The Last Voyage of the Duchess

The "Herzogin Cecilie" flew before the wind; she was considered the fastest windjammer of her day. Launched by Rickmers boatyard in 1902, the four-masted training barquentine carried saltpeter from Chile and wheat from Australia to Europe. She won the "great grain race" between Down Under and Europe a total of eight times for her Finnish owner Gustaf Erikson. In 1936, she completed the voyage between Wallaroo in South Australia and the English port of Falmouth in just 86 days. But she was never to make it back to her home port. Leaving Falmouth in rough seas and a dense fog, she ran into cliffs and started taking on water. The barque's last trip was also the honeymoon of captain Sven Erikson and his new bride, journalist and writer Pamela Bourne. Under the watchful eye of the international press, they undertook incredible efforts to save the ship.