First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage
Several corporations offered to sponsor the fleet as a whole or individual ships, and additional money was raised by selling "training crew" berths for the various legs of the voyage.
Seven ships—Søren Larsen, R. Tucker Thompson, Anna Kristina, Amorina, Tradewind, Our Svanen, and Bounty—sailed from Portsmouth in May 1987, following a fleet review by Queen Elizabeth II.
Attempting to follow the route of the original First Fleet, the ships sailed for Australia via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, and Mauritius.
The initial funding ran out when the ships reached Rio de Janeiro, and the captains planned to call off the voyage until a radiothon on Australia's Macquarie Radio Network raised $900,000 and further corporate sponsorships were secured.
[1] The ships were heading for New South Wales, the territory claimed by James Cook during his first voyage of discovery in 1770, when he located and charted the eastern coast of New Holland (now Australia).
[3] There was concern that by emphasising the British colonisation of Australia, the reenactment voyage would negatively remind people of the nations' convict origins.
[4] King created the First Fleet Venture as a Melbourne University-backed project in 1978, and approached the Australian Government for funding and assistance.
[7] After the replica Bounty (which was a contemporary and very similar in design to Sirius) became available, the plan to build ships was canned, with the fleet to be made up of modern chartered vessels.
[8] Sponsorship for the project was promised by entities including Fairfax Media, Westpac, Qantas and Australian Airlines, and the Portsmouth City Council.
[10] With the financial viability of the project appearing to be in hand, the Australian Bicentennial Authority loaned $500,000 to the First Fleet Reenactment Company, but refused to provide any further funding or support.
[3] They departed on 27 April, accompanied by the barque Kaskelot, which only intended to sail with the fleet for a few days once the reenactment voyage commenced, as the ship was committed to the filming of Return to Treasure Island.
[17][18] In addition to the seven re-enactment ships that sailed (One and All was not present: the vessel had only competed fitting out in April, and intended to join the rest of the fleet in the Atlantic), Kaskelot, the schooner Johanna Lucretia, the cadet training brig Royalist, and the charity training ship Lord Nelson increased the fleet size to the historical eleven.
[19] However, when the signal to depart was given, the engine on flagship Søren Larsen initially failed to start, then kicked over hard enough to warp the crankshaft.
[21] En route, Tradewind and Our Svanen were called back by the British Department of Transport for further safety checks, and Amorina had to divert to Falmouth, Cornwall to put ashore an engineer who had developed renal colic.
[25] The arrival was promoted by the media and press, with 100 small vessels accompanying the tall ships into harbour, and the mayor of Rio presenting the fleet with the keys to the city.
[31] The need for more money was pitched by Wally Franklin to radio presenter Mike Carlton, framed as a "David and Goliath" battle of a community-organised reenactment of historical significance unable to gather the support of the government.
[3] Tradewind, R. Tucker Thompson, and Søren Larsen converged on Anna Kristina and began searching: first in the immediate area by searchlight, then commencing a grid pattern at dawn.
[37] The fleet made good progress, but as the larger ships needed more wind power, they diverted further south, deeper into the Roaring Forties.
[37][39] A four-week International Festival of the Sea was organised around the presence of the tall ships, with the Reenactment Voyage as the centrepiece of Australia Week.
[48] Their arrival to the moorings off Farm Cove coincided with Prince Charles' speech on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
[50] In 1988, a 20-minute radio documentary on the re-enactment of The First Fleet Voyage recorded aboard the Swedish barquentine, the Amorina, as it sailed from Hobart to Newcastle produced by Tasmanian Country Hour presenter Tom Murrell, won Best Special Talks and Documentary - Radio International Open for the Bicentennial Media Awards, the Paters sponsored by the Australian Academy of Broadcast Arts and Sciences.
