Mavis had been built by M.M. Creese in 1937 and Mr Domeney had ordered a new 8-metre yacht from their Battery Point boatyard - he later named the yacht, Erica J, after his daughter, Erica June. Jock set sail out of Hobart on Monday, March 15 and the yacht was reported to have arrived "in excellent shape" on Sunday March 21. Another adventurous delivery was on Mistral II, which was his first big sale of a boat as a broker. She was sold on behalf of Mr Fitz-Evans, to Jack Paine, who now runs a marina in New Town Bay, Hobart. Both Jack and Jock were in the crew that brought her back to Tasmania in 1952. She was given a new mast and the deck sheathed in Burma teak: "Under her four lower sails we bolted down the New South Wales coast in a moderate westerly gale towards Eden. We passed Gabo Island with the wind now a light W-NW, which persisted until we had Gabo Island some thirty miles astern. At this point the westerly came through again with a vengeance, boosting our speed up to a constant 10 knots across Bass Strait, the seas were becoming very ugly. "From time to time the "old lady" would knock-down, causing bilge-water to shoot up behind the saloon lining and on to the lee berths despite our efforts on the pump to counter it. We were greatly relieved to edge up towards the Tasmanian coast and enjoy our first meal since losing sight of the Victorian coast. "As we approached the mouth of the Derwent River, we were surrounded by a school of whales, fortunately in a playful mood with their young. At this time, we were four and half days out from Sydney and leisurely proceeding under power towards Hobart." Also in the fifties he delivered theyacht Mavourneen to Melbourne when she struck a whale crossing Bass Strait. Fortunately no damage was done and they arrived at their destination intact. Mavourneen was bought by George Fincham who subsequently owned the yawl Palana and then the ex-cray vessel James Leigh. In June 1957 came Jock's first Tasman crossing in a 45-foot fishing vessel the Pendella, which had been built on Tasmania's North-West Coast. She had made one abortive attempt of the crossing when, about a hundred miles out, she was diverted to Hobart and Muir's boatyard for repairs by her skipper, former Royal Naval officer, John Kennedy of Devonport, (who has since built Delphis). Pendella was built by Rozema Bros. of Devonport and was to be delivered to Otakau Fisheries of Port Chalmers, New Zealand. On the second attempt, Jock skippered her with the crew of brother Wal, Barry Croft and Mac Forster, who subsequently delivered her safely to Port Chalmers, Dunedin via Milford Sound.