This barnacle encrusted and Toledo worm riddled scribe has had a long association with the waterfront as a reporter in Sydney, Darwin, Cairns, Auckland, Adelaide , starting by cleaning with creosote the bilge of a mother boat in a Sydney –Hobart yacht race , covering the start for a newspaper from a ferry of one of the races , going out in the boat which took Customs and Health officials to meet incoming passenger ships at the entrance to Sydney Harbour in the l950s.
In Darwin I covered church rounds, courts , police and the most interesting shipping round, which included the Japanese salvage operations , a 1960 trip to Portuguese Timor as a deckhand when oil was struck by an American drilling company , and a voyage along the Arnhem Land coast in a Methodist supply lugger ( chundered a lot along the way).
The waterfront beat in Cairns took me down the so-called rough Barbary Coast , provided encounters with the builders of strange boats ,a search for the Australian Tarzan , and Kay’s Kimino , the owner of the said garment being a Japanese lady from which winning tickets in a pub raffle were regularly drawn . In New Zealand , I went out with shark fishermen and tracked down a coffin boat sailor , met people involved in the Pirate Radio Ship –Radio Hauraki- and inspected the replica of Bligh’s Bounty when it visited the country. Incidently, bet you do not know that during WW11 dastardly Germans on submarines slipped ashore and milked Kiwi cows at night ?
Adelaide brought me into contact with enthusiasts with fabulous martime history collections and I bought at auction the personal papers and books of a sailor who will be the subject of extensive coverage in Little Darwin sometime this year.
No reporter in Darwin seems to really cover shipping news, the throbbing Brando Beat. This statement is based on observations of the upsurge in harbour activity in the past six months and discussions with people involved in waterfront activities. There is an opening for a reporter like Quoyle , the former New York State newsman, central figure in the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning book , THE SHIPPING NEWS, by E. Annie Proulx, to chronicle the diverse maritime activity taking place in the port. In visual observations from shore in recent weeks , naval craft were seen plainly taking part in vessel escort duties . Early one Saturday morning naval ships were seen steaming in line and then smaller vessels detached themselves and did manoeuvres. This raises many question . Vessels of all shapes and sizes move about the harbour , day and night . Following the strange episode at the Larrakeyah naval base in which firearms were stolen from a patrol boat , a fishing boat was seen soon after near the entrance to the facility. American naval authorities, with great justification , I am sure , would not allow an innocent looking tinny near the entrance to any of its bases .
Last year , a ship bearing the clearly visible name JUMBO on its hull was seen in port . A quick Google check revealed that Jumbo, a Dutch based outfit, specialises in heavy lifting cranes , with a fleet of vessels capable of lifting 500 tonnes to 1800 tonnes . Little Darwin took a photo of the Jumbo in the harbour and expected to see the local media do a report on this ship and its innovative company. The floating Jumbo, however, went unnoticed by the media pack. The mighty dredge which arrived to deepen the harbour to enable larger gas tankers entry received initial media attention , then seemed to sink with all hands. It is an astonishing piece of equipment; technically minded persons have spoken almost in awe at the shipboard setup.
Where are the obvious follow up stories about the brand new pilot boat which went aground the day after it was commissioned ? Cruise ships come and go almost without mention and tourists , on occasions, arrive in town to find few shops open , which reveals poor liaison between the ships, the tourist industry and local business. Talk to the colourful people whose fishing vessels flock together in what is known as the Duck Pond and innumerable stories , some outrageous, emerge . At night, there are frequently scenes of activity at Frances Bay as small coastal vessels load up. An interview with the Darwin Port Authority about the increased activity and the future outlook would make interesting reading . Doing the shipping news can be most rewarding and productive if you actually keep in contact with shipping agents, get out of the office, go to the wharves , speak to the waterside workers , the captains, crew members and spot a vessel with JUMBO emblazoned on its hull. What looked like a Chinese tramp steamer slid into port during our watch ,without mention in the media . Wonder where it came from, what it was doing here? -(Peter Simon)
