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Harold Nossiter to Jack Maclean, the SIRIUS at Candia, Crete, 7 March 1936

Author Harold Nossiter Junior (Born 1908)

Date7 March 1936

Object number00028671

NameLetter

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 252 x 215 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mrs Nancy Mclean

Terms

DescriptionThis letter was written by Harold Nossiter to Jack Maclean and Nan on 7 March 1936 describing the Nossiter's adventures on arriving in the Mediterranean. Harold describes their trip through the Suez Canal, with a side trip to the Cairo and the pyramids, and then sailing to Crete where they saw the ruins of the Minoan palace at Knossos.HistoryHarold Nossiter (Snr) was a noted Sydney sailor in the 1920s and 30s who became the first Australian to skipper a yacht around the world under an Australian flag from 1935 - 1937. Nossiter was a Sydney based businessman and Vice-President of the Wine and Spirit Association of New South Wales. Harold ordered the construction of a 53-foot staysail schooner in order to fulfil a lifelong dream of sailing around the globe. He named his new schooner SIRIUS and on 14 July 1935, two days after his retirement, left Sydney Harbour with the two eldest of his four sons, Harold Junior and Richard (Dick). Clive Russell, the son of a friend, also sailed on the voyage for part of the way, leaving the schooner in New Guinea. Harold Senior was skipper, Harold Junior the cook and Dick was the navigator, having undertaken a course in ocean navigation in preparation for the trip. The voyage took them to New Guinea, Bali, Singapore, Langkawi, Colombo, through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean and thence to Plymouth, England on 2 June 1936. During their three month stint in the UK, Harold Nossiter wrote his first book documenting the voyage Northward Ho, completing his second book, Southward Ho on the voyage home. The crew sailed out of Cowes, England on 17 September 1936 for the return voyage to Australia. This voyage took them through the North Atlantic and the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. They sailed to Cocos, the Galapagos Archipelago, the Marquesas, the Tuamotu Archipelago, Tahiti, Bora Bora, the Cook and Tongan Islands before arriving back in Sydney on 20 May 1937. They had spent nearly two years away, and the most of it at sea.SignificanceThis letter relates to the world cruise undertaken by Harold Nossiter and two of his sons on his yacht SIRIUS between 1935 and 1937. It provides important information about the activities of the crew and their ports of call during the first world cruise by an Australian yacht.