22:100 Graeme, Captain of the 'Notorious'

See note at top left for a photo of the "Notorious"

I met Graeme while inspecting the replica 15th century Portuguese caravel visiting Batemans Bay. Ships to this design were used by Columbus in 1492 and (almost certainly) by Cristóvão de Mendonça to sail down Australia's east coast in the early 1500s.

The ship itself is (to use a much over-used term) truly awesome. Three hundred tonnes of reclaimed timber were used in the project: the ship is 17 M long, with a beam of 5.5M and a draft of 2.1M. Its displacement is 55 tonnes. Everywhere there are huge hand adzed logs and other interesting details. It is about as authentic as would be possible.

And here's the part that totally impressed me: Captain Graeme researched, designed and built it himself! The project took ten years and the ship was launched in early 2011. What a colossal project, one has to be staggered at that kind of commitment, though when I mentioned that to Graeme he modestly said that he'd had the assistance of several friends. Well, I take my hat off to you!

Graeme kindly agreed to be 22 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

You can read more about the 'Notorious' and its doings here: www. facebook.com/notorioustheship