Italian pride in British-built steam tug by Mr. John Robinson O nly one steam vessel now survives on the Italian shipping register. She is the old Naples har- bour tug »Pietro Micca«, lovingly restored over the past three years by a team of volunteers based at Fiumi- cino near Rome and now looking as bright and smart as she did when launched on the River Tyne in England as the river tug »Dilwara« in 1895. After only a few years serv- ice in England, this 31 m. coal-fired vessel was trans- ferred to Genoa in 1903 and moved to Naples two years later, having been re- named »Pietro Micca«. During World War 1 she served as an auxiliary mine- sweeper, before reverting to towage and salvage duties in and around Naples. She was again requisitioned for minesweeping during World War 2, and in 1952 her boil- ers were converted for oil- firing. Motor tugs eventu- ally took over her towing duties, but American war- ships refitting in Naples were grateful to take steam from her when their own boilers were under repair. By 1993 cuts in military spending reduced the US presence in Naples, and »Pi- etro Micca« was due for dis- posal. Alerted by the team of engineers who had tend- ed her machinery so care- fully for decades, a group led by Pierpaolo Giua and his family campaigned to have her preserved. The Italian Government declined to assist, arguing that it is already responsible for 70% of cultural monuments in Europe, and cannot under- take to add moveable monu- ments to that list. A pro- posal to display her at the Naval Museum in Venice was also rejected. Deter- mined not to let his compa- triots scrap this vessel that had served Italy faithfully for nearly a century, Signor Giua begged and borrowed the 60 million lira scrap price, and formed a team to (continued on page 2...) European Maritime Heritage Newsletter No. 4. April 2000
Transcript
Italian pride in British-built steam tug
by Mr. John Robinson
O nly one steam vessel now survives on the
Italian shipping register. She is the old Naples har-bour tug »Pietro Micca«, lovingly restored over the past three years by a team of volunteers based at Fiumi-cino near Rome and now looking as bright and smart as she did when launched on the River Tyne in England as the river tug »Dilwara« in 1895. After only a few years serv-ice in England, this 31 m. coal-fired vessel was trans-ferred to Genoa in 1903 and moved to Naples two years later, having been re-named »Pietro Micca«.During World War 1 she served as an auxiliary mine-sweeper, before reverting to towage and salvage duties in and around Naples. She was again requisitioned for minesweeping during World War 2, and in 1952 her boil-ers were converted for oil-firing. Motor tugs eventu-ally took over her towing duties, but American war-
ships refitting in Naples were grateful to take steam from her when their own boilers were under repair. By 1993 cuts in military spending reduced the US presence in Naples, and »Pi-etro Micca« was due for dis-posal. Alerted by the team of engineers who had tend-ed her machinery so care-fully for decades, a group led by Pierpaolo Giua and his family campaigned to have her preserved. The Italian Government declined to assist, arguing that it is already responsible for 70% of cultural monuments in Europe, and cannot under-take to add moveable monu-ments to that list. A pro-posal to display her at the Naval Museum in Venice was also rejected. Deter-mined not to let his compa-triots scrap this vessel that had served Italy faithfully for nearly a century, Signor Giua begged and borrowed the 60 million lira scrap price, and formed a team to
(continued on page 2...)
European Maritime Heritage
Newsletter No. 4. April 2000
(...continued from page 1) look after the veteran. They took their name from G L Spinelli, a young volunteer supporter and son of a pre-vious engineer, whose active and lively contribution was prematurely terminated by a fatal road accident. To date an estimated 3 mil-lion lira have been expended on restoration. The rotten wheelhouse has been com-pletely and authentically re-built, but the original triple expansion Tyne-built engine survives. Despite her very long career under the Italian flag, her engine-room tele-graphs still carry instruc-tions in English, and her bell still carries the name »Dil-
wara«. In 1997, and again in 1999, the »Pietro Micca« made an extended passage to Monte Carlo for classic boat festivals, and is char-tered for water sampling surveys off Italy’s Mediter-ranean coast each year. But most of the costs of her up-keep fall on private benefac-tors, and her proprietors are keen to see this distinctive and immaculately-restored steamship used more widely for educational and philan-thropic purposes. Her spa-cious deck could easily ac-commodate a recompression chamber to support diving operations; equally she is very suitable as a prestig-ious and distinctive Com-mittee boat for regattas, and
can accommodate meeting and small conferences afloat, while remaining cer-tificated and well-equipped for the towage and rescue duties that prompted her construction at South Shields 105 years ago.
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European Maritime Heritage
Newsletter
Published on behalf of the EMH by: Danish Schooner Charter Strandpromenaden 3 DK-3000 Helsingør Denmark
Maritime Heritage 2000 in the coastal region of the European Union 10-13 July
For further details of »Pietro Micca«, contact: Tecnomar Via Monte Cadria 77 00054 Fiumicino-Roma Italy Tel/Fax: +39 6 65 80 691 E-mail: [email protected]
A n international confer-ence in Brest, 10-13
July just before the interna-tional event Brest 2000. The objectives of these con-ference are to contextualise processes by which the
maritime past has been re-evaluated over the last twenty years, to focus on the opportunities now offered by a properly designed strat-egy, to reflect on the eco-nomic dimensions of mari-
time heritage in different European countries and to propose specific measures in support of development of maritime heritage poli-cies.
More information: Laboratoire Géolittomer-Brest UMR 6554 – CNRS, Françoise Péron, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Place Nicolas Copernic, 29280 Plouzané, France Tel: + 33 2 98 49 86 21 Fax: + 33 2 98 49 87 03 E-mail: [email protected]
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Classic fruit schooner returned to Spain by Mr. John Robinson Photos by Capt. Anne-Marie Fridlund
T he building of new coastal sailing cargo-
carriers diminished rapidly in Northern Europe after the introduction of marine oil-engines early in the 20th century. Engineers in Den-mark, Germany and Sweden worked to improve the relia-bility and performance of such motors, and as their prices and weights were progressively reduced, many were installed as auxi-liaries in what were previ-ously pure sailing vessels, permitting crew numbers to be reduced. But in the Mediterranean countries, where sailors’ ra-
tes of pay were often lower, pure sailing vessels continu-ed to be economic to build and operate. Spanish fruit schooners remained a fami-liar sight in ports and har-bours all over Europe up to the middle years of the 20th century, when they were eventually ousted by motor coasters and road transport. Because such vessels were frequently built of soft-wood, few have survived in-to old age. Many hundreds of them were built at Torre-vieja, on Spain’s Costa Blanca, and one of them, built for the Flores family of shipowners and named
»Carmen Flores«, was ac-quired about three years ago by the Maritime Museum at Barcelona, where her resto-ration to sailing condition is already well-advanced. It is planned to use the »Carmen Flores« to promote its pa-rent museum at traditional ship events all over Medi-terranean Spain and beyond. Her sister-ship, built for the same owners on the beach at Torrevieja by Antonio Mari and floated off in 1917, was christened »Pascual Flores«. In the 1920’s she made several trips to the Caribbe-an, and in 1929 was featured in the Spanish film “La Ultima Luna”. When fruit cargoes were no longer available, »Pascual Flores«
carried cement, salt and other commodities all over the Mediterranean. Fol-lowing World War II service as a German ammu-nition barge, she received her f i rs t engine, a Thorneycroft, and her rig was altered. In 1975 she was purchased and brought to England for commercial charter work by the entrepreneur Peter Gregson, who rigged her to appear in various episodes of the popular BBC television series “The Onedin Line”. In 1979 ownership of »Pas-cual Flores« passed to a charitable trust created in Bristol to provide sail training among that city’s
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»Pascual Flores« in Torrevieja
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O ne of the last and most luxurious steam yachts
ever built was repatriated to Britain in October 1999 af-ter more than fifty years of compatative obscurity in Roumania. She is the 91 m. »Nahlin«, built at John Brown´s shipyard at Clyde-bank in 1930 (where the Cunard White Star liner »Queen Mary« was under construction at the same time). Her clipper bow bore a figurehead representing an Indian warrior, recalling the extensive business interests in India of the millionaire jute merchant whose wealth paid for »Nahlin«’s con-struction. His widow, Lady Annie Yule, used the yacht intensively for four years, her cruises covering more than 200,000 miles, equiva-lent to several circumnavi-gations. A professional crew of 58 looked after the guests occupying her six palatial guest cabins, decorated in Louis XIV style, while four geared steam turbines total-ling 4,000 hp. propelled them at up to 17kts. »Nahlin« was the last, and arguably the most beautiful, of all the yachts designed by G. L. Watson in Glasgow. Her facilities included a swimming pool, gymnasium and dance floor, and invita-tions to join her were highly prized among European and American socialites. When Britain´s King Edward VIII was courting the American divorcée Mrs Wallis Simp-son in the face of public dis-approval in Britain, he char-tered the »Nahlin« for an Adriatic cruise in 1936 rather than risk any dis-agreement over using the Royal Yacht »Victoria &
Albert«. Later that year he abdicated rather than give up Mrs Simpson. Lady Yule had by then evidently grown tired of »Nahlin«, and when Helen Lupescu, mistress of King Carol II of Roumania, suggested using the elegant yacht for amorous pursuits, her lover agreed and bought the vessel in 1938, changing her name to »Luceafärul«. After Carol was deposed by the Iron Guard in 1940, various uses were found for the yacht, and under Com-munism her name was changed to »Libertatea«, while she served as a school-ship. By 1966, prolonged neglect had reduced her glamour, and her engines had long ceased to turn, but the yacht continued in use as a float-ing hotel at Galatz on the lower Danube. Happily this role did not require exten-
sive alterations to her super-structure. In 1996 Nicholas Edmiston, a successful Brit-ish yacht-broker, commen-ced negotiations to save the old »Nahlin« from further decline in Roumania. Even-tually she was towed to Is-tanbul and loaded onto a heavy-lift ship for delivery to Falmouth, where she was unloaded in October 1999.Most of her opulent fittings had sadly been pilfered dur-
ing more than half a century in Roumania, but her princi-pal structure remains sound and intact, and a full resto-ration is currently being costed at Devonport dock-yard, under the direction of Dr. William Collier, who specialises in such projects for Fairlie Restorations Ltd, a small and highly special-ised yacht restorer based at Port Hamble near South-ampton.
»Nahlin in the 1930’s...
...and today
Luxury steam yacht repatriated by Mr. John Robinson
Mrs Simpson and King Edward VIII. »Nahlin«’s most ce-lebrated guests.
(...continued from page 3) young people. Her new owners decided to revert to a three-masted rig (she then had two). But fund-raising for their venture proved difficult, particularly when the loss at sea of the barque »Marques« in 1984 raised the minimum safety requirements for sail trai-ning vessels. When the British Govern-ment terminated a job-creation scheme that had funded the costs of employing workless people on schemes of public benefit, work on refitting the »Pascual Flores« slowed
down and her condition began to deteriorate. In 1991 she was towed from Bristol to Milford Haven, where a berth was available on preferential terms and a nearby training college offered technical help. But the grants sought by her parent trust were not forthcoming, and with the prospect of increasing costs to comply with the changing safety regulations, her owners offered her back to the municipality of Torre-vieja where she had been built. In August 1999 the French heavy-lift ship »Clipper
Cheyenne« positioned herself above an underwater ledge off Milford Haven and deliberately submerged her freight deck so that »Pascual Flores«, her masts and spars lifted out and stowed on deck, could be floated over and lifted clear of the water for delivery to Torrevieja, where her resto-ration will be completed. The municipality there also proposes to build a fleet of replicas of the lateen-rigged sai l ing l ighters that conveyed sun-dried salt prepared in the vicinity of Torrevieja to the waiting schooners anchored off-
shore. These replicas will be maintained by pupils of the local schools, who will also sail them and recreate the region’s historic salt traffic. »Pascual Flores«, whose survival can perhaps be attributed to the preserva-tive qualities of the salt cargoes she once carried, will provide sailing oppor-tunities for Torrevieja’s pupils once they have learned the rudiments of sailing in one of the smaller lateen-rigged lighters. This is an imaginative scheme to recreate the carriage under sail of a commodity that has been traded since the beginning of human history.
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12-16 April GB Tall Ships 2000 Southampton
20-23 April I Tall Ships 2000 Genoa
4-7 May E Tall Ships 2000 Cadiz
26-28 May NL Dordt In Stoom Dordrecht
2-4 June D Rhum Regatta Flensburg
9-11 June DK TS Pinsetræf Vejle
23-25 June GB Maritime Ipswich Ipswich
5-7 July PL Tall Ships 2000 Baltic Gdansk
7-11 July GB Celtic Voyage Penzance
9-11 July F Abers 2000 L'Aber-Wrac'h
13-17 July F Brest 2000 Brest
14-17 July FIN Tall Ships 2000 Baltic Helsinki
17-21 July F Douarnenez 2000 Douarnenez
18-31 July N Europe Week 2000 Norway, several towns
21-24 July FIN Tall Ships 2000 Baltic Mariehamn
23 July DK Round Funen Svendborg
25 July DK Round Funen Middelfart
26 July DK Round Funen Assens
26-29 July S Tall Ships 2000 Baltic Stockholm
27 July DK Round Funen Faaborg
28 July DK Round Funen Svendborg
3-6 August N Nordsteam 2000 Bergen
3-6 August S Baltic Sail 2000 Karlskrona
4-9 August D Tall Ships 2000 Baltic Flensburg
10-13 August D Hanse Sail 2000 Rostock
17-20 August PL Baltic Sail 2000 Gdansk
24-28 August NL Sail 2000 Amsterdam
25-27 August DK Baltic Sail 2000 Helsingør
31 Aug - 3 Sept D Sail 2000 Bremerhaven
6-10 September D Sail & Steam 2000 Wilhelmshaven
Events 2000
Classic fruit schooner...
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IL Nuovo Trionfo - a working horse of the Adriatic Sea
by Mr. Ole Vistrup
T hrough 600 years the “Trabakel” was one of
the most common ships to be seen in the Adriatic Sea, and also on Crete, Cyprus, along the Turkish coast, in the Black Sea, and on the North African coast the trabakel’s would appear regularly. They were built in Istria, Ve-neto, Romagna and Dalma-tia, and the shape of the hull would vary from region to region. In common they all had the carved “eyes” on their “Dutch-like” round bow. The crew would typi-cally consist of five men, who would be manoeuvring two lug sails and a small jib on a long boom, which in the ports also would be used as a derrick. Around 1900 most trabakel’s changed into a gaff rig which were eaiser to handle and demanded less crew. In the 1950’s the few still existing trabakel’s were equipped with engines. »Il Nuovo Trionfo« has the shape of a typical Romagna-trabakel. She was built in Cesenatico in 1926, and un-til World War II she was
owned by the shipyard in which she was built. During WWII she was ope-rated by the Italian Navy, and she was used for carry-ing cargo and supplies to Al-bania - under sail only! After the war she was sold to new owners in Grado, and she had her first 12 HP engi-ne installed. She was then used in estuaries for digging up sand for building materi-als. In 1970 her present owner - Mr. Hugo Herrmann from Vienna - bought her, and she is now flying the Austrian flag. In 1973 - after three years of restoration during which »Il Nuovo Trionfo« was given back the appearance of a trabakel from around 1900 - Mr. Herrmann started up a charter business which up until today has taken him and his ship thousands of miles along the Adriatic, Greek and Turkish coasts. In this way »Il Nuovo Trionfo« is still ploughing the traditional waters of the trabakel’s.
More information: Österreichischer Seefahrtsverein, Herr Hugo Herrmann, Seilerstätte 1, A-1010 Wien, Austria. Tel & Fax: +43 1 512 8296 Mobil: +39 338 393 0877 or +43 664 254 7212 E-mail: [email protected]
Next Issue On 24 May 2000 European national representatives of owners of traditional ships will meet in London with representatives of the Euro-pean national maritime ad-ministrations for discus-sions concerning the “Wil-helmshaven Process” - an initiative in order to estab-
lish a memorandum of un-derstanding, signed by the European nations, in which the signing countries mutu-ally recognizes each others national rules for traditional ships. The memorandum is to be signed in Wilhelmha-ven in September 2000, and the London meeting is
among other things an op-portunity to discuss the ad-vantages and future per-spectives of such a memo-randum. The next issue of the EMH Newsletter will report on the London meeting, and on the content of the memoran-dum.
Nautical Cartoons Part I
From John Reynolds we ha-ve received a book of humo-rous nautical cartoons, pro-bably dating from the 30’s.
Originally the book belon-ged to Mr. Reynolds’ father. In this and coming issues of the EMH Newsletter we will
publish pages from the book, hoping that our readers will enjoy the humour. If anyone recognizes the car-
toons and are able to give us some background informati-on on their origin, we would be pleased to receive a note.
