Endeavour - Cruising the Bay of Islands

The day started out in a relaxing manner, with me waking up at 7am. I went straight up onto the deck and I was just in time to see several of the waka that also make up Tuia 250 flotilla sail past in all their fantastic glory for an early karakia over the radio. I got to hear a local representative talk about the local Iwi history. I’m glad I got up early as most people didn’t get to hear this.

I then popped down to the modern 20th century deck for breakfast. I had just finished eating when word came out that there was not enough power in the winch to raise the anchor. The winch for the anchor is one of the few modern sailing tools used on the Endeavour, just like the radio. This being the Endeavour replica whoever all the old fashioned manual tools are also on board and this includes the capstan. The capstan is an axled-rotating machine where manpower is used to pull in a heavy weight, including the large 2.5 tonne anchor.

Working on the Capstan pulling in the anchor

But today it was the smaller 800kg anchor that needed to be raised. So in another fantastic example of living history which I got to experience; I got behind one of the spokes of the capstan and started walking in circles to pull in the anchor. As the Endeavour is actually quite small for a tall-ship from the 1700’s there is not a lot of space around the capstan.

Stepping up and over while on the capstan

First the cover to the rear entrance-way had to be dismantled. Once the entrance-way is out of the way you simply walk in circles including having to jump up onto the raised window/platform and then jump back down again. The weight of the anchor was heavy and it was tiring work but not too bad.

It simply amazes me what can be achieved with some carved wood, rope and lots of man-power.

When the anchor was finally up, which took ages because the rope got tangled in the anchor itself, and it took the professional crew a bit to get it all untangled. One of the challenges of using a historic rope for the anchor and not a chain like on a modern ship.

As I was then on watch I went to the helm, first time in daylight which was fun but it was a shame the wind was blowing from the wrong direction so we were not under sail.

This was a relaxing day compared to yesterday as we cruised around the Bay of Islands, and the Endeavour is by far the slowest ship in the Tuia 250 flotilla.

When I was not on watch I then took the opportunity to head out to the very front of the ship on the bowsprit, which was the last big thing on my to do list.

I so wanted to sit balancing on these pieces of wood while holding onto ropes with nothing but water rushing below me and the view of the front of the Endeavour smashing through the waves – simply brilliant and a dream come true.

This was followed up by a lecture in the great cabin on the physics of how a tall ship with square sails actually moves through the wind. I found this quite interesting comparing this to the physics of an aircraft flying which I am familiar with.

By 4pm we had anchored up, but this time not with the smaller 800 kg anchor like yesterday but we dropped the massive 2.5 ton anchor and what a mission it was to drop this huge weight from the front of the ship, it was a serious operation done by the professional crew.

Then it was time to jump off the Endeavour and go for a swim!

There ended up with around 20 of us jumping off the ship. I swam around the Endeavour twice, once in each direction for good measure. Jumping off the Endeavour is easy but getting back on board is not so easy. There is a rope ladder which can be lowered but I found it really hard on my tender cold wet feet, but there is also a wooden ladder you can use but you need ropes to get yourself up high enough to use it.

While the Endeavour crew spent time swimming around our ship, a number of the crew from the other ships in the Tuia 250 flotilla’s such as from the waka’s swam over from their ships and visited and explored the Endeavour.

Once I was out I realised how cold I was and I went straight down for a luxurious 30 second hot shower, and it was nice to get warm again.

We are back on watch and we don’t need to do much as we are at anchor so I climbed up the smaller rear mizzen mast just so I can say I have climbed all the masts and then onto the very of the main mast at the highest point on the ship.

On the fighting top on the main mast with some of my watch

What a view I can see over into the next bay and I was looking down onto the Spirt of New Zealand which looks so big on the wharf but quite small when viewed from the top of the Endeavour.

Standing on the top of the main mast, you can’t get any higher.

I spent a while just soaking up the view while the sun set in the distance.

Around 8ish I headed down for a cup of tea and went to the back of the ship to listen to the great music which was in full swing as we have a violin, ukulele and harmonica musicians on board.

The great music provided a relaxing evening with local Maori songs combined with sea shanty’s.

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Endeavour - Cruising the Bay of Islands