Enterprize visit

Replica tall ship Enterprize will sail into the picturesque Port of Port Fairy on Thursday, April 15. The public will have the chance to experience life on the spectacular, hand-made vessel with inspections between 4pm and 6pm on this day (gold coin donation required).

Enterprize is an all timber, carvel planked, two masted, topsail schooner. It is a replica of the ship that brought the first settlers to Melbourne.

The original ship was built in Hobart in 1830 by William Harvey and William Pender as part of the early coastal trading
fleets of southern Australia. At that time most bulk cargo was transported by sea. Enterprize carried cargo such as coal and, on one occasion, more than 300 sheep.

In April 1835, Enterprize was purchased by John Pascoe Fawkner to search for a suitable place to found a new settlement in the Port Phillip District. Enterprize sailed from Launceston on July 21 1835, but only travelled as far as George Town in northern Tasmania, where Fawkner was forced to remain by his creditors. Enterprize then departed George Town on August 1, 1835 under Captain Peter Hunter. On board was Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Pascoe Fawkner’s representative); George Evans, builder;William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans and Pascoe Fawkner’s servants, Charles Wise, a ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, a blacksmith and his pregnant wife Mary.

Searching for a place to settle, the party looked first at Western Port and then at the eastern side of Port Phillip. They
eventually found the Yarra River, and after warping (hauling on ropes attached to the river bank) the ship upstream, they
moored the Enterprize alongside the river bank at the foot of the present day William Street. On the 30 August the settlers disembarked and at once began to put up their tents, build their store and clear some land for growing vegetables.

Settlement at Melbourne had begun.

After this, Enterprize continued operating as a coastal trading vessel for a number of years. She eventually disappeared off the shipping register in 1847, having been wrecked on the bar of the Richmond River in northern New South Wales, with the loss of two lives.

The replica Enterprize was built so that a significant part of Melbourne’s history would be preserved and accessible to the people of Victoria. Planning of the 27-metre vessel began in 1989. Her keel was laid at the Polly Woodside Maritime Museum in 1991 and she was completed in the old Ports and Harbour’s yard at Williamstown. The $2.5 million vessel was launched by Felicity Kennett on Saturday 30 August 1997 at Hobson’s Bay.

She is the first square-rigged commercial sailing ship to be built in Melbourne for more than 120 years. The task of bringing the ship through from keel laying to launching involved six years of dedicated work by a small core group of craftsmen assisted by many volunteers, both male and female. The final result is a great tribute to their enthusiasm and to the generosity of the many people and organisations who contributed money and materials.

Enterprize now gives people of all ages the opportunity to experience life on board a nineteenth century sailing ship. One hour sailing trips are available, sunset and special event cruises, extended sailing voyages and more.

It was determined that the replica Enterprize would be as close to the original ship as possible. This was not easy, as there were no copies of the original plans. However, painstaking work by naval architects and shipwrights using information gathered from the few paintings and sketches of the original Enterprize and shipping registration details from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, resulted in the plans which were used for the project.

It was also determined that the replica would use the same materials that were used in the original ship where possible.
This meant the sails would not be machine sewn from modern synthetic sailcloth, but hand sewn from flax cloth imported
from Scotland. The standing and running rigging would not use modern materials of stainless steel wire and synthetic rope
but the natural fibre hemp, imported from Holland and protected with coatings of Stockholm tar.

She is single decked, square transomed, with crossing yards on her foremast. She has been traditionally constructed using Australian and New Zealand grown timbers.

Wooden boat building methods have not changed very much over the years and so craftsmen with traditional skills were
acquired. Much of the timber used in the construction of Enterprize was recycled from a variety of sources.
• Her keel is a single piece of ironbark fifteen inches by thirteen inches and forty-five feet long.
• Her stem, sternpost and deadwoods are 100-year-old ironbark wharf timbers, supplied by Nullabor timbers of Echuca.
• She is built on laminated bent ribs. The outer three laminations are New Zealand Kauri, salvaged from the staves of old
brewing vats. The top lamination is celery top Pine, as is her deck planking.
• Her hull is planked in Jarrah below the waterline. This timber was once the floor joists of a wool store in Fremantle,WA.
Above the waterline, her hull is planked in Huon Pine.
• Her floor timbers are Jarrah, salvaged from Station Pier, Melbourne.
• Her stringers and beamshelf are Kauri.
• Her bulwarks are Cyprus Pine from the Royal Melbourne Golf Course.
• Her masts are Californian Redwood Planted by Melbourne Water in the 1920’s as an experimental timber crop at
Kinglake.
• Her spars and deck beams are Oregon.
• She is bronze and copper fastened.

Further information on the Enterprize can be found at www.enterprize.com.au or emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it