Nelson's flagship aids adventurer
The Mystery set sail in 1854: Pic Royal Cornwall Museum
A piece of Britain's most famous warship is being used to help recreate an historic voyage.
Sailor and adventurer Pete Goss has bought a piece of Nelson's 18th Century flagship HMS Victory and turned it into a chart table for his new craft.
The 36ft (11m) Spirit of Mystery will also incorporate parts of the Cutty Sark and the SS Great Britain when it sets sail to Australia.
Goss is recreating the journey of a Cornish lugger more than 150 years ago.
Seven Cornishmen made the journey to Melbourne in the wooden vessel Mystery to escape poverty and seek out a new life during the Australian gold rush.
It is a four-foot long piece of ash beam from the Victory, which we sliced up
Pete Goss
Leaving Newlyn in November 1854, the Mystery travelled about 11,800 nautical miles in 116 days before arriving in Melbourne in March 1855.
The only break in the voyage was a week in Cape Town for repairs and replenishment.
A log entry from 6 March 1855 said: "A terrific gale of wind, heaviest so far experienced.
"Our gallant little boat rides the mountains of sea remarkably well. Not shipping any water, dry decks fore and aft.
"I am confident she is making better weather than a great many ships would, if here."
Of the seven Cornish sailors to set sail, five returned home.
Local wood
The Mystery was used as a pilot boat for 14 years until it was wrecked off Queensland.
Goss, 45, who is building his replica craft at a boatyard in Cornwall, hopes to set off in October from the port of Newlyn, where the original Mystery departed.
Oak from local woodlands has also been used to build the boat for the adventure, which Goss said began "with an idea and a chainsaw".
Goss became an MBE after rescuing a fellow race competitor
The chart table also contains a piece of one of Victory's thousands of copper rivets and will be used by Goss to plot his way across the world.
"It is a four-foot long piece of ash beam from the Victory, which we sliced up and turned into the chart table," said Goss.
Part of the rigging from Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain is also being used.
Goss became an MBE in 1997 for the dramatic rescue of a fellow competitor in a round-the-world race.
In December 2000 he made world headlines again when he and his crew were evacuated from the 120ft-long, £4m catamaran Team Philips in an Atlantic storm.
Devon-born Goss who now lives in Torpoint, Cornwall, said the project was something he had wanted to do since he heard about the voyage of the Mystery.
He is hoping to launch Spirit of Mystery in June.
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