Early to Mid 20th Century Decorative Arts Auction
Thursday, 5 - Thursday, 12 October 2023
Historic Maritime Print
Current Bid $60 (11 bids, reserve met)
This lot is now closed 12 Oct 9:28 PM (NZST)
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Lot Details
Historic Maritime Print. Titled “The view along the Main Deck of Parma, 1932-1933, by Alan Villiers. Produced by the “National Maritime Museum” Printed in Great Britain. Measuring 800mm by 600mm. Alan Villiers was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1903, the second son of Australian poet and trade union leader Leon Joseph Villiers. Growing up close to the docks, watching merchant sailing vessels, he developed a lifelong love of the ocean, first going to sea aged 15 as an apprentice on a barque in the Tasman Sea. Villiers worked his way up to able-seaman, but after suffering a temporary injury he decided to become a journalist, working in Tasmania on the Hobart Mercury newspaper. He took six months' leave from his job in 1927 and secured passage to Falmouth, England on the Herzogin Cecilie, the crew of which are pictured here. The ship was challenged to a race by the Swedish barque Beatrice, and won in a 96-day passage during which a female stowaway was discovered. Villiers wrote a book, Falmouth for Orders, during the voyage. Villiers returned to Tasmania after a few months in Europe, and decided to make a documentary with his friend and fellow journalist Ronald Walker recording the last of the great sailing ships. The pair signed on with the Grace Harwar, the last full-rigger in the Australian trade. But the voyage was a harrowing one: Walker was killed in an accident, the second mate had a breakdown, the ship was under-provisioned and the crew developed scurvy. Villiers filmed the whole experience, and also wrote about it in a later book, By Way of Cape Horn, in which he called the Grace Harwar 'a dog with a bad name'
