A very rare shot of "Manukau" on duty, setting off down the harbour with a barge to carry out buoy repairs in 1935 JT Diamond collection, Auckland Libraries, JTD-19M-04633 Click the pic for more info on the original "Manukau"	A classic displacement launch designed and built in triple skin heart kauri by Charles Bailey Jnr in 1914 for the Auckland Harbour Board, who commissioned "Manukau" for service on the Manukau. From then until 1961, when she was rebuilt to survey, she served as a pilot boat, and was also used for barge work and buoyage. During that 1961 survey, she had a new 56hp Gardner LW4 diesel installed. She measures 12m x 3.16m x 1m. A decade earlier, in December 1952, she was taken out of the water by crane at Onehunga and carried overland by trailer to the Waitemata, where the floating crane "Matua" assisted in her being towed to the slipway for a two-month survey. During this break from service, she was fitted out with a new driver's cabin, and new 42hp Greylugger-4 petrol engines were installed. She continued working on the Manukau until February 1967, when, with the need to upgrade due to the types of vessels which were now becoming commonplace visitors at Onehunga, the Auckland Harbour Board moved her across to the Waitemata to carry out sounding work. The move also meant a new name - "Ronaki", the name under which she still operates. She looks in fine fettle pictured just prior to the 2016 Auckland Anniversary Day Tugboat race on the Waitemata. Info largely sourced from www.waitematawoodys.com
supplied by Duncan Montgomery, NZ Coastal Shipping Forum Alongside in the fishing basin in July 1967 JT Diamond collection, Auckland Libraries, JTD-19M-02886	In 1966, the Auckland Harbour Board commissioned Scholten & Brijs, of Glen Eden, with the task of designing and building a new tug for use on the Manukau Harbour. Cue the new "Manukau", which was launched on 10 January, 1967, complete with radar and echo sounding equipment to enable her to carry out survey work. Her delivery voyage took her via North Cape, and she arrived at Onehunga ready for action on 8 February. Powered by two Ruston 400hp diesels, and with a 4.6 ton bollard pull, she was capable of carrying 25 passengers, and carried on where her predecessor left off, capably handling cement carriers, coastal and island traders, trans-tasman container ships ... you name it, she did it. With aplomb, and little fuss. She did what it said on the packaging! In May-June 1982, she received a $187,000 overhaul, with engines, tailshaft and propellers all replaced. New funnels were installed, and major piping and electrical wiring were also renewed. Most of the work was done while afloat, but a specially constructed temporary slipway was utilised for the tailshaft and props work. The tug "Kaha" was employed at Onehunga while this work was done, and on the occasions when our trusty steed was out of the water for her annual survey - usually in November each year. In 2000, "Manukau" was seconded by Ports of Auckland for pilotage and lines work at Marsden Point. By 2003, she had changed hands, and at this time could be found towing a sand barge on the Kaipara Harbour for Kaipara Towboats. That all changed when Thomson Towboats came along, and she has been working in their red-and-black trim since 2005, conducting a variety of tasks not limited to harbour and coastal towage, boat launches (see pic), delivery work and pilot and crew transfers. "Manukau"'s current specification details can be found here: Thanks to Lance Brown at Thomson Towboats for filling in the history gaps Log Of The Manukau
	How do you follow such a super servant as "Manukau"? You sure as heck don't do what Ports of Auckland did, and replace her with a smaller tug to handle ships up to 6200 gross tonnes in size! "Busby" was built in Auckland for the Whangarei Harbour Board, and launched on 10 October 1963. She was a 13.71m tug of 23 gross tons, powered by two 300hp diesels and with a 3.6 ton bollard pull. She took over from "Manukau" in the early months of 2000, and was a classic case of good tug, wrong port, a situation which was borne out on 28 July 2001, when she couldn't single-handedly pull "Spirit Of Enterprise" off the Motukaraka Bank after the ship had grounded - see the Harbour Incidents section of the site for more on this incident. To their credit, Ports of Auckland didn't waste time awaiting the final TAIC report. Within three months, "Busby" was back on duty in the Waitemata, carrying out tasks better suited to her size.
"Tika" standing to awaiting "Westport"'s arrival on 19 January 2016 Click the pic for a video of Tika Drowning info sourced from johnjamesstanaway.com Tika	So to the final servant of the Manukau, "Tika", which has been on deck since October 2001, some thirty years after being built by Whangarei Engineering and Construction Ltd, or WECO, as they were known throughout the industry. She was launched on 24 September 1971. Measuring 16.76m x 5.3m x 2.4m, she has an 8 ton bollard pull, and powered by two 365hp Caterpillar D 343 TA 6 cylinder turbo-charged diesels, she is far better suited to the demands of the Port of Onehunga than her predecessor, as is proven by this being her fifteenth year in service. "Tika" has a bit of history prior to her current operational role, and it's a sad story. On 12 January, 1982, she was assisting the 1433 ton freighter "Shereen" from her Wynyard Wharf berth to the mid-harbour position, and was about to release the line. Before doing so, however, "Shereen" started to pick up speed, and as a result of this, combined with "Tika"'s emergency tow release failing to function, the tug capsized. Deckhand Allan Wallace made it to safety, but "Tika"'s Master since she was launched in 1971, 50-year-old Gordon Albert "Beau" Stanaway RIP, was trapped in the wheelhouse and drowned. The closure of the Port of Onehunga saw Ports of Auckland put this wee trojan up for sale, available for delivery from 1 December 2016. See HERE for some on-board photos. Her new owners were well pleased with their acquisition, and on 28 January 2017 she made her final voyage down the Manukau, bound for her new base in Nelson.
	"Maui 1" first visited Onehunga in 2010, soon after her acquisition by Marine Services Ltd., who acquired this sturdy wee tug from Port Taranaki, where she had been in service since being built in Whangarei by WECO. Measuring 17m x 6m, powered by a Voith Schneider diesel and with a 7 ton bollard pull, she is one of the only fully loaded firefighting tugs in the Auckland region. She was alongside at Onehunga for a few months from mid-March in 2020, assisting with the demolition of the century-old Mangere Bridge and the construction of its replacement.