Endeavour returns to birthplace

[William_H]

HMB Endeavour replica returned to Fremantle yesterday for a stay for the period of ISAF World Sailing championships Perth 2011.
There was a welcoming party of the RIBs that have been bought for the championships. Olewill and Mrs olewill are involved as volunteers.
On Tuesday this involved moving 20 6m RIBs from their shed about 2km through Fremantle town to the launching place. We towed 4 of them and there were other volunteers.
Early Wed morning after a briefing we set off to meet Endeavour. Yes I know I will be excommunicated from this forum for admitting to driving RIB but it is in aid of sailing. We escorted Endeavour in from about 3 miles out at 3 knots. What a grand sight. Our station was line bore on the waste cannon so we had to move for the ceremonial firing. Lovely sound.
Anyway all a lot of fun but by lunch time we set out to recover 20 RIBs wash them down flush engines get trailers back from the shed and finally pack the boats back in the shed. Packing is quite a trick in itself. I towed 4 this time.
Anyhow the championships start in 7 weeks and there is still a lot of gear to get ready. Fremantle is sprucing up for the occasion with 1200 athletes 900 competition boats 125 official boats 300 coach boats on 5 courses over 2 weeks.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14039&stc=1&d=1318469709

 

[DanTribe]

That must have been an incredible sight and a very moving experience to see Endeavour under way, was she sailing?
When she returns to Sydney, will she be kept in sailing commission or laid up as a static display? I hope she keeps sailing.
It sounds like you are going to be kept on your toes during the ISAF Championships.
I'm not jealous at all, got the cold, grey, damp UK winter to look forward to!
Good luck.

 

[Alfie168]

I sailed her as voyage crew from Greenock to Liverpool in 1997, and from Whitby to Boston (England) in 2002, and worked on her as a guide a few times as well.

Was I brave and rufty tufty as I skipped up the ratlines aloft?..well only if you discounted the shaking knees and chattering teeth and the overwhelming stench of total fear that seemed to cling to me. And that was when it was calm

She's a wonderful ship.

Tim

 

[Avocet]

Ah, I remember the ship calling into Whitehaven in 2004 - lovely sight - still have a photo on the wall above my desk, in fact!

 

[William_H]

That must have been an incredible sight and a very moving experience to see Endeavour under way, was she sailing?
When she returns to Sydney, will she be kept in sailing commission or laid up as a static display? I hope she keeps sailing.
It sounds like you are going to be kept on your toes during the ISAF Championships.
I'm not jealous at all, got the cold, grey, damp UK winter to look forward to!
Good luck.

No she was not sailing in fact worse than that. They had main sail and mizzen main square sails up plus 2 jibs but the path was essentially into the wind so the square sails were fully backed. The engines seem to manage the 3 knots even with sails backed.
I will be busy with the championships. I have volunteered for equipment store for the race management boats. there was a bit of pressure to join the race management crew. Our club is providing staff for one course ie about 20 people and 3 boats. I declined as I don't think I could cope with being anchored or stationary in rough water all afternoon for 14 days. The water is fairly open and winds expected to be SW 18 knots every day. Anyway ole Fremantle is going to be jumping much excitement. olewill
PS I don't know of Endeavour's movements or future after December.

 

[Seajet]

I'd have thought 'Endeavour's notional home port was Whitby ? I know the modern one has visited there.

I had a look around her one day, I was very struck by the gold spike driven into the Master's Cabin aft bulkhead by the Captain of the space shuttle Endeavour; Captain Cook couldn't have imagined that one coming !

 

[Alfie168]

I'd have thought 'Endeavour's notional home port was Whitby ? I know the modern one has visited there.

I had a look around her one day, I was very struck by the gold spike driven into the Master's Cabin aft bulkhead by the Captain of the space shuttle Endeavour; Captain Cook couldn't have imagined that one coming !

Well..if we'd had the bottle and pride to actually build a replica in Whitby I'd agree. There is a small version does motorised tourist trips out of Whitby and we christened it "The Mini Me". The fact is that it was some totally dedicated people who built her in Australia in the face of massive financial setbacks. That is a great credit to them and Whitby has reflected in that glory only by making the ship very welcome, bearing in mind the tourist trade it brought.

On its original trip to the UK in 1997 the Endeavour was not scheduled to call at Boston....too out of the way, but pressure was put on them as Joseph Banks the ships scientist came from nearby Revesby Abbey, so they arm twisted. The Captain advised the crew to only expect a few visitors and that time would be spent on ship maintainance. How wrong he was as the weekend I worked as a guide we had 9,000 or so paying visitors through the ship, and it turned out to be the most financially sucessful two days of the UK tour.

I can tell you there were elderly people with very limited mobility who queued for three hours to get aboard....and its only a fifteen minute walk through at most. It was quite something to be involved with even as a very minor cog as I was. I think the ship stirred something very deep and unexpected in the people I talked to. Those school lessons about Captain Cook were not wasted.

The Captain, Chris Blake was a man of few words, but he admitted to being flabbergasted and very touched by the way the British took to the ship (he was white African by birth). In America things were very different as there was no historical connection, and they were just seen as a novelty in too many cases.....is Johnny Depp the captain..sort of thing

Tim

 

[Seajet]

Sad, but can't be worse than Brixham's 'Golden Hind', reputed to be on wheels and didn't fare too well on a trip for refit at Dartmouth!

 

[DanTribe]

Sad, but can't be worse than Brixham's 'Golden Hind', reputed to be on wheels and didn't fare too well on a trip for refit at Dartmouth!

That must be a fake, because the real Golden Hind is a Southend on Sea.

 

[William_H]

The origins of Endeavour replica

"The fact is that it was some totally dedicated people who built her in Australia in the face of massive financial setbacks."

The origins are tied to an English migrant to Perth by the name of Allan Bond. On arrival in Perth in the 60s he worked as a painter (decorator) However he got into the property development boom and became a millionaire. He acquired an ocean racing yacht named Apollo by accident as a debt repayment and got together a crew and became a bit of an ocean racer. His real fame came in the early 80s when he put together a syndicate and took the Americas Cup away from NY Yacht Club with Australia 2 and the celebrated winged keel.
Flushed with success and fame he set up and financed the building of the Endeavour replica at Fremantle. (Historically Endeavour never came near our western coast.) At the time he claimed the finance was in place for the replica build.

At the same time his corporation bought a TV network for something like 3billion dollars. Then came the 1987 finance crash. He was forced to sell the TV network at a huge billion dollar loss. Many other good (blue chip) companies he had gained control of were also decimated. Needless to say the half built Endeavour ground to a halt. Allan Bond was broke and eventually went to jail for several years for concealing, as his own, some assets (paintings) owned by the corporation in the liquidation process.
A lot of people were pleased, having lost huge amounts of money on apparently blue chip shares.
He is out now and apparently drumming up investment business in Eastern block Europe.

The Endeavour project became a public charity and was finally launched. As said it has done a lot of voyaging including to Whitby. It has been beset by finance concerns mainly I think paying for insurance. It has spent a lot of time at Sydney maritime museum so it is realy good to see it sailing again.

Interestingly (I hope) the same people who built the Endeavour built a replica of a Dutch ship the Doefkin
(meaning little Dove) This is a lot smaller than Endeavour and has no engines. it has made a voyage back to Holland and is somewhere roaming right now. The original Doefkin came to West Australian shores long before Captain Cook. (off course on the way to what is now Indonesia). I wish I knew how to spell Doefkin correctly) And of course I may have some details of Allan Bond wrong but still it is a story. olewill