Pardon the break: I've been away. Clare and I spent a couple of days on the Isle of Wight visiting my dad and getting in a bit of walking - I've come back sunburnt and blistered. Quite a few relevant blog posts will follow over the next few days.
But one interesting sight
en route, with a bit of Topsham relevance, was this ship moored off the
Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth Harbour on Thursday: the brigantine
Tres Hombres, a sailing freighter operating as a venture to transport trans-Atlantic cargo on a Fair Trade carbon-neutral basis.
Tres Hombres was due to moor at Topsham Quay on October 14th 2011 (see the Exeter
Express & Echo,
Sailing ship to highlight Fair Trade message), but due to maritime-political complications it didn't happen. One local tale I heard was that the cost of pilotage was too high;
Tres Hombres has no auxiliary engine, and would have to be towed to Topsham. The TOWT - TransOceanic Wind Transport - site indicates that it might have been feasible, but nobody was prepared to take the risk of towing the ship up the river in case it ran aground on the mud. See
From Topsham to Brixham … or what future for the historical Port of Exeter?
Anyhow, after that missed opportunity, it was cool to see the
Tres Hombres elsewhere.
Check out its official website:
The sailing vessel and cargo ship Brigantine Tres Hombres.
- Ray
Click to enlarge all images.
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