1925 Replica of Joshua Slocum's Spray: One Man's Boat

Joshua Slocum is justly famous for being the first man to make a solo world -- covering more than 46,000 miles between April, 1895, and June, 1898 -- but his yacht, the gaff-rigged ketch, Spray, is equally famous.

Since Slocum included plans for the yacht in his best-selling book Sailing Alone Around the World in 1899, hundreds of Sprays have been built in dozens of countries.

Now a piece of that history is for sale with the 100-year-old Huon pine replica, Spray of the Coral Coast, looking for a new owner.

The current owner, Randall Barrington, doesn’t want to sell the yacht but his oncologist has ordered him ashore after recent radiation treatment for cancer.

"My heart says I should keep her but my head says I should obey the doctor," Barrington told BoatPoint.

This Spray wasn't built from the plans in Slocum's book. A Melbourne businessman, a Mr Shaw of the company Harvey Shaw and Drake, went down to the original yacht when she was moored at St Kilda in 1896 during her circumnavigation and obtained a copy of her lines from Slocum himself.

Shaw had the keel laid at JB Jones Shipyard on the Maribyrnong River in 1908 but economic circumstances and World War I delayed the yacht's launch, as the 35ft Spray II, until 1925. The only significant difference from the original was the fitting of an auxiliary engine (Slocum, a hugely experienced skipper of sailing ships, made his circumnavigation without any engine). The hull and most of the deck and coachhouse were made from Huon pine, then (and now) acknowledged as the finest boat-building timber in the world.

Until his death, Shaw kept the boat on a mooring at Hobsons Bay in Port Phillip Bay. After his death the boat passed on to K.B. Johnson who kept her at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club until a gale blew her into the pier in late 1947. The boat was taken to the JJ Savage & Sons shipyard at Williamstown and repairs commenced, including extending her on-deck length to 45ft.

For unknown reasons, the renovation project stalled and the yacht was still up on the hard when Johnson died in 1957. Jack Reid bought the vessel from Johnson’s estate the following year for 850 pounds and an extra 100 pounds for the 30hp diesel engine Johnson had intended to install. After 10 years out of the water, all the boat’s seams had opened up and her interior had been stripped.

Reid, a carpenter and master builder found the hull, frames and the deck were sound but he had to spend six months raking out all the seams in the hull planks and the decking timbers before he could recaulk the lot with thick cotton yarn and caulking compound.

He also modified the deckhouse and partially enclosed the cockpit with a small wheelhouse. The yacht was re-launched in the summer of 1962 and over the next 25 years went through a number of owners, including Reg and Thelma Roberts who lived aboard from 1968 to 1977, and Colin and July Wrigley who traded as "Vintage Voyages" from 1984 to 1986. Later that year she was sold to Bob and Betty Dack and put to work as a charter yacht on the Gippsland Lakes.

The yacht’s current owners, Randall and Diane Barrington, bought the yacht in 2006 and Diane, along with her 15-year-old son and two extra crew, sailed her from the Gippsland Lakes to Bundaberg in Queensland.

The Barringtons spent three years renovating the boat to her current high standard and, after renaming her Spray of the Coral Coast, put her to work as a charter vessel on the Burnett River.

The yacht is now in Queensland 1E commercial maritime survey and licenced to carry 35 passengers and three crew on passages in enclosed waters.

Below, she has berths for seven, a full head, a stainless steel galley and a large and comfortable saloon. The partially-enclosed cockpit has comfortable seating for up to ten guests.

She is still a gaff-rigged ketch but the addition of a roller furling headsail makes getting underway an easier task than it was in Slocum’s day. The yacht is fitted with a Nissan four-cylinder 90hp diesel.

Spray of the Coral Coast is now believed to be the oldest Spray replica sailing in Australia and possibly the world.

A full out-of-water Marine Surveyor’s report, made for an insurance valuation in October 2010, is available.

"She is in fantastic condition and more than capable of being sailed to Sydney or back to Melbourne," Barrington said. "With her wide beam and long keel, she is wonderfully comfortable at sea and rides easily through any chop or waves."

Spray of the Coral Coast has been reduced to $285,000 and is for sale through David Bray Yachts, Pittwater.