Thieves have stripped two historic boats at Paeroa's maritime park of their brass fittings, taking portholes, railings and original drive gear that staff fear cannot be replaced.
Staff at the Historical Maritime Museum & Park near the confluence of the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers discovered the theft at around 8am on Monday when they arrived for work.
Park manager Fleur McDermott told 1News the thieves had taken every piece of brass from both vessels – Ariana and Norita.
"Both of them have been fully stripped of even the drive gear, portholes, the railings all around the boats, everything. Anything that was brass – gone."
Ariana, a 34-foot wooden launch, was built by Lane Brothers in Auckland’s Judges Bay in 1923 and has been taking passengers on cruises along the Waihou and Ohinemuri rivers. Norita is a replica vessel.
McDermott said both boats had carried original fittings, with some of the stolen pieces "near impossible" to track down again.
"There's certain things that have been taken from those boats that we will never find again, especially the lever where you make the boat go forward and backwards."
The park is insured, but McDermott said a pay-out would not fix the loss.
"We're more devastated that we don't know whether we're going to be able to bring them back to what they were," she said.
"It's just so heart-breaking that they're about to get rid of some history that can never be replaced, that'll be melted down to become nothing. It's more valuable to us than anyone."
'The hub of Paeroa'
McDermott posted about the theft on the park’s Facebook page on Monday afternoon and said so many people had rallied around that she had yet to catch up with all the messages.
"It’s really warming. I feel like the maritime park’s like the hub of Paeroa. There’s something very special about it, so it’s nice to know that we’ve got community backing."
McDermott said the theft had left staff worried about the rest of the collection, which includes engines from the early 1900s that volunteers have got running again.
"It's made us very uneasy now because obviously we have a lot of things that are of significant historical value."
She said the park would now look at whether it could afford security systems "to make sure that everything does remain safe or as safe as it can be".
Police attended on Monday morning. McDermott said officers had come straight down after she reported the theft and shared the park's dismay.
"They really were so disappointed."
Waikato Eastern area response manager Senior Sergeant Aaron Fraser told 1News police had received a report about the theft and it was in the case assessment stage.
Watch for stolen brass
McDermott has phoned scrap metal dealers and visited second-hand shops in the area, asking them to buy any of the items if someone tries to sell them, with the park promising to pay them back.
"We don't want it to end up where we can never find it either. It's sort of a Catch-22 really, but we just want it back."
She asked people to keep an eye out, saying the more people who knew about the theft, the harder it would be for the thieves to sell the items.
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