Baragoola

The Manly ferry Baragoola is 90 years young and still holding tenaciously onto life. A group of volunteers are dedicated to preserving and restoring a true Sydney icon, this is the only ferry that spent its entire life in Sydney that is still afloat. The Baragoola was built at Mort's Dock, Balmain and launched with great fanfare on 14 February 1922. On 9 September of that same year the Baragoola entered service and began her life as a Sydney ferry, one that she would maintain for 61 years and earn a cherished place in the hearts of Sydneysiders.

Today the Baragoola welcomes you with hints of her former glory. The name is clearly visible despite loosing several of the bolted letters.

The road ahead may be a stormy one but the Baragoola has weathered almost a century of the vicissitudes of nature, man's fickleness and the march of time. The Baragoola belonged to a class of almost identical single funnelled, double ended ferries that included the Bingarra, Burra Bra and Balgowlah, all of which have either been scuttled or scrapped.

The Baragoola operated as a ferry from 1922 until 1983 after which she was retired. For 2 years there were efforts to use her as a floating university but this never came to pass and she was sold to private ownership. For the past 25 years efforts to preserve her have met with mixed success and today the Baragoola is located at Balls Head next to historic coal storage silos (the sandstone structures to the right in the above photo) and just behind the former lighthouse tender Cape Don (subject of a feature coming soon).

A tour of the Baragoola from the Bridge to the Engine Room:

The remains of the forward wheelhouse. The Baragoola being a double ended ferry had duplicate wheelhouses at both ends of the top deck and unfortunately both were vandalised in the decades spent laid up. The grey-blue machine in the centre of the photo is the telemotor on which hung the ship's wheel. Out of shot to the right was a wall and door to the Captain's cabin.

The controls for the Chadburn engine telegraph robbed of its distinctive covering and familiar shape.

The top deck of the Baragoola is covered with boards and tarpaulins to protect the interior form leaking rainwater. This area was further damaged when the military staged an airborne exercise and the down draft from the helicopters rotors flattened railings and tore away coverings.

The foredeck of the Baragoola with original winch and ventilator. Apart from a new, shorter funnel in 1958, the superstructure of the Baragoola is practically unchanged from her original appearance.

The upper deck has been cleaned and shows that the structure of the ship is sound and stable. The teak decking and benches however still need some attention....

Some leg rests and wooden bits awaiting to be rejoined to their companions.

A solitary screw awaits to be rejoined with its parent.

The grand staircase which leads down to the lower deck has lost none of its Edwardian elegance. There is another staircase at the other end of the deck.

An alarm box which was rarely used during operation now awaits a well needed clean. The amount of grime that has accumulated over the past two decades can be gauged by the small clean spot on the lower left.

Gear boxes and a working pump in one corner of the machinery spaces. The pump worked after some cleaning and greasing.

A corner of engine room with the hull to the left and a corner of the Gardner diesel to the right.

Close up of the Gardner diesels which are still operational despite 25 years of inactivity. 

The Generator Room sits just behind the main engine room.

Corner of generator room with switchboards.

The still working bilge pump and the watertight door which leads into the engine room.

Switches from the control panel in the Generator Room.

A restored bulkhead with newly applied rust protective paint and in the far right corner an the original Esso oil tank. In return for using Esso oil, there were Esso advertisements posted on bulkheads throughout the ferry.

The walkways have been deemed unsafe to use and the only way to reach the Baragoola is to take a dinghy out and moor next to the ferry.

Additional information for this articles was sourced from:

Mead, Tom Manly Ferries of Sydney Harbour, Child & Associates Publishing, Sydney, 1994, p172-173.

To learn more about how you can help keep the Baragoola afloat for future generations see: http://www.savethebaragoola.com/

A busy evening in Sydney Harbour...

Friday evening on 19th November saw three ships depart within thirty minutes of each other, while this doesn't sound a lot it represents the most action the harbour will see during the cruise season.

The Pacific Venus departed on time at 6pm from her berth in Darling Harbour, sailing swiftly she passed under the Harbour Bridge ten minutes later.

The Pacific Venus has been a regular visitor to Sydney since 2007, she's small when compared to other cruise ships and measures 183 x 25 metres (605 x 82 ft), weighs 26,518 tons and her diesels push her along at 18 knots.

Thirty minutes later came another ship:

Sailing silently under the Bridge, the tanker Mayon Spirit is guided by two tugs towards the Sydney Heads. The ferry Alexander waits impatiently until the tanker has passed so she can resume her run to the other side of the harbour. The Mayon Spirit is a 98,507 ton tanker built in 1992 and measures 245 x 41 metres.

After another forty minutes to allow the tanker to exit the Heads and with fading light, the thirds and final ship began her departure:

At 7:10 the Volendam slowly backed away from the Overseas Passenger Terminal and began reversing.

In the late evening the ships lights were switched on making her appear to be wearing a giant pearl necklace.

The Volendam has almost completed the turn t port which will enable her to sail out of the Heads.

As the Volendam departs a local sailing ship, the Southern Swan, arrives to pick up another shipload of sightseers.

The Volendam has been a regular visitor to Sydney for a few years, having been moved away from the North American cruise market with the introduction of new tonnage. Another frequent visitor is her sister ship Amsterdam which is almost identical in appearance to the Volendam but differs in funnel design, whereas the Volendam has one conventional stack the Amsterdam has two upright funnels situated parallel to each other.

Southwest Rocks Ferries

Considering this Blog is titled 'Ships & Shipwrecks'  - it's high time an article about Shipwrecks is posted!

The quiet town of Southwest Rocks on the New South Wales north coast (Australia) received an unexpected surprise on the night of 9th January 1972 when three redundant ferries were washed ashore.  Salvage efforts failed and the wrecks were left to the vagaries of sun, sea and sand. After almost 40 years there is very little left however there's enough to tell the story of these long lived and hard working vessels...

Dimensions quoted from Ferries of Sydney by Graeme Andrews.

Wreck 1: Koondooloo

The most intact wreck is the that of the Koondooloo. Once washed ashore the ship was driven higher up the beach with successive storms and sand movement, now she is almost completely covered.

A beautiful photo of the Koondooloo in her heyday can be found here: http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=9538076

The Koondooloo was built in Leith, Scotland in 1924, she weighed 524 tons and was 58 metres (192 feet) long and had a beam of 11 metres (36 feet).

Between 1924-1932 she operated as one of the largest vehicular ferries crossing Sydney Harbour but was made redundant with the completion of the bridge in 1932. The ship was rebuilt as a showboat and cruised the Harbour until requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy for use as a repair vessel.

After the war the ship was reconverted back into a vehicular ferry to service Newcastle's Stockton Harbour and she was made redundant again with the completion of the bridge in 1971. She was sold with three other ferries to further service in the Philippines but during the tow north encountered a storm and was driven ashore...and here she remains, slowly succumbing to the forces of nature.

Sad and vines are slowly covering the remains of the Koondooloo.

The sand has covered the entire car deck and almost completely buried the upper deck-house. The remains of one of the other ferries can be seen above the people on the middle left of the photo.

At the stern can be seen one of the motors which operated the ramp pulley system through the post in the background.

The remains of the pulley system which raised and lowered the car ramps. There were two at each end of the ferry.

Docking Bollards retain their positions despite the encroachment of vines and sand.

On closer examination one can see how far advanced the iron and wood elements have begun to break down.

Within a few years the Koondooloo will be completely buried in sand which ironically will also help preserve her lower hull from further exposure. At the very tip of the bow the ferry still has bits of her original green hull paint!

Wreck 2: Lurgurena

The slightly smaller but similarly designed Lurgurena operated as a vehicular ferry in Hobart, Tasmania before before transferred to Newcastle to cope with the steadily increasing car traffic until the completion of the bridge in 1971.

Three of the four ramp posts are all the remains visible of the wreck of the Lurgurena. The deck-house was washed away in the 1990s while the hull has sunk into the sand.

At neap tides it is possible to walk along the length of the wreck and through the ramp posts.

Only one of the forward ramp posts remain standing and is under constant bombardment from the waves.

Wreck 3: Sydney Queen.

The third and final wreck on the beach belongs to the showboat Sydney Queen which spent most of her life operating under the name Kalang.

Constructed in 1926 in Chester, England she was the largest vehicular ferry in Sydney with a gross tonnage of 525 tons, a length of 187 feet (57 metres) and a beam of 36 feet (11 metres). After only six years in operation the Sydney Harbour Bridge was completed and she was made redundant. It was decided to rebuild her as a showboat following the success of the Koondooloo. The reconstruction added two extra decks and almost tripled her gross tonnage to 1,460 tons.

The Second World War intervened and she was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy as a repair ship. In 1947 she was reconverted back into a showboat and operated successfully for the next ten years, however in the late 1950s rising maintenance costs and falling business forced her to be sold to businessmen who repainted her white and renamed her 'Sydney Queen'. The operation failed miserably and for the rest of the next decade was laid up until sold for further service in the Philippines with the other redundant car ferries.  

There is practically nothing left except two post heads marking the extreme bow and stern of the ship. The lower hull was quickly buried in the sand in the months after running ashore and within a year the upperworks were purposefully set ablaze to allow salvagers access to the ships internal machinery.

The Southwest Rocks Maritime Museum has a room devoted to the shipwrecked ferries with numerous photos and a beautiful model of the Kalang (later Sydney Queen). The photos also reflect the ferries original state when they first ran ashore.

Video footage of the three ferries can be found on the NSW Maritime Heritage site here: http://maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au/public/search_results.cfm

The main beach at Southwest Rocks remains as serene and tranquil as the day three ferries unexpectedly ran ashore in early January 1972...

Classic Ship Retrospective: Saga Rose

As we read this article the Saga Rose continues to lie in limbo in Gibraltar awaiting her fate which is unfortunately looking more and more like the scrapyards of Alang. Here is a look at her final two visits to Sydney and we celebrate her long history and stunning good looks...

Saga Rose is seen here docked in Circular Quay on 22nd February 2008. She is being refueled by the local oiler Amorena.

A little history: The Saga Rose started life in 1965 as the Sagafjord for the Norwegian America Line. She was designed as a dual purpose ship to perform both, transatlantic crossings as well as international cruises. In 1983 the company was acquired by Cunard Liner and her funnel was repainted in the distinctive red and black colours. In 1997 she was sold to Saga Cruises and repainted in their majestic colours. She has operated largely unchanged apart from reconditioning of her interiors and an extra day of cabins atop the bridge, otherwise she has retained the classic ocean liner look and feel throughout her career and this no doubt contributed to her enduring success and charm. Unfortunately the mandate of maritime security must be adhered to and with new SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) regulations in place for 2010 the ship was required to either be completely reconditioned or retired and at the grand old age of 35 it was decided to do the latter.

A close up shot of the Saga Rose towering over the tiny Amorena.

In a world dominated by cruise ships that look more and more like ocean going hotel buildings, the Saga Rose reminds us that maritime architecture used to be a fine art.

An officer makes an observation atop cabins which were added to the ship in 1980, they have altered her profile but not ruined it, something the architects who modified the Veendam did not appreciate! See here: http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=1073729

Every feature of the Saga Rose has been sculpted with style and the funnel even has the original Norwegian America Line stripes.

New cruise ships possess either a duck-tail or a squared off stern, the latter gives the impression that the architect ran out of paper or monitor space to finish their design. The hull lines of the Saga Rose evoke a much earlier period when the beauty of a ship was judged less by the verticals and horizontals but by her proportions and sheer. The extreme stern of the Saga Rose exhibits the classic liner profile that is all but lost.

On 26 February 2009 Sydney's attention was turned on to another ship - the arrival of the massive Queen Mary 2. At 10 am, the Saga Rose quietly docked for the last time.

February 27 2009  - the last morning in Sydney.


The following series of photos follow the Saga Rose's departure from Sydney in 2008. In the following year she departed at midnight but these shots give an idea of how a fine ship makes her exit with grace and elegance.

Lacking the thrusters of todays mega cruise ships, the Saga Rose needed the guiding services of two tugs to escort her through the bends in the harbour.

A close up of  the Saga Rose as she rounds past the Opera House and about to turn to port to exit the harbour.

The memories of the past sail by while the present generations race on without regard, thought or contemplation...

A last glance... Vale Saga Rose