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Designed and built in Tasmania in 1946 by shipwright Walter Wilson, the ‘Hunter’ was to be Wilson’s last vessel. At his shipyard at Port Cygnet, south of Hobart, blue gum, Tasmanian oak, celery-top and Huon pine grew within sight of the yard and were cut and dragged by bullocks to the slipway.

She has undertaken numerous Australian circumnavigations, tall ships races and holds all necessary GBRMPA permits to operate. Capable of long-term voyaging for 25 people overnight (1B) and 65 for day trips (1D), she is the perfect vessel to lead the fleet. 

The Derwent Hunter has been sailing the sheltered waters of the Whitsunday Islands for over 25 years and is multi award winning for Adventure and Eco Tourism. The Derwent Hunter has been delighting guests by offering traditional sailing, snorkelling, eco interpretation sharing knowledge about the Whitsundays original inhabitants, the Ngaro Aboriginal people, the local ecology & geology. 

Through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) the vessel has also participated in Marine Park research programs ensuring that the reef and islands will be there to enjoy for years to come.

In 1950 the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) purchased the vessel and sent her to Sydney to work as Australia’s first oceanographic research vessel. For 12 years, from 1950 – 1962, she worked under sail roving from Antarctic waters in the Southern Ocean and as far north as Noumea and the outer Pacific basin.

Information collected from Derwent Hunter cruise reports was used as reference material for New Zealand research on whales in the south pacific. Ironically, 40 years later, Derwent Hunter is still contributing data material for whale research by submitting whale sightings through the GBRMPA sightings network during winter. These are then used by scientists to establish migratory patterns of humpback whales along the East Australian coast.

Unlike the idyllic sailing in the Whitsunday waters, back in the 1950’s The Derwent Hunter carried out her research in the stormy southern ocean, Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea. Her hydrographic work included salinity tests plotting the East Australian Current. The Derwent Hunter Sea Mount (Guyut) was discovered by and named after the vessel.  

The sea mount thought to be an extinct volcano that was once above the oceans surface is found 293km ESE of the coast of New South Wales. Sea mounts have a rich seabed fauna characterised by high numbers of species found nowhere else and the presence of large, erect seabed animals including habitat-forming corals and sponges. Some of these are extremely long-lived – hundreds and possibly thousands of years old – making them some of the longest-lived animals on earth.

During her eventful time with CSIRO she had many adventures, twice losing her rudder at sea and successfully piloting safely in to port unaided under sail, a tribute to the remarkable sailing ability of the men who sailed on her and the seaworthiness of the magnificent ship.