The South Australian Ketch Fleet in Adelaide, South Australia | Arts and entertainment

The South Australian Ketch Fleet

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Phone: +61 417 082 917

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25.01.2022 My good mate and mentor Ian King, of American River, told me this story the other day about the three mast schooner Gerard. It revolves around a phone call he had with one of the Directors of R. Fricker and Co, Lyall Jonas, her owners. A bit of background first. The Gerard was built in Germany in 1921, and was quite a stylish vessel. At the time of her building she was an auxiliary three mast topsail schooner, meaning she had a small engine, and crossed three square yards on...Continue reading

25.01.2022 Photo of the Milford Crouch taken not long after her conversion from the Leillateah, Port River. Malcolm Dippy Photo.

24.01.2022 Back in the good old days. I was aboard her then, my mate Craig Eastwood standing in the wheelhouse entrance. On her way to Shell Co to load bulk fuel for Kangaroo Island.

20.01.2022 Stunning Photo of the Gerard setting sail off the NSW Coast in the early 1960's.

19.01.2022 Some more fascinating history from across the border. A lot of the larger ketches in our local trade were also in the Bass Strait and coastal trade, Fricker’s ketch Falie, schooner Coomonderry, and the schooner Gerard were predominantly in the coastal trade, the Falie from 1923 until she went into the Kangaroo Island trade in 1965.

18.01.2022 Interesting bit of history regarding one of the larger ketches.

17.01.2022 Another awesome photo of the Jillian Crouch on the Melbourne Harbour Trust Slipway, taken in 1958.

12.01.2022 Some recent photo’s of the Lady Jillian, ex Jillian Crouch, in her berth in Launceston, TAS, submitted by one of our members, Ted Sherrin. Thanks Ted, very sad to see the decline of this once fine ship.

10.01.2022 From our friends in Tasmania, this view of the Lady Jillian at Partridge Island in the early ‘70’s. Cheers to Chris Tiedemann for the heads up.

10.01.2022 There are still some spots available for my talk tonight at the Port Adelaide Caledonian Society, if you wish to pop along contact the Port Adelaide Historical Society, details below. Cheers, hope to see you there! https://facebook.com/events/s/chriss-top-10-ketch-stories/826681534498177/?ti=icl

09.01.2022 Some wonderful photos of the Moshulu in Australian waters. Nelcebee lightered grain to her in Port Victoria in 1939 at least, when Eric Newby was aboard the windjammer, and the book he wrote about the voyage, and the photographs he took have become legend. If you haven’t read The Last Grain Race, by Eric Newby, grab yourself a copy, it is still in print. Accounts of his time in SA especially are fascinating. I used to read it aboard the ketches on stormy nights at sea, the ship would be rolling and plunging and the wind and rain deafening, and I would be tucked into my bunk imagining I was aboard Moshulu, on my way to Cape Horn. The illusion would soon be broken once called for my watch and reality set in. The connection was real though, both the ships and men I worked with were there in the old days.

07.01.2022 The wreck of the ketch Mary Ellis. State Library of SA.

04.01.2022 The wooden ketch Dashing Wave, built by James McLaren and Thomas Inches built in 1865 at Shipwrights Point on the Huon River, Tasmania, is this week’s #shipwrec...kfriday. On Christmas Eve in 1926 Dashing Wave departed Port Pirie with a load of timber, joinery and furniture for delivery to Messrs Geddes and Co. in Port Lincoln. Within a short distance of Port Lincoln the ketch was becalmed and the master anchored to await favourable winds to reach Point Kirton jetty. The next morning, Christmas Day, a strong gale arose and the ketch lost its anchors and sails, which the crew had raised to try and run for safety. Rendered helpless, the ketch drifted for the rest of the day, driven by south westerly winds and came ashore at about 8 pm in a sandy cove at the northern end of Louth Bay, north of Port Lincoln. The vessel broke up with seas washing in and over it, ruining the cargo of furniture. The master and three crew managed to get ashore to safety. This wreck is not formally listed as ‘found’, although relics are located at the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum suggesting that it may be known to local people around Port Lincoln. If you have any information on the vessel’s actual location, we would love to hear from you at [email protected]. (Please remember: the site is protected under the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1981; it is an offence to damage, destroy, interfere with, or remove any part of the shipwreck or its associated relics.) #heritagesa #maritimesa #UnderwaterCulturalHeritage #shipwrecks #seeSouthAustralia #visitSouthAustralia #southaustralia Axel Stenross Maritime Museum Shark Cage Diving - Calypso Star Charters City of Port Lincoln Council South Australian Tourism Commission

03.01.2022 Lovely paintings of the launch of the ketch Lizzie Taylor. Contrary to popular belief, many of the ketches were launched as complete vessels, some had sails bent on and were sailed away almost as soon as they got wet.