Gargoyle Mobilgrease UW
Maker
Vacuum Oil Company Pty Ltd
(American, 1906 - 1931)
Date1920-1929
Object number00031608
NameOil can
MediumTin, oil
DimensionsOverall: 270 x 85 x 90 mm, 0.95 kg
ClassificationsTools and equipment
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Bill Mooney
DescriptionA tin of Vacuum Oil Company Gargoyle Mobil underwater (UW) grease.
The grease was a 'waterproof lubricant for underwater gears' used on outboard motors and is associated with the Koban Rowboat Motor Mode lH made in 1923 (00031598) in the Australian National Maritime Museum's
collection.
HistoryThis tin of Mobil Gargoyle grease was used on a Koban Rowboat Motor Mode lH engine made in 1923 and orgianlly owned by Mr F. Wade.
Wade had bought the engine in 1923 whilst he lived at Northcote in Melbourne and, together with his brother, ordered the engine directly from the manufacturer in the United States after seeing an advertisement for it in Outdoor Life Magazine.They used the engine on a trip up the Murray River when bought a row boat in Echuca, attached the engine to it and motored up to Swan Hill where they sold the boat.
Mr Wade then moved to Mildura on the Murray River where he lived for three years and used the engine for recreational boating and fishing. He moved back to Melbourne for a short time and then to Sydney. In Sydney and Pittwater he hired row boats and attached his engine to them. It was sometimes difficult to hire a row boat for this purpose because owners were worried about the engine damaging their transoms. He did not buy a boat because he had nowhere to keep one.
One of Mr Wade's longer trips was two weeks on Pittwater and the Hawkesbury River.SignificanceThe Koban engine and associated maitence equipment,such as this tin of Gargoyle grease, is significant as a rare example of one of the first generations of outboard engines used in Australia.
