Old 'girlfriend' a strong lure

DON SCOTT/The Press

SHIPSHAPE: Scotsman John McAndrew has returned again to maintain an old girlfriend in the Port of Lyttelton.

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When John McAndrew leaves home in Scotland for far-off New Zealand, his mates say he must be visiting his 1960s Kiwi girlfriends.

However, the only girlfriend the retired Glaswegian marine engineer has in New Zealand is the 100-year-old tugboat Lyttelton, at the port of the same name.

McAndrew is on his fourth visit in as many years to lavish his skills on repairs to the vintage vessel.

"I just love coming here," he said yesterday.

He comes purely to work on the tug and at his own expense.

"I have to scrape to get here," he said.

McAndrew first visited Lyttelton in 1959 as a young engineer on a New Zealand Shipping Line cargo ship.

He remembered wondering why so many drunks were on the streets in the early evening, until he learned about the six o'clock closing of bars.

He soon found where he could get a beer after hours, on his visits in the 1960s.

Then he left the sea and had no contact with New Zealand for 40 years.

He worked for Glasgow marine engineers Fergusons, the firm that built Tug Lyttelton.

After retiring about 10 years ago, he joined volunteer groups restoring the Loch Lomond paddle steamer, Maid of the Loch, and the 1896 sailing ship Glenlee, in Glasgow.

One day he heard a Kiwi accent and approached the speaker.

It was Bruce Carr, a Christchurch tourist and leading figure in the preservation of Tug Lyttelton.

McAndrew's latest visits began from that chance meeting.

The Tug Lyttelton Preservation Society welcomes his expertise and arranges accommodation for him.

His wife would not accompany him because she hated flying, he said.

Last year, McAndrew worked on Lyttelton when she was in dry dock for an overhaul. This year he is doing only sundry repairs and maintenance.

- © Fairfax NZ News