HMB Endeavour

[Orphia Nay]

I had a wonderful day today. I visited the HMB Endeavour replica while it was visiting the port of Portland, Victoria, Australia.

Here's the official website of the ship:
http://www.anmm.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1372

Briefly the HMB Endeavour was the ship Captain Cook sailed around the world and discovered Australia in, in 1770.

This replica was built painstakingly between 1988 and 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Bark_Endeavour_Replica

On with my potted pictorial tour...

The Endeavour, centre of pic, in Portland harbour:

Close up:

The hull, which is made of Australian jarrah:

The ship's bell:

Some of the 29,000 metres (nearly 30 kilometres) of rope on the ship:

The mess:

Some hammocks:

The cat-o-nine-tails, which was kept in a red bag (which came out pink in the photo for some reason). When punishments were carried out, they "let the cat out of the bag", which is where the expression came from.

The middle class seamen's quarters. So cramped you can't stand up. I'd hate to see what the lowest class quarters were like. The lowest decks are modern for the replica's shipmen to use.

Mr Buchan (the artist)'s desk, who shared quarters with a Mr Parkinson:

My favourite bit, Joseph Banks' quarters. (The famous botanist.)

Captain Cook's quarters:

The Great Cabin (shared by Cook, Banks and his men). In the centre of the photo is a ship nail (forgotten the word for it) which was taken on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which was named after Cook's ship.

On deck again, showing the boat Captain Cook would have used for embarkation:

The ship's wheel:

This lovely (American) tourguide was sailing with the ship on the way to Portland, and they were in a Gale Force 8 storm. She was hit by the wheel, broke her collarbone and was thrown to the ground. She spent 4 days in pain before they reached Portland where she was taken to hospital. And she's still working. What a trouper!

A small cannon/gun:

A larger cannon:

And lastly, the obligatory tourist pic of me (on the right) "steering".

Thanks for joining me on my tour. Mind your step on the way down the gangplank.

 

[Syameese]

love the pics - as someone who can get sea sick in a bath I am always in awe of anyone who could sail around the world in such little bits of wood!!

The very same ship did, however, give me a time travel jolt a few years ago. My house is on the cliff about 3 hours drive south of Sydney. One morning I looked out the bedroom window as the sun was just up and there was the very same Endeavour, sails set heading up the coast - it was an amazing sight. I could only imagine what the people living here 200+ years ago thought when this "thing" appeared on their horizon.

 

[Orphia Nay]

love the pics - as someone who can get sea sick in a bath I am always in awe of anyone who could sail around the world in such little bits of wood!!

The very same ship did, however, give me a time travel jolt a few years ago. My house is on the cliff about 3 hours drive south of Sydney. One morning I looked out the bedroom window as the sun was just up and there was the very same Endeavour, sails set heading up the coast - it was an amazing sight. I could only imagine what the people living here 200+ years ago thought when this "thing" appeared on their horizon.

Awesome post!

Yes, it was quite an experience. The ship looked pretty large up close, but inside was so cramped!

And later a huge tanker pulled into port and the Endeavour looked absolutely tiny!

 

[Andy_Ross]

It did a touir of the UK and Europe couple of years ago. It spent the summer in Whitby for a few years. I have a load of pics I will have to post some.
We have a 'non sailing' replica on the river Tees at Stockton and a one third size replica takes day trippers round the Bay at Whitby in the summer.
Away from the historic 'show' areas it has modern facilitres and accommodation for the crew.

 

[gumboot]

The Endeavour is a regular visitor to New Zealand as well, and is of particular historical importance to us, as Cook was the first to circumnavigate and map our country. He visited New Zealand on all three of his pacific voyages, and many parts of the country are named after him and his crew and their ships.

The ship gave its name to Endeavour Inlet in the Marlborough Sounds, while the neigbouring bay is named Resolution after the sloop that was his preferred ship on his second and third voyages.

 

[amb]

OMG. What great photos Orphia. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Duffy Moon]

Lovely pics, Orphia.

I've been on a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship The Golden Hind.
It was absolutely tiny!

The ceilings were also as low as in your pics.

According to some of the information we were given, Drake himself was a bit of a shortarse but selected crewmen who were about six foot tall, figuring that bigger blokes would be handier in a scrap.

They can't have had it easy as in the short space of time that I was aboard, I managed to brain myself against a low beam.


I've also been on the (real) HMS Victory which is a huge ship.

It still looks imposing now, even with the modern-day warships nearby.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Thanks for all the information, everyone, and the nice comments too. I'm finding this all fascinating, which is an extra bonus after such a fascinating day.

 

[Orphia Nay]

OMG. What great photos Orphia. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, amb! I took loads, but narrowed them down to these 20. It was a battle trying to take photos without too many people in them, while still listening to the tour guides and not being late for the next section of the tour. Even so, I had to include pics that weren't brilliant here but they were needed for my story.

 

[Rat]

The cat-o-nine-tails, which was kept in a red bag (which came out pink in the photo for some reason). When punishments were carried out, they "let the cat out of the bag", which is where the expression came from.

I always do this, and my better half always asks why I have to ruin things, but this is almost certainly not true. For some reason, people, especially sailing enthusiasts, like to ascribe the origins of all sorts of phrases (cf "The devil to pay") to nautical history, and they almost always turn out not to be true.

 

[Orphia Nay]

I always do this, and my better half always asks why I have to ruin things, but this is almost certainly not true. For some reason, people, especially sailing enthusiasts, like to ascribe the origins of all sorts of phrases (cf "The devil to pay") to nautical history, and they almost always turn out not to be true.

I lied? I must have seen an albatross.

 

[rjh01]

I always do this, and my better half always asks why I have to ruin things, but this is almost certainly not true. For some reason, people, especially sailing enthusiasts, like to ascribe the origins of all sorts of phrases (cf "The devil to pay") to nautical history, and they almost always turn out not to be true.

Here is a discussion on the topic. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/let-the-cat-out-of-the-bag.html

The truth cannot be certain but it is probably that Rat is correct.

One relates to the fraud of substituting a cat for a piglet at markets. If you let the cat out of the bag you disclosed the trick - and avoided buying a pig in a poke (bag). This form of trickery is long alluded to in the language and 'pigs in a poke' are recorded as early as 1530.

Edit. Almost forgot. Great pictures. If only there were more threads in the public section like this.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Thanks very much for all that, rjh01.

 

[arthwollipot]

Great photos! I love tall ships.

It was a battle trying to take photos without too many people in them...

I should mention here that it is perfectly legal to take pictures of people and use them however you like, so long as they aren't children. It is, however, usually polite to get their permission first.

 

[lionking]

Yes, terrific photos.

It became a tradition to take the other kids to see Cook's Cottege (his parent's cottage by memory - I don't think he actually lived there) in the Fitzroy Gardens whenever a child as born as the maternity hospital was just across the road. I got to know the cottage very well.........

 

[angrysoba]

I lied? I must have seen an albatross.

Maybe he just meant the people on the boat were saying something untrue when they were guiding you round.

Now, albatross-round-the-neck most certainly is of a nautical derivation coming, as it does, from Coleridge's nautically-themed interminable poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Nice pictures too, by the way. I also like to have a look round boats with historical significance whenever I stumble on one.

 

[Zax63]

Thanks for the photo tour. Very nice!

Does anyone know if the tassels on the ropes in the mess and hammock photos are just decorative or do they have a practical purpose?

 

[Andy_Ross]

I live in the middle of Captain Cook country. We have the Birthplace Museum in Marton, the Schoolroom in Great Ayton, the Captain Cook Museum in Whitby where he was an apprentice and up on the Moortop behind Great Ayton is the Captain Cook Monument a tall stone column visible for miles.

I forgot in Staithes is where he worked as a Gorcers 'Lad' in a shop.

We have Captain Cook coming out of our Ears!

http://www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk/james-cook/cook-in-whitby/ (Captain Cook Memorial Museum)
http://www.captcook-ne.co.uk/ (Birthplace museum)
http://www.captaincookschoolroommuseum.co.uk/ (schoolroom)
http://www.captaincook.org.uk/ (Captain Cook tourism site for Yorkshire)

http://www.whitbymuseum.org.uk/ (Whitby Museum, full of COok artifacts).

 

[arthwollipot]

No! Captain Cook is our guy! You can't have him.

 

[Damien Evans]

Maybe he just meant the people on the boat were saying something untrue when they were guiding you round.

Now, albatross-round-the-neck most certainly is of a nautical derivation coming, as it does, from Coleridge's nautically-themed interminable poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Nice pictures too, by the way. I also like to have a look round boats with historical significance whenever I stumble on one.

You misspelled awesome.