Rescue Magazine Spring Edition

Spring 2015 | QF4 Caloundra Edition
This issue ...

QF4 News | The Flying Fish Experiment | AIS
Weight ... Theres More | Shipwreck Tales
Cruise Ships & Medivacs | Towing Tales
1
Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast
Caloundra Marine
Largest range of boating accessories in Caloundra
Quality servicing all brands of boat motors
8 Baldwin Street, Caloundra 4551
PHONE: 5491 1944
www.caloundramarine.com.au
Email: [email protected]
Propeller Warehouse
ABN 61 350 985 756
HR TITAN 4
Excellent Cruising Performance
Unit 1/10
Premier Circuit
Warana Qld 4575
Telephone: (07) 5437 9400
Facsimile: (07) 5437 9537
Freecall 1800 333 342

2
www.solas.com.au
The Official Magazine of AVCGA Sunshine Coast Squadron
CONTENTS
05
10
19
20
26
29
04 EDITORS CORNER
05 FLOTILLA NEWS
Latest news from QF4
10 SQUADRON NEWS
14 THE FLYING FISH EXPERIMENT
QF5s Randall Gibson

investigates the relationship

between power boat hulls and
slamming loads
19 NIGHT MOVES
QF6 are tasked with a night time

medivac from a cruise ship
20 AIS
An introduction to Automatic

Identification Systems
24 A BUSY AFTERNOON!
SPRING 2015 | ISSUE 11

QF4 Caloundra Edition
14
24
30
26 BUT WEIGHT ... THERES MORE!
David Salter takes us inside the

weight-obsessed minds of
offshore yacht racing skippers
34
37 NAUTICAL HUMOUR
38 SQUADRON CONTACTS
29 WHEN IS AN ASSISTED VESSEL

TOO BIG?
QF6 are tasked to tow an

80-tonne trawler
30 SHIPWRECK TALES

Unravel the mystery of the

wreck of the Ceratodus
34 HISTORY OF SHIPS

A new series that looks at the

history of famous ships. This

issue we look at HMS
Investigator, the ship that
conveyed Matthew Flinders on
his quest to chart Australia
This Issues Cover: First look at QF4s new secondary rescue vessel. Photo by John Gasparotto
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PUBLISHING INFORMATION
Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast is
published quarterly by AVCGA Sunshine
Coast Squadron.
Copies are available from QF4 Caloundra,
QF6 Mooloolaba, QF5 Noosa, QF17 Tin
Can Bay and QF21 Sandy Straits. Please
contact the Flotilla.
Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast is
available via email. To join the emailing list,
please contact the flotilla representative for
your area.
is also available via download. Visit the
flotillas page on the Coast Guard website
at www.coastguard.com.au.
For advertising enquiries, please contact
the flotilla representative for your area.
EDITOR: Vice Captain Julie Hartwig

Ph: 07 5486 4014
M: 0498 377 402
E: [email protected]
Flotilla Editors:
QF4 Caloundra: John Gasparotto
QF5 Noosa: David Garwood
QF6 Mooloolaba: Ian Hunt
QF17 Tin Can Bay: Julie Hartwig
QF21 Sandy Strait: Jon Colless
Disclaimer: Whilst every care is taken

by the Editor to minimise errors, no
responsibility is accepted for the accuracy
or otherwise of contributions made by
AVCGA members, and the information,
images, illustrations and advertisements
contained herein. Opinions expressed in
articles in this publication are those of the
authors. All content in this publication is
published with the consent and approval
of the Sunshine Coast Squadron Board.
Copyright AVCGA Sunshine Coast
Squadron, 2015
Visit Coast Guard on the web:

www.coastguard.com.au
4
Editors Corner
elcome to the Spring edition of Coast Guard Rescue

Sunshine Coast. The year seems to be flying by so
quickly I dont know where the time is going! And thats
the subject of this issues editorial: Time.
Id like to bring to your attention what time means in
relation to Coast Guard. Did you know that the men and women
who respond to your calls for boating and safety information,
log your vessel on and off when you go boating, and provide
assistance when you call for help, are all volunteers?
Apart from meaning they dont get paid, this also means
they donate their time to serve the community. In our busy world,
time is one commodity that most of us are short of. We are task
rich (have a lot to do) but time poor (not enough hours in the
day to accomplish everything we want to). Its for this reason
that I commend anyone who finds the time in their busy lives to
contribute to an organisation like Coast Guard.
While many of our volunteers are retired from paid
employment, they are Coast Guards lifeblood and our most
valuable asset. Without them we would not exist. In addition,
they often have vast amounts of knowledge accumulated from
their working life that they willingly share, both within Coast
Guard and with the public they come in contact with through
their Coast Guard activities. Their commitment to Coast Guard
is immeasurable. They respond to calls for assistance at times
when the rest of us are tucked up in bed, they sometimes
endure horrendous conditions at sea to provide often life-saving
assistance, and above all, they put their lives on the line every time
they head out to sea.
So the next time you come into contact with a member of
Coast Guard, regardless of how that encounter occurs, remember
they are donating their time to be where they are, be it selling
raffle tickets or cooking sausages to raise funds, talking to you on
the radio or phone, or bringing you home after a mishap at sea.
Be grateful they are there and make a monetary donation to show
you appreciate their donation of time.
Until next time, enjoy the read, stay safe on the water and
remember to log on before you leave!
Safety by all Means.
Julie Hartwig
Editor
Vice Captain Publications
Sunshine Coast Squadron
www.facebook.com/qf4.th
Quarterdeck News
FIGHT FOR THE STRIPES OF OFFICE
There was a bit of friendly rivalry at the Caloundra

Powerboat Club when Coast Guard Caloundra
held a dinner meeting there to induct the new
Executive and to thank those members who stood
down from the Executive for their effort and
achievements.
The newly elected Deputy Commander
Alan Hingston liked the look of outgoing Deputy
Commander Peter Vaughans well-worn epaulets
and Peter took a fancy to Alans new shiny ones
so it was on for young and old. In the end, they
ended up with each others epaulets.
The Executive were sworn in by Commander
Tony Barker in the presence of over 50 members
and guests. The Executive comprises of Flotilla
Commander and Deputy Flotilla Commander,
Verity Hingston (Purser), Phil Noble (Training
Officer) and Gary Hoy (Administration Officer).
Flower arrangements were presented to
outgoing DFC Peter Vaughans wife Jan and FTO
Graeme McKenzies wife Jan for their forbearance
of their partners many absences (and Flotilla
induced absent mindedness!) over their four years
on the Flotilla Executive. Noelene Davis and Rae
Grice, wives of QF4 members injured whilst on
boat duty, were also presented with flowers.
Our guest speaker Howard Montgomery
provided the audience with an insight into the
history of Bunnings. Howard is well known to QF4
members for his support for Flotilla fundraising.
He was warmly received and answered questions
at the conclusion of his presentation.
Top and Centre: Outgoing Deputy Commander Peter Vaughan

(left) exchanges epaulettes with incoming Deputy Commander
Alan Hingston. Left: Phil Noble takes the Oath of Office as
QF4s new Training Officer. Above: Verity Hingston takes the
Oath of Officer as QF4s Purser.
5
Quarterdeck News
MORE FROM THE DINNER MEETING ...
Above: Gary Hoy takes the Oath of Office as QF4s

Administration Officer.
Top right: The Dinner Meeting at the Caloundra Powerboat
Club was well attended.
Right: L-R: Barry and Rae Grice, Commander Tony Barker, and
Noelene and Ben Davis. Noelene and Rae were presented with
flowers.
Above: Howard Montgomery gave the audience an insight into

Bunnings.
Above: L-R: Graeme and Jan McKenzie, Commander Tony

Barker and Jand and Peter Vaughan. The ladies were presented
with flowers at the dinner.
Quarterdeck News
COAST GUARD CALOUNDRA NEEDS MORE BASE STATION RADIO OPERATORS
Marine radio operators provide lifelines for people out on our waterways and Coast Guard Caloundra is
currently looking for volunteers to be trained as Base Station Radio Operators to ensure the safety of all at
sea.
Tony Barker, Commander of Coast Guard Caloundra, said that Base Station Radio Operators provide
an essential service for all boaties and they may even have the opportunity and satisfaction of saving
someones life at sea.
It takes up to three months training to become a proficient Base Station Radio Operator and gain the
Marine Radio Operators Certificate of Proficiency. Coast Guard Caloundra will train suitable candidates to
become proficient in this role.
We have on-call duty skippers and crews ready to provide assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a
week in case of emergencies in all weather conditions. We need Base Station Radio Operators to man the
radio station whenever our crews are called out. Our Base Station Radio Operators also man the radio in the
morning Monday to Friday and all day on weekends and Public Holidays. But there is an additional need for
more Base Station Radio Operators to further expand our on-air coverage.
Age or gender is no barrier; we have an operator in his 70s and you will have the satisfaction of
knowing that you are helping keep boaties safe. You need to make a commitment, but it is largely to your
own choosing as to when you are available for duty. If you wish to take a holiday Coast Guard Caloundra
arranges your replacement while you are away.
Volunteering as a Coast Guard Base Station Radio Operator will see you working with a like-minded
group of people from a variety of backgrounds. If you are interested in volunteering or require more
information call Coast Guard Caloundra between 7am and noon on 5491 3533.
Coast Guard Caloundra is a volunteer organisation and is also looking for people to crew its vessels
or help with fundraising activities to keep our vessels ready to assist boaties in trouble. So if you have some
spare time available please contact us for more information.
Battery Care and Maintenance

As we all know, maintenance is an important part of owning a boat. However,
we tend to neglect the battery. Without a fully charged, reliable battery, a day on
the water can lead to disaster. Below are some pointers to maintain your battery.
Keep top of battery clean and dry

Battery terminals should be kept clean and tight
Check that the battery is securely fastened as battery plates can be damaged by excessive
vibration
If accessible type of battery, ensure water levels are correct after charging. Do not overfill or add
when battery is discharged
Use only an automotive cut off battery charger and recharge after use even if the motor has a
charging system
If more information is required on battery maintenance, please contact:
The Wise Old Owl at Battery Wise Sunshine Coast

5437 6799 / 5 Main Drive, Warana 4575
Boating News
KEEP SAFE THIS BOATING SEASON
With the boating season in full swing, the Caloundra Coast Guard would like to remind all Sunshine Coast
boaties to follow some key boating safety requirements.
It is vital that a maintenance check is carried out before heading out on the water.
Make certain that your boat and trailer are registered, insured and in good working order.
Ensure your motor has been serviced, battery fully charged and navigational lights are in good
working order.
Ensure you have clean and sufficient fuel to get you to your destination and back, plus a bit extra
just in case. Do not run the motor on old fuel as this could lead to engine failure.
Make certain you have all the necessary
safety equipment on board, and that the
flares are not passed the use by date.
Have enough life jackets for everyone on
board and wear them, especially when
crossing a coastal bar.
One of the leading factors in boating deaths
is falling overboard unexpectedly, so the critical
must dos to ensure your safety are:
Tell someone, including your local Coast
Guard radio station, where you are going
and what time to expect you back
Check that your safety equipment is in
working condition
Always wear your life jacket

Be aware of your location on the water at all times
Be visible. Ensure that life jackets have reflective tape on them, as the reflection can help catch the
attention of other boaters or search and rescue groups in emergencies.
Remember that coming to the assistance of a boat in difficulties is made much more difficult if you
have not told anyone where you are going and when you will return. So please log on with Caloundra Coast
Guard via your VHF radio on channel 73 on or Channel 91 on a 27mg set, or phone 07 5491 3533. It might
just save your life.
Become an
Associate Member of
the Coast Guard for a
small annual fee. For
this small fee skippers
can have peace of mind
knowing that you will
get priority help from
the Coast Guard all
along the Queensland
Coast, 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, if
you get into trouble.
Following these
safety measures will
help you in case of
an emergency on the
water.
Keep boating
safety as a priority and
enjoy your time on the
water.
Squadron News
DEDICATED TO SAVING LIVES AT SEA
Peter Vaughan, a volunteer with Coast Guard
Caloundra, has been awarded the National Medal
for his outstanding service in helping keep boaties
around Caloundra safe.
Peter joined Coast Guard Caloundra in 1960
and has served diligently since, clocking up over
1262 operational and training hours with the
flotilla.
He served as Deputy Commander of
the flotilla on two occasions from July 2002 to
December 2006 and again from July 2011 to June
2015. He said that he was surprised that he had
been nominated for this prestigious award and
that he will be back in uniform keeping boaties
safe after he and his wife Jan return from a wellearned holiday overseas.
Caloundra Coast Guard Commander Tony
Barker presented him with his medal at the recent
dinner meeting. The National Medal recognises
those who put themselves at risk in the service of
the community, or in the course of enforcing the
law to protect persons and property.
To qualify for this award a person must have
served in an eligible organisation for at least 15
years, and the chief officer of the organisation
must assess their service as diligent.
John Gasparotto, QF4
Right: Peter
Vaughan with
his National
Medal.
10
QF6 WELCOMES FIONA SIMPSON MP

AS OUR NEW PATRON
At the Flotilla Meeting on the 7th of October, QF6

welcomed the Honourable Fiona Simpson MP,
Member for Maroochydore, as the new Patron of
Coast Guard Mooloolaba, QF6, taking over from
the long-serving Captain Michael Alexander.
To mark this
event Fiona was
presented with a
framed Certificate
of Appointment
and had her name
placed on the QF6
Honour Board. Fiona
has been a staunch
supporter of QF6
over many years and
was instrumental in
gaining Government
approval for QF6 to extend our building to
better cater for increases in both members and
equipment. We thank Fiona for accepting the
role of Patron and look forward to her being our
Patron for many years.
Captain Michael Alexander and his wife Gina
also attended the meeting, with Michael being
presented with an inscribed plaque to celebrate
his 10 years as our Patron. Michael has been a
great supporter of QF6 and AVCGA in general,
spreading the word throughout the global marine
community about what we do and that we do it
with minimal Government support, unlike similar
organisations in other countries. On behalf of all
past and present members of QF6 thank you
Michael.
Ian Hunt, QF6
Squadron News
MT WOLVI VHF UPGRADES
In recent months many boaties - as well as the

operators in QF17s radio room - have experienced
degrading reception and transmission through the
VHF Channel 80 repeater located on Mt Wolvi.
It has been known for some time that the pole
on Mt Wolvi which holds the VHF antenna requires
replacement. QF17 had been planning to replace
the VHF aerial and feeder cabling to the repeater
equipment at the same time as the pole is replaced.
However, the replacement of the pole, which is the
property of and is maintained by Gympie Regional
Council, and also holds several Council antennae,
appeared to be quite a low priority. So consequently,
QF17s equipment upgrade was put on the backburner.
In recent months, reception and transmission
have degraded further, so QF17 contacted the
company that provides and maintains their repeater
equipment and requested that the issue be
investigated. The report delivered by the radio tech
- that the pole was wobbling around in the breeze
and that they werent going to touch it or anything
mounted on it - was alarming to say the least and
demanded that affirmative action to replace the pole
Above: The replacement of this pole at Mt Wolvi is imminent.
was now required sooner rather than later.
The Council was contacted and the situation was promptly investigated, with the result that
replacement of the pole was now imminent. No time frame was given, but QF17 understands that the
pole replacement has been flagged as urgent.
The good news is that once the pole has been replaced, QF17s VHF aerial and feeder cabling will
receive its long awaited replacement. It is hoped that the completion of both of these projects will see
improved communications on channel 80.
What the upgrade wont fix is the black spot that continues to plague the eastern side of Double
Island Point. Mariners transiting the area continue to be advised that the area from 5 nm south of Double
Island Point to approximately 3 nm north of the point has little or no reception or transmission on VHF
Channel 80. The alternative VHF frequency is 82. For more information, please contact the QF17 radio room
on 5486 4290.
Jon Jones, QF17
11
Squadron News
COAST GUARD CALOUNDRA KEEPS
SAFETY OF ITS CREWS PARAMOUNT
Coast Guard Caloundra is currently trying out
a new way of attaching towline snap hooks to
disabled vessels. The flotilla has been trying out
this new technique and equipment for the last
few months. It will not only enable our boat
crews to speedily attach a towrope in all weather
conditions, but do it safely.
John Gasparotto, QF4
1
4
2
Echo crew members testing the new equipment, which will
come into service soon.
1. Rigging the snap hook.
2. Manoeuvring the rescue vessel into position.
3. Using the extendable pole with the snap hook.
4. Clipping on to the vessels towing eye.
12
Squadron News
WHATS BIG, WHITE AND HAS BEEN
SIGHTED IN MOOLOOLABA BAY?
Thats right the 247 metre, 64,000 tonne super

liner, Pacific Pearl has become a frequent visitor.
However, due to the weather she hasnt been able to
drop her anchor until the recent July visit, where our
crew was privileged to be on our rostered training
day.
It was a sunny, picture perfect day with a clear
blue sky when the Pacific Pearl slid into the bay and
dropped anchor in Mooloolaba. She was perfectly
positioned for tendering her passengers to the
Mooloolaba wharf precinct. Apparently over 1800
people decided to visit our seaside cafes, Australia
Zoo, Noosa, our famous Eumundi markets, the
hinterland and our local arts and crafts. Whale One
was contracted to help ferry passengers to the wharf
and also for a whale watching trip to remember.
They encountered whales as expected, but a whale
breaching 50 meters from the vessel ended in a
standing ovation from delighted visitors.
Those who chose to stay on board were
entertained by the Panamuna Outrigger Canoe
Club event, hosting a race around the Pacific Pearl
with an 8 and 16km course. There were more than
300 competitors participating with some paddlers
competing from as far away as the Fraser Coast and
Gold Coast. The Pacific Pearls passengers had a
birds eye view from the decks above.
On the weekend of the visit, the Mooloolaba
Surf Life Saving Club hosted the Australian IRB
Championships. North Burleigh won. The interstate
titles were won by Queensland. The three day event
had postcard perfect conditions for the 600 competitors from throughout Australia.
The bay was alive with water sports, including the usual paddlers and boating fraternity with
recreational boating and fishing.
Mooloolaba (QF6 Flotilla) deployed Rotary ll, our 7.3 metre quick response vessel, and Rhondda
Rescue, our 13.8 metre deep-water primary rescue vessel, for our routine training. We enjoyed a close up
view of the Pacific Pearl as we circumnavigated her and took some time to observe the canoe racing before
we set to and started our Seamanship Skills training for the day. Before long we were called upon to assist
a small outboard runabout whose motor had stopped and wouldnt start. Once we towed them back to
safety, another call for assistance came from a second small vessel. We towed them back up the canal to
the slipway and resumed training.
The bay was a spectacle of colour, energy and life in abundance. There was a real buzz in the air.
Out on the water or on land, we enjoy our life here on the Sunshine Coast and shared our playground with
the Pacific Pearl passengers. This makes us proud of where we live and what we have to offer. I hope their
glimpse of our back yard from the bay to hinterland inspires some of them to return.
The Pacific Pearl was scheduled to drop anchor in Mooloolaba again on October 6th.
Waiana Berryman, QF6
13
The Flying Fish Experiment
Contributed by Randall Gibson

Sea Hawks Boat Crew, QF5
oing quickly in a rough sea can be hard on a boat and even harder on its crew. In the waters off QF5,
the prevailing SSE breeze has a virtually unlimited fetch over which to build two and three metre
white caps. While our flotillas two larger boats, Davos Rescue, an 8.64 metre deep V aluminium
hulled RIB with twin 250 Yamahas, and the 10.25-metre John Waddams, our steel hulled twin-diesel jet boat,
can handle these seas, it does require that the coxswains exercise restraint with their throttles. Boat speed
is the biggest variable we can control in bouncy sea conditions where the degree of urgency in reaching a
boat needing assistance is set against the caution to minimize the slamming loads that can injure crew and
break vital boat components.
The first technical paper on vertical slamming loads was von Karmens 1929 study of seaplane floats,
indirectly prompted by the growing number of semi-planing hulls which began to proliferate in racing
boats and the new craze for the runabouts of the roaring twenties. Speeds rose as boat builders installed
marine conversions of WWI surplus aviation engines like the high power-to-weight Liberty V12s and the
Hispano-Suiza V8s.
In the private sector, the advent of prohibition prompted many yacht builders along the Eastern
Seaboard of the United States to create a class of thinly disguised commuter yachts that lived double lives
as Rum-Runners. These slender, elegant vessels of 60 to 80 feet in length regularly reached thirty knots,
outrunning the 12-15 knot Coast Guard patrol boats. Prohibition ended just as naval architects began
exploring the yet higher speed capabilities of planning hulls.
As the 1930s progressed, racing boat speeds
had easily topped 80 knots. On the day before
Germany attacked Poland, Malcolm Campbell set
the world speed record at 123 knots in Bluebird II.
He and others such as the British race boat designer
Hubert Scott-Paine were utilizing innovations like
surface drives and three point hydroplane bottoms.
From Scott-Paines drawing board came the
memorable V-shaped hull of the first 70-foot British
MTB to be shipped to ELCO in America and be
designated by the US Navy as PT-9 (below). With
its three 40-litre Packard V12s, it could run in seas
at close to 40 knots. From its bow to mid-ships,
14
it was an incipient deep V in a transitional shape

known as warped plane to accommodate the single
curvature limitation of the newly developed marine
plywood used in its hull. Alas, the initially steep V
of the bow sections was not maintained, eventually
becoming flat abaft of midships. The ELCO boats
and its competitors from Higgins and Huckins all
pounded savagely due to their flat aft hull sections.
In government trials during the Northern summer
of 1941 (nick-named The Plywood Derby), all the
entrants suffered significant hull damage. Although
planing craft had come of age, slamming loads
continued to dog them.
Above: The revolutionary Miss Britain III was 24ft long and
powered by a 1,350hp Napier Lion engine. In the 1930s, Hubert
This evolution to planing hulls and their
Scott-Paine set several world records with the boat, including
progressively higher speeds confronted marine
being the first man to travel at over 100mph in a singleengineers with the problems of slamming loads,
engined boat.
sorely testing the materials and boat building
techniques of that day when the boat failed sooner
than the humans aboard them.
It wasnt until twelve years after the war that the younger partner at Scott-Paines US-based office
had the audacity to raise the deadrise of Huberts PT design to 24 degrees and then extended this
radical deadrise all the way to the transom. This 23-foot demonstrator ran circles around the support and
spectator fleet of power boats assembled off Newport for the first post-war Americas Cup in 1958.
Dick Bertram, a top-ranked sailor with a successful yacht sales firm in Miami, noticed the exceptional
sea-keeping performance of this little boat and contacted the designer, Ray Hunt. Their collaboration
yielded the first deep V Bertram, the 31-foot Moppie, which proved its mettle in winning the 1960 MiamiNassau powerboat race in record time. One hour behind the winner, the second place boat was Rays
smaller deep V that he had demonstrated at Newport. All of the others did not cross the finish line until
eight hours later on the next day.
Flooded with customer requests, Bertram made a plug from Moppie and commenced producing these
fiberglass boats with Corvette engines coupled to the new inboard/outboard (I/O) drives, selling them as
fast as he could build them.
To conclude this thumb-nail summary of powerboat evolution, we now had the power of the engines
first emerging from WWI, in quantity, price, and reliability straight out of Detroit, matched with the
standards for sound construction scantlings learned during WWII, being placed in mass produced deep V
hulls. The experience of speed over water had become a public commodity. Human evolution, however,
had not kept up with the technical revolution. As the Navy soon noticed, fast boats had evolved to the
point where the crews were breaking sooner than the boats.
Attention now turned in earnest to investigating slamming loads. These loads are usually expressed
as multiples of G, or gravity. A 1 G force is the weight of the boat or person being accelerated or
decelerated. While military fighter pilots can encounter 10 Gs, sailors can experience 20 Gs on fast boats
in rough conditions. Studies using accelerometers have measured 10 G impacts on boats doing thirty knots
in four foot seas which is, coincidentally, right in the envelope of the speeds and sea conditions in which
QF5 operates.
Further data from the US Navy revealed
that 65% of the crews in fast boats had suffered
at least one significant injury if not more during a
given year of service. While most reports were of
Above: Dick Bertrams Moppie.

Right: The 1929 Chris Craft Commuter was powered by a A120
V8 engine. Only 65 were built.
15
contusions and sprains, blood in the urine and ruptured discs were commonly reported. The threshold for
sustaining injuries from slamming appeared to occur at and above 4 Gs. The laymans rule of thumb is, If
it hurts, you are being injured.
The Flying Fish Experiment was an attempt to create a 50-knot boat designed to minimize slamming
loads. From my dock in Southern Maine, to go anywhere exciting like Nantucket, Marblehead, or Bar
Harbour required blue water passages of fifty to one hundred nautical miles requiring a high speed
capability. Deep V Muscle Boats like Cigarettes, Fountains, and Donzis could only achieve such speed in
calm conditions.
Further research revealed that the sailing worlds most famed trimaran designer lived two miles from
my doorstep. Thus began a treasured friendship with the late Dick Newick. He in turn introduced me to
his Merlin of Engineering, Keith Burgess, who explained the physics of designing a hull that minimized
slamming loads.
The dominant variable in the calculations was waterline beam, and the second most significant input
was the deadrise angle of the hull. This meant I had to build a long, skinny, wedge-shaped hull with little
to no transverse stability. Like putting training wheels on a bicycle, we had to add the outer hulls to keep
this tippy canoe from rolling over, and, voila! We had a trimaran.
Longitudinal trim was the third ranked variable which contributed to slamming. At low speeds and
in small waves, the trim or angle of attack of a hull is easily regulated with trim tabs or, in the case of
outboards, altering the motors trim. In a small tinny, persuading your mother-in-law to move to the next
thwart can be just as effective.
Out on a rough ocean, its a far different story. With larger waves or higher speeds, or both, the boat
begins to pitch, heave, and plunge to the point it can leave the water entirely. Slamming loads are further
exacerbated by the fact that waves are not symmetrical. Travelling into them, waves steepen near their
crest. At higher boat speeds, waves act like parabolic launching ramps that only a motorcycle daredevil
could appreciate. Approaching waves downwind, while the gradient is less steep, after crossing the crest,
one can re-enact a junior version of the closing moments of Thelma & Louise. It goes without saying that
the higher the jump and the deeper the fall, the harder the crash.
In worst case scenarios, this longitudinal trim can reverse in a mid-air leap as the depressed stern
strikes a successive crest, rotating the still airborne boat into a nose down attitude as the boat crashes into
the lower face of an oncoming wave.
In offshore power boat racing, this plunge into a wave face is called stuffing. At the 120 knots they
travel, stuffing is often deadly. At our speeds, the G forces developed in the hardest landings can break ribs,
ankles and engine mounts. The solution to preventing a boat from wave jumping, is not to jump the wave
at all, but to run parallel to the ocean surface, piercing the tops of the waves.
Sonny Levi was decades ahead of his time
in drawing up illustrations in the late sixties of
how his futuristic Dart could do this. (As an aside,
Levi designed Richard Bransons transatlantic
record winner of 1986, Virgin Atlantic Challenger
II. In 1985, Bransons previous attempt failed as
V-A Challenger I, a catamaran, sank after its hull
split open due to repeated slamming loads.) The
wave piercing Sonny Levi envisioned required
an extremely sharp, narrow entry with minimal
topside resistance. Being partially theoretical,
his recipe omitted how one was to control
the longitudinal trim as affected by waver
interactions.
In the early 1990s, a solution to maintaining
Above: Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic Challenger II set the
longitudinal trim at speed was developed by the
world record for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1986. VACII did
renowned Swedish designer, Ocke Mannerfelt.
the crossing in 3 days 8 hours 31 minutes, shaving 2 hours off the
He was the first to combine three previously
previous record.
discovered innovations on his Bat Boats. A
variable ballast system was installed in the forepeak of his boats. Saltwater, driven by the forward motion
of the boat filled the bow tank when an inlet pipe was opened. Gravity would drain it overboard when the
outlet was opened.
Although the boat was not intended for wave piercing, the ballast system was instrumental in
reducing the tendency of the bow to rise on wave crests. Its twenty gallon capacity and position forward
developed a thousand pound lever arm in this 3,500lb boat. Aerodynamic wings on the after body of
16
the vessel imparted lift to the stern

diminishing its tendency to drop.
Although small in area, the effect of
these wings was enhanced by ground
effect.
Ockes third innovation was to
introduce two successive transverse
steps along the hulls underbody,
including with them, aeration inlets at
the chine. This active introduction of
aerated water, or bubbles, broke the
suction developed by laminar flow,
thereby reducing the sterns tendency
to squat.
The Flying Fish was 34 feet in
length overall and the main hull had
a beam on the waterline of 4 feet,
half that of an offshore monohull of similar length. The deadrise angle was 33 degrees compared to the
most aggressively built monohulls with 24 degrees. The windshield was steeply raked and the foredeck was
shaped to shed solid water. The engine air intakes became schnorkels high up on the hollow pillars of the
radar arch. The main fuel tank of 200 gallons was placed below the cockpit sole spanning the longitudinal
centre of gravity so no trim change occurred between topped and empty. A separate tank with an
additional 80 gallon capacity occupied the forepeak. Transfer pumps moved the fuel forward when running
into the waves, or reciprocally moved it aft when navigating a following sea. Eighteen feet separated
the two tanks, creating a lever arm of nearly 10,000 foot pounds on a vessel displacing just under 5,000
pounds. Such was the force required for effective wave piercing.
Avoiding Bransons mistake in building his first V-A Challenger with composites, the Flying Fish hull
was fabricated out of sheet aluminium by a jet-boat racing Aussie, Neil Malam. The 600hp engine was built
at Innovation Marine in Sarasota, FL to the specs of the motors they provided to USN Seal teams.
Notwithstanding a series of setbacks with engines and drives, the hull performed magnificently.
Imagine my astonishment when I first cut through the peaks of a series of steep waves. The experience of
looking up at a tonnage of green water flowing over our heads was novel. Even more interesting was what
was NOT happening. I had half expected to be doing a face plant on the console due to deceleration, but
the boat hardly slowed as it drove through the tops of the waves like an iron lance.
With such a sharp bow, I thought it wise to offset the risk of having the hull plunge too deeply into
a wave. The cross structure connecting the hulls was positioned and shaped to act as an anti-diving plane.
Running free in a calm sea, the leading edge of the cross section copied the camber of a Cessna crop
duster. At 50 knots, calculations indicated that this limited wing area would generate 400 pounds of lift
17
which would have marginally improved fuel economy and slightly diminished vertical impacts. Since the
structure had to be there anyway, securing these advantages made sense.
Further steps were taken to reduce the slamming impacts transmitted from the boat to the
passengers. We should remember that most of the injuries suffered in car accidents come from the force of
the secondary collisions between the interior of the car and its occupants.
In the years since the Flying Fish project was undertaken, a number of companies now manufacture
a range of suspension seats designed and built to reduce the shock of slamming loads (Stidd, Bostrom,
Ullman, etc). Lacking such products at the time, we developed the Flying Fish seats from scissor pedestals
that contained both hydraulic shock-absorbers and springs that could be manually adjusted to match their
dampening resistance to the sea state relative to the weight of the seat occupant.
One of our more humorous considerations was getting the phase response of the seat suspensions
right so the compression stroke of the unit did not cock when the hull moved upwards, and fire the
passenger upwards like Bonds DB6 ejection seat when the hull moved downwards.
The seat bodies themselves were custom built by Corbeau, a competitor to Recaro, along the lines
of their World Rally Championship seats. As a unique request, I stipulated that Swedish therapeutic foam
be used in the seats padding, as it had a far higher
density and resilience than all other padding
products.
The net result of this experiment was a boat
that generated about a quarter of the slamming
loads of a conventional offshore deep-V. Further
development was precluded because the five-year
time period for fully writing off business losses
as granted by the IRS had expired. While not a
penny was lost by the investors that wouldnt have
otherwise gone to the taxman, the project had to
be shut down abruptly. While we had failed as a
business, we had succeeded in reaching our design
goal of developing the seeming contradiction of a
fast low-impact boat.
Above: Davos Rescue punches through a wave on the Noosa
Individual flotillas within the AVCG have made
Bar.
a wide range of choices in their selection of boats.
Below: John Waddams crossing the Noosa Bar.
This article does not advocate any particular hull,
engine or drive. In QF5, some of us might wish
that we could combine the advantages of the sea
kindliness and speed of our deep V RIB, Davos
Rescue, with the shallow draft conferred by the
Hamilton jet drives on the larger and more robust
John Waddams.
If there is a take home in this article, it is
for the AVCG to be alert to innovations that could
reduce the slamming loads we encounter. Short of
replacing our boats, a cost effective action would
be to explore securing a grant for upgrading the
seats.
18
Night Moves
by Rod Ashlin
Deputy Commander, QF6
he telephone woke me from a sound sleep; the clock said 0136 in the early hours of Saturday
morning 5th September. It was the Night Watch duty radio operator advising that we were being
asked to meet a cruise ship off Mooloolaba and evacuate a passenger that was suffering a heart
attack.
My first thought was to verify that this was a legitimate call and who was making the request. I asked
the radio operator to have the caller ring me direct and MSQ-VTS Brisbane immediately called back to
verify the request, which had come from the cruise ship Pacific Dawn enroute to Sydney. The local Water
Police also rang to say that their vessel was offline and could we respond. They had also arranged for two
ambulance officers to meet at our Base to accompany us for the evacuation.
Another three crew members were called and soon after 2am we were leaving the dock with the two
ambulance officers and their equipment on board. On leaving the river entrance, we could easily see the
lights of this large vessel which was holding station around three miles east of Point Cartwright. We made
contact with the ship and they advised that they had arranged for us to dock at a small boarding platform
on their starboard side.
Conditions were fairly moderate but a fresh south westerly wind blowing off the land made for
choppy conditions by the time we had reached the ship which was lying due south. The small platform that
opened out from the ship was about the same height as our gunwale and we were buffeted about quite a
bit while getting our vessel into an exact position that would enable a wheel chair with the patient in it to
be transferred aboard. This was not helped by the crew on the ship that were handling the lines as they did
not seem to understand English very well.
It was soon decided that it was too risky to transfer the patient in the wheelchair and the elderly
male was assisted aboard with help from the ships crew and ours. The mans wife and their luggage also
came aboard and we were soon underway back to
Mooloolaba with thanks from the bridge of Pacific
Dawn. The paramedics decided to sit the patient
on the protected seats behind the wheelhouse
with plenty of blankets rather than transfer him
down to the bunk in the cabin. On leaving the ship,
I turned off our floodlights which had been very
useful in the transfer, but was soon asked to turn
the back deck lights back on so the paramedics
could read the instruments that were attached to
the patient by what seemed a vast array of wires.
Once back at our berth, the patient was
transferred to the waiting ambulance and I am
pleased to report that he is recovering OK. Thanks
to all the crew and radio operator who have now
caught up on their lost sleep.
Above: Pacific Pearl awaits the arrival of Rhondda Rescue.
A Message to Our Readers ... Please Support our Advertisers
The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association is a volunteer marine rescue organisation
committed to saving lives at sea. AVCGA flotillas in the Sunshine Coast region receive minimal
government funding and must engage in constant fundraising activities to keep our rescue vessels
on the water, train our volunteer personnel and operate our rescue bases. The support of local and
regional businesses is an essential part of our fundraising activities. When you shop at any of our
advertisers, please tell them you saw their advertisement in Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast.
Please support our advertisers because their support ensures the continuation of AVCGAs rescue
services to boating communities on the Sunshine Coast.
19
AIS: Automatic
Identifcation
Systems
Youve probably heard the term AIS, but what is it and is it of use to the recreational
boating community? This issue, two Coast Guard volunteers have put pen to paper to explain
what AIS is, how its used by Coast Guard and why owners of larger recreational vessels may
find it useful. First up, David Garwood, Sea Lions crew member and QF5 Noosa Editor ...
rom time immemorial, mankind has wanted to know who were friends or foes. In early battles,
mounted or foot soldiers and ships carried or displayed flags to identify themselves. Apart from visual
identification which required intelligence, this system was the only effective means right up until just
before the Second World War in the mid 1930s, when basic radar was first invented. With this invention,
the brains of the time applied themselves immediately to the concept of IFF (identification friend or foe),
actually a misnomer as in fact a positive response signified a friend but no response could mean a foe or a
friends transponder not working. In very quick time the concept was developed so that within months of
the outbreak of war, allied aircraft carried early transponders.
The theory is much the same as today the aircraft is interrogated by a transmission from the ground
and then replies with a coded transmission which conveys specific information to the ground station. As is
often the case, military research resulted in a commercial benefit to the rest of the world. Apart from the
identification information conveyed, the response is also an enhanced echo as it is a re-transmission and
helps negate the signal loss on the return leg. The same concept also applies to the marine versions of AIS.
Apart from increasing sophistication of the airborne versions, surprisingly there was no effective
development of marine transponders until the 1990s. But now we have AIS.
Developed primarily for collision avoidance, AIS is an automatic tracking system used by ships and
shore stations to both track and provide information, as vessels exchange electronic information with
others nearby. Now satellites are also used in the mix.
The whole system is very varied depending on the equipment fit, but for Coast Guard crews at QF5,
the information is superimposed and displayed on our radar screen. AIS information supplements marine
radar, which continues to be the primary method of collision avoidance for the marine environment.
Like any technology, it is too easy to become complacent and rely absolutely on the information, in
the same way that we can be misled by GPS errors. However, additional information such as the course and
speed of the target vessel can be very useful in decision making.
Each vessel fitted with an AIS unit has a unique identifier which, when interrogated, transmits
a package of information to the other vessel or ground station. The ground station may be only a
passive receiver of information, or it might transmit information to aid vessels with their navigation,
such as identifying a lighthouse or navigational beacon. Again depending upon your fit, you might see
20
a photograph of the other vessel, port of

departure and destination, ETA, cargo, tonnage
port of registry, etc, as well as the basic course
and speed which might be displayed either as a
vector or numerically.
A radar screen is not necessary to access
the information and here at QF5, we have
an AIS screen over the chart-table that is
connected to the radio room computer. The
photo right shows us tracking Rotary Rescue as
it tows a broken down tinny out of the Frying
Pan area of the Noosa River you can see the
bread crumb trail of its track. Note also that the
Flotillas other two boats are alongside the jetty and their AIS signals appear merged as one.
In fact, an unplanned but very interesting offshoot of the technology is to make all this information
available to the public on computer. Take a look at either vesselfinder.com or marinetraffic.com, select an
area of interest, zoom in and see vessels in that area, then click on the vessel and find the amazing level of
info available to you: photograph, length, width, speed and course, destination, ETA, even type of cargo as
per the full professional versions, all at no cost.
Right is a photograph of Mooloolaba
harbour early morning using marinetraffic.com.
The stationary vessels are shown by diamonds
and you can see two vessels under way shown
by arrows. Hovering the mouse over one shows
some basic detail on this application.
Of course, there are more serious
applications, and AIS is used for law
enforcement, such as fishery protection off
the crowded UK waters where EU ships have
different areas they are allowed to fish. I saw
an interesting program on TV where a French
skipper claimed the fish he caught were from
area X but the fisheries vessel had an AIS track
of him criss-crossing area Y at 4 knots. Case
proven.
Right you can see the Straits of Dover,
the busiest waterway in the world where
vessels have to follow designated north and
south-bound lanes, while the cross-channel
ferries weave through them. Can you imagine
navigating here without an aid like AIS now?
You can see at a glance from the vector
arrows if there is any non-compliance. Border
security monitoring, criminal activity, accident
investigation, and SAR are now all beneficiaries
of AIS.
Similarly in Australia, traffic through the
Barrier reef is monitored by AIS. If you think this
is like air traffic control now, it is.
It is important to know that shipborne
AIS without satellite interface is strictly VHF
range. However, it can look behind islands due
to some wave bending and is therefore slightly
longer range than pure radar. Range is affected
by the obvious parameters relative heights of
the target and other vessels antennas, masking
and to some extent weather. So 15-20nm is
practical. It is almost real time with a ships
information updated every few minutes. The
21
next time you are out on your vessel, look at your radar and see how closely your own AIS signal follows
the boat on the chart-plotter display.
There are currently around 400,000 vessels world-wide fitted with AIS. Depending upon the size and
use of the vessel, either a class A or class B system is fitted. Class A is for the larger and more sophisticated
ships. Class B transponders are now very inexpensive you can see them on Ebay for $700 if you just want
a unit to integrate with your current plotter system. Alternatively, complete packages can be had for $1,500
and theyre getting cheaper.
This article is a simple overview of AIS. It is a developing technology. It is estimated that well see well
over a million vessels operating with the system within the next 10 years, and as satellite use increases and
costs continue to fall, its use will become almost universal, making it as commonplace as GPS, which, like
radar, was once only a military application.
Leading Coxswain John Macfarlane is Crew 3 Skipper and IT Officer at QF17. When installing
their AIS units, Tin Can Bay faced the problem of no signal coverage for AIS in their
operational area (thats why youll see little if any traffic displayed in this area if you log on
to marinetraffic.com). John explains how QF17 got around this problem ...
IS uses VHF radio broadcasting to transfer data and enables AIS equipped vessels and shore-based
stations to send and receive identification information that can be displayed on an electronic chart,
computer display or compatible radar. This information can help in situational awareness and
provide a means to assist in collision avoidance.
A basic AIS transponder (AKA transceiver) is made up of a VHF R/T and GPS receiver, and connected
to a VHF antenna. The transponder is connected to a suitable display such as a GPS chart plotter and radar,
a dedicated AIS display, or a PC running appropriate charting software. The type of connection varies with
the installation.
QF17 Tin Can Bay has installed AIS transponders on Cooloola Rescue II and Mount Rescue II. The
devices connect to the Garmin 7212 systems via the NMEA 2000 network on each vessel, and display other
AIS-equipped vessels on the chart and radar screens as an elongated triangle which instantly indicates the
direction of travel of the target vessel. Options in the Garmin system enable the crew to turn on tracking,
view the target vessel details which have been programmed in by its owner, as well as get a readout of
the vessel COG (Course Over Ground) and SOG (Speed Over Ground). It also triggers an audible and visual
warning should an AIS vessel come within a user-programmable range.
Well, I hear you say, we can do most of that with MARPA on our radar system. That is true, but AIS gives
you the vessel name and registration which thereby gives the skipper the option of calling the other vessel
by name to discuss their intentions and work out a course of action.
This situation actually occurred on the first activation of CRII following installation of the AIS. With
a disabled vessel in tow, we encountered a very large sailing catamaran approaching Waypoint 2 on the
22
Wide Bay Bar. Rounding WP 2 entails a turn of

approximately 45 degrees either from NE to E, or W
to SW depending whether youre coming or going.
With very little room to manoeuver, it was agreed that
the catamaran would turn sharply to starboard when
it reached the waypoint, CRII would slow slightly
and ease slightly north, and we would both pass
port to port as per the book. The lack of paperwork
circulating in the upper echelons of the Coast Guard
organisation is evidence that all went to plan.
As an added bonus, when said catamaran had
cleared the bar, the light conditions (late afternoon,
low sun) and the size of the vessel made it appear
that they had turned south too early. However, the
chart plotter showed that they were clear of the bar
in 20m of water.
So where else does having AIS add value?
By having our rescue vessels visible to shore
stations and other vessels, they can be monitored
and directed by operators ashore. This can be as
simple as keeping an eye on them to a full on
coordinated search.
THE BASE STATION
Subsequent to the installation of the transponders
in the vessels, QF17 decided to install a base station
so that we could take advantage of the benefits
already described. But how could we maximise the
benefits (read range)?
QF17s base is roughly 4nm west of Rainbow
Beach with high ground between it and the eastern
horizon. VHF has a nominal range of 50nm line
of sight. We needed something on the cliff top at
Rainbow.
Enter the Rainbow Beach Life Saving Club.
They had been identified as the optimum location
Top: A close up of the AIS chart.
for an AIS receiver as their building overlooks the
Centre: The AIS chart displaying the data overlay.
ocean and gives uninterrupted views to Double
Above: A print out of the AIs chart.
Island Point to the south, as far up Fraser Island as
the sea haze permits to the north, and the horizon
to the east. Approaches were made to the Manager and committee of the club and they readily agreed to
allow QF17 to install the AIS receiver on their roof, along with an Internet router to transmit the data to the
QF17 base on the shores of Snapper Creek.
Since completion of the installation, we have been able to pick up large commercial ships as far north
as Indian Head (50nm). This result is due to the height of the antenna on the ship and the fact that they use
a Class A AIS which broadcasts at 25 watts of power, as opposed to Class B which only broadcast at 5 watts.
Smaller recreational vessels are now easily tracked between Double Island Point and the lower reaches of
the Great Sandy Strait.
We have already had a number of instances where the radio operator has had to call a transiting
vessel who was obviously using out of date waypoints to cross the Wide Bay Bar and heading for disaster.
I, personally, had a situation where, 10 minutes after closing the base on a Sunday evening, I
overheard a yacht (who was not on the log) announce that he was out of fuel. Fortunately I had been able
to watch him come around DIP and head across Wide Bay towards the bar on the AIS so we knew exactly
where he was, the type of vessel, rego, etc, and initiated a call-out. We had him secured at Tin Can Bay
around 0030. It could have taken quite a while longer to find him without our AIS.
AIS transponders range from $500 to $2,000 plus a VHF antenna. If you share the ocean with
commercial ships traveling in excess of 20 knots and like be seen, or just like the idea that someone could
be watching over you, then the question to ask is: What price safety?
23
A Busy Afternoon
by Roger Beighton
White Saturday Crew Skipper, QF6
t was the sort of day you feel great to be alive. A beautiful blue sky, light winds in the morning with a
freshening wind from the S/E in the afternoon. It was business as usual for our White Saturday crew
taking Rhondda Rescue out for a morning run offshore to perform several training exercises. As with most
glorious days on the water, the time passed quickly and in no time we were back at our QF6 Base for lunch.
Whilst there had been no calls for assistance in the morning, the car parks near both boat ramps in
Mooloolaba Harbour were full of vehicles and empty boat trailers. The training program for the afternoon
was to focus on close in harbour manoeuvres and docking etc. However, by 1430 hours the first call for
help was received in our Radio Room.
The vessel was a 4.5 metre tinnie with two people on board. It was located just east of the Gneering
Shoal East Cardinal Mark, the anchor was down and the motor was not co-operating. As we approached
the vessel, we requested the anchor be retrieved. The wind was picking up now, his female companion was
feeling the stress and now the anchor did not want to part company with the reef bottom. The skipper of
the tinnie was not having a good finish to the day.
Our heaving line was thrown to the vessel and in no time the main tow line was attached. A slow
speed tow over the ground where the anchor had previously refused to budge was performed but even
then it did take some manoeuvring to get it to release. When the anchor was being lifted out of the water
it became obvious why it was difficult to retrieve. The skipper had used a sand anchor in a known reef area
and it had obviously become wedged in the reef. This is not an uncommon problem and it is wise to know
the type of bottom you are over and deploy the appropriate anchor.
Whilst we were trying to release the anchor, another vessel within 1 nautical mile of Rhondda
Rescue was also having motor problems and requested a tow back to harbour. The vessel was a 5.5 metre
fibreglass cabin with two people on board. As we were in the area, it was decided to take both vessels in
tow back to harbour in one trip. The options were to tow one behind the other in a daisy chain off our main
tow post or one off each bitt (a very strong line fixing point) either side of our vessel at the stern. Given
that the wind was now increasing and also lifting the sea state, we would be able to achieve a faster towing
speed with one vessel on each side.
The tinnie was towed to the second vessel, placed on a short towline of about 20 metres attached to
our port stern bit. We then made a close pass of the second vessel on Rhondda Rescues starboard side to
throw the heaving line. Thankfully the second vessel had managed to retrieve his anchor and in no time, a
tow line was attached to the vessel and our starboard stern bit. The length of the second tow was about 40
metres to provide an acceptable margin of clearance between the vessels.
The tinnie weighing in under ton, had a windscreen and two forward seating positions. Despite
the tow line being attached to the eye low down on the bow of the vessel where you would attach a
winch cable, there was still a tendency for the bow to bite into the sea and veer off to port or starboard
depending how the lateral trim of the vessel was at the time. The fact that we had the tinnie on the short
tow line was no accident as it
was intended to achieve better
control of that vessel. The 5.5
metre fibreglass cab, which
would have weighed about 1.2
tons, was very stable tracking
nicely in a straight line.
Both skippers had been
requested to leave their motors
down and steer a straight line
behind Rhondda Rescue. With
both vessels tracking OK, our
speed was gradually increased
with the agreement of the other
skippers until we achieved about
24
12 knots. Both target vessels were on a sluggish plane but it was fast enough to maintain our position in
the swell which was moving about the same pace. Under a very watchful eye we enjoyed a safe ride back to
harbour without further incident.
Handling both vessels in harbour was made a little easier when the skipper of the 5.5 metre cab
managed to start his motor and find his own way to the boat ramp and trailer.
That was quite fortunate, as just about then our Base Radio Operator called to inform us that a
14-metre yacht was in trouble just outside the river entrance and as he was being blown onto the beach
urgent assistance was required. In quick time, the tinnie was delivered to the boat ramp near QF6 Base and
thanks to Bill the Radio Operator, who offered to complete the necessary paperwork with the skipper of the
tinnie, we were off to pick up the yacht.
By this time it was after 5.00pm and the light was starting to fade. Fortunately the vessel was only
a short distance out from the harbour and we were on scene quite quickly. With the crew now very
practised with the heaving and
tow line, it was only a few minutes
before we had the vessel underway
and clear of dangerous breaking
surf. By the time we secured the
yacht safely in his marina berth,
which was a very tight manoeuvre
with little margin for error,
returned to Base, decommissioned
Rhondda Rescue and completed all
the paper work it was 6.00pm. The
crew were now starting to feel a bit
weary and it was agreed that the
next call for assistance would need
to be performed by a fresh crew.
25
But Weight ...

Theres More!
by David Salter
he never-ending struggle against gravity is

one of sailings defining inner conflicts.
When Lieutenant James Cook
frantically threw some of his precious cannon
and stores overboard in June 1770 it was the
last desperate gesture of a captain attempting
to wriggle his ship free of the shoals that had
trapped her on the Great Barrier Reef. Cooks
extraordinary seamanship managed to save the
Endeavour, and Cooktown on the Endeavour
River in far north Queensland still marks the
location of that remarkable feat of salvage and
the six-week repair that followed.
Between the two World Wars, the
ultra-competitive and far from scrupulous
Above: HMS Endeavour careened on the banks of the Endeavour
18-footer skippers on Sydney Harbour
River where the town of Cooktown is now located.
sometimes made their heaviest crew jump
overboard at the last windward mark so that the final spinnaker run home might be that much quicker.
(Officials eventually altered the rules to prohibit this outrageous trick.)
These days its common, if unseamanlike, practice in long-haul ocean racing to take on just enough
fuel, water and food to last the distance. Any expendable excess is often jettisoned once the finishing line
is less than 12 hours away. If the wind then dies, everyone goes hungry and thirsty. Too bad. Weight equals
displacement, and even one unwanted milligram of displacement above the designed minimum is deemed
to be slow, and must therefore be avoided.
Grand prix yacht designers and their millionaire clients search for the lightest possible construction
materials for both hull and rig in their tireless quest for power-to-weight ration advantages. Decks are
constructed from foam-core sandwich material that a child could break over their knee. Masts fabricated
from carbon fibre weigh not much more than the rigging that keeps them up. We should therefore not be
surprised when Americas Cup yachts snap in two and sink within seconds, or Volvo 70 around-the-world
racers come apart mid-Atlantic and have to be abandoned. Less weight equals more speed, and damn the
consequences.
I witnessed a revealing little tableau of weight aversion while spending a quiet Saturday with mates
preparing a yacht for new antifouling at a commercial boatyard. As we rubbed down the hull and scraped
off any accumulated weed or coral, the team working on a nearby yacht a modern 60-footer seemed to
26
be disemboweling their boat with the urgency

of Egyptian tomb robbers. Everything was being
hauled out and hurled onto the hardstand below:
anchors, chain, sails, bunks, the saloon table,
ropes, spare water and fuel, floorboards, clothing,
food, even the emergency tiller. What on earth
was going on?
You blokes having a bit of a spring clean?
Getting her ready for painting?
The paid hand gave me one of those
patronizing looks the hotshot racing fraternity
reserves for people who prefer to sail more
wholesome boats.
Above: During Race 5 of the Round Robin 4 in the 1995 Louis
No, were being weighed this afternoon.
Vuitton Cup (Americas Cup qualifying series), Australian
I joined the dots. Under the current
challenger One Australia (sailing against Team New Zealand) sank
handicapping system the lower your all-up
in 1,200ft of water after breaking in half in heavy weather. Only
weight, the better the time correction factor is
2 mins and 10 seconds elasped from the time the boat broke in
half to the time its masthead disappeared beneath the sea. (Photo:
likely to be. These people were quite prepared to
ACTV/ESPN/PPL Medialink)
give the measurer a patently understated version
of their actual displacement to shave a few
minutes off the boats handicap.
This pathological aversion to extra weight seems to afflict all serious racing sailors from a tender age,
and I wasnt immune from the disease myself. After a season of being mercilessly flogged every Saturday
in our battered old VJ, my crewmate and I (both aged 13) decided to spend the off-season getting some
of that bloody weight out of the boat. Good plan. We peeled off the deck and set to work boring so
many holes through the frames that the innards of that poor little dinghy soon looked like Swiss cheese.
After a fortnight of this passionate labour, we anxiously assembled and weighed all the timber wed so
enthusiastically cut out of the boat. It was time to tally the massive savings. Nearly two whole pounds!
Winning the next club championship now seemed a mere formality.
But weight, theres more. After the first few races of the new season we noticed the boat was
becoming, well, heavier. An old-timer soon pinpointed the problem. Wed neglected to paint the inner
surfaces of all those new holes. All plywood boats leak, so the exposed internal timbers of our VJ were now
happily soaking up every drop of seawater they could find. Water is significantly heavier than wood. Worth
remembering.
More than 40 years later, the enduring weight obsessions of sailors remain a dependable source of
amusement. My most frequent skipper of recent years has never found the drudgery of preparing a boat
for long races quite his style. Work averse is the phrase that springs to mind. Hes very good at insisting
on what needs to be done; very bad at doing any of it himself. Hed clamber aboard off a Zodiac just
before the 10-minute gun if that didnt look so utterly lazy and pretentious. But this fine disregard for the
contributions of others toward his enjoyment never inhibits him from passing swift judgement on issues of
avoirdupoids.
Coming below to drop his kit bag before the start of
the Sydney-Southport race a few years ago he noticed that
our small ships library, neatly stowed beside the nav station,
seemed too generously stocked for his taste.
Who brought all these bloody books onto the boat?
Too heavy! We dont want to drag all that stuff up the coast.
Chuck em off!
Long pause. Anxious glances exchanged between the
younger crewmembers. Finally, the naviguesser looked up
from the chart table where hed been quietly entering our
waypoints into the GPS for the trip north.
Fair enough, skip. Which books, exactly, do you want us to leave behind? Australian Pilot Vol. II? Ship
Captains Medical Guide? Marine Radio Operators Handbook? The manual for the donk? Cant imagine why
wed be needing any of them. Come think of it, these charts are a bit heavy. Better chuck em on the dock,
too.
For once the skipper was reduced to silence.
But not for long. A month or so earlier wed pensioned off an old spinnaker pole and had the bright
idea of cutting it up for egg rings. (Dont laugh. You can never have too many egg rings at sea. Sailors the
27
world over love a good fry-up as much as they all hate doing the washing up afterwards.) Anyway, out
came the hacksaw. By the time wed finished with the old kite pole, we could have served simultaneous
two-egg breakfasts for the entire crews of Brindabella, Shockwave and Nicorette combined.
Somewhere off Crowdy Head on the second day the skipper became restless and decided hed cook
himself a feed. Fossicking around in the galley, he soon came upon our new mega-supply of heavy-duty
egg rings.
Good to see weve got enough of these bloody things at last!
Smirks of surprised self-satisfaction passed between the off-watch. Could it be that wed actually
managed to do something that met with the skippers unqualified approval? Surely not.
But, jeez, theyre a bit heavy, arent they?
The difference in weight between a store-bought egg ring and a hacksawed section of spinnaker pole
must be all of .0001 ounces.
Reckon we better take a few off the boat for the next trip.
Theres just no pleasing some people.
Mind you, Ive known worse when it came to weight obsession. In the early 1980s the top IOR boats
were always described by the yachting press as being stripped out. This was, of course, utter nonsense.
Thered never been anything to strip out of those 40-footers in the first place they were built empty.
Crude pipe berths, an open dunny and a metho stove was just about your lot when it came to creature
comforts. But even those Spartan appointments seemed too heavy for many skippers. They believed that
anything kept below that might contribute to crew comfort or wellbeing was an indefensible inhibition on
their divine right to win trophies.
Back then many of the boats still carried the old, Mae West-style inflatable life jackets. Before a
particularly important race I can remember the owner demanding we each drag out our appointed jacket
for inspection. What had prompted the skippers touching concern for our safety?
Now lads, I want you to hold open the valves and squeeze out all of the air from those vests. Our
handicaps a bit savage for this race. We cant afford to be carrying any extra weight.
There followed one of those rare moments of simultaneous crew telepathy. Each of us instantly
shared the same mental image: the skipper suddenly being pitched overboard by a rogue wave. Slowly
majestically sadly he sinks from view while desperately trying to blow up his life jacket.
What a splendid weight-saving his demise would contribute for the remainder of the race! Wed be at
least half a knot quicker through the water. But hold on, the rules now require every boat to finish with the
same number of people who were on board at the start. Damn. I suppose wed better drag the bugger back
on board.
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28
When is an
Assisted
Vessel Too
Big?
by Robert Bohn
White Sunday Crew, QF6
hen the radio operator calls at 0400, you just know you are in for a big day. Well it was!
The call out was for a trawler Lady Moreton, which had lost power East of Moreton Island.
That meant a 120 mile round trip. Another crew had assisted a 40-ton trawler the week before,
so we knew we were in for a slow trip home.
The first leg to Cape Moreton was uneventful with a pod of dolphins and several whales to keep us
company. After we rounded Cape Moreton, heading for the target vessel, the sea was starting to get up to
a 3-metre swell at 45 degrees to our course, just to keep the helmsman on his toes.
The Lady Moreton was an 80 tonne prawn trawler and was fully laden heading back to Mooloolaba
when her engine started spraying oil around the engine room. Rhondda Rescue weighs only 17 tonnes.
When we arrived on site, the skipper had already prepared a bridle to take our tow line, making the
pick-up very easy. The crew had the line connected in no time and we started home.
As expected the trip home had to be a slow one. The sea had settled down a bit for the 58 mile return
trip at 7 knots (the skipper later commented that this was the fastest she had ever gone).
As the crew rotated through duty at the helm and on tow watch (and only one got sea sick), Charlie
made good use of the galley making coffee and tea for all.
The day was waning as we finally made it into the river mouth at Mooloolaba.
Another big tow well done.
Top: The 80-tonne fully-laden trawler on the end of Rhondda

Rescues towline.
Above: Almost home.
Above left: Glad we have good windscreen wipers!

Left: Our tow line was working to the max as can be seen by the
reduction in its diameter.
29
Shipwreck Tales:
TSS Ceratodus
The Queensland coast and coastal waterways are littered with the shipwrecks. The history
of some is well-documented and the wrecks are either still in place or have been removed
as their deterioration has rendered them a risk to public safety. Conversely, there are some
wrecks of which little is known. One such wreck is the Ceratodus, located at the mouth of the
creek with the same name. After publication of the available information in the last issue
of QF21s magazine, further information came to light. QF21 member Rita Stephenson, the
daughter of the last owner/operator of the Ceratodus, came forward with documentation
and photographs drawn from family records which flesh out the story of this vessel. We
thank Rita very much for sharing this part of her family history.
t would appear that Ceratodus had quite a chequered and interesting history for a steam dredge! The
following newspaper reports from the time make interesting reading
Torres Strait Pilot, July 2, 1898: One of the queerest looking craft that has yet been seen in Port Kennedy arrived
here on Thursday last, the vessel being the sand-pump dredge Ceratodus, recently built on the Clyde, and now on
the way to Bundaberg. She is intended to work for the Bundaberg Harbour Trust, and after submitting to her trial, if
proven to be satisfactory, will be taken over by them. The Ceratodus has occupied seventy-six days in coming from
the Clyde, having met with head winds and seas the latter part of her journey, necessitating the after part of the ship
being ballasted with water. She will proceed south to-day.
Rockhampton Bulletin, July 4, 1898: Captain Peebles whose Torres Straits Pilotage license was cancelled recently
by the Marine Board is piloting the dredge Ceratodus down the coast, though Captain Rossiter, a duly licensed pilot,
offered his services.
Bundaberg Mail, 15th July, 1898: The dredge Ceratodus, built to the order of the Bundaberg Harbour Board at a cost
of 16,000 pounds, arrived early yesterday morning and is now berthed alongside the wharves. The vessel was brought
out under the charge of Captain James Tannock, first officer Wm Glass, second officer D. MLarty, chief engineer
MMillan, second engineer Wishart, third engineer Anderson and ten crew. The voyage was uneventful, though
trouble was experienced at the start through three sailors who had signed on, failing to ship. The vessel left Greenock
on the 14th April, calling in at Wicklow to make up her complement, and experienced very bad weather with westerly
gales in the Mediterranean. Reached Port Said on 7 the May; Colombo on 1st June; sighted Thursday Island on the
30th June, and after head winds all down the coast, entered the Burnett on the 13th July, all well the passage being
exactly three months. The weather was not so rough during the latter part of the voyage. The Ceratodus is a modern
hopper sand-pump dredge, built by Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson Limited of Paisley. She is schooner rigged, 145ft
long, 30ft beam, with a depth of 12ft; gross tonnage 406 tons. She has a single screw and compound engine of thirty
seven horse-power nominal. The pumping apparatus is of the most modern type, manufactured by Gwyn and Co,
London, the celebrated makers of centrifugala. The hopper has the capacity of 500 tons of sand and can be filled by
the dredge with mud and water in four minutes. On the trial she filled the hopper with sand in one hour and steamed
30
at the rate of eight and a half knots on the Clyde. There is 400ft of 22 inch piping for pumping on shore when engaged
in reclaiming work. When travelling on the bar she carries a loose pipe and need not anchor. She is also fitted with
one of Priestleys grapplings capable of lifting boulders of three tons. (This report appeared in The Queenslander
on Saturday July 23, 1898.)
Brisbane Courier, Friday July 15, 1898: The new dredge Ceratodus has arrived here after an uneventful voyage. It
has been arranged that she shall proceed to Brisbane tomorrow for docking purposes. All the Officers of the dredge
were subpoenaed today to appear in a summons case against Captain Peebles, who went on board the vessel at
Thursday Island. It is alleged he has piloted her from there without holding a pilots license.
Brisbane Shipping Arrivals and Departures
Brisbane Courier, Monday July 18, 1898: Ceratodus dredge. Passed Woody Island yesterday bound for Brisbane.
Bundaberg Mail, August 28, 1898: The dredge Ceratodus went ashore in shallow water at Kirbys Bank and
authorities are concerned about her position.
(This report appeared in the Northern Miner, Charters Towers on the same day.)
Brisbane Courier, Monday August 29, 1898: The dredge Ceratodus has met with an accident near Bundaberg, and
her position is considered very grave.
Northern Star, Lismore, Saturday November 19, 1898: The arrival of the sand pump Antelon bound for Sydney, at
Thursday Island last Saturday in charge of Captain Higgins. The Antelon had a good trip out and averaged 8 knots
the whole way. Compared with the dredge Ceratodus, which passed through some time ago, the Antelon is a much
superior vessel.
Recruiting of Pacific Islanders
Bundaberg Mail, Tuesday 14 July, 1903: The recruiter Lochiel, Captain Pearn in command and with Mr. J K Craig
as Government agent, was towed up from the heads by the dredger Ceratodus yesterday morning and anchored in
mid-stream above the wharves shortly before noon. She brought with her as the result of her five and a half months
trip 117 recruits 114 male and 3 females all of whom were obtained at the New Hebrides Islands. Throughout
the entire trip, exceedingly bad weather was experienced, rendering the working of the Islands very difficult. All the
other vessels out at the Islands were spoken by the Lochiel and the reports in each showed that fairly satisfactory
results were being met with in recruiting. Captain Pearn visited the wrecked Ivanhoe at Gavatu and found Captain
Burns still in charge of the vessel, pending definite arrangements being made by underwriters. The vessel has been
condemned for further service. The trip the Lochiel has just completed is the last recruiting voyage she will make.
Altogether she has made thirty-six recruiting trips to the Islands under Captain Pearn who, during his seventeen
years in the trade, has had a most successful record.
(This report appeared in Rockhamptons Morning Bulletin, Friday 17 July, 1903.)
Wreck of SS Aramac on Break Sea Spit
Hobart Mercury, Wednesday March 16, 1904 and Launceston Examiner, Wednesday March 16, 1904: (Report
received at Brisbane March 15, 1904). The steamer Ceratodus, which was searching the coast from Bundaberg, has
just arrived in Gladstone, and reports seeing a derelict boat hauled up high ashore four miles north of Baffle Creek.
The passengers and crew were strolling on the beach apparently all well. The sea was too rough for the Ceratoduss
boat to land. Other reports received at Brisbane confirm this statement. It is said that this is the third boat, and has
about twenty passengers, including a number of women. The Aramac is being safely towed into Hervey Bay near
Maryborough, with the captain and nine men on board. Anxiety in regard to the fate of the missing boats from SS
Aramac was partly relieved this morning when news was received that a third boat had reached Baffle Creek, twenty
miles to the north of Burnett Heads. The boat was first sighted yesterday afternoon by the dredge Ceratodus, which
had been dispatched to search for the missing boats. The Ceratodus arrived in Gladstone this morning, and her
captain reports that the occupants of the boat are camped on shore, about four miles from the settlement at Baffle
Creek. So far as he could tell there were about twenty persons in the camp and they were mostly women and children.
The Ceratodus was short of provisions and coal when she sighted the boat, and so was unable to undertake the work
of rescue. In addition a very heavy sea was running, and it would have been almost impossible for the crew of the
vessel to effect a landing. The captain knows the locality well, and he saw that the persons in the camp had only a
short distance to go in order to get food. He therefore hastened to report the matter, and to arrange rescue of the
passengers.
The Ubiquitous Jap
Cairns Post, Friday August 15, 1913: An incident perhaps not without its own significance occurred during
the recent visit to Bundaberg of the new Australian cruiser Melbourne. As the warship was lying in the roads,
about a mile out, only a very few of the four or five thousand patriotic Australians who journeyed to Nielsen Park
(Bundaberg) obtained more than a distant view of the vessel. There were some, however, who were more fortunate
in this respect and managed to be put on board by the small craft plying for hire. The dredge Ceratodus, with the
Mayor and a large number of influential citizens as well as Captain de Silver and some of the officers of the warship,
proceeded down the river and steamed out into the Bay. When it was approaching the Melbourne, the incident we
refer to was noted. As the dredge was being brought alongside the grey, gaunt fighting machine, amid cheering and
31
the music of Rule Britannia, there were observed

standing upon the quarter deck a dapper little Jap and
his consort. They had got there first and smiled placidly
at the fervent patriots who impatiently waited to be put
onboard the brand new cruiser, bought with Australian
gold.
Lease of the Ceratodus
Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Thursday January
14, 1915: The Bundaberg Harbour Board advised that it
would lease the dredge Ceratodus at a rent of 330 pounds
for the first week and 150 pounds for each succeeding
week, the period not to exceed two months. Mr. Morgan
moved that the Bundaberg Board be informed that the
Gladstone Board regretted that the terms were too high to
permit the lease being entertained at present.
Death of Ceratodus Captain
Brisbane Courier, Saturday February 28, 1931:
Obituary Captain MIntosh. Flags were flown at
half-mast at the shipping offices in Bundaberg and from
the vessels in port as a mark of respect to the passing
of Captain Hugh MIntosh, who died in the Bundaberg
Hospital, and was laid to rest in the General Cemetery
on Thursday. The deceased, who was 73 years of age,
had followed a seafaring life since early boyhood,
and was placed in charge of the Bundaberg Harbour
Above: A copy of the letter from Allan Kuskie to the Bundaberg
Boards dredge Ceratodus, when that vessel was put
Harbour Board.
into commission in the Burnett River in 1898. He was
Below: Loading gravel aboard the Ceratodus at Maryborough.
also associated with other vessels, including the Minnie
The Lamington Bridge over the Mary River is in the background.
Young, Morning Light, Friendship and Hopewell. A
widow and adult family survive
Disposal of Dredge
Brisbane Courier, Friday October 16, 1931: For some
time, the disposal of the dredge Ceratodus has been
under consideration by the Bundaberg Harbour Board.
Members are now of the opinion that the vessel should
be stripped and sunk. Nothing definite has been decided
upon, and the fate of the dredge, which was built in
Scotland for the Bundaberg Board nearly 40 years ago,
has been held over for future consideration.
Letters from Allan Kuskie (Ritas father)
indicate that in 1933, he was negotiating to lease
the Ceratodus to replace the Endeavour, which was
not strong enough with a raft up of logs to plug
against a strong wind and tide, which was made worse when they had to come from Poverty Point near Tin
Can Bay. Rita is unsure whether Ceratodus was used for hauling logs, but the accompanying photos and
letter suggest that her father was working in the Mary River by then.
The application was apparently successful as Mr. Kuskie then used the Ceratodus as a gravel barge in
the Mary River at his Fort Street plant to provide gravel for No3. RAAF Training School at Maryborough for
6 months.
Similarly, Rita is also unsure when the Ceratodus was abandoned at Fern Creek (later named
Ceratodus Creek) or for what reason. She suspects it was because her father might have moved to Brisk
Street with a flying fox across the river or the ship had reached the end of its working life.
Warren Kelley remembers being on board the Geraldine with his father Henry Kelley (Ned) and Allan
Kuskie and when Ceratodus was taken over to Fraser Island. Warren cannot remember the reason why the
vessel was abandoned, but he remembers that after removing the boiler and other parts, how they had to
push the Ceratodus as far into the island as they could.
The remains of the Ceratodus are still visible today, although she has deteriorated greatly over the
last ten years. The remains are located just north of Deep Creek and Buff Creek at South White Cliffs on
32
Above: Ceratodus at
anchor.
Right: Removing the
boiler. L-R: Allan Kuskie,
with Warren and Ned
Kelley. The man on the
top is unknown.
Far Right: Aground at
her final resting place
at Fern Creek, later
renamed Ceratodus
Creek.
Below: Marine chart
showing the location
of the Ceratodus at the
entrance to Ceratodus
Creek at South White
Cliffs on the western
shore of Fraser island.
Bottom: Ceratodus from
the air.
(Aerial photo by Syd James)
the inland coast of Fraser island. The ship is clearly

marked and named on all marine charts of the
area. These days, the wreck delivers a good feed
of oysters at low tide and provides QF21s radio
operators with a little light entertainment when
they listen to boaties telling their friends they are
going over to see the SARA TOE GUS!
Postscript
The Ceratodus 2 was a dredge/barge in service
up until the early 1990s. On October 4, 1992, she
became the first vessel to be sunk to create the
Cochrane Artificial Reef out from Elliot Heads. The
dredge was donated by Smiths Premix.
Above: The Ceratodus as she is today.

Above right: Marine chart showing the location of the
Ceratodus at the entrance to Ceratodus Creek at South White
Cliffs on the western shore of Fraser island.
Right: The barge/dredge Ceratodus II was sunk in 1990 to
form an artificial reef off Elliot Heads.
Above: The barge/dredge Ceratodus II was sunk in 1990 to form
an artificial reef off Elliot Heads.
33
History of Ships:
HMS Investigator
Compiled by Julie Hartwig
Editor, QF17
HM Sloop Investigator was a Royal Navy survey ship. In 1802, under the command of
Matthew Flinders, she was the first ship to circumnavigate Australia and Flinders is
historically credited as being the man who put Australia on the map.
ORIGINS
A mercantile ship, originally named Fram, she was built in Sunderland as a collier and operated in the North
Sea before being purchased by the Royal Navy in 1798.
ROYAL NAVY SERVICE
Refitted by Pitcher of Northfield in April/May 1798, she was then moved to the Royal Navys Deptford
Dockyard in August 1798 where she was renamed Xenophon and armed with 22 carronades. Under the
command of Commander George Sayer, she was commissioned and carried out escort duties in the North
Sea.
AUSTRALIAN VOYAGE
At the urging of naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, the Admiralty launched an expedition to map the Australian
coastline, as well as conduct further study of plant and animal life in the new colony.
The Admiralty chose Xenophon for the expedition, primarily because her former mercantile role meant
she had a shallow draught and ample space for supplies which made her particularly suitable for a long
exploratory voyage. A secondary reason was that she was in relatively poor conditions and could therefore
be spared from service in the war against France.
RN had Xenophon refitted as a discovery ship at Sheerness between November 1800 and March 1801,
after which she was renamed Investigator. The refitting included making additional cabins for scientists and
space on deck for plant specimens.
On January 19, 1801, during the refitting,
Matthew Flinders was appointed to command the
ship for the expedition. Flinders later wrote of his
command, The Investigator was a north-countrybuilt ship, of three-hundred and thirty-four tons; and,
in form, nearly resembled the description of a vessel
recommended by Captain Cook as best calculated for
voyages of discovery. She had been purchased some
years before into His Majestys service; and having
been newly coppered and repaired, was considered to
be the best vessel which could, at that time, be spared
for the projected voyage to Terra Australis.
Investigator sailed from Spithead bound for
Australia on July 18, 1801. calling at the Cape of
Good Hope before crossing the Indian Ocean and
sighting Cape Leeuwin off South West Australia
on 6 December 1801. The expedition put into
King George Sound (Albany) for a month before
beginning a running survey of the Great Australian
Bight, which stretched 2300 kilometres to Spencer
Gulf.
On February 21, 1802, a tragic accident
occurred when a shore party, which included the
Ships Master John Thistle, Midshipman William
34
Left: Matthew Flinders chart of Australia.

Above: Matthew Flinders
Taylor and six seamen, was lost when a ships boat capsized attempting to return to the ship at dusk in
choppy waters. No bodies were recovered. Flinders named the headland Cape Catastrophe.
Proceeding into Spencers Gulf, Flinders surveyed Port Lincoln (which he named after his home
county). Working eastwards, Investigator then charted Kangaroo Island, Yorke Peninsula and St Vincent Gulf.
On April 8, at Encounter Bay, a surprise meeting with the French ship Gographe, under the command
of Nicolas Baudin, was cordial; the two navigators were unaware the Treaty of Amiens had only just been
signed, and both believed the two countries were still at war with one another.
Sailing eastward through Bass Strait, Investigator visited King Island and Port Phillip before arriving at
Port Jackson on May 9, 1802. Investigator spent the next ten weeks preparing and took aboard twelve new
men, including an aborigine named Bungaree with whom Flinders had previously sailed on the colonial
sloop Norfolk.
On July 22, 1802, Investigator left Port Jackson, sailing north in company with the brig Lady Nelson,
which soon proved to be crank and returned to Port Jackson.
Investigator hugged the east coast, passed through the Great Barrier Reef and transited Torres Strait
(which Flinders had previously sailed with Captain William Bligh on HMS Providence).
While surveying the Gulf of Carpentaria, the ships timbers were examined and it was discovered that
the dockyard refit/conversion had failed to rectify and fix major faults with the ship. The voyage to Australia
had revealed she was in poor shape: the wood was rotting and there were serious extensive leaks. The
ships carpenter reported that she would not last more than six months.
Flinders sailed to the Dutch settlement in Timor, hoping to find a replacement, but was unsuccessful.
By now, a number of the crew were unwell with numerous diseases such as dysentery and scurvy, so
Flinders reluctantly cut short the survey and sailed back to Port Jackson with all possible sail, day and
night to undergo repairs. This meant abandoning his desire for a running survey on the north and west
coasts of Australia.
Flinders did, however, complete the circumnavigation of Australia, but not without lightening the ship
by jettisoning two wrought-iron anchors, including the best bower anchor. These were found at Middle
Island, Archipelago of the Recherche, Western Australia and recovered by divers in 1973. The best bower
anchor is on display at the South Australian Maritime Museum while the stream anchor can be seen at the
National Museum of Australia.
Upon arrival back in Port Jackson on June 9, 1803, Governor Philip Gidley King requested that the ship
be surveyed. Of the findings, he said, - being the state of the Investigator thus far, we think it altogether
unnecessary to make any further examination; being unanimously of opinion that she is not worth repairing
in any country, and that it is impossible in this country to put her in a state fit for going to sea.
The ship was decommissioned and remained in Port Jackson as a storeship/hulk, while Flinders
returned to England as a passenger aboard HMS Porpoise.
However, this was not the end of Investigator. In 1804, Governor King ordered that the ship be
surveyed again. This time it was found that Investigator could be repaired and returned to service. The
repairs involved cutting down the front deck and re-rigging the ship as a brig. Upon completion of the
repairs, she came under the command of Lieutenant John Houston for service in local waters.
35
On May 23, 1805, Commander William Kent sailed Investigator back to England. Among his
passengers were Flinders botanists, Robert Brown and Ferdinand Bauer and their botanical collections. The
ship encountered several bad storms en route but arrived safely on November 21, 1805.
On December 22, the Royal Navy paid Investigator off and she was put in ordinary in January,
1806, until re-classed as a prison hulk in 1808. The decision to sell her for breaking up was made in 1810.
However, observers of the time described her as a noble, hard-working ship which did not deserve this fate,
and in December 1810, she was sold to a Mr. George Baily for 1,235.
COMMERCIAL SERVICE
Bailey did not break Investigator up, but instead rebuilt her as a commercial sailing vessel, brig-rigged, after
which she reverted to her former naval name, Xenophon. As such, she continued to sail around the world
shipping cargo until arriving in Geelong with a cargo of timber and other goods from Liverpool on July 30,
1853, during the Australian gold rushes.
The ship eventually continued to Melbourne where she was sold and converted into a storage hulk. In
1861, she was registered in Melbourne as a hulk of 367 tons. The last change of ownership was recorded in
1868, and in 1872, the register was closed with the comment broken up.
INVESTIGATOR AT A GLANCE ...

Original Name: Fram
Builder: Unknown, at Monkwearmouth,
Sunderland
Launched: 1795
Career: Collier, North Sea
Fate: Sold 1798 (to Royal Navy)
Renamed: HMS Xenophon
Acquired: 1798
Career: Escort ship, North Sea
Renamed: HMS Investigator (1801)
Career: Survey ship, Australia
Fate: Sold 1810 (to George Selby)
Renamed: Xenophon
Acquired: 1810 (by purchase)
Career: Mercantile/general cargo ship
Fate: Broken up, Melbourne 1872
General Characteristics
Tons burthen: 333 6894 (bm)
Length: 100 ft 4 in (30.58 m) (LOA); 77 ft 8 in
(23.67 m) (keel)
Beam: 28 ft 5 in (8.66 m)
Draught: 15 ft (4.6 m)
Depth of hold: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Sloop (original); from 1804 Brig
Complement: 80
Armament (sloop-rigged):
Escort vessel: 18 x 32-pounder carronades; 2 x
18-pounder carronades
Survey vessel: 6 x 12-pounder carronades; 2 x
18-pounder carronades; 2 x -pounder swivel
guns
Medivac!
by Dale Green
Coxswain, QF21
t 1700 hours on Friday 17th August, the QF21 radio room received a call from a vessel at the south
end of Yankee Jacks anchorage in the Sandy Strait reporting that one of the persons aboard had
taken a fall and had dislocated or broken his hip. Radio operator Kev MacNally phoned acting
commander Don Archer for approval to go ahead and contact Hervey Bay Water Police, who approved the
medivac.
A helicopter was ordered, and they requested that we stand by as well, as it was getting dark. The
standby crew was called and Pride of Maryborough was on the water by 1730 hours.
It was a calm evening and the tide was favourable so good time was made to the area. The helicopter
had landed a paramedic and a doctor on the beach, where they were picked up and taken to the patient in
the vessels dinghy.
As we approached the area, the pilot of the helicopter advised the doctor that they could not lift
the patient from the vessel because it was getting too dark to land on the beach. They requested that
we transport the patient and medical staff to Tuan where they would be picked up by an ambulance for
transport to Maryborough Hospital.
The patient and attendants were transferred to Pride of Maryborough and taken to Tuan ramp where
an ambulance was waiting. Well done to paramedics and Pride of Maryborough crew!
36
A Little Nautical Humour ...

But Things Have Changed Lord!
God decided that the Earth had become too wicked again, so he sent down Noah to build another ark,
and to again save two of every living thing.
"You have six months before I send the great flood." God said.
Six months later, God called in the thunder and lightning and the rain came. He looked down and
found Noah very distraught and with not one plank on the boat's hull.
"Noah, I have started the storm, why is the boat not finished?"
"There have been some construction delays, Lord. First I was told I needed a building permit.
Then a group called PETA protested saying that it was inhumane to put all the animals in such a small
place. Then I was told that because I lived in a flood plain I could not build the ark there. I told them
that building it in a flood plain was exactly the point, but that did not impress them. My new location
was fine, but the EPA had to do an environmental impact study first that held up construction until just
yesterday!"
Suddenly the clouds cleared up and a beautiful rainbow crossed the celestial horizon.
"I'm calling you back." God said.
"Aren't you going to destroy the world Lord?" Noah asked.
"What's the point?" God said, "It looks like someone beat me to it!"
Nautical Quotations
Sailing is the fine art of getting wet and becoming ill while slowly going in the wrong direction at great
expense.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. (Corollary: It looks good
in practice, but will it work in theory?)
There are four types of skipper: those who have been aground; those who are aground; those who are
about to go aground ... and liars.
"There is nothing so distressing as running ashore, unless there is also doubt as to which continent the
shore belongs." - Lecky.
The man on the dock who says, Plenty of water over there" never asks what your draught is.
The Three Rules of Boat Maintenance:
1. For every complex problem there is a simple answer.
2. The simple answer is wrong.
3. Every job will cost three times as much and take twice as long as your first estimate - if you are lucky.
Murphy was a sailor.
In the long run, all solutions are temporary. Go ahead and use duct tape. - Garrison Keillor.
The binary theorem of maintenance: If it doesn't move and it should, spray it with WD40. If it does move
and it shouldn't, wrap it with duct tape.
Dont worry if you lose something on your boat. You will find it after you buy the replacement.
If anything is dropped on the pontoon, only the most expensive or irreplaceable items will fall into the
water.
Your chance of a successful mooring is inversely proportional to the number of witnesses.
Watching a boat mooring is the greatest spectator sport ever invented.
Outboard Law: The probability of an outboard motor starting is inversely proportional to:
a) the distance to shore.
b) the number of people watching.
Nautical Definitions
Torch: A cylinder for storing dead batteries.

Anchor a device dropped overboard to keep the boat stationary except in the following circumstances:
1. The time is 0300
2. The tide turns
3. The wind speed exceeds Force 2
4 The skipper goes ashore
37
Squadron Contacts
QF21 SANDY STRAIT
QF21 SANDY STRAIT
Commander: John Scragg - 0458 1019 566

Deputy Commander: Don Archer - 0429 151 045
Base: Phone 07 4129 8141 | Fax 07 4129 8907
Email: [email protected] | Operations - [email protected]
Post: PO Box 341, Maryborough, QLD 4650
Location: 126 Eckert Rd, Boonooroo
Hours of Operation: 0700 - 1800 daily | 1800 - 0700 Duty Skipper on call
Radio Call Sign: VMR421 or Coast Guard Sandy Strait
Radio Frequencies Monitored: VHF 16, 80, 82 | 27MHz 88, 90
Area of Operation: Great Sandy Strait south to Kauri Creek and north to McKenzies
Jetty; Mary River up to the Barrage
QF17 TIN CAN BAY
QF17 TIN CAN BAY
Commander: John Van Der Heijde - 0447 166 906

Deputy Commander: Phil Feldman - 0414 591 947
Base: Phone - 07 5486 4290 | Fax - 07 5486 4568 | Mob - 0419 798 651
Post: PO Box 35, Tin Can Bay, QLD 4580
Location: In the boat ramp carpark, Norman Point at 25 54 S / 153 00 E
Hours of Operation: 0600 - 1800 daily
Radio Call Sign: VMR417 or Coast Guard Tin Can Bay
Frequencies Monitored: VHF 16, 67, 80, 82 | 27MHz 88, 90
Area of Operation: Tin Can Inlet & adjacent creeks; Great Sandy Strait north to S38;
Offshore waters north to Indian Head, south to Double Island Point & 50nm to seaward
QF5 NOOSA
QF5 NOOSA
Commander: Alan Hall - 0414 957 427

Deputy Commander: Ian Hutchings
Base: Phone - 07 5474 3695 | Emergencies - 07 5449 7670
Post: PO Box 274, Tewantin, QLD 4565
Location: Russell St, Munna Point in the Noosa River Caravan Park
Hours of Operation: 24/7 | 365 days
Radio Call Sign: VMR405 or Coast Guard Noosa
Radio Frequencies Monitored: VHF 16, 22, 80 | 27MHz 88, 91
Area of Operation: The entire Noosa River and its lakes; Offshore waters north to
Double Island Point, south to Point Arkwright and 50nm to seaward
QF6 MOOLOOLABA
Commander: Ian Hunt - 0411 351 001

Deputy Commander: Rod Ashlin - 0418 874 780
Base: Phone - 07 5444 3222 | Email: [email protected]
Post: 65 Parkyn Parade, Mooloolaba, QLD 4557
Location: In the boat ramp carpark, Parkyn Parade at 26 41.1 S / 153 07.6 E
Hours of Operation: 365 days 0600 - 2200 | 2200 - 0600 Night watch (CH 16)
Administration Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 0800 - 1200
Radio Call Sign: VMR406 or Coast Guard Mooloolaba
Frequencies Monitored: VHF 16, 67, 73, 80 | 27MHz 88, 90
Area of Operation: North to Point Arkwright, south to Point Cartwright and 50nm to
seaward
QF6 MOOLOOLABA
QF4 CALOUNDRA
38
QF4 CALOUNDRA
Commander: Tony Barker - 0439 913 533

Deputy Commander: Alan Hingston - 0400 332 421
Base: Phone 07 5491 3533 | Fax 07 5491 7516
Post: PO Box 150, Caloundra, QLD 4551
Location: Tripcony Lane, Caloundra off Maloja Avenue
Hours of Operation: Weekdays 0530 - 1200 | Weekends/Public Holidays 0530 - 1700
Radio Call Sign: VMR404 or Coast Guard Caloundra
Radio Frequencies Monitored: VHF 16, 73 | 27MHz 88, 91
Area of Operation: Offshore waters north to Point Cartwright, south to approximately
halfway down Bribie Island and 40nm to seaward
ELVA CRAFT
Specialised in Fibreglass
Gelcoat Repairs Floors Transoms Alterations

Ice Boxes Marine Moulders Detailing
Fuel Tanks Mobile Servicing
Contractors to Caloundra Coast Guard

HAROLD TIMMER
14 Spinnaker Boulevard, Wurtulla Qld 4575
Phone: (07) 5493 4437 Mobile: 0412 844 434
Pelican Motors
Service Centre
Paint & Panel Repairs
New Car Servicing
All Mechanical Repairs
All Insurance Work
LPG Installation
Used Car Sales
One Stop Car Shop
Pelican Motors Service Centre

Paint & Panel
17 Bronwyn Street, Caloundra
Phone: 5491 3234

39
A Proud Sponsor of the Caloundra Volunteer Coast Guard
40

Rescue Magazine Spring Edition

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Rescue Magazine Spring Edition

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Spring 2015 | QF4 Caloundra Edition

This issue ...

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

PHONE: 5491 1944

Excellent Cruising Performance

Freecall 1800 333 342

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

The Official Magazine of AVCGA Sunshine Coast Squadron

investigates the relationship

medivac from a cruise ship

SPRING 2015 | ISSUE 11

29 WHEN IS AN ASSISTED VESSEL

wreck of the Ceratodus

history of famous ships. This

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

EDITOR: Vice Captain Julie Hartwig

Disclaimer: Whilst every care is taken

Visit Coast Guard on the web:

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

elcome to the Spring edition of Coast Guard Rescue

There was a bit of friendly rivalry at the Caloundra

Top and Centre: Outgoing Deputy Commander Peter Vaughan

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Above: Gary Hoy takes the Oath of Office as QF4s

Above: Howard Montgomery gave the audience an insight into

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Above: L-R: Graeme and Jan McKenzie, Commander Tony

Battery Care and Maintenance

Keep top of battery clean and dry

The Wise Old Owl at Battery Wise Sunshine Coast

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Always wear your life jacket

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

John Gasparotto, QF4

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

QF6 WELCOMES FIONA SIMPSON MP

At the Flotilla Meeting on the 7th of October, QF6

In recent months many boaties - as well as the

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

John Gasparotto, QF4

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Thats right the 247 metre, 64,000 tonne super

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

The Flying Fish Experiment

Contributed by Randall Gibson

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

it was an incipient deep V in a transitional shape

Above: Dick Bertrams Moppie.

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

the vessel imparted lift to the stern

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

A Message to Our Readers ... Please Support our Advertisers

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

a photograph of the other vessel, port of

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast

Coast Guard Rescue Sunshine Coast