Tall ship adventure – a young man’s journey
by Australian National Maritime Museum PR on 7 Dec 2007
Tall ship adventure – a young man’s journey - 100 years later… Australian National Maritime Museum Exhibition Australian National Maritime Museum
http://www.anmm.gov.au
14 Dec 2007 – 20 Jul 2008
Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour
An American teenager’s 'gap year' adventure back in 1905 provides the inspiration and content for a new exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Fred Taylor, 19, was sent on a sea voyage from New York to Fremantle, Western Australia, that year to broaden his experience before starting university.
The exhibition Tall Ship Adventure – A Young Man's Voyage New York to Fremantle 1905 is the story of his journey told through the photographs he took and excerpts from the journal he wrote.
Taylor boarded the four-masted barque Queen Margaret in New York on 10 September. In the course of his 15-week sea passage he taught himself navigation, was placed in charge of the ship's slops and acted as the ship's chemist.
The vessel arrived in Fremantle on 23 December. Taylor left the Queen Margaret and returned to the United States by steamer.
A typical entry from his Queen Margaret journal…
Saturday October 29, 1905
I went up forward this morning and one of the sailors taught me some fine knots. I know quite a few now. Each sailor has some different knot to show me and I soon find out a good many. The sailors were not a bit as Mr. Farrell thought they might be. He said they might be gruff for the first week or so, but they were not at all, with the exception of the sick man.
At the age of 85, Taylor donated his Queen Margaret voyage journal and photographic negatives to the Maritime Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History.
The Australian National Maritime Museum thanks the National Museum of American History for making his images and a transcript of his journal available for the exhibition in Australia.
Tall Ship Adventure – A Young Man's Voyage New York to Fremantle 1905 will be on view at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, until 20 July, 2008. Admission free.
The museum is open daily, 9.30 am to 5 pm (6 pm in January). All inquiries (02) 9298 3777 or visit www.anmm.gov.au .
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