"Dad's father, William, was a lighthouse keeper in the early l900s at Low Head in Northern Tasmania and later at Maatsuyker Island. He and two of his brothers arrived in Tasmania from England crewing in sailing ships.
"Dad told me how he loved to climb up in the lighthouse tower and gaze out to sea watching a sailing vessel struggling around South West Cape en route to South Australia battling head winds or round the Cape from the west running for Hobart with more favourable winds."
Jock's mother, Elsie died in 1946 in her 54th year. He remembers his mother used to crew on the old keel yacht Janet which is still sailing out of Woodbridge Bay.
"As I have said, Dad instilled a love of the sea in us children - me, my brothers Max, Wallace and Don and sister Bessie. From the time Max and I began cadet dinghy racing in the late l920s, Dad was a constant observer and critic from his Battery Point 'lookout' in Colville Street which benefitted our performance immensely! "
Ernie Muir sailed with Harry Batt in the first division yacht Weene and also with Perce Coverdale in Ninie. He was also in the crew of Westward when she won the 1947 Sydney-Hobart race and Westwind when she won the 1938 Bruny Island race.
"Dad told me how he loved to climb up in the lighthouse tower and gaze out to sea watching a sailing vessel struggling around South West Cape en route to South Australia battling head winds or round the Cape from the west running for Hobart with more favourable winds."
Jock's mother, Elsie died in 1946 in her 54th year. He remembers his mother used to crew on the old keel yacht Janet which is still sailing out of Woodbridge Bay.
"As I have said, Dad instilled a love of the sea in us children - me, my brothers Max, Wallace and Don and sister Bessie. From the time Max and I began cadet dinghy racing in the late l920s, Dad was a constant observer and critic from his Battery Point 'lookout' in Colville Street which benefitted our performance immensely! "
Ernie Muir sailed with Harry Batt in the first division yacht Weene and also with Perce Coverdale in Ninie. He was also in the crew of Westward when she won the 1947 Sydney-Hobart race and Westwind when she won the 1938 Bruny Island race.
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The Natal Queen ashore in Adventure Bay, 1919. Her hull became a total loss. Jock's father, Ernie was in the crew at the time. |