Name Alma Doepel Port of registry Hobart, Tasmania Tonnage 150.69 tonns Launched 10 October 1903 Weight 260.1 tons Draft 2.2 m Builder Bellingen | Owner Sail & Adventure, Ltd. Fate docked for repairs Height 28 m (92 ft) Length 45 m Displacement 232,200 kg Beam 8.6 m | |
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Alma doepel on the high seas youth sail training
The Alma Doepel is a three-masted topsail schooner and is one of the oldest such ships surviving.
Contents
Alma doepel restoration progress 110th birthday 2013
Early history
Alma Doepel was built in 1903 in Bellingen, NSW, by Frederick Doepel and named after his youngest daughter Alma. Until 1915 she operated between Sydney and the northern rivers district of New South Wales. In late 1915 she was sold to Tasmanian owners and commenced operation in Tasmania, mainly carrying timber and goods between Hobart and Melbourne. She was fitted with an auxiliary engine in 1916, and again in 1936. In a 1937 refit her rig was simplified from having square topsails on the foremast to having a fore-and-after rig. In 1943 she was requisitioned by the army, refitted and renamed AK82, and used as an army supply vessel running from Townsville and Darwin to Papua New Guinea. After the war she was reverted to merchant vessel configuration, resuming operation in Tasmania in 1946. From 1961 to 1975 she was stripped of her rigging and used to carry limestone, before being sold, for the scrap value of her engines, to the Melbourne company Sail & Adventure in 1976.
Restoration
From 1976 to 1987, Alma Doepel was comprehensively restored and returned to full sail in magnificent style to lead the Parade of Sail in Sydney Harbour in January 1988. She was then used as a sail training ship, based in Melbourne, until 1999 when the need for work on the hull and lack of funds put a stop to this activity. In April 2001, Alma Doepel was taken to Port Macquarie where she was berthed at Lady Nelson Wharf and open to the public as a static exhibit. In January 2009 the Alma Doepel returned to Melbourne. She is berthed at No 2 Victoria Dock (Melbourne) undergoing an extensive refit to return her to survey so she can recommence sail training.