THE Southern Swan, a three-masted barquentine within the Sydney Tall Ships fleet, is turning 100 this January. Her owners, Marty and Lisa Woods from Willoughby, bought the historical vessel in 2007, intent on keeping the ship in Australian waters and preserving her for posterity.
“Traditional shipwrighting and traditional rigging is something that not many people can do these days, so we are trying to not only keep the ship alive, but keep that skill alive,” said Marty Woods. “Without ships like this, those skills would be lost.”
Originally named Our Svanen, the Southern Swan was built in Denmark in 1922. The ship was designed with an extraordinarily strong hull, allowing her to push through the icy waters of the North Atlantic, Denmark and Greenland.
Woods suspects this design may account for her unusually long lifespan.
“She’s built very heavily, with around three to four times as much timber [in the hull] as a modern vessel,” he said. “There are many, many ships that sail the ocean, but few reach 30 years. We’re looking at three times a ship’s normal life, even though she was just built as a commercial cargo ship.”
The Southern Swan originally traded as a grain carrier, sailing the Baltic Sea as a cargo vessel. During World War II, evidence suggests she may have assisted in saving 400 Jews by delivering them to neutral Sweden.
The Southern Swan carried malted grain for the Tuborg Beer Company until 1969, when she was purchased as a private vessel and refitted for longer ocean voyages. For nine years during the late ’70s and early ’80s, the Southern Swan served in the Canadian Army, working as a training vessel with the Canadian Sea Cadets and featuring as an exhibition ship in the 1986 World Expo Vancouver. In 1988, she sailed to England to join the First Fleet Re-enactment and has been based in Sydney ever since.
Woods cites this lengthy résumé as one of his favourite things about the ship.
“She’s always worked,” he said. “She’s never been a super yacht or a pleasure yacht, but has always earned her own money and been kept in good nick.”
Woods keeps her working. The Southern Swan still sails Sydney harbour, providing daytrips, exclusive charters and occasional offshore trips up and down the New South Wales Coast. She is currently the only ship in Sydney to offer a Mast Climb, an ascent up the rope ladder rungs to the Futtock Plate.
“We’re doing this to preserve history, to give people the opportunity to touch, feel and experience history, not just look at it,” said Woods. “Once there were dozens of these ships around the Baltic, so for this one to survive, there’s just something a little bit special about her.”
For more information about the Southern Swan’s cruises and sailing experiences, visit www.sydneytallships.com.au