In the shadow of Chichester - sailor sets off from The Sound, for circumnavigation attempt, on 60th anniversary of history

Yesterday saw the 60th anniversary of the day yachtsman Francis Chichester left Plymouth to make history.

On 27 August 1966 Chichester sailed his ketch Gipsy Moth IV from Plymouth - and returned there after 226 days of sailing, having circumnavigated the globe, with one stop (in Sydney).

By doing so, he became the first person to achieve a true circumnavigation of the world solo from West to East via the great Capes.

The voyage was also a race against the clock, as Chichester wanted to beat the typical times achieved by the fastest fully crewed clipper ships during the heyday of commercial sail in the 19th century.

A memorial plaque commemorates the feat on West Hoe (it's a replacement. The original apparently fell off and was washed away in a storm).

To mark the anniversary, John Passmore set sail from Plymouth Sound at midday - hoping to recreate the circumnavigation.

A flotilla led by the RNLI lifeboat and Cattewater Harbour pilot boat escorted John from Mayflower Marina, along the Hoe and to the Royal Western Yacht Club before he headed for the Breakwater.

(At a reception on Wednesday, Commodore Chris Arscott welcomed John as a new member of the Yacht club and presented him with a Royal Western burgee to fly during his voyage.)

Passmore is a former foreign correspondent, and author of the Old Man Sailing books and blog, and will be writing about his voyage, comparing his experience with Chichester’s book Gipsy Moth Circles the World.

We wish him well - and will monitor his progress.

Defence Secretary visits Devonport

Plymouth will be at the forefront of the transformation of the Royal Navy, said Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, during his first visit to HMNB Devonport.
The minister met with Plymouth companies at the cutting edge of marine autonomy and saw the latest kit, including unmanned surface vehicles and landing craft used by the UK commando forces.
He also heard about the upgrade works scheduled for Devonport under Project Royal Oak, a £26 billion ten-year programme to modernise UK naval infrastructure.
Devonport is being given £7.1 billion over the next decade as part of the defence investment plan – the city was named last year as one of five key national defence growth areas. The dockyard will become home of the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates.
Mr Streeting said the work done at Devonport was “critical to keeping our country safe”, and the investment was ensuring it would “remain at the heart of our naval power for generations to come, and continue to push the frontier of defence innovation.” 

West End Carnival this weekend

A new mural will be a star attraction at this year’s West End Carnival, which takes place on Saturday (August 29).

Renowned mural artist SpraySaint, real name Jordan Lauder, has painted the nature-based mural on the wall of an empty building at the entrance to the Colin Campbell Court car park in Market Avenue.

The Carnival starts at 11am on Saturday August 29 and takes place in the streets around Plymouth Market which are closed for the day to accommodate a packed programme of FREE entertainment and outdoor food and crafts stalls.

The main stage will be on Frankfort Gate but there will be entertainment across the West End and inside Plymouth Market, including live music, dance, Samba bands, circus performers and street food.

Scene on the Sound

By The Captain (Royal Navy retired) - the Beagle's maritime correspondent keeps his eye on the comings and goings in The Sound

The change in the weather brought the Trinity House Vessel Patricia into anchor off Cawsand for a couple of days.  Probably the sea was too rough for her to carry on her usual work of inspecting of servicing buoys and navigational marks. 

Meanwhile the Superyacht Aviva initially left Plymouth and proceeded up Channel, but as the weather worsened, she returned to a secure (and calmer) anchorage in the Sound. 

The new arrival this week has been the Dutch Navy’s amphibious ship HNlMS Johan de Witt, equivalent to the RN’s ‘lost’ amphibious ships Albion and Bulwark - both still in the dockyard, but Bulwark (the younger of the two, by two years) is destined to join the Brazilian Navy as NDM Oiapoque – where she will, no doubt, remain in service for many years.  Albion’s future is still not 100% clear, but she may well end up as a ‘set of spares’ for NDM Oiapoque.    

HNlMS Johan de Witt is only one year younger than Bulwark and is about 15% smaller than her British sisters.  She is probably here for training, but may well be embarking some Royal Marines for exercises.  The Royal Marines and the Royal Netherlands Marines work very, very closely together.   

So, who was Johan de Witt?  Well – some Beaglers will be aware that one of the greatest Royal Navy embarrassments was when the Dutch fleet, in 1667, sailed as far up the Medway as Chatham and burned or captured several British ships, including HMS Royal Charles.  It is recorded that there was a great panic in London, where the thunder of the Dutch fleet’s guns could be clearly heard. 

Johan de Witt was the de facto head of the Netherlands Navy at this stage.

Despite this glorious victory over the British in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-67), Johan de Witt’s career in politics was far from smooth – the Netherlands at the time was riven by violent, political differences between the Republicans and the (quasi-monarchical) Orangists.  In 1672, after the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Johan and his brother Cornelius were set upon by the mob (actually The Hague Civil Militia), lynched and then, according to several reports, roasted and eaten….  

HNlMS Johan de Witt’s motto is “Ago quod ago”, meaning “I do what I do”, which is perhaps indicative of the fact that he didn’t bow to public opinion.  Many nations’ warship’s names remember people and events from the past and there are often surprising stories behind the names chosen to be remembered! 

Nowadays, it is safe to say that the Royal Netherlands Navy thinks that the Royal Navy are the second-best navy in the World and the judgement is completely reciprocated.  Both have suffered from an over enthusiastic ‘peace dividend’ and are jointly struggling to rebuild. 

As well as HNlMS Johan de Witt, there have been two fleet auxiliaries around in the Sound this week: RFA Proteus, the multi-role ocean surveillance ship has been in and out quite a bit and RFA Tideforce, a replenishment tanker, came into Devonport for a day. 

Finally, on the British side, there was an unscheduled sailing on Wednesday afternoon, when HMS Portland went out to sea.  Destination unknown, but if she’s watching Russians, that’s another group of families with a spoilt bank holiday weekend – that’s “Life in a Blue Suit” as the saying goes.  

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Red hot, ridiculously good - and covered in glitter

We think Moulin Rouge is possibly the best production to hit the stage of Theatre Royal Plymouth this year. Read our review - but don't take our word for it. Tickets are still on sale, with the show running until September 19

Classic tall ship in the Sound

A reminder that the classic Dutch tall ship Morgenster is in Plymouth this weekend. After use as a commercial fishing vessel in the North Sea, she saw WW2 service and a brief 1970s detour when she was wrongly seized under false suspicion of involvement with pirate radio, she was acquired in 1983 and underwent two decades of restoration.

You can sail her this weekend - she's here until Monday - Tickets and information here

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend!