Volunteer Voices – Richard Polden

When did you start volunteering and how did it come about?

It goes back to 1998. The Sunday Times Magazine sent me to do a three-page article on the Leeuwin II, and I’d already sailed on the Endeavour — that’s the book that came out in 1994, photographing the voyage from Fremantle to London. There’s actually a copy in the Saloon today.

I came back in 2000 with some copies of the book and went down to the wharf to see if I could sell a few. I got talking to Tonya McCusker, who said come and sit next to the ship. She asked me to sign some copies, I kept coming back with more, and we sold quite a few books between us.

Why do you volunteer?

After that I got on board whenever I could — day sails, voyages, anything going. I’ve always felt completely safe with the skills of the crew on the Leeuwin. I love sailing on tall ships and taking photos, so I found myself climbing aloft with my gear more than once, and jumping into the rescue boat during MOB drills to get shots of our Beautiful Blue from a distance. There was one memorable day we drifted out in the fizz boat trying to get it started — but we got there in the end.

My first voyage was Albany to Esperance, with a research voyage.

What’s your favourite memory at sea?

Malcolm Hay and his stories. Malcolm was on the Recherche Archipelago voyage in the early 2000s, and sitting with him at sea, listening to those Catalpa stories — I realised how lucky I was to spend that time with him. That’s the kind of thing you don’t forget.