Andrew Leachman
{{short description|New Zealand research ship captain and New Zealand Antarctic Medal recipient}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Andrew Leachman
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|NZAM|size=100%}}
| image = Andrew Leachman (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Leachman in 2008
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|04|06|df=y}}
| birth_place = Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|09|16|1945|04|06|df=y}}
| death_place = Nelson, New Zealand
| occupation = Sea captain, writer
| employer = National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Royal New Zealand Navy
| awards = Honorary captain of the Royal New Zealand Navy
| children = Siobhan Leachman
}}
Andrew Leachman {{post-nominals|country=NZL|NZAM}} (6 April 1945 – 16 September 2017) was a master mariner with more than 55 years of seagoing experience.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heavenaddress.com/marsden-house-funeral-directors/Andrew-Leachman/1740851/obituary|title=Obituary of Andrew Leachman|website=HeavenAddress|access-date=23 May 2019}} He captained New Zealand's research vessel Tangaroa for more than 20 years. He was posthumously awarded the New Zealand Antarctic Medal. A species of marine sea cucumber was named in his honour.
Early life
Leachman was born in 1945 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, and grew up in nearby Grimsby.{{Cite journal|last=Leachman|first=Andrew|date=2016|title=Shackleton's Bad Lads|url=https://antarcticsociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antarctic.V34.3.2016.pdf|journal=Antarctic|volume=34|issue=3|pages=26–29}}
Career
Leachman began his maritime career as a 15-year-old galley boy on a trawler working on boats fishing off the Labrador coast.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/9359724/Shackletons-bad-lads-in-new-light|title=Shackleton's 'bad lads' in new light|website=Stuff |access-date=2019-04-22}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2009/antarctic-adventure/|title=Antarctic adventure – The Listener|last=Noted|website=Noted|access-date=2019-04-21|archive-date=22 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422001258/https://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2009/antarctic-adventure/|url-status=live}} Eventually, he became an officer cadet, working with the New Zealand Shipping Company, which was involved in transporting New Zealand's beef, mutton and lamb to the world. In 1973, he was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries as first mate on the research vessel, the James Cook. Ten days later the captain of the James Cook went on leave and Leachman, then aged 27, had to take over command of the ship.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/89764341/the-antarctic-ice-shipping-captain-on-daring-rescues-in-the-southern-ocean-and-playing-saxophone-to-penguins|title=Antarctic captain who played his saxophone to penguins while on daring rescues in the Southern Ocean|website=Stuff |access-date=2019-05-19|archive-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502160941/https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/89764341/the-antarctic-ice-shipping-captain-on-daring-rescues-in-the-southern-ocean-and-playing-saxophone-to-penguins|url-status=live}}
In 1991, there were plans for the James Cook to be replaced with a ship to be built in Bergen, Norway. Leachman flew to Norway to see the new research vessel, the RV Tangaroa, a $27 million state-of-the-art 2,282-tonne ship. This was New Zealand's only ice-strengthened deep-water research vessel. After inspecting the ship, he brought it home to New Zealand arriving in Wellington on 20 July 1991.{{Cite web|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/antarctic-adventure|title=Antarctic adventure|date=2009-06-23|website=Otago Daily Times |language=en|access-date=2019-04-21|archive-date=22 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422001308/https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/antarctic-adventure|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|title=Hooked: The story of the New Zealand Fishing Industry |last1=Johnson |first1=David |last2=Haworth |first2=Jenny |publisher=Hazard Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-877270-64-4 |location=Christchurch, New Zealand |pages=413–414}}
File:RV_Tangaroa_in_Wellington.jpg
From 1991 to 2011, Leachman captained the Tangaroa taking the ship as far north as New Caledonia and as far south as Antarctica. On one voyage in 2003, scientists aboard Tangaroa discovered over 500 species of fish and 1,300 species of invertebrate,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3017078.stm|title=Weird ocean life surprises|publisher=BBC|date=24 June 2003|access-date=24 May 2019|archive-date=24 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524102149/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3017078.stm|url-status=live}} and the tooth of an extinct megalodon.{{Cite news |title=Prehistoric Find On Norfanz Survey |url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0305/S00066.htm |publisher=scoop.co.nz |date=20 May 2003}}
In 2011, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) planned to invest in two new 85 m 1900-tonne ships to venture into the Southern Ocean to combat illegal fishing. Leachman was asked to inspect one of the vessels, {{HMNZS|Wellington|P55|6}}, to make sure the vessels would be suitable for handling the notorious pack ice of the Southern Ocean, and in so doing, he joined the RNZN as an ice navigation consultant.
Leachman retired in 2015 aged 70, a veteran of fourteen Antarctic voyages.
Personal life
After settling in New Zealand, Leachman became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978.{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-content/view/19541:1844 |title=Andrew Leachman in the New Zealand naturalisations, 1843–1981 |year=2010 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |access-date=8 January 2023 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=12 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112223456/https://www.ancestry.com.au/cs/offers/join?sub=9288949109391360&dbid=1844&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.com.au%2Fdiscoveryui-content%2Fview%2F19541%3A1844&gsfn=&gsln=&h=19541 |url-status=live }} He was married and had three daughters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/our-people/94144801/master-mariner-leachman-honoured-by-nz-navy-for-antarctic-ice-mentoring|title=Master mariner Leachman honoured by NZ Navy for Antarctic ice mentoring|website=Stuff |language=en|access-date=2019-04-18}} A keen jazz musician, he played tenor saxophone with the Woollaston Jazz & Blues Nelson Festival for many years and was a Nelson Jazz Club life member.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/3035057/Jazz-musicians-launch-festival|title=Jazz musicians launch festival|website=Stuff |language=en|access-date=2019-04-21}} Besides jazz, his interests included olive growing, cycling and the Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton as well as other members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/97258785/leachmans-legacy-remembered-during-fond-farewell|title=Leachman's legacy remembered during fond farewell|website=Stuff |language=en|access-date=2019-04-22}}
Awards and recognition
File:Investiture of Andrew Leachman, NZAM.jpg from the governor-general, Dame Patsy Reddy, on behalf of her late husband, at Government House, Wellington, on 30 April 2019]]
Leachman was made an honorary captain of the Royal New Zealand Navy in June 2017 by Navy head Rear Admiral John Martin. In the 2019 New Year Honours, he was posthumously awarded the New Zealand Antarctic Medal.{{Cite web|url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/honours/lists/ny2019-nzam|title=New Year Honours 2019 – Citations for the New Zealand Antarctic Medal|website=New Year Honours 2019 — Citations for the New Zealand Antarctic Medal|language=en-NZ|access-date=2019-04-18}}{{Cite journal|title=Navy honours ice pilot|url=https://www.seafoodnewzealand.org.nz/fileadmin/documents/SNZ_Magazine/Seafood_Magazine_August_2017_WEB_PDF.pdf|journal=Seafood Magazine|volume=25|pages=8}}
A species of Antarctic sea cucumber was named in Leachman's honour – Pentactella (formerly Laevocnus) leachmani.{{Cite journal|last1=O'Loughlin|first1=P. Mark|last2=Mackenzie|first2=Melanie|last3=Paulay|first3=Gustav|last4=VandenSpiegel|first4=Didier|date=2014|title=Four new species and a new genus of Antarctic sea cucumbers with taxonomic reviews of Cladodactyla, Pseudocnus, Paracucumidae and Parathyonidium (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida)|url=https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/4219/mmv72-031-061.pdf|journal=Memoirs of Museum Victoria|volume=72|pages=31–61|doi=10.24199/j.mmv.2014.72.04|doi-access=free|access-date=22 May 2019|archive-date=28 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428194919/https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/4219/mmv72-031-061.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=827861|title=WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species – Pentactella leachmani (Davey & O'Loughlin in O'Loughlin et al., 2014)|website=www.marinespecies.org|access-date=2019-04-18|archive-date=2 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102120309/https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=827861|url-status=live}} On 16 July 2020, an undersea hill in the Southern Ocean, Leachman Hill, was officially named after Leachman (renamed from Leachman Ridge to Leachman Hill on 18 November 2021).{{Cite web|date=16 July 2020|title=Notice of Decisions to Adopt, Assign and Discontinue Undersea Feature Names|url=https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2020-ln3107?year=2020|access-date=19 July 2020|website=New Zealand Gazette |archive-date=17 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717122857/https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2020-ln3107?year=2020|url-status=live}}Leachman Ridge coordinates: {{Coord|-69.6745|178.7690|type:landmark|name=Leachman Ridge}}{{Cite web |title=Notice of Decisions to Alter and Assign Undersea Feature Names - 2021-ln4946 - Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa |url=https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2021-ln4946 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=gazette.govt.nz}}
Selected publications
- Leachman, Andrew, (2016) "Harry McNish – An insight into Shackleton's Carpenter", [https://antarcticsociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antarctic.V34.3.2016.pdf Antarctic], 34(3):26–29
- Leachman, Andrew, (2015) Letter, [https://antarcticsociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Antarctic.V33.1.2015.pdf Antarctic], 33 (1):6
- McKoy, J. L., and A. Leachman. "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00288330.1982.9515957 Aggregations of ovigerous female rock lobsters, Jasus edwardsii (Decapoda: Palinuridae).]" New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 16.2 (1982): 141–146.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/videos/1563-leaving-the-wellington-harbour Video clip] showing Leachman describing the upcoming voyage during the departure of the research vessel Tangaroa from Wellington harbour
- [https://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2009/antarctic-adventure/ Article in The Listener], 27 June 2009, about a voyage captained by Leachman to the Ross Sea to undertake a census of marine life in the International Polar Year — Census of Marine Life
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/61/a3451961.shtml "Eileen's War"]: Leachman's mother's recollections from World War Two
- [http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/9359724/Shackletons-bad-lads-in-new-light Nelson Mail article] about a talk given by Leachman on Shackleton's "bad lads"
- [https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/antarctic-adventure Otago Daily Times article] about voyaging to Antarctica under Leachman's captaincy
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20190909035115/https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2015/11/navy-deployed-to-combat-illegal-fishing.html Newshub article] about Leachman's role countering illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean
- [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/103671/korean-fishing-company-was-%27safety-conscious%27 RNZ News item] about Leachman's evidence at an inquest into a crew member lost from a Korean fishing boat in New Zealand waters
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Category:Recipients of the New Zealand Antarctic Medal
Category:People from Nelson, New Zealand
Category:People from Cleethorpes