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Read more about the article The sailing ship Lawhill at Newcastle in 1944
Lawhill off the coast of Newcastle, NSW, 1944

The sailing ship Lawhill at Newcastle in 1944

On September 9, 1944, when the veteran four-masted barque Lawhill arrived at Newcastle, NSW, on a trading visit, the city must have responded with excitement. With the world still at war - although by now it was clear the Allies were on the front foot in both Europe against Germany and the Pacific against Japan - the appearance of a big sailing ship would have taken the minds of old-timers back to their youth, when such vessels were regular visitors in the busy harbour. Younger people would have realised too, that this was likely to be…

Continue ReadingThe sailing ship Lawhill at Newcastle in 1944
Read more about the article The German sailor, the tailor’s daughter and the tragic White Wife of Otterswick
The Bertha in full sail. Postcard by Hood, Sydney.

The German sailor, the tailor’s daughter and the tragic White Wife of Otterswick

MAYBE young German sailor Adolf Nordman dreamed of being more than friends with Nellie Shephard, the tailor's pretty young daughter whom he met in the port of Newcastle, NSW, in 1909. His postcards, written in the years before the outbreak of World War I, hint that way. If so, his hopes were unrequited. Nellie became the wife of an Australian artillery officer who fought against Adolf's countrymen in the war, and Adolf's lovely ship, the Bertha, met a terrible end in the Shetland Islands in 1924, where her figurehead now stands on the shore, looking out to sea, and where the local islanders call her the Wooden Wife,…

Continue ReadingThe German sailor, the tailor’s daughter and the tragic White Wife of Otterswick
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