I turn a corner and I am at this stage's half way destination: Darling Harbour. Part of the National
Maritime Museum's Heritage Fleet is located here at Darling Harbour. This is the James Craig.

The barque James Craig was built by Bartram, Haswell & Co. in Sunderland, England in 1874. For 26
years she plied the trade routes of the world carrying general cargoes during which period she
rounded Cape Horn 23 times. In 1911, she was laid up because increasing competition from steam
ships made sailing vessels uneconomical. She was then stripped and used as a copra hulk in New
Guinea. After the First World War there was an acute shortage of cargo ships. This gave James Craig
a new lease of life after being towed from New Guinea to Sydney for re-fitting.

Her return to service was brief because in 1925 she was reduced to a coal hulk at Recherche Bay,
Tasmania. In 1932 she was abandoned and became beached after breaking her moorings in a storm. She
remained beached until 1972 when volunteers from the Sydney Heritage Fleet re-floated her. In 1973
she was towed to Hobart where temporary repairs were carried out. She was towed to Sydney in 1981
and restoration work commenced. The James Craig's restored hull was re-launched in February 1997.

Off Sydney Heads, on a glorious summer day in February 2001, she hoisted all her 21 sails for the
first time in nearly 80 years and is now fully operational.