MV Cape Don

MV Cape Don is a former lighthouse tender, now a museum ship in Waverton, New South Wales, Australia.

MV Cape Don in 2014
History
Australia
Name: Cape Don
Namesake: Cape Don Light
Owner: Sea Heritage Foundation Pty Limited[1]
Route: Australian coast
Builder: State Dockyard, Newcastle, New South Wales
Laid down: 1962
Launched: 1962
Completed: 1963
Maiden voyage: 29 March 1963
In service: 1963
Out of service: 1990
Homeport: Fremantle
Identification:
Status: Museum Ship
General characteristics
Type: Lighthouse tender
Tonnage: 2,103 GRT
Length: 74.3 metres (244 ft)
Beam: 12.8 metres (42 ft)
Draught: 4.37 metres (14.3 ft)
Installed power: 2,000 brake horsepower (1,500 kW)
Propulsion: Polar M65T engine, 4-blade 2.6-metre (8 ft 6 in) variable-pitch propeller
Speed: 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h)
Complement: 39

Built and launched by the State Dockyard at Newcastle, New South Wales in 1962 for the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service, she serviced the lighthouses, lightships and buoys of the Australian coast from 1963 to the early 1990s. She is being restored by the labour of enthusiasts to become a museum and training ship. She is listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels. She is currently berthed at the former coal loading wharf in Balls Head Bay, Waverton, New South Wales. As of 2021 the restoration project is proceeding well.

Service history

In 1973, the Cape Don assisted in the recovery of two anchors which were jettisoned in 1803 from HMS Investigator whilst under the command of Matthew Flinders.[2][3] In 1987 she transported the tower of the former lighthouse from the Neptune Islands to Port Adelaide for inclusion in the collection of the South Australian Maritime Museum.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Sea Heritage Foundation". The MV Cape Don Society Inc. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  2. "MV Cape Don on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels". emuseum.anmm.gov.au. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  3. Christopher, P; Cundell, N, eds. (2004). Let's Go For a Dive, 50 years of the Underwater Explorers Club of SA. Kent Town, SA: Peter Christopher. pp. 45–49. This describes the search for and recovery of the anchors by members of the Underwater Explorers Club of South Australia.
  4. Harry, Bruce (1987). "Conservation of the former Neptune Islands Lighthouse at Port Adelaide". ICCM Bulletin. Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material. 13 (1 & 2): 83. Retrieved 21 March 2013.

33°50′39″S 151°11′36″E


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