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Alma Doepel arrived back in Melbourne in February 1988, and many tasks were undertaken to have everything ready for the long-planned Sail Training. The first of many training voyages (limited to Port Phillip) began in July 1988. An office was by then established at Station Pier. Schedules, training procedures, records of applicants, of crew and of volunteers were organised, and an office manager installed. The Alma Doepel Voyagers Club was instituted after that first voyage, and its membership increased with each subsequent trip. The maximum number of trainees on a voyage was 36, with a crew of about eight. The crew consisted of a captain, a 1st and 2nd Mate, an engineer, a few `leading hands’ and most importantly a cook. For hoisting or lowering the sails, for furling or unfurling the square sails the trainees supplied the man- or woman-power. A voyage lasted for nine or ten days, during which the ship would anchor overnight and next day there would be a compulsory plunge overboard before anything else. The daytime would be filled with instruction, with shipboard tasks, boating and general teamwork. The training was not to make nine-day wonder seafarers out of the young participants, but a series of activities that teach self-reliance, initiative, healthy exercise and a realisation that the individual must contribute to the common effort. A few of the trainees would include youth who had fallen foul of the Law. In partnership with Victoria Police two police officers would join the voyage as trainees, as equals with the other trainees. In only nine days every one of the trainees would have become a more mature, venturesome, self-reliant citizen. By 1999 there had been more than a hundred training trips, interspersed with fund-raising day trips for the public, chartered three-or four- hour trips for various organisations, and weekend trips for adults. The last of all training trips was in late 1998. A few half-day outings took place in early 1999, and then the ship’s licence to operate was withdrawn by the Marine Board of Victoria; the ship needed some TLC. Funds ran out, and for far too long she lay idle in Victoria Dock. Intermittently she was visited by a competent supporter, and her equipment checked over. She still sported her full set of sails, her engines needed some maintenance, her pumps still operated, but she was virtually unattended for months, the reason being that even her insurance policies had expired.
Last modified:August 5, 2010
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