THE Notorious, a replica 15th century Portugese caravel, dropped anchor in Raby Bay Harbour, Cleveland on Friday.
The ship proved to be a major drawcard for the Redlands as hundreds of people turned out to welcome it to local waters.
The Notorious was greeted on Friday morning with performances by Quandamooka Dancers, from North Stradbroke Island, in front of a more than 300-strong crowd.
The replica of the 500-year-old ship was also popular with a colourful band of little pirates, who eagerly boarded the museum ship to inspect its treasures.
The idea of building a replica 15th century caravel came to Victorian resident Graeme Wylie when he wondered how to use 300 tonnes of Monterey cypress piled in his backyard.
Mr Wiley, an experienced carpenter, spent two years researching the ship’s design, which was once used for coastal exploration.
With no archaeolgical evidence of the boat ever unearthed, Mr Wiley instead consulted historic maps, charts and paintings with images of the vessel to draw the blueprint.
Mr Wiley’s wife Felicite said more than 13,000 nautical miles had been charted by the Notorious since its launch from Victorian waters at Port Fairy six years ago, following its ten-year build.
“Circumstance and Graeme's ingenuity, genius and tenacity, not to mention skill and determination, have resulted in this amazing ship,” she said.
This was the second time a noteworthy boat had visited Raby Bay in the past year-and-a-half.
The Dying Gull stopped for a short visit about 18-months-ago during the filming of the movie Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales, which was shot in south-east Queensland waters.
The Notorious’ visit was supported by Redland City Council as part of its tourism and events strategies to bring more people to the Redlands and activate spaces.
Redland City mayor Karen Williams said the Notorious was “quite an amazing sea-going museum, a full-sized wooden sailing recreation of a 1480s Portuguese or Spanish caravel and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere”.
The Notorious is moored at the public pontoon in Raby Bay Harbour and is open to the public daily between 10am and 4pm until Sunday, January 22. Entrance into the vessel is $5 per adult and $2 per child.
For more information about the Notorious, visit facebook.com/notorioustheship.