PALERMO under sail off Gladstone, Queensland
Photographer
Harold Nossiter Senior
(1875 - 1956)
Date1975
Object number00014267
NameNitrate negative
MediumCellulose nitrate negative, black and white
DimensionsOverall: 35 x 35 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mr and Mrs Nossiter
DescriptionThe yacht PALERMO under sail. Has white hull, at stern is written `PALERMO Sydney'. On mainsail, top centre, is printed `22'.Two figures can be seen on board, one of which is Michael Nossiter, Harold Nossiter's grandson, who owned the vessel.HistoryMichael Nossiter left Sydney on March 10th 1975, aged 27, aboard PALERMO, a nine metre fractional rigged sloop, built by Beatties Shipyard, Cockle Creek, Brisbane Water in 1956 of tea tree and spotted gum.
Crew consisted of Nossiter and his then wife, Annette Nossiter (née Walton). They had trained as nurses together at Sydney Hospital, Nossiter being their first male graduate in the history of the hospital.
The route took PALERMO to Darwin where the couple worked as bush nurses in Arnhem Land with the yacht moored in the mouth of Maningrida River. From there they visted Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Suez Canal, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Italy, Spain, Gibraltar, Windward and Leeward Islands (for a year), Panama Canal, Tuamotu Archipelago, Society Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Cook Islands and Fiji. They returned to Sydney on October 11, 1980.
The initial intent was not to circumnavigate, but to sail to India and return to Australia via the Indian Ocean to Perth. However, while sailing up India’s west coast Nossiter heard the Suez Canal had reopened following years of closure due to war. That was all it took to spur PALERMO on to the Mediterranean. From there, the easiest way home was to keep going west.
Michael Nossiter sold PALERMO in 1982 and believes he is the only relative of his grandfather Harold (apart from his sons of course) who has also completed a circumnavigation.
SignificanceThe Nossiter family has a long and intrepid sailing history with Michael Nossiter on PALERMO being the third generation to undertake a circimnavigation.
