Category: Events

Events such as historical events, races, exhibitions, processions, regattas and so on.

Viking ship sets sail to America

Viking ship sails for America via Iceland and Greenland

Reproduction Viking ship Draken Harald Hårfagre has set sail for North America via Iceland and Greenland, and we can follow its progress here and on this Facebook page.

Great good luck to them. This will be an amazing and challenging trip, of course, and the crew will experience conditions few of us could face and will be far from any sort of quick rescue.

We live in very different times and it’s striking that this voyage will in some ways be different those experienced by the Vikings, and for good safety reasons. The skipper and crew have waited for a suitable weather window – in an open boat, you would. Modern weather forecasting must be a huge blessing.

Also I gather the ship is only permitted to carry 30 crew, not the 100 it would have had in the Viking era – which means she cannot be rowed in the way the Viking forefathers did, and so is motorised.

Still, I can’t imagine there’s a red-blooded sailor alive that wouldn’t love to spend some time sailing a craft like that – particularly if (like me) they have good reason to believe the Vikings were among their ancestors…

Do you want to see the sailing? See below!

For St George’s Day – a poem found hanging on the wall of the Naval and Military Club, Southend on Sea

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The Little Boats of England

The little boats of England, the little motor boats,
The little penny steamers, from Land’s End to John o’ Groats
Thre Brighton Belle, the Margate Queen, the Vigilant, the Lark,
The Saucy Jane, the Gracie Fields, even a Noah’s Ark,
Picked up their country’s message, that our backs were to the wall,
There is danger, there is danger, will you answer to the call?
Francis Drake, Collingwood and Nelson of the Nile,
Were on their quarter decks again, you should have seen them smile,
When all the little boats pulled out, from Dover to Dunkirk
To bring the British Army home, that was the job of work;
For how they performed their fearful task, the epic of those days
The history books will tell our sons, but let us sing their praise
And as they lie at anchor, from Newcastle to Poldhu,
With their battle scars upon them and with pennants red and blue
We say to them with grateful hearts, and voice that’s like to break
Lord Nelson would be proud of you; so would Sir Francis Drake.

By Ivor Back, 1940

 

 

 

National Historic Ships flagship awards go to MV Balmoral, the shortboat Kennet, and the sailing smack Excelsior

National Historic Ships UK has announced its seventh flagship awards including two regional awards:

  • MV Balmoral for an outstanding and extensive UK programme. The recently-formed MV Balmoral Fund Ltd submitted an extensive and very well presented public UK–wide coastal cruising programme ranging from Scotland, through North Wales and the Bristol Channel and the South coast, round to London

Regional flagship awards have been made to:

  • the shortboat Kennet, in recognition of an intensive programme of visits within the Shipshape Mersey Network, focusing on the Leeds-Liverpool canal. In view of the exemplary quality of this application, the judges decided to make an exceptional award of £350
  • the sailing smack Excelsior, in recognition of her 2016 Shipshape East Anglia programme, which extends across the North Sea and the South coast of England, and even Newfoundland

The new regional awards are intended to be a recognition that not all vessels have the capacity to sail around the UK and abroad, but may still be undertaking a worthwhile programme of public events and raising awareness of historic vessels and our maritime heritage.

The criteria still require vessel owners to demonstrate seasonal programmes that engage with the public through festivals, demonstrations, offering on-board cruises, quayside visits, educational programmes, participation in races and similar activities, and flagships are expected to promote National Historic Ships UK.

The National Flagship of the Year receives £500 to spend on the vessel, and the special Flagship Broad Pennant (which has become a feature of the award) to fly at the masthead. The Regional Flagships normally receive £250 to be spent on the vessel, along with a Regional Flagship Broad Pennant.

National Historic Ships UK advises the Department of Culture, Media & Sport and a range of grant giving organisations on priorities for ship conservation and is the official voice for historic vessels in the UK. It maintains the National Register of Historic Vessels, which lists over a thousand significant historic vessels.