It's been a while since I reported on Schooner Independence, our non-profit project on Kangaroo Island to rebuild the first vessel built in SA - by American sealers in 1803!

A couple of weeks ago we officially opened the new Independence Boathouse on the American River wharf, and just yesterday the adjoining Deck Cafe opened. Please stop by if you're ever on Kangaroo Island and say "hi".

Here's a write-up of the opening day with photos:
blog.arribasail.com/2015/10/cruise-ballast-head-stopover-and-schooner-independence-update.html

Also, if you're interested in supporting our little non-profit, or just want to buy some neat nautical gifts, check out our crowdfunding campaign:
www.chuffed.org/project/independence

Guitz said..
Sounds like a great project and it would be interesting to see the lines of the original independance, being built by American sealers. Is she being built to the original lines?

For a while I had a cray boat that used to fish out of American River in the 50's and later on from Robe. She was called Adria and was built by Axel Stenross from Port Lincoln.

Thanks for sharing the photos.

We hope to make the reconstructed Schooner Independence as authentic as possible. Of course, know one knows for sure exactly what she looked like. I've attached drawings by marine architect Bob Sexton.

I don't suppose you happen to know Tony Klieve? He was another KI cray fisherman from around that time, who used to work out in Investigator Strait. He's now the chairman of Rebuild Independence Group.

Great stuff. a very worthy project.

Yes, the history is very interesting. American sealers and whalers all the way from Connecticut and other places in New England, were down in Southern Australian waters from the early 1800s, three decades before there was even a colony of South Australia. That's why we have places in SA with names like "American River" and "Victor Harbor" (yes, spelled the American way).As for the earlier question, about the timber, we think the original Independence used a mix of American timbers brought with them on Brig Union (the mother ship) plus locally harvested Callitris or "cypress pine" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callitris) which can be found on Kangaroo Island. What timbers we end up using for the reconstruction will depend on what we can get for free. We are a non profit after all .

Hence one more shameless plug for our fundraising campaign!
chuffed.org/project/independence