The Klaraborg...
Not Pretty, but Pretty Legendary
Some specs to start with:
Built in: the 1850's (I've also read 1860)
Length overall: 120 ft
Length on deck: 80 ft
Beam: 22.5 ft
Draft: 8.5 ft
Masts: 85 ft
Sail Area: 4,500 sq. ft
In 1971, having made grand plans for their World Safari, and having made it all the way from Adelaide to Darwin, Alby and John Field decided to stop there and make a movie called Darwin Safari. No, just kidding. Wondering what to do next, Alby found an article in a magazine about the oldest ship still sailing around the world - the Klaraborg - and it needed crew. With some considerable stuffing around, they managed to find the ship at Ballina (or thereabouts), and after being put to work for a week, labouring day and night, only then were they invited to join the crew - eight men and eight girls (three Swedes, two English, two French, one American, one Canadian and seven Aussie slobs). Their destination was the Pacific Islands.
Prior to this the Klaraborg had been resurrected by a couple of Swedes, having been submerged in water. Previously a Swedish collier, it had been left to deteriorate, but not for too long obviously. Anyhow, sailing out of Sydney heads, Alby and John got their first rude shock of the trip - that's when they discovered sailing takes no prisoners (especially in bad weather)! It took 32 days at sea to reach Tonga, at which point two of the chicks bailed out because they couldn't hack the pace. From there they headed to Palmyra - an uninhabited island 6 miles long and half a mile wide, it was used as a U.S Air Force Base during WW II (not to be confused with WS II). To their astonishment there were literally tonnes of machinery and goods - trucks, jeeps, copper cable, tons of fuel, 400-man tents and derelict buildings left to the jungle. Alby's own words: "We rushed from building to building like children in a toy shop, simply not believing anyone could leave so much valuable material behind in their haste to leave the island." Thinking "finders keepers", they repaired the old army trucks, enabling them to transport a large diesel engine onto the Klaraborg to replace the existing, unreliable one! (Well, let's face it the Klaraborg's obviously dated from the 1850's, whereas the "new" one would have been at least late 1930's!) It was fitted later in Hong Kong.
From there they set sail for the Gilbert Islands. I know what you're thinking - surely the Curse of Alby was fully due to strike! One night a gale blew up and a sound like a cannon shot was heard above the roar of the storm - the main gaff had snapped! However, Captain Ova was more than a match for Alby's Curse, having had the foresight to lash a pine tree trunk to the deck before leaving Palmyra. They were able to shape a new spar in the next 24 hours.
But Alby always carries a spare curse, and just when everything was going smoothly they sprang a serious leak, so large that it sucked in a 3 lb fish through the bilge pump, which had to be pumped three-quarters of every hour till they reached port 5 days later.
Postscript: the Swedish journalist Leif Ryding reports that the lady sunk during a hurricane outside Western Australia in 1982 (see full message in the mail section, 14th January, 1998).
Everything you wanted to know about the Klaraborg apart from the contradicting dates regarding when it was buried at sea; and there's no mention of Alby:
https://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/maritime-reports/report-probable-location-schooner-klaraborg