WA Maritime Museum.

Jon Sanders

Parry Endeavour

To the Western Australian Maritime Museum

Welcome

The WA Maritime Museum is built on a unique and significant site, both culturally and historically.&nbsp; 
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Aboriginal people call this place ‘Mangaree’, meaning ‘gathering place’, where locals and visitors engaged in trade and cultural exchange long before Europeans arrived. 
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In January 1697 Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh explored and named the Swan River. The Swan River was first depicted in a coastal landscape during de Vlamingh’s 1696-97 Dutch explorations of the west coast. 
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In 1829 Captain Charles Fremantle raised the British flag on the promontory at Arthur Head to claim the Swan River Colony, later Western Australia, for Britain.&nbsp; 
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Vast numbers of migrants have since come to Western Australia by sailing ship, steamship, naval vessel and ocean liner either in transit to other Australian ports or as immigrants intending to make Western Australia their home.

Indonesian fishing vessel 

Sama Biasa 

The Sama Biasa is one of two Indonesian fishing boats which were arrested fishing in Australian waters in August 1980. 
 
The Sama Biasa was intercepted at Gregory Island in the Buccaneer Archipelago. At the time it was camouflaged with mangrove branches. On board, the Fisheries Inspector found 40 kilograms of rice, 360 litres of water, 10 kilograms of dried fish, clam meat and squid, and approximately 250 kilograms of trochus shell. 
 
The vessel was towed to Koolan Island pending a court hearing, and while at anchor it required regular pumping. The vessel was then donated to the Western Australian Museum, and was transported to Fremantle by the State Shipping Service.

Fish Traps

Mungahs

Mungahs (fish traps) were used extensively by Nyoongar communities throughout the South West of WA. &nbsp;The last reported use of these traps was at Barragup (Mandurah) in the 1930s and also in the Swan River near Como in the 1890s.

At high tide fish swim over the stone and brushwood wall and are trapped when the water level falls. The fish are then caught by hand or speared.

Mandurah is a Nyoongar word for a ‘place of trade’. &nbsp;Nyoongar peoples from Esperance to Geraldton visited the fish trap after the first rains each year. &nbsp;Ceremonies and cultural exchange were an important part of those gatherings.

Annual religious tradition

Blessing of the Fleet

The Blessing of the Fleet is an annual religious tradition adopted by many fishing villages and ports throughout the world to bless the fishing fleet before the opening of the fishing season. The blessing is an opportunity to pray for a good season and the safe return of the fleet at the end of the season. Some fishers also invite their local priest to bless their newly made rock lobster pots for good luck in a private ceremony for family and friends at their homes.

Fremantle’s Blessing of the Fleet is traditionally held just before the opening of the rock lobster season in October-November when the boats have been overhauled and repainted in the months leading up to the new fishing season. Fremantle’s blessings of the fleet are performed under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church and organised by local ethnic communities, principally the Italian Molfettese and Sicilian communities but have also involved the Croatian and Portuguese communities.

The costumes displayed are worn by children during those ceremonies.

Megamouth Shark

WA Down Under gallery

This tank contains a 5.2m long male Megamouth shark that washed up on a beach in Mandurah some 50km south of Perth in August 1988. &nbsp;Megamouth sharks (Megachasma pelagios) are one of the rarest types of shark in the world. Our Megamouth was the third specimen to be discovered.

Megamouth sharks feed on plankton and krill and live in very deep waters, rising towards the surface at night to feed. &nbsp;It was preserved in formalin before being stored in ethanol in a below ground tank in the WA Museum in Perth.

As part of our ongoing efforts to preserve and care for our collections, the Megamouth was removed from ethanol and soaked in aqueous glycerol solutions for nearly three years. &nbsp;As a result, our shark specimen is now more flexible, less shrivelled and has plumped up by 115kg, so now it weighs in at 484kg.

Jon Sanders' voyage

Parry Endeavour completed its triple circumnavigation of the world in just under two years. Lone sailor, Jon Sanders, never set foot on land, never had another person onboard and survived solely on the three and half tonnes of provisions taken onboard when he departed Fremantle. Sanders’ only contact with the outside world was via electronic communication and a couple of parcels of mail thrown to him from another vessel.

In March 1988, Parry Endeavour turned into Fremantle and proceeded up the Swan River to berth at Royal Perth Yacht Club. Sanders stepped onto dry land for the first time in 658 days.

Jon Sanders' voyage earned him 15 world records for endurance and other unique achievements. Parry Endeavour had sailed continuously over a distance of 131,535 kilometres, during which Sanders became the first yachtsman (as crew or single-handed) to complete five circumnavigations via Cape Horn.

His reason for undertaking this epic voyage was quite simple: he enjoys the sea, it was an original thing to do, and it had never been done before. The reasons deeply contrast to the complexity and danger of the voyage.

Parry Endeavour was named after Captain James Cook's, Endeavour and in honour of his major sponsor Kevin Parry who defended the America's Cup in 1987 at Fremantle with Kookaburra.

The yacht is displayed in a defining moment of Jon Sanders’ journey. It is early morning on the 20 November 1987 and he is closing in on Cape Horn for the third and last time. &nbsp;He has the mainsail down and is surfing the big waves under bare mast. At 3am Sanders’ ventures out on deck to put out the sea brake – Parry Endeavour is surfing too fast and threatening to nose-dive into a trough and possibly pitch-pole. &nbsp;He raises a storm or spitfire jib. &nbsp;While on the foredeck he glimpses in the pre-dawn light a monstrous wave, descending on his yacht with a thunderous roar. &nbsp;He grabs the mast and hangs on for grim life as it cascades over him…

If you look towards the ceiling you will see the orange sea brake. Jon Sanders estimated that the wave was 30 metres high, the same height as the sea brake from the floor.

America’s Cup Winner

Australia II

On 26 September 1983, the yacht Australia II made history when the oldest sporting trophy in the world, the America’s Cup, was wrested from the Americans after 132 years.

Australia II was owned and built by a syndicate of Western Australians headed by prominent businessman, Alan Bond. The syndicate had unsuccessfully challenged for the Cup three times, which had been held by the New York Yacht Club since 1851, but the syndicate was determined to bring home the ‘auld mug’ in 1983.

The designer of Australia II, Ben Lexcen, had conceived a winged keel that under secret testing in the Netherlands had out-performed conventional keels. The yacht was built in Cottesloe by local boat builder Steve Ward. The crew was based in Perth and undertook a rigorous training program to prepare them for the series of races that would determine the challenger for the America’s Cup, held in Newport, Rhode Island.

Following the success of Australia II in the Round Robin series to select a challenger for the Cup, the yacht raced in the best of seven races to determine the ultimate winner. At the end of four races, with the score 3-1 against them, the crew of Australia II faced an enormous challenge. Against all the odds Australia II went on to win the remaining three races, becoming the first non-American yacht to win the Cup.

The yacht, Australia II, is displayed in a defining moment of the final race. Having just passed the American boat Liberty on the last downwind leg, Australia II is fast approaching the last rounding mark, the America’s cup buoy. The yacht is heeled to approximately 9 degrees as it approaches the mark, to begin the final leg to the finish. During the final windward beat Australia II tacked many times to defend its precious lead. At 5.21pm the yacht crossed the line to win the America’s Cup.

Pilot Lifeboat

Lady Forrest

In June 1899 the Carlisle Castle was wrecked with total loss of crew. Soon after, six lives were lost when the City of York was also wrecked. Both losses were attributed to inadequate service provided by the Rottnest-Fremantle pilot boat.

The frequent shipwrecks increasingly damaged Fremantle's reputation to provide an effective pilot service to guide vessels into the harbour.

In 1902, Harbour and Lights lodged an order for a purpose-built pilot vessel that could accompany incoming vessels, regardless of weather conditions, and ensure that the local pilot could be put aboard to guide the vessels into the safety of the Fremantle port.

Lifeboats and pilot boats must be steady and easily managed when carrying out rescues and moving alongside other vessels. The new pilot's design was based on the Royal National Lifeboat Institutions standards compiled by James Peake who was an exceptional naval architect for his time.

The length of Lady Forrest's hull was directly related to the distance between two wave crests (this distance determines wave motion). This ratio of length to wave motion was calculated to increase the vessel’s stability and minimise pounding when facing head seas.

Named after the wife of the first Premier of Western Australia, people were initially disappointed with their new acquisition. This initial doubt soon subsided by a proven track record of 64 years chaperoning vessels in all conditions. M.V. Lady Gairdner was commissioned in 1959 and the Lady Forrest became a stand-by pilot.

Found after 80 years

The Submarine AE2

After Federation, the defence of Australia was passed from the British to the newly formed Royal Australian Navy.

The first two Australian submarines were modified versions of the British E class.

The replica before us is of the AE2, which performed daring deeds during the Gallipoli campaign of World War 1. It became the first vessel in over 300 years to breach the defences of the Dardanelle’s before being lost in action, only to be found 80 years later.

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Australia’s greatest naval tragedy

HMAS Sydney (II)

The loss of HMAS Sydney (II) is Australia’s greatest naval tragedy. Its disappearance in 1941, without a trace, left a legacy of uncertainty for decades. In March 2008, renewed efforts to find the Sydney came to fruition, confirming her fate and bringing closure to the mystery.

In 2015, a further expedition to survey the historic World War II shipwrecks produced new photographic evidence. It appears to confirm why Sydney was so quickly disabled, leading to catastrophic damage and the devastating loss of everyone on board.

Celebrated for her successful battles in the Mediterranean, where she famously sank the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, HMAS Sydney (II) and her crew of predominantly young men received a hero’s welcome on her return to Australia in February 1941. She was then tasked with escorting troopships to South East Asia, following an Indian Ocean route along the west coast of Western Australia.

It was on the return of one of these voyages that she encountered the German Raider HSK Kormoran, on 19 November 1941. The Kormoran was disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel that was seemingly incompetent at returning the Sydney's signals, unaware, the Sydney approached the unknown vessel. Once within range, where her superior armament could not advantageously defend her, the Komoran used the advantage of surprise and brought all its armament to bear on the Sydney.

While neither ship survived, the Sydney was lost with all hands - a complement of 645 young men. 318 of the Kormoran’s complement of 390 survived.

For 66 years, controversy raged. The Kormoran survivors were the only witnesses, and were generally dismissed as unreliable. Endeavouring to not discourage the Australian public during war time, the media was censored and families received standardised bereavement letters. In the subsequent decades, many people postulated theories, remarkable finds were discovered then found to be hoaxes, and the depth of the sea at suspected wreck sites kept researchers from investigating further.

A renewed effort to find the Sydney and Kormoran, supported by modern technology, came to fruition on 16 March 2008, when a small group of Australian volunteers, the Finding Sydney Foundation, discovered the Sydney shortly after locating the Kormoran wreck, about 100 nautical miles off the coast of Western Australia.

Soon after the ships were found, an inquiry was launched into the Sydney’s disappearance. The Commissioner, the Honorable TRH Cole, AO, RFD, QC, found that it was an error of judgement that brought the Sydney to a distance where she was overpowered and sank. The enquiry helps bring closure to the families who never knew for sure how their loved ones had died.

Top-secret missions

Behind Enemy Lines

Japan entered WWII in December 1941 and rapidly advanced through South East Asia. As the Allied bases fell to the Japanese, Allied ships and submarines were moved further south. Fremantle and Albany were chosen as major submarine bases with Fremantle becoming the largest submarine base in the Southern Hemisphere. &nbsp;The movements of Allied submarines and even the fact that Fremantle was a sub base was top secret.

While Fremantle was operating as a secret sub base, even more secretive training was taking place on Garden Island and in Cockburn Sound. Commandoes from Z Force were training for very high-risk secret missions. Using Folboats, a type of collapsible canoe, and midget submarines, Z force carried out several top-secret missions.

One of these missions was Operation Jaywick, a raid on Japanese shipping in Singapore harbour. Using a Japanese fishing boat to avoid detection, the team of commandoes travelled 2,000 miles to their start point close to Singapore. Using their folboats, the Z Force commandoes entered Singapore harbour paddling amongst the moored ships and attaching “limpet mines”. They successfully sank or damaged 7 Japanese ships totalling 37,000 tonnes.

Jack Sue was a member of Z Force and was involved in Operation Jaywick and Rimau. Jack was awarded the Distinguished Combat Medal for his involvement in these and other operations.

Lieutenant Max Shean

A Dangerous Mission

Lieutenant Max Shean is another local hero who left Perth to serve on Corvettes in the Atlantic during WWII, before volunteering for service aboard midget submarines called X craft.

Carrying out training in England and operations against German occupied ports in Europe, Max Shean and the XE4 entered the Pacific war with Operation Sabre. Their daring task was to locate and cut two Japanese underwater telegraph cables to the Mekong Delta. Towing a grapnel hook along the sea floor to snag the cables they eventually managed to find and cut both cables, returning with a section of cable as proof of their success.

This achievement forced the Japanese to rely on radio communications. The Allies, having already broken the Japanese codes, were able to intercept and read the Japanese messages.

Broome Pearl Lugger

Trixen

Trixen is a West Australian pearling lugger originally built in 1904 and later modified to continue pearling operations in north-west Australia into the 1940s. Throughout the life of the Trixen, the vessel has had a series of owners and different purposes. Since the 1970s the boat was used variously as a prawn trawler, cargo vessel and yacht.

It has been rebuilt and restored by the WA Maritime Museum, where it is displayed as an example of a Broome based pearling lugger.

Trixen was built in 1904 by an unidentified builder and launched under the name Trixie, a name it retained until becoming Trixen around 1913. It had a schooner rig which was commonly used over the early period of lugger development. In the 1940s it was rebuilt and lengthened to be just over 50 feet long (originally just under 40 feet). It is carvel planked (planks are built on a wooden frame and butt up to one another) and shows typical construction methods used in the 1940s. At this time it was re-rigged as a ketch (sailing craft with two masts) which had become the standard rig in the 1920s.

It survived in Broome during World War II and continued on the pearl fields working for the pearl shell trading companies Streeter and Male Co, Paspaley Pearls and finally Hockings. Trixen left pearling by the 1960s when it was used as a prawn trawler, and later a cargo ferry vessel. In the early 1980s it was recovered by the Maritime Archaeology Association of WA, and the WA Maritime Museum.

The Museum restored the vessel to its 1940s arrangement as a pearling lugger and in 2002 it was placed on display here in the WA Maritime Museum.

Museum walking tour