''Notorious'' is a replica fifteenth-century

caravel The caravel (Portuguese language, Portuguese: , ) is a small sailing ship developed by the Portuguese that may be rigged with just lateen sails, or with a combination of lateen and Square rig, square sails. It was known for its agility and s ...

. The ship took ten years to build, made entirely from reclaimed timber. It was launched at Martins Point, Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia, on 7 February 2011. ''Notorious'' was fitted with sails and conducted its first week-long journey from

Port Fairy Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the Souther ...

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

in January 2012. Notorious from bow

Design and construction

''Notorious'' is a full-size, wooden sailing ship, a re-creation of a

, c1500. ''Notorious'' was researched, designed, and constructed single-handedly from reclaimed timber by Graeme Wylie, at his home at Bushfield, near

Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

, Victoria, Australia. The ship's keelson was laid in April 2002. The keelson is an ironbark beam salvaged from the viaduct, at the Warrnambool Breakwater. The ship's frames were completed towards the end of 2003. By 2008, the ship was opened to the public at the construction site, while the planking was still being completed. The ship was launched at Martin's Point,

, on 7 February 2011. ''Notorious'' was constructed of reclaimed

Monterey cypress ''Hesperocyparis macrocarpa'' also known as ''Cupressus macrocarpa'', or the Monterey cypress is a coniferous tree, and is one of several species of cypress trees native to California. The Monterey cypress is found naturally only on the Centr ...

(Cupressus macrocarpa) with a displacement of 58 tonnes. The ship is 17.5 metres in length overall, has a beam of 5.5 metres, and a draught of 2.1 metres. The vessel is

lateen A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long Yard (sailing) , yard mounted at an angle on the mast (sailing) , mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The Settee (sail), settee can be ...

rigged, making it Australia's only operational lateen-rigged ship. The interior is an authentic period design, including a cooking fire. The ship has modern GPS navigation, a diesel engine and some other modern conveniences, all hidden behind timber panels.

Inspiration

The Mahogany Ship, a shipwreck first seen by Europeans in 1836, partly buried in sand dunes between Warrnambool and Port Fairy, and last seen in 1886, was part of the inspiration for Wylie. Several writers have claimed the Mahogany Ship was a Portuguese caravel that sailed from Batavia in 1520, down the eastern Australian seaboard and into Bass Strait, before entering the Southern Ocean. Caravels were a revolutionary design in ship evolution, being the first European vessels with a transom, with the steerboard taken to the rear of the ship. These ships were rigged with the

sail, a sail in widespread use in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

since Roman times.

Operational history

Her maiden voyage, in January 2012, was from Port Fairy, through Bass Strait, to Port Phillip Bay. Since then, ''Notorious'' has sailed over 20,000 nautical miles between the Southern Ocean, Bass Strait, the Tasman and Coral Seas. ''Notorious'' is owned and operated by Seadog Sailing Inc, visiting Queensland ports. As a museum ship, it is also open for onboard and below deck Inspection. ''Notorious'' is the only sailing caravel in the Southern Hemisphere.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Notorious (ship, 2012) Warrnambool Replica ships Ships built in Victoria (state) Sail ships of Australia 2012 ships