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This clip shows crew members aboard the Cheynes 2, a steam-powered ex-whaling vessel, on a scientific expedition. The ship is sailing from remote Heard Island to Albany in Western Australia. The captain, Laurie McEwan, is interviewed and describes the achievement of rigging the ship with makeshift sails after the fuel ran out. Photographs from the deck of another ship show Cheynes 2 under sail, and the voice-over describes how the photographs are an important documentary record. The clip includes sound effects and music.

Educational value points

• The clip provides documentary evidence of a modern ship completing its journey rigged with sails after its fuel resources ran out. The journey of Cheynes 2 from Heard Island to Albany demonstrates the ingenuity and skill of her crew in adapting their vessel to sail. The crew used tattered tarpaulins for sails and salvaged materials to make crossbars; the resulting skeleton ship sailed about 1,370 km to Albany. The entire journey, which began in Hobart, Tasmania, was intended to take 6 weeks, but actually took 12 weeks, and on the return to port the ship was declared a wreck.

• Still photographs of Cheynes 2 towards the end of the clip demonstrate the important role that photography can play in documentary filmmaking. When moving images are not available, still photographs can work well to capture moments, provide an important historical record of events and, as is the case here, provide a contrast to other footage and a focus for a poignant voice-over.

• Captain Laurie McEwan, the hero of this adventurous voyage, is interviewed in the clip, and his thoughts on the journey are captured. McEwan’s determination and ingenuity enabled the crippled ship to make it back to port and he shares his satisfaction at successfully rigging the ship with sail. However, McEwan admits that he would not undertake such a journey again.

• The clip provides footage of a journey from one of the least visited places on Earth, Australia’s Heard Island. Heard Island is part of a sub-Antarctic island group in the Southern Ocean, 4,100 km south-west of Perth and 1,000 km north of Antarctica. The islands’ isolation and the harsh weather conditions surrounding them have ensured that they are virtually unaltered by human activities, thus providing a rich environment for research into fields such as glaciology and seabird populations.

• Music on a single recorder, as might have been played in the days of sail, is used to support the enforced conversion to sail of Cheynes 2. A crew member is seen playing a harmonica but this is not heard. As the narrative describes the ship as 'one of the most amazing sights in modern times’, full scored orchestral music is used for more dramatic effect.

A group of men set sail on an old steam-powered ship.

Interviewer When you set sail in a steam ship did you ever think you’d end up doing this?

Laurie McEwan No. I certainly didn’t. No. When you’ve got to put a needle in the palm of your hand, a serving mallet, things like that – spicing, ah, it’s just going back to the old sailing ship days, where you’ve got to start using your nut for a while and thinking back 20 years.

Interviewer What sort of feeling has it given you to be able to do this and get us as far as we’ve got with sail?

Laurie Well, it gives you quite a bit of satisfaction in some ways the fact that we’ve actually got so far and we’ve achieved so much. You know, you get a lot of knockers, like, and we’ve proved a point that we can actually sail this vessel.

Interviewer Are you pretty proud of yourself?

Laurie I think we’ve done pretty well actually. We’ve come just on 700 miles and we’ve still got a few miles to go yet.

Interviewer Would you take on a trip again?

Laurie I certainly wouldn’t (laughs).

Narrator ‘Cheynes 2’ is expecting owner, Bob Barnett, to meet her with fuel. He’s bought an old trawler in Albany, but she’s lost in a squall. While ‘Cheynes 2’ sends up flares, Bob and his trawler ‘Saxon Onward’ can’t see them. And there’s another problem – there’s to be no fuel, but a tow. But suddenly, there she is. A welcome sight. And from her decks, a crewman with an instamatic camera photographed one of the most amazing sights in modern times.

Photographs from the instamatic camera of the old steam-powered ship sailing in the waters.

Narrator These pictures, the only ones in existence, show a vessel never built for sailing under the incredible canvas that brought her 855 miles without power – a record for a steamer.