Cape Flattery

From Lizard Island it was a motor sail to Cooktown, passing enroute, Cape Flattery the silica sand export facility. Good to see the wharf still in tact. I haven't been to Flattery since leaving Cairns in 2005. There was one ship waiting at anchor as we passed by.



I guess after 14 years not many of the 'faces' who were there when I went to Flattery, would still be there.Times change , people move on. The 182 pilotages I executed at Cape Flattery are still to this day, the most exhilarating and satisfying of any of the several thousand I have done.
 No tugs, just wind and current ,the ships anchor ,the ships engine, a single propeller, my brain and the foresight of  Capt Paul Matthews, whose conceptual idea came to fruition in 1987 and is still functioning as envisaged.
Prior to the construction of the wharf, ships would anchor in the bay on the northern side of Cape Flattery and load the silica sand by barge.This meant having to heave anchor and shift to deeper and deeper anchorages as the loading progressed and the ships draft increased. The construction of the wharf on the southern ( weatherside) of the Cape, reduced the loading time by many days as well as increasing the shipment size and consequently the size of the ship.

Another successful berthing at Cape Flattery in progress (1997). A wharf strategically positioned
across the prevailing wind and current to allow berthing ships up to 190m without tugs.
See that sand in the background- that is the cargo!
photo courtesy of Capt John Foley

A trip down memory lane for both of us, as my current trusty crew Peter, was also instrumental in the beginnings of this wharf, having been there from the conception to executing some of the first pilotages at this facility. Peter still vividly remembers the day when he and Paul took a ship from the northern anchorage around to the vicinity of where the wharf now stands and convinced the ships Master to allow them to get in close enough to the land, to trial an anchor manoeuvre and test the strength and direction of the current . These days such research is carried out on a ship simulator. It was a brave ships Master who allowed them to do this, a glance at the chart excerpt shows the depths decrease rapidly from 14m to 5m and less, just the other side of where the leads now exist, and this is a lee shore when the weather conditions are actually  perfect berthing.

This place is remote. It is a 50 minute  flight from Cairns in a twin Cessna landing on a dirt strip, 120nm from Cairns by sea, and 440 odd km (7-8 hrs driving) by road in a  4WD from Cairns.

It  looks beautiful, the water looks inviting, but when I was there, the wharf supervisor had a laminated A4 set of photos of some of the wildlife that shares the facility. A croc sunning its self under the conveyor belt, sharks caught by the employees on their days off, a python hanging the full length of a toilet cubicle, and my favourite,other than the croc, was the shot of a python with a half swallowed baby wallaby in its jaws.

 I would tell the Captain swimming not allowed, and Will or Wayne,  the supervisors, would quite often have the photos with them when they arrived after the berthing, just to reinforce the concept of the crew staying on board.

So the morning was well and truly taken care of, coffee, kit kats as we continued south towards Cooktown,and  reminiscing about the buzz (of the occasionally heart in mouth type) that berthing a ship at Cape Flattery can give, which honestly, only those who have done it, can appreciate.

this photo is taken from a CF web page as I haven't got any of mine  with me at time of writing 

A steady 5.2 kts, using both a motor and then  eventually about mid morning under sail, had us arriving in Cooktown at 1530.

We anchored in a massively deep 2.3m of water  on sand and went ashore for the evening, after ensuring we were snug.