Readers will know by now that I love nothing more than detective work. Recently I’ve been indulging in two such sleuthings, a happy delve reducing the frustration of a more serious one.
The happy one is a significant piece of New Zealand maritime history that fell into my lap by accident. The serious one is off-the-grid – or is that on-thegrid? – related; let’s just say that it has been a yin-yang, bittersweet few weeks, causing much thought about thinking in systems and about whether we can learn from history.
Hello, Amokura
I walked into the auctioneers, as I do weekly. Many ship models this time; presumably an aficionado had died, or shifted/downsized. Some were museum-quality shipyard-produced half-models, and one at least was about to sell for thousands.
A big (1.4m long), damaged, and slightly amateur model caught my eye. Three-masted; steamship; naval; ugly-as; late 1800s? were my thoughts as I edged closer.
The hand-printed nameplate read Amokura. I mentally flashed back to a sunny afternoon spent cavorting in her remains in Kenepuru Sound. A further flashback to a remembered connection with Frank Worsley (Shackleton’s captain/navigator). I said to the model, sotto voce: “Forget the rest; you’re a significant part of our history; you’re coming home and getting restored.”
Hello, hard questions
About the same time, I attended a talk by a university researcher, ostensibly under the ‘sustainable energy’ label
