Spotted this in the Geraldton marina this morning. Realised the museum was behind where i took this so wandered in.
Worth it and glad I did. Do yourself a favour and have a look. The best museum I've been to.
If you are wondering its a replica of the boat the Captain of the Batavia used to sail to Indo with forty others to get help. Made from bits of the wreck and mangroves. All made it safely.
Thanks for the info. I will have a look at the museum on my next trip to Ningaloo.
40 people in that for 2 months.. The navigation skills required is one thing, the physical feat is something else.
Yep i went back past the boat and i reckon with the 40 people there wouldnt have been much wiggle room. No maps and just mother nature to rely on it certainly was a feat. Not sure how they knew where to go to get to indo. Must have used stars or sun perhaps.
I suppose if i think about it they must have had a course to get there in the first place so maybe they calculated how far they had gone off it. But in comparison getting on the boat was pretty easy to staying on the islands.
If you're heading past soon lancer the museum has a couple of cool displays at the moment.
First is a short 3d underwater film on the wrecks of the HMAS Sydney and the Kormoran. Very realistic to the point of feeling like you are there diving on it.
Interesting is the history leading up to the battle and of the Kormoran and the tactics they used which in the end led to the downfall of the greater Sydney. A real naval David and Goliath story.
Equally captivating and slightly tied in with the Batavia is a gallery of decendants of dutch traders from South Africa, Indo and the West Oz. The story is interesting in itself but the photographic portraits is what captivated me. I just enjoyed the artwork of it.
What is enjoyable in the end of the day is the fact that you get a sense that the European history of our land is older than what we think. Its not just 200 yrs but 200 yrs older than that. Whether English or not we cant say its only two hundred yrs. Its older than that. It just feels as though we are becoming a nation with a rich history good and bad. I really hadnt felt that when visiting other museums.
The story of the Batavia is an amazing one.
So is the epic voyage of Captain Bligh and the officers of the Bounty to Timor.
Makes you realise that the skills and knowledge that we apply to sailing and navigating are so well developed over centuries thanks to great men like these.
I hope that modern technology doesn't obliterate it entirely.
For anyone who is interested, they sometimes take the boat for a spin on Sundays and anyone can go along for a gold coin donation. Very interesting vessel to sail.
Select to expand quoteFreeRadical said..
I reckon she'd get up and go with those foils deployed. 
Foils. Lee boards if you don't mind. 
Yep she is an interesting thing to sail. Takes a bit to tack with those Lee boards but good fun on a Sunday if you are in town.
batavialongboat.org
Select to expand quotegyccrewman said...
Yep she is an interesting thing to sail. Takes a bit to tack with those Lee boards but good fun on a Sunday if you are in town.
batavialongboat.org
Thanks for the link there. Would love to go out on this for an experience.
