Some Wave...

...that left this boat on a local dam. We're a good 50 kilometres from Port Philip Bay and about double that to the coast.

James

Biennale Personalle

Two years ago today, we were in Venice*. As a celebration of that day out, here is a selection of photographs taken by Bev and I.

A water gate and window box achieving an Italian flag effect.

Candleholder for your plaque. Otherwise who is going to be scared by your wolf by night?

The vital Venetian chimney tops to collect sparks and avoid fire. Despite all the water, fire was a major risk.

Don't feed the cherub too much spinach.

"When you said two outboard motors, I thought..."

A delivery barge, a tree, a nap and thou...

The original Arsenal. Interestingly this Naval shipyard is still closed to the public, but I suspect the defences of Italy aren't dependant on their products as Venice's were.
Garden and church.

You can't get the plasterers to finish a job properly, here.

Church with tollbooth. Or is is an aquatic confessional?

* I'm writing this in the evening in Victoria, so it is the afternoon of the same day in Venice. With the international date line, you've got to be careful about such statements!

Seventy Years of 'Dunkirk Spirit'

Bombed on the beaches, British soldiers use Lee Enfield rifles to fire back at the German Luftwaffe. (BBC.)

It's 70 years since the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk from the temporarily-halted German forces between 26 May and June 4. It was officially 'Operation Dynamo' As is well known, much of the rescue work, coordinated and supported by the Royal Navy, was by the 'little ships' resulting in one of the rarest, and most cherished yacht badges seen since. (The St George's Cross flown from the jack staff is known as the 'Dunkirk jack' and is only flown by civilian ships and boats of all sizes that took part in the Dunkirk rescue operation in 1940. The only other ships permitted to fly this flag at the bow are those with an Admiral of the Fleet on board.)

Those fishing boats, ferries, yachts and dinghies ferried the soldiers from the beaches to the larger Royal Navy ships that could get no closer, and sometimes they took them all the way back - when the Channel must have seemed its widest.

This year 50 ships, many original survivors, set out to recreate that remarkably flotilla's incredible achievement.

In the middle of a war being lost, it was not a simple task, or one that was all good, nor as black and white as often portrayed. Herman Goering convinced Hitler that his Luftwaffe could finish off the soldiers on the beaches. The Royal Air Force (RAF) did their best, at significant cost, to stop them, but back and away from the beaches - a job often not appreciated by the soldiers bombed by those German bombers who got through. Time was bought by rearguard actions, particularly the 'last hope' garrison at Calais, dropped water and ammunition (but without hope of rescue or other relief) by a scratch force of RAF Westland Lysanders and outdated Hawker Hectors - two aircraft types named for military heroes of yore. Some French soldiers were rescued, others turned away - and later those rescued were mostly repatriated to France, after the French surrender.

"Wars are not won by evacuations" Churchill reminded a relieved Britain, but though denuded of their arms, those soldiers were going to be the last line of defence for European democracy - after the Royal Navy and the force tested next - the RAF, soon to come though victorious by a narrow margin in the Battle of Britain, and the high water mark of fascist fortune.

Here in the Imperial War Museum, London, is one of the little ships of Dunkirk- in fact the littlest, Tamzine - sailed by amateur or professional civilian sailors that brought the soldiers off the beaches. Author.

Since then the Dunkirk Spirit has rightly been an iconic symbol in British culture.

The BBC report on the flotilla here. The BBC also present an audio-slideshow, including original accounts recorded in 1990, here.

Interestingly, the event has been a popular topic for children's authors. [Edited to add I've done a review of a pre-eminent example here.]

James

Australia Day 1: 1788 and all that

Today is Australia Day. It's the 222nd anniversary of the First Fleet arriving in what was to become Australia on 26 January 1788, starting the European settlement of Australia that has continued to this day. The Sydney Museum has an excellent model of the First Fleet ships on show (below) and I wonder how many of those aboard realised they were arriving in mid-summer?

Understandably, there is a view that the Aboriginal peoples who were already living here may have a rather less positive perception of the arrival of these convicts, sailors and marines. Although it has no effect on the tragic history of Aboriginal rights and life since that day, it's often forgotten that Australia really is entirely a land of immigrants as all the humans arrived from overseas - the earliest remains found in Australia are Mungo Man from 40,000 years ago. Estimates often giving a remarkably recent figure (in pre-history terms) of between 40,000 to 50,000 years for the first colonisation of the continent, although some believe it to be much earlier.

Of course the First Fleet was a direct result of the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in His Majesty's Barque Endeavour on one of the world's great voyages of exploration. (The introductory image at the top shows the replica of HMB Endeavour sailing up the Yarra in Melbourne.) Again, an aspect of Cook's exploration of the Eastern coast of Australia and the arrival of the First Fleet is that it could so easily have been a French story, as the French Navy were literally on the spot - or in the natural harbours - at both events. While there are a scattering of French names (particularly in Tasmania - itself based on a Dutch navigator's name) it's a monolingual Anglophone culture in law. Yet it could have been like Canada, with a foot in both French and British culture and language, or a member of the Francophone world like -er- Monaco.

Often overlooked near the Circular Quay in Sydney is this mosaic map (above) showing the very first developments of what was much later to become the city of Sydney, Australia's eternal second best conurbation.

Of course, the First Fleet was the beginning of a social experiment that failed at its origin - to export 'the criminal class' from Britain, and to develop colonies with these prisoners. No one has yet managed to export their 'criminal class', so that part was a failure, but we seem to have managed to build quite a habitable country on this unprepossessing foundation. The convicts would try to escape from the marines and soldiers (obviously to get to what would become Victoria and Melbourne from the rather inferior Sydney and New South Wales) as seen above at Sovereign Hill historical re-enactment. But to get away they would have to get through the Blue Mountains (below) one of Australia's natural wonders which is essentially untouched except for the viewing platforms and coach parking (not included in the picture).
And when it's been another great Australia Day here, and we are rolling home with a beaut sunset to the West, it's the start of another cold, winter's day in Britain. We've just celebrated five years and one day here, and it's bonzer, mate.

James (a Melburnian)

When 'boats flew with elegance & style

All I wanted for Christmas was a new two-hundred mile an hour two-deck Imperial Flying Boat!


Two posters from the Smithsonian: 'Fly Now: The National Air and Space Museum Poster Collection'. This one is an interesting variation on the period's aviation posters with a forced perspective to imitate the unbelievably high bow of the luxury transatlantic liners of the day, most famous with the Normandie poster.

The Smithsonian's blog about this collection is here, and the posters are here.


The right crowd and no crowding. Glad to see the little girl has to stand on tiptoe to see the elephants stampeding below. As you'd expect, while the physical shapes of some of the passengers are biologically impossible, the decor is absolutely accurate.

James
___________________________________________
Top:
Sponsor: Imperial Airways
Artist: Severin
Inventory Number: A19901003000
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Unframed: 100.97 x 63.5cm (3ft 3 3/4in. x 2ft 1in.)
Materials: Offset Lithograph
Physical Description: IMPERIAL AIRWAYS Multicolor commercial aviation print. Seaplane (Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat, G-ADHL) in harbor with what appears to be tugboats on either side of it. Rear view of seaplane. Multicolor, but mostly blue and white image on paper. Partial text: "Imperial Airways Europe Africa India Far East Australia"

Lower:
Sponsor: Imperial Airways
Manufacturer: Haycock Press
Artist: Chandler
Date: 1936
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Unframed: 49.53 x 31.75cm (1ft 7 1/2in. x 1ft 1/2in.)
Materials: Offset Photolithograph/Letterpress
Physical Description: Interior scene of Short Empire flying-boat (Short S.23); well-dressed passengers read, drink wine, look out window at a coastal scene, text block at bottom; multicolor image on paper. Full text: Luxury in the new Emprie Flying Boats Imperial Airways Europe, Africa, India, China, Australia

A great Australia Day out

Today was a very special day. Thanks to the huge array of great things there are to do in Australia (and particularly Melbourne) on Australia Day, we were able to sample a free couple.

First stop was the RACV Australia Day Picnic and Federation Vehicle Display. What that means is something in the order of 500 cars, bikes and trucks of all kinds back to the earliest days.

The bling alone is something else.
Once, car makers put out Art Deco design for the masses. Even the door handles were attractive grace-notes.
Even sometimes outclassing the sculpture. The Picnic is in the Kings Domain Gardens, a great venue.
My friend Brad's Merc (a topic we will return to in a later post). We stopped for a bite with Brad and Kistin and their friends, under a tree on the grass and watched the passing scene.

Self-portrait in a wing mirror.

And a terrific shot by Bev.

Fred Flinstone minds the dash of an Austin aesthetic.

While the kids and families had a blast. There is an adult in the Canadian Military Pattern truck, we think! (We saw so many cool cars and stuff we'll be returning to this in a later post or two. This is just a taster.)


That wasn't all. There was a RACV/AFA 'Flyball' competition which Bev particularly enjoyed. As Bev's photo shows, the lady's top says, 'we have hot dogs' Some of the little guys (one Jack Russell just launched) lapped the bigger ones.

We'd noted that there was a tall ships gathering on the other side of the bay at Williamstown. So we thought; "why not?" and decided to cruise across and have a look. We were very glad we did.

There was Melbourne's own Enterprize replica, built here as a copy of the first ship to settle the area.

And visiting was the 1903 Alma Doepel, which has moved to Melbourne from Port Macquarie for a major refit at Docklands over the next year or two. I think we'll be seeing a bit more of her.

Meanwhile a young lass was having a great time zooming about on the water. Here she is just having tacked.

We had great weather, warm, nice breeze, beautiful sun, and just perfect conditions. We got home tired and happy. This is the life.

It was a grand day out.

James

(PS: For those that know their flags, you may have noticed they weren't the usual suspects. The flag in the heading photo is the Royal Australian Navy Ensign, flown from Young Endeavour. And the centre flag on Enterprize in the last photo is the flag of Victoria, not Australia.)

The Vikings returned

They made it.


The Sea Stallion is back in Denmark. Link here.


Pictures from the Sea Stallion website.

James

Setting sail for home

Well, that's about it. Tomorrow we head home, after nigh-on three months of an around the world trip.

But we aren't heading home in a Viking longship. However there are a group who, as I write are heading for home in a Viking Longship, the Sea Stallion from Glendalough. And this is about them, as their trip home is going to be (I hope) more interesting, historic (in both senses) and exciting than our trip.

Above: One of the Skuldev ships in Roskilde. Below: The Sea Stallion from Glendalough, from the ship's website, as are the other Sea Stallion photographs.
The Sea Stallion is a completely accurate (as far as is possible) reconstruction of one of the Skuldev blockships recovered in the 1960s and put on show at the Viking ship museum at Roskilde. We saw the original ships at the museum when we were in Denmark, and it was another exceptional highlight to our travels.

What we 'know' of the Vikings is, like much history, very partial. As well as all that raping and pillaging, they were great colonists, navigators and explorers. In addition, they had an amazing oral literary tradition, and as Jim was explaining to us the other night, a political system that has some aspects that pre-figure some of the best of what we hope for today.

We know the original Sea Stallion was built in Dublin, from local wood (which is how we know where it came from - the wonders of dendrochronology). Dublin was a Viking settlement and colony, and the original Sea Stallion must have sailed to Denmark at least once, to have been deliberately scuttled there to protect Roskilde. The recreation, an amazing archaeological and technical achievement, was built in Denmark, and in 2007 was sailed from Roskilde to Dublin. This year, and in fact right now: (Time: 03/08/08. 07:32. State: Under sail. Latitude: 056° 35.4’ N. Longitude: 008° 01.36’ E. Speed: 9.4 knots. Course: 022°) it is being sailed back to Denmark. This, then, is one episode from the Sea Stallion crew's story...


---

The North Sea at Last
We have been sailing for more than 24 hours, at first in relatively high sea with a following wind of 16–17 metres/sec. We were prepared for a lot of wind and had taken a reef in from the top of the sail before we left Den Helder. When we came free of the coast, the ship began to turn violently to windward and we took in two more reefs – this time from the bottom. And then it was just full speed for Thyborøn, where we expect to be late tomorrow morning.
...
And once again we are showing how 60 outstanding square-rig crew sail a Viking longship. The ship, rig and crew work as a single unit – from the look-out man at the front to the helmsman at the stern. We have all the life-saving equipment we could dream of – life rafts, life jackets, wet suits, distress buttons, SART, EPIRP, life buoy, safety lines, support vessel. But the most important safety lies in the fact that we are the best to sail the Sea Stallion. If everyone pays attention and acts resolutely on orders from the aft deck, we will get all the way home. If just one member of the crew fails his duty, it could be very serious for us all. It is one week before we are home in Roskilde, we are in the middle of the North Sea, and everyone is at their posts!

Who, then are these modern Vikings?


In our current crew there are all kinds of people from many walks of life, ten different countries, and with nearly half a century separating the youngest and the oldest. One third are women. And there are students, unemployed, self-employed and pensioners. But we have one thing in common: life on board the Sea Stallion.

---

At Roskilde, Bev and I found that you can go sailing on one of the smaller ships. We were pressed for time, and the weather was getting worse, so we didn't, but it looked very, well, authentically uncomfortable.
But many of the recreated ships show how much these were the highest technology of their day; weapons of war, transports, communications and, of course status too. They were built by powerful leaders, and held together a maritime empire that is little appreciated today for its size and achievement.


We will return to the Roskilde museum in a later blog, but in the meantime, on one of Bev's regularly checked blogs, there was a visit to a Viking encampment. Sometimes one picture says it all. iHanna calls this 'Viking Age Kiddo' but I see him as Eric the small but fiesty...

(Credit for the Sea Stallion photos and text go to the Sea Stallion website, and Eric the small to iHanna - and do have a look - they are both insights into an almost forgotten world.)

While our trip is almost over, the blog certainly isn't. We will, I'm sure, be continuing to add posts on the things we saw and did and want to share for some months yet.

In the meantime, a big thank you to all those who made our trip as fascinating and great as it was - we couldn't have done it without you. Thanks too to all the readers, we hope you continue to enjoy it, and let us know what you think of it too.

Cheers
James

Back in the BM

It was good to revisit the British Museum. The Great Court was perhaps one of the greatest 'building improvements' in history, even if there were some issues over the meaning of 'Portland Stone' that the trustees couldn't get their heads around.

Adela's first visit.


We enjoyed discussions about the amazing game and lyre stories... And further thoughts on the swimmers...


...even if some of the audience will writhe on their pedestals rather than paying attention...


Mildenhall's treasure...


And Sutton Hoo...


A rather large fist...


Interestingly, these plaster casts of Egyptian freezes are better records of the look of the thing than the real thing these days, as the originals have been eroded since the cast was taken (and of course the originals lost their paint millennia ago) - 'better than the real thing'?

The King's Library, with the move of the books to the British Library building near St Pancras, has been re-used, very well, we thought, to tell the story of the Museum and its acquisitions -


We were amazed to see the copies of the Danish Viking Horns, the originals of which were stolen and melted down, and thus lost.


Bev liked the details:


There was an excellent display from Captain James Cook's voyages, including this miniature portrait I'd never seen before. As he died on his last voyage, and spent most of his life away at sea, most portraits are posthumous and some very speculative. Unlike...


Joseph Banks'. Joseph was made by the voyage to Australia, and the clever, energetic young botanist became a grand old man of society and science. What might have happened if Cook had lived?


Of course we weren't the only ones to be captivated by the Egyptology craze of the 1920s. This building nearby shows what an influence it had on the architecture of the time too.


It was good to be back, and great to see the original was as good as ever, but developments were also underway.

James