harbour, under wharves for body recoveries, protest action, to access difficult locations such as rivers and assisting Police National Dive Squad members.

While the Duty Launch Crew is under the control of the Duty Inspector at the Central Communications Centre, the unit exercises a degree of autonomy, says John. Because it is a specialised unit working in a unique environment, the method and timing of the response is normally left to the judgement of the Duty Launch Master in consultation with the OC Comms Centre.

John says one of the unit's main functions is search and rescue operations [see separate story]. Its role is not only to coordinate the operation, but also participate in the search itself.

With an increase in leisure craft, the unit has an increasingly vital role in protecting Wellington boaties from water-based dangers and crime. Duties include:

• Overseeing aquatic events and controlling spectator craft
• Protecting life and property both at sea and surrounding Wellington Harbour
• Maintaining and servicing the police launch and other resources at the unit
• Attending, investigating and reporting offences
• Apprehending offenders
• Maintaining law and order along the Wellington City waterfront
• Conducing school and community group visits through the unit
• Assisting DoC, MoF and Customs.

History

Records dating back to 1917 indicate there was a strong police presence on the Wellington waterfront, but this only involved land based activities.

At the time, Wellington was the capital city of a young and developing nation, and consequently there was a lot of activity on the waterfront. The port was full of square riggers and sailing ships of every description.

Wellington remained a major port up until WWII when there were a lot of troop movements, with several troop carriers calling into Wellington. By 1941 it was obvious police needed a boat to patrol the various troop ships and installations around the harbour.

In 1941 the Police Launch Services was born. The Government requisitioned a launch being built in Picton. Fred Musgrove had been building a 38ft pleasure launch for use in the Marlborough Sounds. However, under wartime regulations, it was taken from him and the current market price paid - 2000 pounds. Fed had named the launch Lady Elizabeth after his grandmother - and not after royalty as many presumed.

Lady Elizabeth was crewed by a section of six police personnel who worked around the clock to patrol troop carriers.

On one occasion, the early shift crew arrived to find it gone. Legend has it a couple of drunk Service personnel took it for a joy ride to Eastbourne. The boat was recovered but the culprits never caught.

Lady Liz wasn't an ideal boat for the circumstances. It had no home comforts and no communications gear. Slowly it took on a rescue role and if it was urgently needed, land-based police had strategic points to raise flags. The crew either returned quickly (at 9 knots) or if the flag indicated it was exceptionally urgent, they got to the nearest phone for further instructions.

Lady Elizabeth continued service into the 1950s and became well established with a permanent crew. It also got a brand new wireless and took on more and more rescues, as boating became more popular. She wore out her original engine and, eventually the whole boat began to wear out. In 1969 it failed its survey for the last time.

A replacement was sought and the project handed to the Ministry of Transport. David Eyres redeveloped the English design of the NPL Series 99 and Lady Elizabeth II was the created.

She turned out to be an excellent sea keeper and carried out many rescues. On 2 July 1986, with more than 1500 operations behind her, Lady Elizabeth II headed out on a training run to Pencarrow, with four crew. In rough conditions she capsized at the entrance of Wellington Harbour. Crew member Constable Glen Hughes and Senior Sergeant Phil Ward from Wellington Central, died in the accident. Skipper Constable Jim McLean and crew member Constable Rod Heard were rescued by helicopter pilot Peter Button. The vessel eventually sunk.

Six days after the tragedy, a steering committee was established to find a replacement. A draft brief was written: The launch had to be reasonably specialised, but not overly so. It had to be capable of working as a rescue boat, pilot boat, tug, dive platform, be shallow drafted, capable of turning in confined moorings and marina and able to self right.

Outside help was contracted and advertisements were placed in major international newspapers. Seventy eight registrations of interest were received from around the world. A 26 day trip was undertaken to assess the options and a Norwegian design was selected.

On 1 July 1987, John Harrhy - a consulting naval architect and registered engineer - was contracted to redesign the boat. His main tool was a Macintosh computer using a sophisticated software package. Five weeks later a design had been reached. The boat would self right from 180 degrees and also fitted the brief.

In July 1988 boat builders and suppliers were asked to register their interest with five New Zealand boat builders invited to submit a tender. On 14 October 1988, it was announced that the $2.4m contract had gone to Dickson Boatbuilders Ltd, Nelson.

The Lady Elizabeth III was launched on 8 November 1989 and delivered to Wellington for operational duty on 22 December 1989.

See also:

Wellington District

Avoid buying a stolen boat - check the stolen boats database.