Full & By 1 February 2010

Vale John Spiers

Shortly after the James Craig’s first sail in 2000, I was approached to compile and editthe crew newsletter ‘Full & By’. After my first edition, which fortunately is no longer avail-able, John Spiers offered to assist. At this stage I had no knowledge of John’s experienceand expertise. They soon became evident. We both had a love of the sea, old ships, espe-cially square riggers, and an aviation background, John as a pilot and journalist, and myselfin air traffic control. The success we had with ‘Full & By’ was mainly due to John’s editing,photographs and articles. Most of the photographs in ‘Full & By’, and in the various otherpublications of the Sydney Heritage Fleet were taken by John. At sea, John could alwaysbe found aloft, alow and below, hanging by his finger tips to frame that special photo.

Full & ByCrew Journal of the barque James Craig

February 2010

John began hisworking life in1964 as a cadetfor the localnewspaper in hisoriginal home-town, Dunedin,New Zealand,before moving toSydney in 1967.His working ex-periences in a 45year career injournalism in-cluded being asub-editor of TheAustralian, wherehe was also theoriginal aviationeditor, as well aswriting the ship-ping and trans-port pages. Laterhe edited theDCN, and then a magazine for AOPA(Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) forseveral years, followed by a stint on Austra-lian Flying, before his early retirement in mid-2009.

Sadly, on 12 December 2009, John wastaken from us in an untimely death. He finally

lost his battlewith the cancerhe had fought

tooth and nailfor 20 months,just a fortnightafter his 63rd

birthday. SonPatrick advisedall who attendedJohn’s farewellto have regularmedical check-ups, and sohopefully pre-vent this dread-ful disease fromgetting hold.

John was ahusband, father,g r a n d f a t h e r ,journalist, pho-

tographer, editor, pilot, seaman, kayaker,bushwalker, adventurer, and all round goodbloke. He was a very special person in theSHF, and he will be missed. His wife Janehas just volunteered to sort out the databaseof photos, and she would appreciate hearingany stories of John’s adventures on theJames Craig, which was always one of hisfavorite places. Peter Davey

Full & By 2 February 2010

Web site:www.shf.org.au/JCraig/JCraig.html

Compiled & edited by Peter Daveypedavey@gmail.comSub-editor Karlie Hitchmank.hitchman@unsw.edu.auLayout: John Cowie

The opinions expressed in this journal may not necessar-ily be the viewpoint of the Sydney Maritime Museum, theSydney Heritage Fleet or the crew of the James Craig orits officers.

I hope to be able to publish Full and By threeor four times a year.It is the crew News for the barque JamesCraig.I need your articles, suggestions etc. My sug-gestions:Favorite poems/articles etc.A Crew member introduces himself.(Experiences, ships sailed on. Hopes etc)Interviews with crew.Go to for an interview with our Captain Ken.www.shf.org.au/JCFullBy/FB2transfer.html

Full & ByThe crew journal of the barque

James Craig

CONTENTS

Vale John Spiers.by Peter Davies 1

“There is nothing more enticing,disenchanting, and enslaving thanthe life at sea.by Peter Davies 3

From the Alvei captain’s log 5

Steering James Craigby Peter Davey 6

The Seamanby Mansfield Frese 11

If you loose the hatches….. 11

Australia Day 2009by John Lind 12

James Craig welcomes Stad 14Amsterdam …..

Photo– John Cowie

Photo– Steve Wilcox

Full & By 3 February 2010

“There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting,and enslaving than the life at sea.”

Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim “The Nigger of the Narcissus” chapter II.

In the winter of 2008 I had the pleasure of crew-ing on the “topsail schooner” Alvei in the Vanu-atu waters. There can be no better way to passwinter than sharing the life of a traditional sailorin the South Pacific. Alvei lacks a lot of the socalled comforts that sailor now expect: showers;wash basins; unlimited fresh water; refrigera-tion; stand up heads. She does have great crewaccommodation – the best I have experiencedin over 50 years on various square riggers,yachts and naval ships. We managed to collectenough fresh water to be able to rinse down af-ter salt water wash and to rinse clothes for 70%of the time. I recommend her to any sailor whohas any sense of adventure, not afraid to party,travel, expand their skills, enjoys the comrade-ship of shared interests with never to be re-peated, experiences, travel to places whereEuropeans seldom visit, escape Australian dra-conian OHAS rules.Six weeks of my two months crewing were in-volved with project MARC (Medical Aid for Re-mote Communities). With the help of volunteercarpenters, engineers, builders and Doctors we:installed; modernized water systems; medicalaid posts, built facilities to attract yachties (andtheir money). At Banam Bay (Vanuatu) webuoyed the reef so that yacht crews can nowland without losing a prop. Thanks to our ef-forts the Cruising Yacht club of the South Pa-cific will now have a race from Fiji to BantamBay (instead of Port Villa). This will bring inmuch need money to the community. From

their, after R and R in Loganville on Santo(where I dived on the President Coolidge, sup-posedly one of the best wreck dives in theworld). It was my first dive in 28 years and myfirst decompression dive. At Loganville weembarked a medical team for a part of Big Bayon Santo which has little attractions and con-sequently the population seldom, if ever, isvisited by Europeans. If you sat down, say onthe beach, you would have an interested localjust sitting and looking at you. Go to www.alvei.com

ALVEIBuilt in Montrose, Scotland in 1920 she oper-ated as a North Sea herring drifter until 1986when Evan, the current owner and Captainpurchased her in Norway. Over the next 8years [in Porto, Portugal] he transformed theAlvei into a Main Topsail Schooner.In 1995-96 she sailed in the Atlantic and Car-ibbean.From 1997 to the present day she has sailedin the South Pacific Islands.Evan also trained our Captain Ken for hissquare rig endorsement.Registered length: 25.6 m.Overall length: 38m. On deck 28m.Mast height: 22 m.Weight: 170 tons [approx].Engine: Norwegian Wichman 2 cylinder; 160hp; 1954.Sails: Flying Jib, outer; inner. Fore staysail.Fore sail; fore gaff topsail, fore course, foresquare top sail, fore t’gallant.Main as above.Mizzen, mizzen plus gaff top sail

The following is taken from her Web site.The purpose of Alvei is to allow her crew tomaintain a low cost, self sufficient life style onthe world’s oceans, while learning the traditionarts of the sailor.Alvei is not a charter boat or a cruise ship. Allmaintenance, cooking and sailing is done byher crew who also contribute a low monthlyfee to cover the cost of food and supplies forthe running of the ship.

Full & By 4 February 2010

She does coastal passages and offshore voy-ages. Sailors of differing levels of experienceare given a chance to improve their skills innavigation, watch keeping and sail handling.She has an extensive library of technical booksthat cover all aspects of Tall Ship sailing, butmost importantly it takes hard work, practiceand experience in order to master the craft.There is no substitute for experienceSpending such a long amount of time at sea isa unique experience. It is a remarkable contrastto our usual hectic society. Newcomers join theAlvei as a full crewmember. This means youstand watches at sea of 4 hours on, 8 hours off.In your 4 hour watch standing you have to steerfor about 1 hour, keep lookout and help with sailchanges. No experience is required; we teachyou on the go.In the tropics, the passages are much shorter.We stay in port between a few days and aweek. This is your chance to see places, go hik-ing and still enjoy the water at the same time.Alvei offers an old-fashioned way of travel. Sail-ing is, by far, slower than airplanes or otherhigh-tech ships, but if you do not have any time-restraints, it may be a relaxing change. Thetropics are warm, the easterlies usually blowsteadily, islands, sunsets, beaches and waterviewed from a ship can be peacefully beautiful.If you should find yourself on board during ourstay in the tropics, you will have to help standanchor watches at night (on a rotation basis)and keep taking turns with cooking.Alvei’s sailing schedule is not written in stoneas we are dependant on the strength of wind.So it is wise, therefore, to book plane ticketswith enough spare time and/or make them re-fundable..Cabins are comfortable, dry, well lit and venti-lated. We have a total of 18 bunks; 6 two berth

cabins, 4 saloon berths, a pilot berth and theCaptain's cabin aft. There are several placesto meet with your friends; in the Galley andMain Saloon there are tables, a library andmusic systemThere is lots of room on deck and on cabintops for sun bathing. Or you can go aloft to siton the yards and feel the wind in the rigging.In port we spread a sunsail over the mainboom to provide shade from the tropical sun.The crew stands regular watches at sea andin port. At sea watches may run 3 to 4 hours,

with 6 to 16 hours off depending on the size ofthe crew.On watch you help by steering, standing

lookout, keeping deck and engine room logsand sail handling as needed. In port yourwatch is usually every third day (one day on, 2days off). The duties in port on your watchday, include rowing the shore boat, doing pro-jects on the work list, cooking, and keeping ananchor watch through the night.During your time on board you will also haveto cook on a rotation basis and we’ll show youhow. You may cook alone or in pairs.

On your days off you are free to create yourown activities onshore or work on projects ofyour choice on the ship. Everyone takes a turnhelping in the galley, sometimes as a cook,other times cooking.

I spent three months on her in 09. My log wasdistributed to the crew last year. Below is themates log

Peter DaveySeaman (sail)

Full & By 5 February 2010

From the Alvei captain’slog.

After being held in port for two weeks by east-erly gales in Cook Strait we set sail from Nelsonon the 3rd of May bound for Pago Pago, Ameri-can Samoa.On board were 2 Yanks, Michelle and myself, 2Germans, Kat and Lara, 2 Swedes, Emil andRasmus and 2 Aussies, Pete and Tania. Withonly 8 on the crew Kat and I stood 4 on and 4hours off, while the other 6 crew had 4 on and 8hours off.With calms we motored out of Tasman Baythrough French Pass and the Marlboro Sounds,onward through Cook Strait and past Cape Pal-iser. Not wanting to be caught on a lee shorewe motored another day to be well clear of theland. On the morning of the third day a lightwesterly set in, so we set sails and shut downthe main engine.Following the way of the old sailing ships theplan was to sail east until you reach the longi-tude of your destination, then shape a course tothe north until you find the trade winds, fromthere sail direct to your destination.However there was a twist to this season’sweather. Crossing the Tasman Sea from Aus-tralia was a series of steep highs and deeplows. There were calms in the middle andstrong winds on the edges of these weathersystems. As we worked our way to the northand east, it soon became the voyage of thenever-ending cold fronts.By the 11th day we crossed 40 degrees south,on the 25th day we crossed 30 degrees southand in the 33rd day we crossed the tropic of

Capricorn. The cold fronts from the Antarcticmixed with tropical air that gave us squallyweather and pouring rain.

The last 8 days of the passage saw us withsquare sails set running before reinforcedtrade winds of 25 knots and 3 to 4 metre seas.In all we were hove to for 63 hours in gales,becalmed for 26 hours, best days run was 121miles and slowest was 22 miles (backwardshove to in a gale). We caught 10 fish, whichincluded 2 Kahawai, 2 Barracuda, 2 Tuna, 2Mahi Mahi, 1 Mackerel and a shark, which wetossed back.Three birds landed on deck, a petrel that died,a cape pigeon who stayed for 2 days and flewaway and a short tailed albatross who stayedfor half the night before hopping overboardand flying off.On the morning of the 41st day we had sailed2642 miles. At 14 degrees south latitude,Pago Pago Harbour lies in the caldera of anancient volcano. Part of the rim has collapsedletting in the sea. The opposite side rises al-most vertically covered with dense green jun-gle. We sailed in with square sails set. A tele-vision crew came down to interview us thenext day. And Margaret from Canada joinedour crew.After a busy week in American Samoa provi-sioning food stores we set sail for the otherSamoa. An easy overnight passage found usin the harbor at Apia the next morning. A largecruise liner, the Pacific Sun, arrived an hourahead of us. With 800 crew and 2000 passen-gers to process it took most of the day to clearcustoms and immigration.We finally escaped the cold fronts. It is 30 de-grees here this sunny Sunday morning. Mostof the crew has rented a car and gone to the

Full & By 6 February 2010

Steering James Craig.

To quote from that great Australian square rigsailor and author, Alan Villers, in his book “Theset of the Sails” The James Craig was a lively,lovely, and highly responsive thoroughbred of aship… She tacked like a yacht and ran like agreyhound.She does not always tack like a yacht thoughshe can still run like a greyhound. I was on-board when she had her first tack in over 70years, she did indeed tack like a yacht but wedo not have such success.Reasons:We are sailing her as though she was in ballast,this means we are not stressing rig and the shipthis is at least 300 tons lighter then in her work-ing days. This extra weight would have giventhe Craig extra momentum to make the tack.This would also mean that we have more hullexposed to the wind and sea this slows downthe tack.We are dragging two 6ft diameter propellers,which take at least a knot off our speed.These free wheeling propellers interrupt thesmooth flow of water over the rudder and has agreater breaking effect than locked propellersNormally at greater rudder angels, the watermay be envisaged as ‘piling up’ before it actu-ally reaches the rudder, and thus applyinggreater turning movement before it actuallyreaches the rudder. This water on the “Craig”would be disturbed, and slowed down, and nota solid block as you would expect on a sailingship without propellers. The “Craig” would notnow be achieving the original turning movementintended because we do not have the build upof solid water.According to Seamanship in the age of sail.

The turning effort is proportional to the squareof the velocity of the water and the square ofthe sine of the angle with which it strikes therudder bladeFirst, without the constant of proportionalitywe cannot give any absolute numbers. Never-theless, we can work out things like the per-centage change in Turning effect (T) causedby a change in velocity (V) or rudder angle(A).The Formula is:T = C V^2 sin^2(A) = C x V x V x sin(A) x sin(A)Where C is the unknown constant of propor-tionality.Because the velocity is squared, it follows atonce is that: If you double the velocity (i.e. scale by 2),

then you quadruple the turning effect (i.e.scale by 2 x 2 = 4),

If you scale the velocity by 1/2 then theturning effect is scaled by (1/2) x (1/2) =1/4,

If you scale the velocity by 1/4 then theturning effect is scaled by (1/4) x(1/4) =1/16,

If you scale the velocity by S then the turn-ing effect is scaled by S x S.

So if the effect of the props is to reduce thevelocity of the water from 9 knots to 6 knotsthen the turning effect is reduced from T to(6/9) x (6/9) x T = 4/9 x T = 0.44 x T.Put another way, a 1 - 6/9 = 1/3 reduction in

velocity results in a 1 - (6/9) x (6/9) = 1- 0.44 =0.56 reduction in turning effect.Quite dramatic.

The effect of changing the angle is more com-plex but probably not of such interest.

Full & By 7 February 2010

Notes on Compass;Conning and steering

James Craig.

Definitions:Conn, Con or Cun as pronounced by sea-men. This word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon conne, connan, to know, or be skilful.The pilot of old was skillful, and later the masterwas selected to conn the ship in action, that is,direct the helmsman. The quarter-master duringordinary watches conns the ship, and standsbeside the wheel at the conn, unless close-hauled, when his station is at the weather-side,where he can see the weather-leeches of thesails conning.Any person directing the person directing thehelmsman how to put the helm, is said to beconning the shipStarboard Tack.A ship sailing with the wind blowing against thestarboard side, with her starboard tacks hauledon board, and her port sheets hauled aft, is saidto be on the starboard tack.Port Tack.Everything being the exact opposite to the star-board tack.Tacking. Staying. Going About.Is an evolution performed by maneuvering thesails and helm, by which means a ship is madeto pass round head to wind from one tack to theother.

Working or Beating to Windward. Tackand Half-Tack. Making a Long andShort Board. Making a Long and ShortLeg.Signifies a vessel proceeding as nearly aspossible in the direction from which the windblows by constantly tacking.On a Wind. By a Wind. Close Hauled.Full and By. On a Bowline#.Trimming the sails with the yards braced upsharp, and the bowlines hauled, to enable theship to sail as close the wind as possible.Hauling to the Wind.Bringing a ship's head as close to the wind aspossible, by bracing the yards up, &c., andgiving her lee helm.Luff. Give her Lee Helm. Put the Helmdown.To bring a ship's head close to the wind.[The above are from the sailor’s word book.]

Compass.An instrument that indicates the direction ofnorth and means by which any other directioncan be obtained. The compass is affected bythe position of the Magnetic poles this is calledVariation and by the magnetism of the shipthis is called Deviation.

[I will include an article on Variation and De-viation in future Full and by’s.]

The Lubber’s line is fixed in the fore-and-aft line of the ship and represents the ship’shead. The compass card remains steady whilethe ship swings around it. The direction of theship’s head is read off the compass cardagainst the lubber’s lineThe Head is the direction in which the shipis pointing.The Course is the direction in which theship is steered.The track is the path on which the ship ismoving. The path and course may differ owingto the effects of wind and/or current.Bearing is the direction of one position fromanother. It can be expressed as a ‘true’ or‘relative’ bearing.

Photo-John Cowie

Full & By 8 February 2010

Compass cards and theirgraduation.

The ‘Three-figure method’ and/or the ‘pointmethod’ will be used on the James Craig.The Three-figure method: By this methodthe compass card is graduated in degreesclockwise from 000 (north) to 359. This is themethod used by most ships at sea. The bearing360 is not used.The Point Method: In this method the com-pass card is graduated in 32 named points,each point is 11 and a quarter degrees. A pointof the compass was, in the days of the oldersquare rigged ships, about the smallest divisionto which the average helmsman could steer bywheel. With the growing efficiency of the rig inthese vessels it became possible for a goodhelmsman to hold a course between thesepoints; this led to half and quarter points.Most novices try to make the compass cardturn instead of the lubber’s line, the result in do-ing this is to take the ship further off course andthey then compound the situation by putting onmore wheel. This is called ‘chasing the com-pass’ and everyone has done it. Remember thecompass card never moves and remains sta-tionary. The wheel makes the lubber’s linemove in the direction the wheel is turned. Byimaging the lubber line to being the jib boom ithelps to overcome this.

Steering under sail.

The helmsman always stands on the wind-ward side of the wheel.When tackingAt “standby by to come about”, the helmsmanwill normally be given an order to bear away apoint to get more ships speed. This is doneslowly so as not to lose any speed.“Lee helm”, the helmsman brings the shipround into the wind, but do not use too muchhelm or you will take the way off her.Rudder anglesThe maximum effective angle for a rudder is30%. Most ships have an instrument thatshows the wheel indicator. That is, when youhave the wheel hard a Port the pointer is onthe Port side of the instrument on 30%. TheJames Craig is not fitted with such an instru-ment. There is an extension of the rudder fit-ted – when the rudder is hard a port, the ex-tension is pointed to 30% from dead head onthe starboard side. With a minimum of practicethis should not present a problem. 14 turnsfrom hard a port to hard a starboard.Orders for an alteration of course always startwith the direction and are immediately fol-lowed by the number of turns or the rudderangle. E.g. “Port two turns.” The helmsmanrepeats this. When the two turns are on, hereports, “Two turns of Port wheel on.” As theship’s head approaches the new course hemay be advised, “Ease to 1 turn.” The helms-man repeats, “Ease to one turn”. When he haseased to 1 turn he reports “Eased to one turn.”When the ship’s head is near the new course

Photo-Ewa Koczynski

Full & By 9 February 2010

this wheel must be taken off, so the order“Midships” is given. When the wheel is midshipsthe helmsman reports, “Wheel a ‘midships”.Shortly after this the swing will require to becountered. The order “Starboard one turn” willbe given. When the ship is with in a few de-grees of the new course the order “Midships” isgiven.A helmsman is frequently asked:“Ship’s head.” Your reply is the direction thatthe ship is pointing at that moment.“Ship’s course”. Your reply is the course youare required to steer.

When the helmsman is required to steer acourse by compass the ship is conned as de-scribed above until the head is on the requiredcourse when the order ”steady” will given. Im-mediately he hears this order the helmsmannotes exactly which degree of the compasscard coincides the lubber’s line. He repeats theorder and steadies on the course being steeredat that time. He may also be ordered to steadyon a geographical feature. E.g. Middle of theHarbor Bridge immediately after the order “Steady” is given, the helmsman moves hiswheel in the direction required to return the shipto that course.

The following examples show the orders, re-plies and reports of alteration of course from000 to160. (There is no such course as 360 it is 000)

The normal reply to all the above is “Verygood”.Immediately before another alteration ofcourse is made the order “Midships” is usuallygiven. This serves the double purpose of en-suring that any rudder angle that may be on istaken off, and warning the helmsman that analteration of course is coming.Carrying rudderWhen under power, unless the sea and windare right ahead, if the rudder is kept amidshipsshe will usually wander off course owing to thepressure of the wind on her superstructure orthe force of the waves either end of her bow.Because of James Craig pivoting point shemay tend to fall off to leeward. To counteractthis tendency the helmsman may have to keepa small angle on her rudder, and the ship issaid to be “carrying rudder”. Ships which re-quire rudder to keep them from paying off fromthe wind are said to carry “weather rudder”;ships which, under the same conditions ofwind and sea, require rudder to keep themfrom flying into the wind are said to carry “leerudder”. James Craig, when under sail, wouldnormally be balanced to carry weather rudder.Steering by eye.When the Captain requires the ship to besteered on a ship ahead or on a distant object

Order Reply Report

“Midships” “Midships” “Wheel’s a’mid-ships”

“Port two turns” “Port two turns” “Two turns ofPort wheel on”

“Port anothertwo turns”

“Port anothertwo turns”

“Additional twoturns of Port

wheel on”

“Ease to twoturns”.

“Ease to twoturns”.

“Two turns ofPort wheel on”

“Midships” “Midships” “Wheel’s a’mid-ships”

“Steady”. “Steady”.

“Steer one sixzero”.

“Steer one sixzero”.

“Course onesix zero”.

[When ship ison her course]

Full & By 10 February 2010

the helmsman will be given the order “midships”followed by “Steady on the lighthouse”. or“Follow the ship ahead”. In the former examplehe steers the ship by keeping the lighthouse inline with the bowsprit and the centre of thewheel; in the latter; he follows in the wake of theship next ahead, keeping her masts and funnelsin line dead ahead and turning astern of herwake if she alters course. The helmsmanshould always be ready to revert to steering bycompass as soon as this is indicated by the or-der ”Steady”.The orders ”Nothing to port” or ‘Nothing to star-board”. This means respectively, that thehelmsman must not let the ship’s head pay offto port or the starboard side of the course, ow-ing to the presence of nearby danger on theside indicated. This order remains in force untilthe order “midships” is given.When the helmsman is relieved he must handover to his relief the course and the amount ofrudder, which the ship is carrying, e.g. “course040, ship carrying 1 turn of port wheel. Thehelmsman should never turn over to his reliefduring an alteration of course, but should waituntil the ship is once more on a steady course.At the change of the watch the new helmsmanshould report to the Officer of the Deck“Helmsman relieved, course_______ helms-man_____ at the wheel”.

Additional steering orders. (Not all are used bythe Officer of the Deck I suspect they are not allfamiliar with old steering orders).Steer Large. Used when the helmsman cantake advantages of a veering or backing wind tomaintain maximum drive. The course may be000 but the course being steered could be 20degrees either side so as the helmsman takeadvantage of the actual wind.Steer Small. Used when the helmsman is us-ing too much wheel or the ship might be track-ing through a narrow reef.Steer Full and By. Steering with the sails fulland by the wind. Normally the highest sail onthe mainmast is the steering sail. The Helms-man comes up into the wind until the sail shiv-ers*(stalls) and then comes back a few degreesuntil the ship has maximum drive. This is re-peated as required. Used when sailing as closeas possible to the wind.Steering By and Large. This nauticalphase (like many others) has come in commandusage and means taking everything into ac-

count when making a decision. As a steeringorder it means to sail as close as possible tothe wind but keeping as much wind as possi-ble in the sails. The helmsman would keepmore wind in the sails and stall the sail lessoften.

Peter DaveySeaman (sail)

* In “The Set of the Sails” Alan Villiers calls this“kissing the wind

Sources.Manual of Seamanship Volume 1, 1951.The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea OxfordUniversity Press 1992.Square Rig SeamanshipCaptain R M Willoughby 1989Boy's Manual Of Seamanship And Gunnery. http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/B_S_M/Contents.html(Well worth a visit)The Sailor’s Word-Book Admiral W.H. Smyth#The Sailor’s Word-Book can be downloaded fromwww.gutenberg.org/etext/26000

If you search the above site you will also find: Origi-nals of the 1685 The Sea Gunner; The Seaman’sGrammar and Dictionary; Dialogues of Sea Services.The above three are in old English.

Clew Garnet.If you have wondered why all squares haveclews except the course. Wonder no more -from the Sailor’s Word-Book

Clue-Garnets. A sort of tackle rove througha garnet block, attached to the clues of themain and fore sails to haul up and truss themto the yard; which is termed clueing up thosesails as for goose-wings, or for furling.Garnet. A sort of purchase fixed to the main-stay of a merchant-ship, and used for hoistingthe cargo in and out at the time of loading ordelivering her.Peter Davey Seaman (sail)

Full & By 11 February 2010

The Seaman.

Between the innocence of infancy and recklessof adultery comes that unique species of hu-manity known as a Seaman.Seaman can be found in bars, in arguments, inbed, in dept and intoxicated. They are tall,short, fat, thin, dark, fair but never normal.They hate ship’s food, chief engineers, writingletters, sailing on Saturdays and dry ships.They like receiving mail, pay-off days, nude pin-ups, sympathy, complaining and beer.A seaman is Sir Galahad in a JapaneseBrother, a psychoanalyst with “Readers Digest”on the table, Don Quixote with a DischargeBook, the savior of mankind with his back teethawash, Valentino with a fiver in pocket and De-mocracy personified in a Red Chinese prisoncell.A seaman’s secret ambition is to changeplaces with a ship-owner for just one trip, toown a brewery, to be loved by everyone in theworld.A Seaman is a provider in war and a parasite inpeace. No one is subjected to so much abuse,wrongly accused so often and misunderstoodby so many as a Seaman. He has the patienceof Job, the honesty of a fool and a heaven-sentability to laugh at himself.When he returns home from a long voyage no-one else but a Seaman can create such an at-mosphere of suspense, excitement and longingas he walks through the door with the magicwords on his lips: “Have you the beer in, then?”

Mansfield FreseCrew first trip to Melbourne.

If you lose the hatchesyou lose the ship.

The Melbourne crew will now be familiar withthe expertise and thought that has been ap-plied by our Boson to secure the hatches.Below are the procedures used on the steelBarque Pamir when under Finnish Flag 1948.

1. Wooden hatch covers were chalked.2. Three tarpaulins were laid over the hatch,

each carefully folded and the cornershand stitched in place, and then sewn toeach cleat.

3. The third and last tarpaulin coated with awarm mixture of tallow, fish oil, and pinetar.

4. After battens were placed, each wedgeand nailed.

5. Two inch planks were placed fore and aftover whole hatch.

6. Three heavy wooden beams were placedacross the hatch and bolted down to ringsin the combing.

7. Buntline wire was stretched, with help ofthe capstan, over the wooden beams.

Reference.Tall Ship Down. International Marine Mc Graw-Hill(A great read)

Full & By 12 February 2010

Australia Day 2009by John Lind

Volunteer : - Maintenance Crew and GuideHMB Endeavour.

High Noon. There’s movement at the NorthWharf. A crowd is mustering. Passengers areboarding HMB Endeavour for an Australia Dayafternoon on Sydney harbour. A group of fourmusicians ‘The Broomsticks’ create atmospherewith a sea shanty. By 12.15, the First MatePenny Kealy gives the passengers a safetybriefing.Endeavour’s crew (a dozen professionals anda dozen volunteers) is ready to cast off. I amone of the volunteers. The ship’s schedulestates ‘1230 - Departure with tugs assistance’.The two tugs are waiting. The ship’s MasterRoss Mattson (a cross-between Mel Gibsonand a younger Charles Bronson) is Portside.Aft, communicating by radio with the tug master(out of vision).Endeavour moves astern swiftly. As she makessternway, her fore-and-aft midship line is at asevere angle broadside to the wharf. I amalarmed. The tug (out of vision) off the star-board bow must surely be pulling too widely.There’s danger that Endeavour’s port quarterwill smash into the wharf. I am tending a fenderwithin six feet of the Master. I call to him “Notgood! Not good!”, pointing at the port quarterand the wharf. He is speaking urgently into theradio. And then it happens. The port quartersmashes against the wharf. Any seaman whohas experienced such an impact of timber willknow that such a sound announces severedamage, and all who love timber ships feel heragony.A wharf pylon is shattered. My mind races.

Damage to the Endeavour must be harsh. Willwe sink before we have even got under way?Will the paying guests disembark without pan-icking? Did the collision against Endeavour’shull at the port quarter penetrate CaptainJames Cook’s cabin? Has his pristine blueFirst Lieutenant’s uniform, on display for allthese years, been torn asunder? Are Dalrym-ple’s charts now soggy? And what of JosephBanks’ precious jars of lemon juice?The damage to Endeavour’s hull is superfi-cial. I am both astonished and relieved. And Iam impressed. Now I feel her in a new way. Ihave just witnessed the tough Whitby catwithin the docile lady normally moored as afloating museum.She gathers way. The passengers receivetheir first service of alcohol at 1245.The heat of the afternoon is intensified by aheavy blanket of cloud. Ashore it must be sul-try. On the water we are luckier, eased by awelcome breeze. Bow Lookout is kept busy bythe usual weaving traffic of revellers, wellwishers, competitive yachtsmen, and fool-hardy hoons.It is now a little after 1500. The Tall Ships’race commences off Bradley Head. Endeav-our has two rivals – the black-hulled Svanen,a 131 ft. barquentine built in Denmark over 80years ago, and adorned with colourful pen-nants; and the 167 ft. steel-hulled three-masted barque James Craig, 134 years old,looking magnificent with her fore- and mainmasts fully rigged. As a sailor, I am friends ofboth these ships. But today my loyalty is withEndeavour.Endeavour’s Master Mattson applies cunningstrategy, sailing on the weather side of our ri-vals, blocking much of the wind from theirsails, but it’s anyone’s race.

Full & By 13 February 2010

We three ships sail boisterously, enthusiasti-cally, and joyfully. Endeavour is surprisinglyclosely abreast of Svanen, perhaps no morethan fifty feet. Sailing master Anthony Longhurstguides the crew doggedly.We must look a wonderful sight, escorted pastthe bays and marinas by the water sprayingvanguard vessel, the water police, Coast Guardvessel, and an expansive flotilla of well-wishers.It is touching to see rows and rows of specta-tors standing absolutely still along the shore-lineof the Botanical Gardens, and at Farm Cove,the Opera House, Circular Quay and the Rocks.It is their stillness which touches me, as eachand every one of them must have chosen tocease their activities awhile to secure a vantagepoint, and to wait patiently for the image ofthree beautiful ships of yesteryear racing undersail.

A few hundred yards to starboard, we pass Kir-ribilli House where four elegant isolated figuresobserve us from the crest of the waterfrontlawn. On board Endeavour, a ten year-old boycries out : “ That’s the prime minister! I saw theprime minister!” Possibly not.

The Harbour Bridge is fast approaching. It isstill an equal race. Right now it seems thatwhichever ship has the longest bowsprit willcross the finishing line first. James Craig andSvanen each have a keen sailor on their bow-sprits, positioned at the tip of the jib-boom,reaching ahead with an arm, hoping that theirreach will decide the race.Endeavour wins.In truth, the winner must surely be the shipwith the most powerful iron staysails(engines). We were all motoring under sail.The weather is as timely as the theatre, therace over, a curtain of rain falls.And there is another triumph, a personal one.Twenty-one years earlier I had sailed into Syd-ney harbour on Australia Day, as a voyagerwith the First Fleet Re-enactment, a voyage ofeight months and one week out of Ports-mouth. I was manning the Royal yard of theSwedish barquentine Amorina, one hundredand ten feet above the harbour. I had notclimbed a Tall Ship’s rigging since. Today, Imade it up the ratlines during a re-initiation.Yes, I got “my buttocks over the futtocks”again. Standing on Endeavour’s main mast’sfighting top, I looked around, embraced thealtitude, and whispered to myself : “It’s good tobe back.”John Lind26th January 2009

Full & By 14 February 2010

James Craig welcomes Stad Amsterdam to SydneySaturday, 13 February 2010

Photo-Ewa Kosczynski

Photo-Ewa Kosczynski

Photo-John Cowie

Photo-John Cowie

Photo-Ewa Kosczynski

Photo-Gary Jackson

Photo-John Cowie

Photo-John Cowie