H. M. Bark Endeavour

Recently, Bluewater Sailing's Managing Director, Peter W. Damisch, had the opportunity to serve on board H.M. Bark Endeavour on voyages from Cabo San Lucas to San Diego in 1998, and was recently on board Endeavour for her final homecoming leg across the Tasman Sea from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. Competition to be selected for the honor of serving on board is quite difficult, especially for the latter voyage, which culminated a 4-year circumnavigation; her entry into Sydney Harbor and also served as one of the kick-off events leading up to the 2000 Summer Olympics.

The original Endeavour was a 152-foot long, 550-ton, three-masted collier bark which first sailed around the world from 1768-1771. During the late 1980's, Australia constructed a 'museum quality' replica, which is in the third year of a four-year circumnavigation. The ship has accurately been described by independent sources as being "the finest replica ship ever constructed". It was Captain Cook's first vessel of exploration in the Pacific where he served to discover and accurately map more of the earth's surface than any other individual.

These multi-thousand mile winter trips occurred under occasional storm conditions with 25 foot seas, 30+ knot winds and freezing wind chill factors.

Peter has written numerous magazine articles and has given multiple presentations trying to describe what it is like to live and work on a vessel with 23 sails and 200 running lines for sail control, while routinely climbing to the top of the 115-foot masts for sail handling. We also slept in hammocks, stood lookout watch at the end of the jibboom and furled topgallant sails during beautiful evening sunsets. The work was hard, but the crew was great! Peter would be happy to answer questions about Bluewater Sailing or square rigging.