Most Amazing time in my life

[beecee]

Other then meeting my Mrs 41 years ago and the birth of our Son, my most unforgetable moment was in 1974, two years before my marriage. I had achieved 15 years service at the company I worked for, being with them from the day I left school and gaining a trade certificate in Fitting/Welding and Machining. I was due for 3 months long service leave and was looking for somewhere different and exciting to do. By chance I came across a small advertisment in a Sydney paper asking for guest crew for a British registered three masted square rigged Barquentine, which was leaving Portsmouth England in December '73 and arriving in Panama in January '74, then sailing across the Pacific and on to Sydney. The name of the boat was  "Ëolus". After answering the ad, and being interviewed by one of the owners at Gosford 80kms north of Sydney, I found myself having four injections, yellow fever, small pox, Typhoid and Malaria, and flying over to Panama arriving there on Jan 20th '74.

The canal zone officials had no information of its arrival so I caught a train to Cristobal on the Atlantic Ocean side of the canal and witnessed the arrival of the Eolus on Jan 26th.

Thus commenced my 4 months of the best time of my life.

The skipper was a Danish fella named Anders Jensen and someone who the 10 permanent crew and 30 guest crew all loved and respected...a true gentleman,  and skilled navigator in every sense of the word. We sailed through the Panama canal, something quite interesting in itself, birthed at Panama city for the night, and then next morning set out across the Pacific Ocean. 

Crossing the equator one experiences the doldrums, an area 5 degrees either side where cyclones/hurricanes are non existent and any wind at all is rare. The sea is like a sheet of glass with the often seen blow hole of a whale, or seals and dolphins, along with a bountiful supply of sea birds of all varieties including a wandering Albatross. We threw some lines over the side, had one of the crew standing by with a shot gun, and climbed to the top gallant yard arms, and jumped the 50 to 70 ft into the Pacific.  A thrill in itself.                                     

Our first stop was the Galapagos Islands, which straddle the Equator where we climbed an extinct volcano and looked down into the crater with the bluest blue lake one could ever see. After 4 days sailing to different Islands in that group (after obtaining permission from the Equadorian authorities) we set sail across the Pacific to the Marquesas Islands, a distant of 6000kms. The crossing took 26 days and towards the end of that fresh water was rationed.

Throughout the journey each stood his assigned watch, and those that so desired in their spare time, undertook navigation via a sextant, sail making and repairing, climbing the masts setting and furling in sails (no safety harnesses either!) general seamanship and of course your turn at cooking...well assisting the French chef we had on board.  I proudly became pretty sufficient at using the sextant and often took sightings on the Sun, Moon, Venus and Jupiter in plotting our course. When we reached the Marquesas we visited three Islands, named Hiva Hoa, Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva. These are the northern portion of French Polynesia and on one of those Islands we came across the grave of the French painter Paul Gaugan.

From the Marquesas we set sail south to the Tuamoto Archipeligo group of mainly atolls, stopping at one named Manihi Atoll only 600 kms west of Muaroa Atoll where the French were once conducting their nuclear tests. From there west to the Tahitian Islands, and stops at Tahiti, Moorea and Borabora of "South Pacific"the movie fame. After much exploring drinking and having some fun, it was business again and further west to  American Samoa and Pago Pago. Then onwards to the  Friendly Islands or Tongan Islands stopping at Nukualofa and Aitutaki where we were invited to meet the King of Tonga Tua ahafu 4th and  other Tongan VIPs. Further west to the Fijian Islands and Beqa, Kadavu and of course Viti Levu. Leaving Fiji we headed towards Australia and made a stop at Norfolk Island, home of some of the Bounty Mutineer descendants.

After leaving Norfolk and only 1400 kms from the Australian coast, we encountered a fierce storm with gale force winds reaching force 8 and 9 on the Beaufort scale, along with 35 and 40 ft seas. Conditions strangely that I personally reveled in and a time when we were not allowed to use our galley and lived on tinned food for 4 days. Overdue and unable to establish radio contact, we were reported as lost by the Sydney coastal and port authorities.

One more stop at Lord Howe Island, and then we entered Sydney harbour on the 31st May '74 welcomed by a flottila of craft and my very worried concerned parents.

The Eolus was 150ft long, 26 ft beam, 90ft mainmast and could fly 16 sails on its three masts, four gibs'ls, the fores'l, lower tops'l, upper tops'l, lower top gallant, upper top gallant all on the foremast, then three stay's'ls between fore and main, then the mains'l and mains'l tops'l on the main mast, and mizzen s'l and mizzen s'l top s'l on the mizzen mast.

Here are a couple of photos....

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com.au/2007/12/friggin-in-rigging.html

I hope some find it of interest.  I certainly did and still do even though now an old fart!

Anyone else have any experience they would like to share?

Edited September 17, 2017 by beecee

[beecee]

Hmmm.... Am I the only one who has done anything, exciting, amazing, worthwhile??  Surely not!!

Am I the only one that would consider being a one way Astronaut to Mars with Mars One?  

[DrP]

Your tale was great - Must have been an adventure.

I'd go to Mars too...  I might be a bit old for that now though....  maybe I could go for decision making or breeding purposes, I could help populate the planet. If you sent me with about 30 young fit and healthy women that were of breading age then I reckon I could do a good job of making sure we have plenty of future humans on the planet to carry on with the good work of building a populous and making the planet habitable. ;-)

 

 

[beecee]

20 hours ago, DrP said:

Your tale was great - Must have been an adventure.

I'd go to Mars too...  I might be a bit old for that now though....  maybe I could go for decision making or breeding purposes, I could help populate the planet. If you sent me with about 30 young fit and healthy women that were of breading age then I reckon I could do a good job of making sure we have plenty of future humans on the planet to carry on with the good work of building a populous and making the planet habitable. ;-)

 

 

20 hours ago, DrP said:

 

 Join the club! As far as age is concerned anyway.  But if they did want a few old farts like myself, I would certainly be in it. Not sure how viable the MARS ONE thingy really is, I have serious doubts on a few fronts, but hey, I wish them the best of luck, and if it did look like eventuating, best of luck to the lucky few who would go.

They have knocked the original 200,000 applicants down to a 100 the last time I checked......

https://www.mars-one.com/

 

https://community.mars-one.com/last_activity/ALL/18/82/ALL/ALL/5/3