This is all that remains......

Down on the beach is the last remains of the launch that my Dad once owned. He brought in 1952 from a local Sounds resident, who was a WWI veteran. I haven't managed to find out, if he had the boat built for him, or if he brought it from someone else. Apparently, he fished out of it for a couple of years, but not sure when this was.
It was the "Wairangi" with a 4 cyl Rugby 18HP engine in it. 26 feet Long, Keel 22 feet, Beam 6 ft 8 in. and depth 2 ft 5 in. When Dad brought it, the engine didn't run too well, so he brought another engine from a neighbour , a 6 cylinder Chrysler - this is all that remains of that engine and the launch.
The big log that is lying over the top of it, is a big bit of drift wood that has come in there recently.
This the launch that I had my first cigarette on, at the young age of about 6 years old. My Dad was taking some people across the bay, and everyone was smoking. I asked my Dad if I could have one too. (he always rolled his own).
"OK", he said, rolled one up and gave it to me.
When I had finished it, right down to the end, I turned to him and said,
"Can I have another one?"
"NO!! that was supposed to make you sick, so you wouldn't have another one!!" and with that, I got a clip over the ear.
Other than tying a couple of other times in my teens, I never did take up smoking. Maybe, I remembered the clip over the ear!