After 13 Years Tall Ship Joshua C gets Sailing

by on 11 Aug 2008 Australia's Newest Tall Ship Skipper Robin Cooke is about to fulfill his 13-year long dream to rekindle images of majestic tall ships navigating Australia's coastlines by setting sail on The Joshua C, a tall ship he's built from the ground up and all by hand.

Our very own Captain Cooke, Robin lives on The Joshua C, a 24-metre, 40-tonne tall ship currently moored at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast.
Recently completing the project, Robin says it took courage and persistence and a good sense of humour to finish the ship.

'I wasn't grey when I started and I've become a lot wider; but boats have always been my life and this boat is certainly the dream of my life.'

The idea to build a tall ship came to Robin while sitting on a 58-foot Portuguese Trader with a friend.

'I thought I can build this thing and so within a month I'd sold my boat; I had a 51-foot spray. I was the richest kid in Mooloolaba for about two weeks but had nowhere to stay!

'Then I thought, what am I doing! Luckily a property became available at Bli Bli; so I just started gathering timbers and started building the boat. That was 13-years ago when I laid down the first timbers on New Years Day,' says Robin.
Getting its first test run recently, Robin says, 'she runs like a dream'.

'It was a great thing because I'd always believed that this boat... the looks, her sheer lines are very, very pretty and people just fall in love with her,' says Robin.

As for the tall ship's name, Joshua is the leader of many in Hebrew, and 'C' stands for Christ, and 'The', Robin says, is just for international registration. 'So the name stands for called to do the job, the leader of many'.
Although triumphant now, Robin says he's battled demons during the building of the Joshua.

'I was manic depressive for many years and when it comes down to it, you can spout these dreams but facing the application situation when you have to work and get a loan to make the dream come true... that can be the difficult.

'There were times where I just drank to cope and I would get so depressed and I'd have scallywag times because it is a pirate ship! But it would scuttle my heart, you know.

'That was just one of the hard stages... but to come out of the stages with a bit more wisdom, a bit more understanding, that's what Joshua's about.

'It's been a journey of great, great triumphs where on one occasion hundreds of people joined me along the shoreline to push Joshua into the water using a tractor,' says Robin.

But regardless of overcoming his own emotional challenges, Robin found time to help over 80 troubled teens over the years by involving them in building Joshua.

'We've had some really good results and wonderful successes. When you actually get to a kid that's been on ekkies and hooter and that kind of stuff it's rewarding to change their tact. Hopefully I gave them something better to do,' says Robin.

Hesitant to take all the credit, Robin says the help from friends and strangers was what got him across the line.

'People would just give me trees and amazing pieces of timber. An old 50's house and rosewood fence provided most of the hull; while the stairwell is an old ironbark tree and a local saw mill donated the masts. Everything you can think of, people offered it, and I used it,' says Robin.

Robin's personal life has taken a turn for the better as well. Robin met Annette Keller from Melbourne after she moved to the Sunshine Coast in 1989. Annette is a keen Outrigger paddler with many competition successes to her credit, so she loved the outdoor life . She had also sailed boats since she was eight with her father and had some years as a Life Saver at Parkdale Life saving club. Annette joined Robin on the boat in October 2007.

On the 29th of April Robin and Annette were married in on board THE JOSHUA C attended by guests on board and onshore by a small crowd of onlookers. While waiting for suitable tides Robin and Annette started to complete some of the finishing work on the boat - between visitors who were made most welcome.

Close now to setting sail with 'Annie', Robin says they're heading anywhere there's surf and warm weather.

'Primarily we'll head up and down the east coast, to town festivals. Then we'll head to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon's and Vanuatu.
'We also want to use the boat for mission work and as a hospital ship for aid projects where possible,' says Robin.
Waiting anxiously for the day that's been 13-years in the making, Robin says, he dreams about the sound of the sails and the smell of the sea.


'Tall ships have this mysticism about them; it's the romanticism; the feel of the vessel... it does a job on people, gives them peace.
'It's become a lifestyle out here living on the river... Going from one dispensation of time to another will be difficult; but once we pass that river mouth Joshua will be as big as the Brisbane almost. Then the new life begins,' says Robin.

Below are the technical specification of the Joshua C: