Many
thanks to people who have emailed me to comment on this section of my
site.
Your positive words are appreciated :)
The
Alma
Doepel is the worlds oldest Australian built square
rigger.
Built
at Bellingen
NSW in 1903 by Frederick Doepel and named after his daughter Alma this
3 masted topsail schooner worked the East coast of Australia as a
general
cargo carrier and made more than 560 crossings of Bass Strait.
Up until about
5 years
ago she was Victoria's only Sail Training Ship. Unfortunately
maintenance
/repairs became too costly and last I saw her (late 2001) she was
sitting
idle at Victoria dock in Melbourne, no longer fit to go out to
sea. :(
The original
restoration
of Alma began in 1976 and took 12 years, she sailed her first youth
voyage
in 1988 and in the years following thousands of teenagers experienced
the
joys and responsibilities of living and working aboard a Tall Ship, I
was
one of them. In 1990 I had the privilege of sailing on Alma for 10
days.
It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and it began a
passion for Sailing Ships (and Ships in general) that has not lessened
in 14 years.
Launched: 10
October 1903
Registered Port: Hobart,
Tasmania
Home Port: Melbourne,
Victoria
Length: 35
metres
Length Overall: 45m
(inc. bowsprit)
Beam: 8.6m
Draft: 2.29m
Mast height: 28m
Tonnage: 150.69T
Sail Area: 557m2
At full
sail out on
Port Phillip Bay
on a nice windy
day.
Taken
on a rotten day
but I really like this pic.
I think it
captures a certain
mood.
Boarding
the ship for
the first time.
Looking very
nervous
:)
Playing
around with
the wheel
whilst still in
at Station
Pier.
All the people who
sailed
on my Voyage including the leading hands & the permanent crew.
(I'm
in the
second row, to the right of the girl with the red collar)
While
my interest
in the Sea mainly concerns Alma I am an admirer of all Tall Ships
and
interested
in most things Maritime. Due to this site becoming huge and way
out of control I have recently
moved the other Alma pages from here to a new site of their own. So, if
you'd like to know more about Alma , or perhaps see more pics, her deck
& sail plans, or pics of other ships, and a guide on how to
identify tall ships click the image below to go to my new site.
(this will open in a new browser window)
A
great site
to visit with heaps of info for the Tall Ship Enthusiast is:
'Schoonerman'
click HERE.
