History of the “Premier”
The fully restored 62' 1922 ketch is for sale for the first time since 1983. Owner Tony Jory of Launceston said the decision to sell has caused heartache after he spent 15 painstaking years completing an extensive refit.
It was originally a barge built by Percy Coverdale at his yard in Battery Point for the Sward family of Kettering and was called the Evlyn May. It was used for carting apples and timber around Bruny Island and up the Huon River.
The Tasmanian State Government purchased the vessel on 21 July 1938 from the Sward family, fitted a diesel engine, wheelhouse and cabin and renamed the vessel 'Premier'. Premier was then used as a government yacht and fisheries patrol vessel.
It was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy and used as a training and estuary patrol vessel between 1941 and 1943 during World War II. Premier is listed on the Australian Register of Historic Ships.
In 1949 it was given to the The Tasmania Police Force for use as a search and rescue vessel, where it performed admirably for over 20 years, The vessel was finally put it up for auction in 1971 when the PV Vigilant was commissioned as a replacement police vessel.
Mr Jory said “I used it for quite some time as it was [in 1983] and then I decided to put it in the shed and do some work on it and by the time I finished, it had been in the shed for 11 years.”
The vessel has also been exhibited at the Australian Wooden Boat Festivals since 2013.