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Below is author and historian Peter Caunt's review of a recent
voyage on board Seaswift Ltd's MV Trinity Bay
The freighter, "Trinity Bay" operates from Cairns, Queensland to
the Torres Straits Islands of Horn and Thursday Islands and then to
the mainland port of Seisia, port for the town of Bamaga on the Cape
York Peninsula. The voyage was advertised in the Sunday Telegraph's
Travel Pages in February 2008 and sounded interesting. It revived
memories of stories from my Father who took holidays on freighters
around the Irish Sea from Liverpool to Irish ports during the late
1920's and early 1930's.
At this stage I should point out that I have never been a keen
traveller as such, having suffered from motion sickness from a very
early age. Often, I had to alight from buses about a mile before my
own bus stop to walk the last distance due to feeling ill from the
motion of the bus. Trains - and much later, planes - were not much
better. Not having a car, it was not until much later that I found
problems with these as well, unless I was driving. My similar
experience with ships started once I began visiting the Isle of Man,
always using the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from Fleetwood -
and later Liverpool. Many of the trips were accomplished without
problems but some found me lying on the seats under the deck rail
trying to forget where I was! I have started to use wrist bands that
press on to a vein in the wrist and seem to reduce the effect of
motion sickness. I used these on the air journey to Cairns, on the
train to Karunda and on the Skyrail Cableway and, of course, on
"Trinity Bay". As far as I am concerned, they work!
My wife and I had intended to visit Cairns for some time so started
to think of combining this sea trip with a visit to Cairns itself and
this took place between the 27th August and 8th September 2008. We
flew to Cairns on Wednesday 27th August and used the Thursday to
visit a local mountain town of Kuranda via railway and returning on
the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway from which extensive views can be had
of the rainforest and the environs. A bus then returns visitors to
their hotels in Cairns.
On the Friday, we took a cab to the Seaswift Wharf on the Trinity
Inlet at Cairns to board the "Trinity Bay" The name comes from the
bay on which Cairns stands and other ships of the fleet are named for
other bays around Queensland. Seaswift has a number of ships that
support local fishing fleets and collect catches in refrigerated
containers for collection by "Trinity Bay" and other vessels to be
taken to Cairns. Supplies for the fishing fleet support vessels are
also brought out by these vessels.
This is not a flashy "Liner" type operation with white-coated
stewards serving the passengers' needs! Service is excellent and
friendly and the crew are seen in jeans and shorts with uniform
fluorescent coats and hard hats when working on loading and
unloading. A Purser, a lady, looks after the passengers, guiding them
on and off the vessel at wharves to ensure that no one strays into
the path of loading vehicles or containers. Food is plentiful and
very good - self-service being the serving method with ample space
for seating and eating. A separate lounge on the ship allows
passengers to watch TV or videos or just read. On the starboard side,
when leaving the dining area, is a TV screen plugged into the ship's
navigation system that shows where the ship is with an arrow showing
its intended course and which can be enlarged or reduced to give a
wider or closer view of the area through which the ship is
travelling.
We had a cabin on the same deck as the dining area and cabins vary
between those with and without en suite facilities. Some cabins are
on the next deck down. En suite facilities are usually booked to
those making the full five-day round trip. Several passengers were
making the trip to Seisia only, so that they could then join a tour
that would take them down Cape York by road - others do the reverse
and join the ship at Seisia. One couple had their four wheel drive
with them and off loaded at Seisia to drive themselves home - to
Melbourne!
Before departure, the Purser told us how the ship operated where
passengers were concerned and during this talk, pointed to a red
freighter passing and told us it was the "opposition" - this was
"Pacific Discovery" and we had met a guest at our hotel who was
waiting for a taxi to go on that ship whilst we awaited our taxi to
take us to the Seaswift wharf. That vessel only takes a few
passengers, however.
Departing at about 3.00pm on the Friday, we left Cairns Trinity Inlet
and headed up the channel to the sea lane inshore of the Great
Barrier Reef. After leaving the Cairns Channel, we dropped the pilot
who then returned to Cairns. This reduces some of the sea movement
but there is still a swell and gaps in the reef are noticeable by
their effect on the ship's motion! We travelled overnight to reach
Lloyd Bay (Lockhart River) in the mid morning of Saturday where we
met the landing craft "Wadjemup" and off loaded some cargo to her.
The landing craft have the usual front ramp that allows them to
unload on river banks using a fork lift truck to get the containers
ashore. On our return from the Islands, we again called into Lloyd
Bay "to collect the empties", sort of thing!
Watching the loading and unloading is interesting. People are usually
familiar to different degrees with containers. They are now a
universal way of carrying goods between towns, cities and countries
all round the world. However, moving the containers is something
about which few people need to know. Watching the unloading, I saw
the frame placed on the container and then slacked off by the crane
operator and then lifted, with the container attached, to its next
location. The frame had "The Sniper" painted on it and talking to the
Captain on one occasion, he said that the crew had done that since it
could creep up on the unwary if you did not keep an eye on it. It is
officially a cell frame. However, I noticed that when it was on a
container to be lifted, the crane operator lowered the chains and a
thin wire in the middle had what looked like a luggage label halfway
down! When this "label" got to the cell crossbar, the chain was
raised and at the same time, a locking device locked the cell to the
container and then whole was lifted from the deck. When loading a
container, once it was in place on its stands, the same happened but
this time, the movement unlocked the cell so that when lifted off, it
left the container in place and the cell frame could be moved to the
next container. On the ends of the cell frame, the frame has "Open"
at each end and the end cross bars have "Closed". A metal arrow turns
with the locking motion and points to the appropriate position so
that the crane operator can see the status of the locking system.
Beyond Lloyd Bay, we continued north and by morning were in the
area of the Torres Strait Islands. We actually went round the outside
of the islands, past Wednesday, Hammond and Good Islands, picking up
the Pilot who then took us past Thursday Island to moor at Horn
Island wharf. Unloading then started with some of the cargo being
unloaded on to landing craft of the Seaswift fleet which had their
ramps down on the harbour foreshore. "Malu Titan" and "Malu Warrior"
were the two in the wharf area whilst "Malu Chief" moored alongside
"Trinity Bay".
During these operations, the tug "Cossack" that had assisted "Trinity
Bay" into the wharf, was now seen bringing a ramp ("Comal") into Horn
Island Wharf area, later taking it towards Thursday Island with a van
on the ramp.
The passengers who had opted for a tour of Horn Island now
disembarked to join two Toyota Coasters from Gateway Torres Strait
Resort and the tour commenced. Vanessa SeeKee was our driver, her
husband driving the other tour bus. Vanessa is the curator of the
Torres Strait Heritage Museum on Horn Island and is passionate about
ensuring that the Island's effort in the Second World War is not
forgotten or overlooked. Grants have been obtained to improve the
remains of gun emplacements and slit trenches used by the Forces on
Horn Island during the war and several wrecks of aircraft have been
found since the war and preserved either in site or at the museum.
After the tour, a visit was made to the museum which is part of the
Gateway Torres Strait Resort. Since the ship was still unloading, we
were taken to a ferry at Horn Island wharf and transferred to
Thursday Island where we took another guided tour conducted by Sue
Peddell who drove our coach, this time a full size modern Denning
design. This again included the local museum at Green Hill Fort where
Sue opened the doors of the museum for us. After the tour, we were
set down in the town close to the Post Office where we were due to
meet the Purser from the ship to re-embark once it arrived from Horn
Island. Some of the passengers also chose to visit a local pearl shop
that had opened for us and enjoyed learning about the old Pearl
Industry in the Islands. We reboarded the boat about 6.00pm, ready
for our evening meal but loading was not complete until about 11.00pm
when we then started to make the journey to Cape York and the Seisia,
the port for Bamaga, where we arrived about 1.30am. Needless to say,
we were in bed by this time and only heard some noise of the engines
when we were manoeuvring alongside at Seisia.
The Monday morning at Seisia found the ship busily unloading - one
of the containers being especially interesting to two of the
passengers since they had their four wheel drive in it ready for them
to depart on their trip down the Cape York peninsula leading
eventually to Melbourne. Fourteen other passengers left the ship to
join the Oz Tours trip down Cape York to Cairns whilst a similar
number joined us from the Oz Tours coach having come up the Cape York
peninsula. They then had the "easy" trip back on "Trinity Bay" via
its "Marine Highway"!
The ship was partly unloaded on the starboard side to allow the
gangway to be rigged and passengers were then able to leave the ship
including those who wanted to have about an hour ashore in Seisia. We
went ashore and had a look around the township, looking at the garage
- maps were useful to buy there - the supermarket and then the shop
at the resort. Here, postcards could be purchased that showed the
area so much better than one could show it from one's own photographs
so a set were bought for our album of the holiday.
Returning to the ship in time for lunch, the afternoon was passed
watching the loading and unloading and being impressed with the
expertise of the crane operator and the crew. The landing craft
"Kestrel Bay" was alongside on the port side and later in the
afternoon she left to deliver her quota of cargo to other
communities. A catamaran yacht then came alongside and it was said
that she was to be taken aboard since her owner needed to get to
Cairns as soon as possible and this was one way of getting the yacht
to follow him quickly! The crew of "Trinity Bay" quickly boarded the
yacht and fitted the cables to it ready for loading much quicker than
the yacht's owner could even think of doing it! The yacht was loaded
and parked on old tyres on the deck of the ship and quickly secured
in place.
We left Seisia during the evening, headed for Cairns again.
However, the following day we called into Lloyd Bay to "collect the
empties" from our outward trip, I suppose. This was done in a windy
environment and with choppy seas and one container brought aboard
would not lock into a forward position and was placed in an
alternative place on the ship - the only time I noted this happening
during the voyage. The crew were experts at loading and unloading and
never seemed to be beaten by bad weather until now. Nevertheless, the
container was locked in place successfully and this despite having to
take the load around the yacht filling a large space on the ship's
deck.
We continued on an uneventful trip back to Cairns, arriving there at
about 3.00pm on Wednesday 5th September, virtually five days exactly
since we left. A thoroughly enjoyable and educational trip in most
unique circumstances to places that one would rarely have the
opportunity to see. Our thanks to Seaswift and the entire crew of
"Trinity bay".