Geoff Winter is a long time museum volunteer, and was heavily involved in the salvage of the James Craig hull, from her watery resting place in Recherche Bay.
Geoff's diary provides a concise and extremely interesting account of the process of recovery, and covers many details including weather conditions and machinery used.
We hope you enjoy reading through Geoff's diary!
Diary Entries:-
Background
Early in 1972 the Museum, then known by its original name of Lady Hopetoun and Port Jackson Marine Steam Museum, was attempting to acquire a permanent waterfront site, adjacent to the Rocks area in Sydney Cove. To this end the name was changed to the Sydney Cove Waterfront Museum. The Museum was advised that there was no chance of getting the site and having ships on display unless a square-rigged sailing ship was included. By chance, the magazine SEA BREEZES (Nov 1971) contained a letter about the barque James Craig (ex Clan Macleod), abandoned in Tasmania. This was brought to the attention of the then secretary, Alan Edenborough, by Capt. Ron Wayling and set in motion the train of events which led to the arrival of the James Craig in Sydney in January, 1981.
First Visit
On January 14th, 1972, Alan flew to Hobart, drove to Dover and chartered a fishing boat, the Alladin, owned and skippered by Graham Turner. The James Craig (referred to hereafter as ‘the ship’) was lying in the north arm of Recherche Bay (the Pigsties) about twenty miles by sea south of Dover.
Time allowed only a brief visit to the ship; sufficient for Alan to see that the hull, half flooded but upright, appeared to be largely intact, although the timber deck had been burnt and there was some structural damage to the stern, forward of the sternpost.
After taking numerous photographs, Alan returned to Sydney. Graham had proved to be enthusiastic and a mine of information; later he was to take the Alladin dangerously close to an open west coast beach to photograph the wreck of the Svenor.
The results of the first visit, and a survey of other wrecks around the coast, showed that the James Craig was the only sailing ship likely to be capable of being salvaged and restored. This justified a second visit to carry out a preliminary survey of the hull and, if time and equipment permitted, to try and pump out the hull.
It must be remembered that the ship was beached in a remote bay in S.E. Tasmania, accessible only by water; either from sea, subject to weather, or by small boat trailed to the opposite side of the bay along a very rough track.
