The James Craig

[ffiill]

There was Neil Oliver in Coast Australia sailing on the restored barque James Craig in Sydney harbour yet no mention of Alan Villiers.
It was one of the first square riggers he crewed on post ww1.
Then again out at the lighthouse at the entrance to the Bass Straits where Villiers fell from the mast head as a teenager and survived to become the first director of the maritime museum at Greenwich.

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I'll take your word about Villiers' experiences on board her, but I have no knowledge of when this might have occurred. She was the Clan Macleod when launched in 1874, later renamed James Craig in 1905, and has retained that name since. So if Villers was crewing aboard her, she would have been the James Craig at that time.

She was turned into a hulk and then (deliberately) sunk by fishermen in Tasmania in about 1930. But the hull was raised and restoration commenced in 1972, being completed in 2001, and she's now berthed in Darling Harbour as part of the Sydney Heritage Fleet.

Mike

 

[Seajet]

ffiill,

I agree Alan Villiers ought to be better known by the current generation of sailors; by coincidence I have just loaned ' The Set of The Sails ' to a friend who has sailed a lot in racing dinghies & cruisers for at least 50 years but she'd never heard of him or the ( classic ) book !

I also have ' Cruise Of The Conrad ', and never cease to be amazed he managed to do that...

 

[ffiill]

Alan Villiers born Melbourne circa 1905
Sailed aboard James Craig circa 1920 after its brief 5 year recommission post ww1
Fell from topmast of a grain racer when it literally made landfall in Australia with a thud as it grounded somewhere near Melbourne
He then worked as a journalist for the Hobart Times and persuaded them to allow him to go to UK to report of the apple market-by square rigger and armed with a movie camera!
Most b and w square rigger footage is Alan Villiers.
He then briefly owned a grain racer and took part in the last grain race before ww2

 

[Woodlouse]

There was Neil Oliver in Coast Australia sailing on the restored barque James Craig in Sydney harbour yet no mention of Alan Villiers.
It was one of the first square riggers he crewed on post ww1.
Then again out at the lighthouse at the entrance to the Bass Straits where Villiers fell from the mast head as a teenager and survived to become the first director of the maritime museum at Greenwich.

Pretty sure it was the Lawhill he fell out of the rig on.

 

[Woodlouse]

Alan Villiers born Melbourne circa 1905
Sailed aboard James Craig circa 1920 after its brief 5 year recommission post ww1
Fell from topmast of a grain racer when it literally made landfall in Australia with a thud as it grounded somewhere near Melbourne
He then worked as a journalist for the Hobart Times and persuaded them to allow him to go to UK to report of the apple market-by square rigger and armed with a movie camera!
Most b and w square rigger footage is Alan Villiers.
He then briefly owned a grain racer and took part in the last grain race before ww2

You forget his participation as a reporting journalist on the first Norwegian mechanised whaling expedition into the Ross Sea in Antarctica. He definitely led a fascinating life.