Endeavour Sailing 14/2/25 Friday: Setting sail

I woke naturally just before 6 a.m., I had just started to get ready for the day when the call was made to get everyone up. I was then just ahead of everyone which was nice.

I was soon on deck watching the professional crew disembark the Endeavour from the wharf, a very complicated process. What I find amusing and impressive is that everything which is modern is stored and hidden away very nicely. From the metal gangplank and metal stairs through to the fenders which protect the ship form the wharf. Once hidden away, you wouldn’t know they were on board the ship.

By 7 a.m. we were motoring out of Hobart with a gentle breeze down the harbour.

Three woman in historical cosutimes waving us goodbuy

The highlight was firing the canon, a very loud and impressive goodbye to Hobart. The canon is a proper, fully working 4-pound canon and is a very accurate replica from the original Endeavor; but the ship can only legally can only fire paper and not real cannon balls.

It was then time for a quick breakfast as mainmast is on watch from 8 a.m.to 12 p.m. I ended up on lookout duty for several hours, an important but boring work which I will have to get used to.

The course sail I helped set

The call was then made to set sail! Luckily, I had just come off lookout duty so I got to join three other people from the watch who climbed up the front foremast and set the lower course sail.

It’s an awesome feeling to climb up into the rigging of a 1770’s tall ship, pull some ropes and watch the sail drop down below me, while standing on a single rope leaning over a yard arm high up in the air. Other watches were lowering several other sails across the ship. As you can imagine it took a bit of time to set the three sails as most us voyager crew people are novices.

But soon enough the engine was off and we were under sail as a proper sailing ship.

At 12 I headed down for lunch once our watch was over.

As we slowly left the sheltered Hobart harbour the wind really built up around us and the Endeavor began to sway back and forth and side to side. With the boat movement getting stronger and stronger the ship’s movement became really rough.

It didn’t take long before a handful of people were throwing up due to motion sickness and you can't walk without a rope or something to hold on to. The endeavour is shaped like a large bathtub, which makes her nice and strong but does mean she rolls around very easily.

I tried getting up into the rigging, but was told ‘no’, so hopefully tomorrow.

Mainmast’s next watch was a short two hours between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. But I was on galley duty which involved helping tidy up, doing dishes etc. as people were eating dinner. As such I didn't get onto the deck until after 7 p.m.

As it was raining, I quickly went back downstairs and put on my over trousers which are actually Ministry of Transport motorbike cop trousers that I got when I was a teenager, and have never used. Julianne found them stored away in the garage, and they turned out to a great idea, big enough to fit over everything and didn’t cost anything. Downstairs inside the ship I felt very warm and overdressed but on the deck with the ship rolling around in the rough sea state with a cold wind I felt very comfortable. Nothing happened during this last hour, just standing around waiting for something to happen. Then downstairs and jumping into my hammock at 8:20 p.m. and went straight to sleep.