Why the Sea Stallion is going to Portsmouth

The hardest and longest voyage yet

Photo: Werner Karrasch

2008-07-08

The Sea Stallion well over two days at sea between Ireland and England. The reconstruction proves its strength

“It has been the hardest voyage yet”, says project leader Preben Rather Sørensen over the ship’s VHF Tuesday morning.

The Sea Stallion left Wicklow in Ireland at 12 noon on Sunday, and is now, Tuesday morning, running before the wind up the English Channel along England’s south coast with 56 tired crew members, who will soon have been sailing non-stop for 48 hours.

The crew went to the farthest limits of body and spirit in a dramatic night. When they go ashore this evening in southern England, they will have sailed the Sea Stallion further than ever before. This morning they have already sailed 220 nautical miles. Last year the ship sailed from Roskilde to Norway in 36 hours – 240 nautical miles in all. That record will be broken today.

The ship’s voyage from Ireland was extremely demanding. Lands End met the ship with threats in pitch darkness around midnight. There were three-metre-high waves from the Atlantic and the westerly reached gale force at times. We took three reefs in the sail.

We had to transfer a total of four members of the crew to the support vessel, Cable One – the last one at a quarter to five this morning. All four had been seasick so long that skipper Carsten Hvid feared for their health. They have all recovered now and in a short time will be sailed back to the Sea Stallion again. Cable One is equipped with several RIBs. These are big rubber dinghies with powerful outboard motors, and they cope well with even three-metre-high waves.

“The Sea Stallion has coped with the enormous pressure just fantastically. It has never been pushed any where near so long and so hard. We have had no problems with the ship at all”, says Preben Rather Sørensen.

“But we have certainly had to bale out a lot of water, for in the hard weather we took innumerable tons of water in. It says a lot about the nature of the voyage and the ship’s quality as reconstruction that, despite half of the crew being constantly seasick, we have been able to handle the ship and manoeuvre quite safely, reefing in and out and trimming the sail without any great difficulty – despite the enormous forces with which the hard westerly wind has hit the hull and the rigging”.

Created by Lars Normann

When we rounded Land’s End

2008-07-10

It was a tough job for the Sea Stallion’s hands when we rounded “the corner” in gale-force winds and three-meter-high swell

When the Sea Stallion left Ireland on Sunday 6 July, the crew didn’t know that they would first set foot on land again 56 hours later in Torquay in England.

For a considerable part of the journey, the ship had strong westerly winds and up to three-meter-high Atlantic swells. Land’s End was rounded at midnight between Monday and Tuesday after 24 hours of sailing in gale-force winds. The pumps were manned almost constantly until Land’s End was reached and the sea spray felt like jets of water to the crew. Some hands were in more exposed positions than others.

Lookout Anders B. S. Fischer says, “I was alone in the bow for four hours from 20 hours to 24 hours on Monday evening as lookout on the leg down towards Land’s End. The wind was increasing and it ended up as a gale. The bow rose four meters up and down on the large Atlantic swells.”

He went on, “Actually it was a real summer evening and summer night, where the sea started out green and turned grey before ending as black. It was beautiful and did not get really dark. But the sea was very rough. Then you start to see things in the water that aren’t really there.”

There are special requirements that a lookout must meet. What happens behind his back is not relevant.

“It is unbelievably demanding, but very vital, that the lookout keeps his concentration and looks ahead. In particular you’re looking for wreckage or other things you might sail into. It could be fatal and mean the loss of the Sea Stallion if I fail to see something in the water. So I said to myself, ‘Look ahead, mate!’ many times.”

"I was a little afraid a couple of time. Sometimes in these heavy seas the bow can smash down lopsidedly and that creates sounds form the hull that can make me put my head over the side and look down at the hull of the ship for cracks. But there weren’t any. At one time there was also lightning, which I reported. Then I thought a bit about our high mast should we run into thundery weather, but we didn’t,” says Anders B. S. Fischer.

The exposed position and a very awkwardly located place for sleeping had consequences for Anders B. S. Fischer:

”I started to feel a bit seasick because I had been standing out in the bow and see-sawed up and down for four hours. When it turned 24 hours and I went off to sleep, I was given a sleeping place at the very front of the ship. Actually it was only one meter behind the spot where I had been lookout. I was feeling more and more seasick and it ended with the nurse ordering me to transfer to the support vessel Cable One to recover. It was against my will, but it’s her decision. It was good getting back to the Sea Stallion again.”

Created by Lars Normann

Why the Sea Stallion is going to Portsmouth

The Sea Stallion meets with Queen Victoria's warship, HMS Warrior, in Portsmouth. Photo: Werner Karrasch

2008-07-08

Portsmouth is an outstanding maritime and historical centre. The ship will be displayed at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard from 11th – 13th July.

Portsmouth is the only town on the southern coast of England that the Viking Ship Museum has made a definite agreement with for the Sea Stallion to call at.

The Royal Naval Museum – an internationally famous maritime museum – which is in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard – will put the Sea Stallion on display for the people of England from 11th – 13th July. Here the ship will have the opportunity to present itself as the scientific research project the reconstruction is.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is in the heart of the city, where everybody also has a chance to explore Lord Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, and be shown round Queen Victoria’s warship, HMS Warrior, 1860.

Henry Vlll’s famous Mary Rose is also there. Visitor’s can follow the whole of the Royal Navy’s history at the Royal Naval Museum. After which visitors can get right up to date with “Action Stations” - an interactive tourist attraction about the modern British navy.

The city naturally offers a harbour round trip to see the navy ships and harbour defences from the water. Other attractions include the D-day Museum, where you can see the Overlord Embroidery (modern tapestry). Southsea Castle, the Royal Marines’ Museum and Portsmouth Cathedral also get a lot of visitors.

Source: VisitBritain

Created by Lars Normann

Newsletter 33. issue - July the 11th, 2008

The hardest and longest voyage yet

When we rounded Land’s End

Why the Sea Stallion is going to Portsmouth