OZtralia.tv Blog

Lady Nelson History

By: Phoenix Arrien

The lady is small. So small she bears the nickname of the ‘HMS Tinderbox’.

I couldn’t appreciate her beauty when I first sighted her, crowded amongst the other vessels in Hobart, until we sailed out.

The current Lady Nelson is a replica of an original Brigantine built in England in 1798,

arriving in Australia in 1800. In 1988, the replica was launched and has since taken people on short and extended sails around the island and Australia.

Based in Hobart, this is living history, romantic experience and ecotourism rolled into one floating package

Built in Deptford, England and launched on 13 November 1978, she is sixteen metres long by five metres beam and of sixty tons. Fitted with three sliding keels, designed by a Captain John Schanck and referred to as Captain Schank’s system, enables the Lady to negotiate shallow water. This became the reason the English Admiralty brought the original Lady Nelson in 1791.

The original Lady Nelson set out for the fledgling colony of New South Wales in March 1800 as an Armed Survey Vessel. During the eight month voyage she became the first ship to sail from the west through Bass Strait, initiating a shorter route from England to Port Jackson.

Over the next few years the Lady undertook many important pioneering voyages such as surveying Bass Strait including the first survey of Westernport Bay. She was the vessel that ‘discovered’ Port Philip Bay and accompanied Mathew Flinder’s ship charting the eastern coastline.

Tasmania’s connection emerged when the Lady Nelson twice sailed up the Derwent River in Van Dieman’s Land (later Tasmania) to establish the first European settlement. She also brought Governor Macquarie here for an inspection. Macquarie stated: “(Lady Nelson was) the best and safest boat he had ever sailed”:

Next week, we take a sail…

The One and All: Part Two

By: Phoenix Arrien

Remember last Friday that storm hit us and drove us to shore.

The next morning dawned bright and clear and we headed back out into the ocean, confident and in high spirits. On bow watch I floated with an albatross on the wind and rolled with the seals on the waves, whiskers showering drops of sparkling water. The coast of the Victorian/South Australian border emerged out of the sun haze and looked dramatic made of cliffs and surf beaches with soft green hills behind them.

Victor Harbour, a South Australian holiday town with its 19^th Century carnival atmosphere, horse-drawn tram and fairgrounds, was a fitting place to disembark. We parted from ship and other crew members in sadness, after a voyage of close comradeship where we had worked very work closely together

OZtralia Sailing Adventures

By: Phoenix Arrien
As I approached the wharf in Geelong on the southern coast of Australia I stopped and stared in awe. I was looking at a tall ship and she was stunning.

The One & All is beautiful; a sleek two masted Brigantine. Designed by a racing yacht designer, it’s a vessel boasting clean flowing lines and a white hull. I boarded her with glee; this was going to be great.

We sailed out of Geelong and into the Southern Ocean aiming for South Australia. Having experienced the Leeuwin, I found this sail easier and soon fitted in with the four hour shifts that crewing tall ship demands.

The captain on a sailing ship is the pinnacle of a hierarchy stretching back centuries and his or her word is law. Next in charge is the Mate, then it goes to bosuns, engineers and most importantly a cook, for every ship runs on its stomach.

Storms blew in after the second day and we tossed about on the ocean like a white matchstick. For several days, we ploughed on. Fog closed in around us and visibility dropped to metres.  The sheer cliffs of the Great Ocean Road vanished into greyness until sighting the Warrnambool lighthouse we found shelter at Portland. The West Victorian coastline is also appropriately called the shipwreck coast and skeletons of many vessels litter the seabeds.

We were pitching hard. Were we going to join them? Next Friday find out…

Final Leeuwin Sailing Adventure

By: Phoenix Arrien
Lemme say, I feel proud. I am. ‘Coz me biggest personal challenge came on the last day.

Starting off with a confident step, I bounce up each rung towards the top of the 33 metre main mast. Halfway up I am clinging to the ropes with every inch of my shaking body in complete fear-of-heights terror.

Three quarters up and I am dragging myself inch by inch up the rigging. The boat, far below, rocks on an ocean that stretches to infinity. People are moving insects. Breathing becomes short and shallow. Sea birds soar below me.

As I go higher, the rigging gets narrower and the cables I grip get thinner. The stairway to heaven is tricky.

Well, I coulda done it but ‘twas nice of the Bosun, to shin up the ladder like a lemming to slap me on the back and talk o the weather. Together we reach the end of the rigging and suddenly I am on top of the world. Standing up on the rigging and clutching the top few metres of white mast I felt top o the world.

We rounded Rottnest Island feelin’ better then a dog in a dustbin, topped by the grand entry into Fremantle Harbour where people stared at the ghost from the great age of sailing. With full sails billowing, and towering over other boats in the harbour, we made our way to our berth.

I waved to the waiting landlubbers as I stood nonchanantly up in the rigging, ho hum, no sweat.

Want to have try:

For most voyages on the Leeuwin no previous sailing experience is needed. The Leeuwin Ocean Adventure Foundation provides food, accommodation, safety equipment, wet weather gear and instruction.  A list of what to bring is sent to you.

Prices vary. Duration of trips range from overnighters to multi-week international voyages. Most voyages are in Western Australia with occasional international trips. Visit website www.sailleeuwin.com/

Next week we join the One & All tall ship for a sail along the southern coast of Australia, facing the might Southern Ocean…

Sea Tails: A Well-Oiled Team

By: Phoenix Arrien

We rounded Cape Leeuwin without mishap and dropped anchor at Bunker Bay between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. We lowered the little inflatable ‘fizz boat’ and sped around the

bay kicking up against the small waves. A rope allowed people to swing off the boat and dive into the water; it looked like fun.

We stopped at Busselton and Bunbury to carry the public on twilight sailing, a chance to put our skills to more use and take pride in the ship and each other. We also took shore leave at Bunbury. This seaside city, now with 26,000 inhabitants, was sighted by French explorer Captain De Freycinet from his ship ‘Geographe’ in 1803. Early industries included whaling, farming, mining and commerce. Now, among its attractions are wild dolphins who swim with people at Koombana Bay, more low key then the Monkey Mia dolphins.

Lemme say, I feel proud, I do. Coz’ me biggest personal challenge came on the last day.

Sailing in Australia 

By: Phoenix Arrien There is something special about pulling away in a sailing ship from an old sailing port like West Australia’s Albany. Mebbe ‘tis the unknown adventure or mebbe the steppin’ into the shoes of ageless heroes. The sea calls, beckoning one to be tested, to discover new lands and find out what is over the horizon. Under the horizon is sea sickness. I am not feeling so great clinging to this mast and finally I have to be personally escorted down the mast by a seasoned crew member. Looks like I am really just a landlubber under this course, rugged exterior. We (the short-term crew) are put into four groups and each of usis a little jigsaw piece of a group, which is itself a jigsaw piece of the whole picture. The four groups look after different parts of the ship, be it the Stay, Main, Top, Square, or Mizzen sails or the various ropes (lines) that need to be hauled, eased, held, dragged or coiled. Booms swing, orders call, shouted and repeated; people run and climb. There are grunts and gasps of effort, calls made for more people, groups mould and separate, reform and splinter again. The great ship groans and turns in a mighty arc; wind - that mighty master that even the captain is slave to at times, often changes direction, or dies laughing. Sometimes it’s an insatiable mistress and slapps the sails demanding more cloth to fill. More sails unfurls, the boat leaps into the water like a stallion going for a mare, plunging hard before rearing up again. Later we stand back savouring the achievement with adrenaline coursing through our bodies. Great smiles flash and the group stands in bonded aftermath. Then the cook’s mate calls and we all pour into the main saloon, Mate and Bosun would go to off ‘ter their other duties and the captain disappear to ‘is Lordship’s captainly pursuits. Satisfaction reigns supreme.   

Sailing in Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

In the 16th century, when maps of any land beyond Europe were vague and the ability to measure Longitude had not yet been found, the Leeuwin, a Dutch ship on a routine northern hemisphere trip became just a tad lost and found herself visiting a great southern land.

When the ship finally made it back to Holland, the cape they had rounded on that great continent was named Leeuwin. But as punishment for that little detour, the Captain was never acknowledged fer it, bless his scuppers. That continent became Australia and Cape Leeuwin is now counted as one of the five great capes in the world, others include Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope.

Three hundred years later a quack called Malcolm Hay, lying sick in bed with Hepatitis in Fremantle, kept thinking about the Rites of Passage in almost every primitive tribe (as ye do when ye ‘ave the tiddles) and realized that our modern culture lacked this. A seed was sown, resulting in the Leeuwin, a 55-metre steel and wooden Barquentine, launched in 1986.

Based in Fremantle, the Leeuwin is a working ship, and on her voyages you learn to Sail. At the same time you learn to work as a team, to live like sardines with 50 others on a state-of-the-art slab of balsa wood and steer through rain, hail or shine. Oh and the scenery around the Cape there is enough to gloss yer timbers fer life.

The Leeuwin offers many different voyages: eco-discovery expeditions where you help scientists catch little furry critters; trips down south to swim with fur seals; snorkelling in them warm waters off the Kimberley coast or weekend whale watching, not catchin’ as me grandpa would ‘ave done.

But instead of kicking back with the whales, I was on a training voyage for passionate diehards wishing to become part of the volunteer crew in the Leeuwin organisation.The ship is a sleek structure of ropes, wood, brass and polished mahogany. Right down in the hull are the engines, anchor chains, tanks, machinery and other dark, greasy shippy things.

And right now I am 25 metres up in the air clinging to a sail I am trying to unfurl and I can tell you…I am so scared, I am unsure if my dacks (pants) are still dry…will I get down? More next Friday.

Sailing in Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

A half-naked waiter delicately hands me another Martini as I lounge on the sun deck, another is massaging my feet and there is a queue of them holding platters of tropical fruits until….

“Git that sail furled on the T’Gallant,” comes the roar from the Bosun below.

Shiver me tinnies, it’s just some stress-induced daydream. I am actually standing on a thin rope 25 metres above a heaving ocean with three others attempting to tuck a gigantic piece of heavy canvas the size of 20 King size beds around the highest beam jutting out from the foremast. That, um, very piece of wood around which I had wrapped my body and clutching for me life, while the ship rocked and rolled like an enthusiastic belly dancer.

Mother Mary save me, instead of being a pampered aristo’ on a cruise ship, I am actually a wretch on the Leeuwin, an Australian 16^th Century replica sailing ship and my stomach is about to cover the deck in glorious colour…will I embarrass myself? Will I fall into the sea? Join me next Friday and have a seadog of a weekend!

Sea Dog Fridays

By: Phoenix Arrien

Tall ships! These two words conjure up high adventure and bold deeds. Square riggers using only wind and human skill, sailed to Australia bringing white settlers - willing and unwilling.

They dominated the oceans, trade and the fortunes of empires. They were lords of the oceans for centuries and in this day of virtual and fast travel, the few that still ride the seas on their own terms, bring lumps to throats when sighted breezing proudly passing under full sail.

So me hearties. For the next few months I am gonna prepare ye for the weekend, by taking ye to sea on Fridays. Aye, I am gonna spin ye such tales of me sea voyages that ye will enter the weekend with the smell of salt in ye nostrils, the whip of the cat o nine tails - no, that shall give ye ideas beyond the pure sort - let us change that to the whip of the ocean gale, the slap (mind yerself) of the waves against the ship’s hull and the freedom of heading out into the wild blue yonder.

No ordinary ships, mind ye, for I have sailed the seas around Australia in tall riggers, thems with the sails and wooden hulls, tall masts pointing to heaven and anchors pointing to Davy

Jones Locker.

Most Australian states have their own tall ship based in each capital city and undertaking sails ranging from hourly to multi-year journeys. Let us rejoicing in the power and might of these ocean lords; hear the creaking hull pulled along by large sails, feel the wind blow into the canvas and see the oceans seething with a fantastic world of creatures and currents.

Let us not forget the history. Stories, paintings, records and legends have wrapped themselves around the mighty sailing ships plying the oceans; the masters of transport taking people to far off lands. These vessels changed the destinies of countries and shaped the world.

They are also a bonza way to travel. So next Friday we set off on the Leeuwin around one of the five great capes of the world. See you on board then!