Designed and built by Sidney Wilson at Port Cygnet, Tasmania in 1927 the elegant 30-foot (9.1 m.) timber motor launch Alice May was built from a variety of Tasmanian timbers, including pine varieties: Huon, Celery Top, Kauri, Baltic & King Billy, and Blue Gum. The Kauri ship’s wheel was made by Viv Innes for the Tasmanian trading ketch, HUON CHIEF, which was burnt at Constitution Dock, Hobart in 1938.

Named after Miss Alice May Marsh, a friend of Sidney Wilson’s wife, Frances, the vessel was also referred to as a ‘Sunday boat’ and used for weekend recreation.

The MV Alice May remained in Tasmania for eighty years. It was sold  in 2007, sailed to Sydney, and moored at the Ku-Ring-Gai Motor Yacht Club at Cottage Point until it was resold around 2020. Prior to this, I was invited by Alice May’s previous owner to visit the vessel.

We sailed from Bobbin Head on the majestic Hawkesbury River, to Akuna Bay for lunch, and discuss what would eventually become my first series of marine art commissions.

Coincidentally, my late-Mother, Barbara’s middle names were ‘Alice’ and ‘May’. Born in 1924, Barbara was a similar vintage to the lovely Alice May. Perhaps that’s why I felt a kinship for this lovely old vessel, and delighted to be invited to paint her!