‘Notorious’ is a full-scale replica of a 15th century Portuguese caravel, one of the first truly ocean-worthy vessels that precipitated the European ‘Age of Discovery’, as this particular model allowed Portuguese pioneers to chart routes around Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean.

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The ship’s builder, Graeme Wylie, and his wife, Felicite, actually live onboard, and have done so for more than ten years.

“She was built as a ship, and has become our home since launching in 2011 from Port Fairy in south-western Victoria,” Felicite told NOTA.

“The ship is built from a Californian timber that came to Australia via Scottish shepherds in New Zealand in the 1800s, and was grown as a windbreak in southern states; now farmers doze and burn the trees in 100s of tonnes per year.

“Graeme looked into the wasted timber, from which he made beautiful furniture, and when he realised it was great boat-building timber, the 300-or-so logs in the yard finally found a use.

“She is a beautiful ship to live on, a living area below deck is very comfortable, and when we stop at a port, we open it to visitors for a small fee that helps to maintain her,” Felicite explained.

While definitely not a pirate ship, despite many land-lubbers’ assumptions, Notorious echoes the ‘Mahogany Ship’, a semi-mythical wreck off the coast of Warrnambool, which fuels the ‘Portuguese discovery of Australia’ theory, 200 years before Captain Cook.

The Notorious is currently sailing north back to Queensland, from her first South Coast summer in seven years, and visited Shellharbour, Batemans Bay and Broken Bay, resting near Forster for the first week of March.

The weather issues encountered along the way are another story, however, as Felicite and Graeme have noticed a lot of changes from ten years ago, most likely attributable to global warming effects.

By Thomas O’KEEFE