Bart Bear's Blog

Just over a month ago we were on the biggest ocean liner in the world, the "Queen Mary 2". Last weekend we were on a very different ship, the "James Craig". She is a barque belonging to the Sydney Heritage Fleet. She was launched at Sutherland in England in 1874. Her original name was "Clan Macleod". After 26 years carrying cargoes all around the world she was bought by James Craig of Auckland, named after him, and put on the trans-Tasman route. By 1911, steam ships made her uneconomical to run so she was taken out of service and stripped of her masts and running gear. She was used as a cargo hulk in New Guinea and was eventually beached and abandoned in Tasmania in 1932. Volunteers from the Heritage Fleet recovered her in 1972 and restored her. We just had to go for a trip on her. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day. It was rainy, windy and rough. Outside Sydney Heads the swells were around 4 metres. There were sea-sick passengers everywhere; even Dad disgraced himself by getting sea-sick for the first time in his life. It was a scarey and exhilarating sail and it really made me appreciate the problems that our ancestors must have had coming out from the UK back in the days when ships like this were the ocean liners of the day.

Labels: boats, cruising, Sydney