John Wright & Sons Shipyards Tuncurry 1943 built US Army WT85 / Protrude - June 2019

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This image was taken at the US Army WT 85/ Protrude's mooring in Abbotsford Bay just west of Abbotsford Boatshed, Abbotsford, Sydney on the 30th June 2019.
I had the good fortune to be taken out on Abbotsford Bay in a workboat by the US Army WT 85's new owner, Roger Kyle (From early 2019), to get this and other images which I'll post at some stage also.
Roger Kyle acquired the US Army WT 85 in early 2019 after it sank on its mooring at Gosford Jetty in Brisbane Water on 26th February 2018. See image below.
The then owner, David Winning, was faced with the decision to scrap the boat or try to find a new owner. Either way he needed to refloat the boat and was pleased when Roger Kyle, owner of Abbotsford Boatshed, agreed to take the boat off his hands.
In early 2019, after it had been sitting on the bottom of Brisbane Water for many months, David Winning refloated the WT85/Protrude and Roger Kyle arranged for it to be towed to Sydney to Abbotford Boashed by a 40 foot Australian Work Boat, the Jackpot, (Built by Brown Bros) .
Its therefore no surprise then that in these latest images the old boat is looking a liitle worse for wear compared with some of my earlier images taken at Gosford. As to this point little restoration work had been carried out since it was refloated and taken to Abbotsford Boat Shed.

The US Army WT 85 has been known by a number of names over the years and has had multiple owners, (See list of owners below)
After the war the Australian Navy took ownership of the boat and it was renamed the HMAS Koolya.
Nicholson Bros. Harbour Transport, Sydney aquired the boat from the Navy and renamed it the Protrude, a name it has carried additional to its "US Army WT 85" name for many of its 76 years (1943 to 2019).

The US Army WT 85 was built in 1943 by Ernest Wright of John Wright and Sons Shipyards in Tuncurry on the NSW Mid North Coast.
The vessel is a 45 foot tug boat originally designed to see service in northern Australian Pacific Ocean waters threatened by Japanese ocean mines during WW2.
Wooden Boats were considered less likely to set mine explosions off than steel built boats.
Wright's Shipyards and the Taree based yards of Ryan's constructed quite a few of these boats for the war effort but the US Army WT 85 is the last one still affloat and as such is a very important historical link to Tuncurry's John Wright & Son Shipyards which, for many of its 84 year history, was one of the largest wooden ship building companies in the Southern Hemishere having had the reputation of building the largest wooden vessel ever to see service in the Southern Hemisphere. That vessel was the 47 metre long 603 gross tonnage Uralba.

The owners of the US Army WT85 have been as follows.
US Army - Named as US Army WT85
Australian Navy - Renamed as HMAS Koolya
Nicholson Bros. Harbour Transport, Sydney - Renamed as Protrude
Stannards Bros Launch Services, Sydney
Aaron Maher, Concord
Alan Draper, Owner of the Lady Kendall Cruise Boat, Brisbane Water
Booker Bay Marina, Booker Bay, Brisbane Water
Larry Elliot, Woy Woy
David Winning, Gosford
Roger Kyle, Abbotsford Boatshed, Sydney

Wikipedia

Click and open the image below for a lot more information and album links with many more images of the US Army WT 85/Protrude.

Taken in: Australia / New South Wales / Abbotsford (show map)

Taken on: June 30, 2019

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Sets appears in: • US Army WT85 / Protrude • Boats Ferries & Ships

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