KEY POINTS:
Maori legend has it that the heart of a vanquished giant, Matau te Tipua, beats deep beneath the surface of Lake Wakatipu and is the reason the lake level rises and falls in a six minute cycle.
Scientists, however, blame the nearby mountains, claiming they create variations in wind pressure that affect the body of water.
Pressure is something that also affects TSS Earnslaw, for it relies on steam to plough daily through the waters of a lake which, with a mean temperature of 12degC, is much cooler than the super-heated stuff required to turn the vessel's twin screws.
Though there are no giants at work, the ship does have a big heart.
Its two locomotive-type boilers demand a constant supply of coal, a tonne an hour required to maintain a working pressure of 160 pounds per square inch.
Spare a thought, then, for the stokers, those responsible for fuelling the fire in the belly of the ship. They begin a typical day at 7am, finishing 15 and a-half hours later. The two at work earlier this week, Ben Stewart and Jim Burcham, agree it is important to get on well in a noisy space where temperatures can reach 50degC in the summer and tourists can watch every move from the relative comfort of a steel walkway.
The addition of the viewing platform in the boiler room was part of a major overhaul of TSS Earnslaw in 1984 that saw the bridge stripped and refitted and the ship's promenade cabin enclosed. The work was commissioned by Fiordland Travel Ltd (now Real Journeys), which took over operations in December 1969.
The vessel, which received a category 1 heritage protection order from the Queenstown Lakes District Council in 1998, has carried Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, and the king and queen of Belgium, and the prince of Thailand. It has also ferried sheep and stores to and from the various stations on the lake's shores.
Notwithstanding upgrades and a month-long survey and maintenance programme every two years, core aspects of the ship are largely unchanged since it was launched on October 18, 1912: it is still powered by steam; instructions to the engine room and other areas are still done by "ship's telegraph" (the large brass dial that reads "full", "half", "slow" etc); and all answer to the launchmaster, a post otherwise known as skipper.
Senior launchmaster Graham Moore-Carter joined the vessel 27 years ago at the age of 30. Raised in Bluff, son of a fisherman, the man known to most of the crew as "Twinny", has always been around boats. Every boat has a personality, he says, and this steamship is no exception.
"She can be difficult. She's a bit like most women. She can be cantankerous and argumentative at times."
As on all boats, teamwork is essential, Twinny asserts before being interrupted by piano player Bill Purvis. Purvis quit his Southland farm in 1991, moved to Arrowtown and took a job playing music to passengers. He asks his skipper whether he is included in that team.
"Unfortunately, you have to admit that at times he is part of the team," Twinny sighs as the last of the ship's passengers disembarks after the return journey from Queenstown to Walter Peak Station.
"We're waiting for his retirement to come around and it still hasn't. I'll be dead before you retire."
Purvis: "Yeah? Well, I promise I'll play Amazing Grace at your funeral."
Twinny: "No, I don't want that song."
Their gentle jibes have a cadence born of familiarity, not unlike some of the songs that tinkle out across the water. Now Is The Hour and Danny Boy are among the passengers' requests. As for Smoke On The Water? Well, the boat takes care of that. - TSS Earnslaw's 95th birthday will be celebrated tomorrow with a special cruise around Frankton Arm at 10am.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
