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When as a yacht Captain I returned home to Australia from the USA for the past eight years, I found work at an Australian Ship Yard working on a large boat.
I was approached to captain a ship the “Lord Jim”, that was leaving after four years, the fellow who approached me joined as an unpaid deck hand and ended up as the only one left on board.
The vessel was at a marina Marina in the Whitsundays, Queensland. It wanted an available Yacht Captain take it to Thailand via The Great Barrier Reef and Cape York. The brochure looked great, as they always do.
It was an old Camper & Nicholson made in 1977 it had a steel hull with aluminum sub structure which was riveted together.
A CV was submitted and forgotten about but then I received a call from the owner who consequently was a psychologist in the motivational business .Of course I was very quickly convinced and took the job.
Arrived at the marina I saw the boat, an quickly realized I was Conned It was very badly looked after, which presented some problems.
It turned out it was completely un seaworthy and most systems broken down, With the Australian Cruise Permit expired, Ships Registration in Gibraltar expired, the hull and crew insurance expired, radio licenses expired. Added to this, all the safety equipment was out of date.
The old Captain left two days later with the owners disputing his return ticket to England.
The Boat was desperately in need of repairs and I as the relief captain Phuket started on my own. I wanted to save face and get going but had no boat money or cards.
About 19 month later I arrived at the Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket . I even continued restoring the vessel to her former glory with all systems up and running within a limited budget.
I am very proud to rebuild a part of nautical history of this great boat.
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