Endeavour Sailing 15/2/25 Saturday: Entering the Bass Strait

Mainmast was next on watch from 4 a.m. until till 8 a.m. As such I was woken 30 minutes earlier at 3:30 a.m., along with the rest of my watch. I quickly grabbed my harness and wet weather gear which are hanging on a hook in the 18th century deck, headed downstairs to the lower 20th century deck. I quickly changed out of my sleeping shorts and t-shirt into my clothes, putting my wet weathers and then my harness on top. All of this is done down in the 20th century deck so those sleeping in their hammocks above in the 18th century deck are not disturbed.

Of course, there are 12 other people in Mainmast doing the same thing so it was crowded in the bag room.

I volunteered to go stern lookout, but annoyingly within five minutes the rest of the watch not on lookout or on the helm spent the next 45 minutes bracing sails in dark which I would have enjoyed. A watch lookout is supposed to last 30 minutes but sometimes this does not happen which is a bit annoying.

Luckily at 4:45 a.m. Brad kindly offered to relieve me so I could get involved in the last 20 minutes of bracing the yards, which is turning the horizontal yards so the sails are set correctly to the wind.

Afterwards I was then standing in the dark watching a lovely slow sunrise, bringing light onto the majestic Endeavour as she sailed on. There are no lights allowed on deck so everything is done under moonlight which is super cool and very traditional. For the last hour I was the ‘brawn’ on the helm, one of the two people who are on the helm physically steering the ship. The ‘brain’ steers the ship to a course provided by the officer of the watch, while the ‘brawn’ on the other side of the helm provides the muscle power to help turn the wheel and thus the large tiller which is at the back of the ship.

Helming the ship is fun, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to be the ‘brain’ in the near future.

During my time on the helm, a bird landing on the ship, a shearwater maybe? The bird was having a good long rest, just sitting on the deck and then hid just in front of the helm.

The bird was still there when I went off watch, and stayed for several hours I was told.

By 8 a.m. our watch was over, I headed downstairs, wet weather and harness off for breakfast, which is good as I was quite hungry by then. Also, it hadn’t mostly rained while I was on watch, the wet weather gear certainly kept the wind out, which was very helpful.

After breakfast it was the morning 'happy hour', with mainmast cleaning the lower 20th century deck today. Sweeping, cleaning and mopping, which took about 30 minutes to clean the kitchen, bag rooms, showers and toilets.

At 10 a.m. there was a lecture in the Great Cabin on the basics of sails and masts on the Endeavour.

I know some simple things already from my eight months volunteering on the Breeze at the NZ Maritime Museum, but I was able to get the answer to several of my deep questions which I have had for a while which was very helpful. Such as, why later period sailing ships had more sails and less crew, and the answer is because these later ships didn’t need to reef the sails like we did yesterday. With lots of smaller sails instead of a smaller number of large sails like on the earlier period Endeavour.

I also found out that the Endeavor is rigged exactly for her time period. For example, there are no bunt lines on the very top smallest topgallant sails (vertical ropes across the centre of a square sail). Bunt lines were added to topgallants on later ships, but were not in use during the 1770’s.

It was then my own time until 3 p.m. So, by 11 a.m. I was back up in the rigging, up on the crosstrees of the mainmast, 100 feet up in the air. This is such an awesome experience with the ship gently rocking back and forth while under sail, so much smoother than when under engine power, plus of course a lot quieter.

View of the topgallent yard arm, with Tasmania in the distance.

Sophie from my watch on the foremast crosstrees

I spent almost an hour up in the heavens, before coming down for lunch. For the afternoon I wrote up my diary, on my new Kindle and then spent time reading while sitting at the back of the ship. I was simply enjoying the experience of being under sail on such an authentic 1700's sailing ship, something most people will never get to experience, and to think I have another whole week and a half to go!

Unfortunately, it began to rain, and not wanting to get myself or my gear wet, especially my new expensive Kindle I headed downstairs for the rest of the afternoon.

After dinner I went straight to hammock and sleep as my watch is back on between midnight and 4 a.m. I did have some trouble sleeping as my sleeping bag was zipped open as it was so hot from the first couple of nights in Hobart, but as we are now heading into the Bass Strait it is getting cold. With no lights allowed in the historic 18th century deck during the night I couldn’t get my sleeping bag zipped up in the dark.

At 11:30 p.m. I, along with the rest at my watch were woken up, I grabbed my gear and headed downstairs to dress. Tonight, I'm going all in, polypro thermal underwear and a woolly jumper. It took a good 20 minutes to get ready.

The watch was simply amazing, and hard to describe. We are heading north into the Bass Strait with a 30-knot southerly wind directly from Antarctica directly behind us, gusting 35 to 40 knots.

The Endeavour was rolling all over the place, even the main companionway exit was closed for safety, which shows how rough the sea was.

The night was overcast but the full moon was shining providing plenty of light to see by.

My only duty was to be on lookout twice, for 30 minutes. As such I got to spend three hours enjoying the experience of being on a 18th century sailing ship under the moonlight crashing through the waves.

A number of fellow watch members were cold, but I found my tramping gear was keeping me nice and warm throughout the watch, through my legs were getting a bit cold near the end.

At 4 a.m. I went back down along with the rest of my watch, undressed, was in my hammock, and was soon quickly asleep.

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Endeavour Sailing 15/2/25 Saturday: Entering the Bass Strait