At Sea
It is a long-standing superstition of mariners that a ship should not change its name. But if its name is changed several times over, presumably the fates and furies can be confused into acquiescence. Such is our hope as we head out into the North-east Trades to begin our crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from St John's, Antigua to Portsmouth, England wearing the eye-catching new livery of the National Geographic Endeavour, a month after her inaugural voyage. Back in 2001, some of us were on board when she changed her name from the Caledonian Star to Endeavour, in honor of the achievements of Captain Cook who explored in many of the same waters as this ship has done in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. When the British travel company, Noble Caledonia, purchased the ship in 1987 it was a passenger vessel sailing under the name North Star, a name that can still be found on the ship's bell: clearly you cannot entirely eradicate nautical superstition! Prior to 1983, our ship had trawled the gray waters of the north Atlantic, catching prodigious quantities of fish off the Grand Banks for conversion to fishmeal. The FMS Marburg, one of a “University” class of deep-sea factory trawlers, was built in Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1966. It is the coat-of-arms of the German University town of Marburg that are still affixed to the ship's bow. It seems entirely fitting that a ship that began its career by fishing itself out of business is today so sensitive to conservation issues and dedicated to an appreciation of the marine environment.
Antigua was named by Columbus after Santa Maria de la Antigua, the virgin saint of Seville cathedral, from which port he had set sail on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. It is one of the few islands in the Caribbean that is not of volcanic origin being formed mostly of limestone. English Harbour, the highlight of our island tour yesterday, is one of the best natural harbors in the Caribbean and was the headquarters of the British Fleet in the West Indies. From here, Horatio Nelson returned to European waters to wreak havoc on the French navy. His flagship, HMSVictory, is preserved in the Naval Dockyard Museum at Portsmouth, our final destination on this voyage. But that is still almost two weeks away…
It is a long-standing superstition of mariners that a ship should not change its name. But if its name is changed several times over, presumably the fates and furies can be confused into acquiescence. Such is our hope as we head out into the North-east Trades to begin our crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from St John's, Antigua to Portsmouth, England wearing the eye-catching new livery of the National Geographic Endeavour, a month after her inaugural voyage. Back in 2001, some of us were on board when she changed her name from the Caledonian Star to Endeavour, in honor of the achievements of Captain Cook who explored in many of the same waters as this ship has done in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. When the British travel company, Noble Caledonia, purchased the ship in 1987 it was a passenger vessel sailing under the name North Star, a name that can still be found on the ship's bell: clearly you cannot entirely eradicate nautical superstition! Prior to 1983, our ship had trawled the gray waters of the north Atlantic, catching prodigious quantities of fish off the Grand Banks for conversion to fishmeal. The FMS Marburg, one of a “University” class of deep-sea factory trawlers, was built in Bremerhaven, Germany, in 1966. It is the coat-of-arms of the German University town of Marburg that are still affixed to the ship's bow. It seems entirely fitting that a ship that began its career by fishing itself out of business is today so sensitive to conservation issues and dedicated to an appreciation of the marine environment.
Antigua was named by Columbus after Santa Maria de la Antigua, the virgin saint of Seville cathedral, from which port he had set sail on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. It is one of the few islands in the Caribbean that is not of volcanic origin being formed mostly of limestone. English Harbour, the highlight of our island tour yesterday, is one of the best natural harbors in the Caribbean and was the headquarters of the British Fleet in the West Indies. From here, Horatio Nelson returned to European waters to wreak havoc on the French navy. His flagship, HMSVictory, is preserved in the Naval Dockyard Museum at Portsmouth, our final destination on this voyage. But that is still almost two weeks away…
