A little piece of history - Spirit of Mystery for sale
by Stuart Elford on 22 Aug 2012
Spirit of Mystery and Pete Goss SW
A unique opportunity has arisen for someone to buy a piece of living history. British West Country sailor and adventurer Pete Goss MBE, most famous for his heroic rescue of a fellow sailor in the Southern Ocean, is selling Spirit of Mystery.
This is the little wooden boat that took him and three family members to Australia in a re-creation of the voyage made by seven Cornishman in the smallest migrant vessel ever to make it ‘down under’ more than a century and a half ago.
The 37-foot long Mounts Bay lugger weighs 16 tonnes and has history literally built into her – Pete sourced a piece of oak from Nelson's Victory to make up the chart table, teak from the Cutty Sark forms part of the saloon table and an original rivet from the SS Great Britain is a cupboard handle. She featured in the BBC series ‘Coast’.
With four main berths, a pilot berth, toilet, gas cooker and wood-burning stove, Spirit of Mystery makes a supremely comfortable cruiser and yet one that can take very heavy weather – she has watertight bulkheads and survived a knock-down by a massive freak wave in the Southern Ocean that left one crew member with a broken leg.
But Spirit of Mystery just rolled back up and carried on sailing, which is testament to the strong construction of Cornish oak and larch used by local boat-builder Chris Rees, who built her in 2008.
Pete will be sad to see her go, but feels the time is right: 'I always thought that ‘Spirit’ would be the boat I grew old with when I gave up major adventures – one that Tracey and I would take cruising when we retire.
But with a new adventure in the pipeline and no time to use her, it is time for her to go to a new home. Hopefully it will be to an owner that loves and cherishes her as I have done and if it is also one that keeps the story alive then so much the better.'
You can find out more about Spirit of Mystery by visiting the website at: http://www.petegoss.com/mystery/
Spirit of Mystery is lying in Plymouth and is for sale for £80,000 (tax paid) – Pete will even throw in a sailing lesson.
If you are interested in buying her, please contact them through the website by using the contact form at: http://www.petegoss.com/contact.php.
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/101214
