Ex-RNLB ‘Louisa Anne Hawker
Delivery of Watson 47’ Ex-RNLB ‘Louisa Anne Hawker’
Delivery of Watson 47’ Ex-RNLB ‘Louisa Anne Hawker’ (Appledore, North Devon) from Milord Haven to Langkawi, Malaysia (October 2003)
I have always had an interest in lifeboats and the services they perform; it could, perhaps, even be in the blood because my great-great Uncle, Richard Palk Cutler C.O.G.C,R.N. was Head of HM Coastguards for North Devon & Cornwall at the beginning of the 20th century and lived in the Coastguard Cottages at Ilfracombe and rode from station to station on a donkey! It is the classic shape of lifeboats that have always intrigued me, and their solidity and ruggedness which seems to stand out against the plethora of other vessels that use the seas.
I have lived outside UK since 1992 and was browsing the web one day from my offices in Langkawi, Malaysia, when I came across Nelsons Boats in Donaghadee. My enquiries resulted in a firm interest in ‘Louisa Anne Hawker’ owned by Darrell Davies in Milford Haven. I returned to UK in August and viewed the boat twice, which included a short outing along the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast, and that was that, I was ‘sold’ on her! I then had an engine survey (Eddy Rayner – Engineering Director, Paul Gardner Engineering) and hull survey (W.H.Phillips, C.Eng., M.I.Mar.E.) carried out, and finalised detailed calculation of all freighting costs from Milford Haven to Port Klang, Malaysia, before affecting the purchase.
Delivery of the boat was via low-loader from Milford Haven to Southampton and then via NYK Line’s M/V ‘Orion Leader’, a Ro-Ro (car transporter) to Port Klang, Malaysia. She departed Southampton on 28th September and arrived and was cleared through Port Klang on 20th October. The whole process, which involved a reasonable degree of coordination and planning, was made far simpler by the expertise and calm thinking of Alan Johnson at LV Shipping Ltd. (Grimsby Office), and the practical knowledge of Darrell Davies in Milford Haven, which he readily provided when the boat was taken out by Dale Sailing at Neyland and prepared for the low-loader journey to Southampton. In fact, the most difficult and time consuming part of the entire exercise was not in the physical delivery of the boat but in identification of the optimum method of transportation and most competitive and reliable freight forwarder to effect it. I received quotations from several companies for a variety of delivery methods, by container vessel, conventional vessel and by Ro-Ro, with prices varying from GBP11,200.00, being the final price I paid and which made the whole exercise financially viable for me, to a staggering GBP50,000! So, if you have to deliver a boat either within UK or outside UK, my advice is simply, ‘contact Alan Johnson (Tel: 01469-574392).’
Louisa Anne Hawker’s’ arrival at Westport, Port Klang, drew considerable interest from port workers and management alike, and lowering her into water directly alongside the quay using the vast container cranes (achieved after several hours of negotiation) proved technically challenging and was certainly not without moments of real drama!
Port Klang to Langkawi (260nt.mls): We departed Westport Terminal for a small, abandoned jetty only three miles away where we laid up for the night and prepared her for the Langkawi voyage. We purchased fuel, provisioned the boat, and visited numerous chandlers and hardware stores in the back streets of Port Klang in order to effect any necessary ‘emergency’ repairs to the boat, including replacement of lights destroyed during the low-loader’s voyage to Southampton (for the port and starboard navigation lights we used empty bottles of ‘cherryade’ and ‘7-Up’ respectively because no 24v lights were available anywhere in the town; they functioned without fault for the entire journey thereafter!).
I had only ever handled a 12’ Zodiac RIB before purchasing ‘Louisa Anne Hawker’ but was at least vaguely familiar with maritime charts and using a GPS. It was therefore decided, after a two hour crash course on operation of the boat’s radar, GPS and other systems given to me by a good friend and experienced boat engineer, that I possessed sufficient ‘nouse’ to take the boat up to Langkawi. For this journey, I was accompanied by one of our company’s faithful Indonesian workers, Sutikno Tasrip, who, like me, had strictly limited experience of being at sea. We departed through Port Klang’s North Channel at around 6.00p.m. on 21st October, and whilst Malaysian waters are seldom as hostile as those back in UK, October is not the ideal time for ‘beginners’ to travel the Northern Malacca Straits given the regularity of squalls and unpredictable sea-state brought on by the south-west monsoon. In our case, we encountered calm conditions for only the initial three hours of the journey whereupon they deteriorated steadily throughout the night, with heavy squalls (we had the wipers on for around three hours!), frequent lightnning, and an increasingly large and confused swell.
By the time we arrived at Pulau Sembilan (a group of nine small islands off the coast of Perak) at daybreak, wave height was around three metres and it had become decidedly uncomfortable anywhere on the boat. We thus decided to deviate slightly from our original direct course to Penang by hugging closer to the coast, and fortunately, this gave us a smoother ride. After twenty-two unbroken hours at the helm (it is not without good reason that I am now seriously looking into acquisition of a suitable auto-pilot system!), I decided we should take refuge and rest off Pulau Jeranjak, Penang, where we succeeded in running the boat aground while hauling-up anchor and were forced to wait an additional six hours for the tide to lift us clear again! Finally, we arrived in Langkawi some 48 hours after leaving Port Klang in a state of utter exhaustion. In retrospect, what seemed pretty atrocious conditions to us at the time would probably be described as only moderately rough conditions back in UK; however, being inexperienced and unfamiliar with the lifeboat’s equipment, characteristic ‘corkscrewing’ motion and general handling, it was certainly an unforgettable voyage of discovery!
Within a few days of arrival in Langkawi, we had taken ‘Louisa Anne Hawker’ back out of the water to our hangar facility where a dedicated team of three persons worked on her until mid-January. Work included extensive ‘making-good’ of all surfaces prior to painting and a total of five spray-coats for the aluminium superstructure inclusive of a quality ‘two-pack’ topcoat. In addition, all the minor points noted during the hull survey by the Marine Surveyor back in UK were rectified and old perspex replaced with new wherever necessary. Finally, in mid-January 2004, we placed the boat back into water and berthed her at ‘Telaga Harbour’, a new marina overlooked by the majestic Gunung Matcincang rainforest.
Anyone reading this article who intends visiting Langkawi at any stage is of course most welcome to contact me (setonkendrick@hotmail.com) for a tour around these beautiful islands on ‘Louisa Anne Hawker’!