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The Alma Doepel first went to sea less than a week after the Wright Brothers’ first air flight, in December 1903. She was surveyed and registered in Sydney, and her first few voyages were with timber from Port Macquarie and the Bellinger River to New Zealand. Half-owner was the Mate, George Pettersen, who assumed command on coastal voyages, mainly between the Bellinger and Sydney. But both steamships and particularly the railway, made inroads into the coastal trades, and in 1916 Alma was sold to Henry Jones & Co, jam makers in Hobart, for about £2,000. WW1’s demand for ships had taken all shipping away, and the jam factory had huge amounts of jam to be carried. To carry jam ships and timber were needed (for boxes). So H. Jones & Co bought up timber yards. In a short time Henry himself was Tasmania’s biggest entrepreneur in jam and timber, and Alma was part of the Jam Fleet. (In later years the now restored James Craig was its biggest vessel.) Alma then spent about half her time carrying timber to the mainland, especially to Melbourne. On her first Bass Strait trip she carried piles for the harbour at Portland. The new captain was `Flash’ Harry Heather, half-owner with H. Jones & Co. There was a lot of sense in this sharing arrangement, for both parties. Registered in Hobart, the local Hobart Mercury mentioned Alma probably more than any other ship in Australia has ever been reported; Alma due in Hobart; Alma delayed; due in tomorrow, and this could go on for a week before she arrived. She would unload her glass bottles (for tomato sauce) and jam jars, her explosives, and her bags of Victorian wheat, and other assorted goods, then load a modicum of timber brought in by smaller ketches. This `hardening’ of bottom weight was essential in any sailing vessel. She would then sail from Hobart for an outport (probably just a timber mill with a rickety wharf), load fully there, and back to the mainland. This she continued to do until in 1942 she was requisitioned by the Army. Harry Heather was taken off the ship, to hospital, on arrival in Hobart in November 1937, where he died. He had nursed his ship for 21 years. He was at once succeeded by Eric Driscoll, who similarly took no risks with the ship, for many years.
Last modified: August 5, 2010
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