Rebuilding a part of History – “Lord Jim
As a yacht Captain, returning home to Australia from the Mediterranean, Caribbean and the USA for the past seven years, I quickly found work at Brisbane Ship Yard refitting a large sloop.
I was approached to captain a ship the “Lord Jim”, that was leaving after four years, the fellow who approached me joined as an unpaid deck hand and ended up as the only one left on board.
The vessel was at Able Point Marina. Whitsundays, Queensland. It needed a available Yacht Captain to take it to Phuket Thailand via The Great Barrier Reef Cape York, Bali ,Indonesian. Singapore .Malaysia The brochure looked great, as they always do.
It was an old Camper & Nicholson made in 1977 it had a steel hull with aluminum sub structure which was riveted together.
I gave him a CV and forgot about it till I got a call from the owner who was psychologist in the performance coaching business .Of course he was a very convincing man. I took the job.
After driving north for two days I arrived at the marina and saw the boat, I realized I’d been conned. The yacht was a mess.
It turned out it was completely un seaworthy and most systems broken down, With the Australian Cruise Permit expired, Ships Registration in Gibraltar expired, the hull and crew insurance expired, radio licenses expired. Added to this, all the safety equipment was out of date.
The old Captain left two days later with the owners disputing his return ticket to England.
As a relief captain Phuket started the rebuild paying bills with my own money to save face, as the promised boat money and boat credit card never arrived.
About 19 month later I arrived at the Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket . I even continued restoring the vessel to her former glory with all systems up and running within a limited budget.
Refitting this boat has bought great happiness to me and I am Proud of my efforts.
Thanks for visiting our Qivana site.
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