Sailing around the World ( Presently sailing NNW up the east coast of Australia,)
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Mon 16 Aug 2010 15:24
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MONDAY 16th
AUGUST 2010
01.00hrs The moon had dissapeared over the
horizon as we passed some large working ships close on our port
side.
We also passed a good number of fishing trawlers,
busy doing their thing.
We passed Endevour reef on our starboard
side,
This is the reef that Captain Cook grounded his
Sailing ship and very nearly met his maker. The weather was obviously
mild,
otherwise they would have been totally wrecked. so
they jettysoned their cargo and all their guns to lighten the ship and
once she was floating again
sailed her to the mainland to carry out the
necessary repairs, all of which took 3 months to complete. and then sailed
back to England.
Its wonderfull to sail past such historical places,
we could almost smell Cpt Cook.
03.00hrs, We passed less than 1 mile away from the
dangerous group called the " 3 Islands" however, they had a single light
flashing
away merrily all night, warning navigators like
us.
Actually , navigating here in the dark through all
the reefs is tricky enough stuff, Gosh, it must have a nightmare
during Cpt Cooks time,
No charts, no knowledge of the area, no idea of
where the reefs are located, ( and these can only be seen during the day when
there
is plenty of sunlight ) so at night ,,
ohhhhhhh scarrey stuff.
05.45 hrs Dawn began to break, we
had plenty of wind and not a ship or boat in sight.
09.30.hrs, We rounded up into " Mrs Watsons
Bay " on Lizard Island, This is a very interesting Island
historically.
This is where Cpt Cook climbed up to the top of the
hill and at midday , was able to observe a passageway out through the Great
Barrier Reef,
and so once he had repaired his ship, sailed out
through this gap and off home..
Mrs Watson ( In the 1700's ) settled here with her
husband and baby, one day while he was out fishing, she and the servent were
attacked by
Aborigines ( who used the Island as a sacred place
) she escaped by jumping into a metal fish curing box with her baby and
injured servent,
She drifted for days before landing on an
uninhabited island , but alas, there was no food or water on the Island, so they
all eventually perished.
However, she did write a very detailed diary every
day, and when their remains and the diary were discovered a long time
later, they were taken back to the mainland and interred, The metal
box and diary are now on display in a
museum.
We had a long lunch in a beautifull setting, and
the fish and gulls really loved the leftovers,
Then Skipper, Aileen, and Mary went ashore to do
some exploring, The mango swamps were fantastic, as were the flying Fox's ( bats
)
and sand lizards,
15.00hrs . we returned to the boat, lifted the rib
out of the water and set sail NNW again. this time for Yhursday Island,
A distance of 460 miles.
The wind was blowing hard, like 30 knots, so
we pur 2 reefs in the main, and used the staysail up front.
we sailed along merrily at 8.5 knots,
this is way more than we want, our calculations for getting to our destination
in daylight were based on an average of 7 knots.
21.00hrs, We were still barreling along at
8.5knots, and Mary did a reheat on one of her lasagne's and it tasted
great.
Another beautifull starrey night, with a half moon
shining brightly up there.
The nighty watches.
21.00hrs, /
00.00hrs Aileen and Mary
00.00hrs /
03.00hrs, Skipper,
03.00hrs /
06.00hrs Niall
06.00hrs /
09.00hrs Mary and Aileen
Thats all
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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