Mission Accomplished!

15 Responses to Mission Accomplished!

1. R. Shearer says:

   August 14, 2016 at 2:21 am

   Documented navigation in that area goes way back. http://ecotretas.blogspot.com/p/david-melgueiro-english.html

   Reply
   • saveenergy says:

     August 14, 2016 at 8:27 am

     Thanks for that; fascinating.
     History tells us a lot about the future.

     Reply
   • Caleb says:

     August 14, 2016 at 11:58 am

     Great reference. Thanks.

     The sailors back then were very secret about trade routes, because a huge fortune could be made with something like a load of pepper. Powerful rulers attempted to block the little guy, for example the Hanseatic Leauge in the Baltic and the Venetian and Ottoman Empires in the Mediterranean, so the little guys would sneak about finding new routes.

     Portugal was a little pip-squeak nation off at the edge of Europe when Henry the Navigator began the process of finding a new route to India. Both Columbus and Cabot were Italians who (I think) heard sailor’s-tales of a venture west, and “by coincidence” both headed west at the same time, in the 1490’s. The profits from these new routes made Spain and Portugal the powers of Europe. So of course the Dutch wanted to get rich too. A trade route to Japan over the top of Asia would be a risk, but a way to get filthy rich. (Even furs from Russia could make you a bundle.)

     In the eyes of the rich and powerful, the little guys were basically smugglers and outlaws, so there was no incentive for the little guys to be anything but secretive. When I poke through the records of that faded past (with a personal interest in Vikings in Greenland and North America), I get the distinct impression there are voyages we will never know about.

     (For example, while trying to learn about a Viking trading vessel we have no examples of, called a “knarr”, I came across references to several types, including Greenland-knarrs and Vineland-knarrs. I couldn’t help but wonder why on earth they would name a boat a “Vineland-knarr” if they didn’t trade with Vineland, but this would be hush-hush trade, to avoid the high taxes of the Pope, King of Norway, and Hanseatic League.)

     If the saga of the Northabout teaches us anything, (besides the fact the ice-free Pole has a lot of ice), it should be that sailors are all a bit crazy, and can do remarkable things.

     Reply
2. Menicholas says:

   August 14, 2016 at 7:26 am

   They are so disappointed to see ice.
   There you have it.
   It is a disaster of unparalleled magnitude that it was melting, but they want it to melt.
   Not that it ever was a disaster than the Arctic was seeing decreasing ice for a bunch of years…nothing disastrous about a somewhat less frozen wasteland, but they claim it is one.
   So, why are they not all celebrating that the ice is not all gone after all?
   These jagoffs are the biggest pack of lying hypocrites to ever wear skin.

   Reply
3. CheshireRed says:

   August 14, 2016 at 9:01 am

   0.2 of a meter deep? Have I got that right? Why don’t they just pick the thing up and walk?

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   • Caleb says:

     August 14, 2016 at 12:12 pm

     That was the reading of their depth-sounder, and I think it was -0.2, not +0.2. In other words they were scraping bottom. They have a centerboard they can pull up. This shows you the ice was very close to shore, and not pushed far out to sea by the winds. Squeaking through in this manner is a remarkable bit of sailing by a gutsy captain, who probably will be arrested upon his return for putting a fifteen-year-old in danger….but I bet the kid is loving it.

     Reply
     • Jørgen F. says:

       August 14, 2016 at 12:48 pm

       …Basicly the reason why I despise the AGW movement so much – them not giving a damn about scaring children into their belief system. Not unlike most totalitarian political ideologies have done the last 100 years – bringing the children to the alter as young as possible.

       But also bringing a kid into a dangerous situation is of course taking it a step even further – I cross my fingers for their safe return – and also guessing the boy is having the experience/time of his life.

       Reply
4. Lawrenec13 says:

   August 14, 2016 at 3:37 pm

   And he comes from a land where the greenie/lefties via government, local government and every left run ‘watchdog quango imposes an almost H&S tyranny upon all businesses . Oh the irony. In SE London in areas like Dulwich we probably have the highest rate of Guardian readers in the UK per square mile. All of them work in the usually state run organisations I’ve already mentioned, all of them rail against
   Cars
   Fracking
   Dangerous C02
   GM food
   Pharmaceuticals
   Nuclear
   and so on. and yet if you were to come with me in the 8-11am period every Mon-Fri you will see guardian reader /BBC watching parents cycling through the rush hour weaving in and out of heavy vans and lorries with the most unsafe baby/child carrying contraption you wouldn’t wish to see. For 15 years I made that journey through the roads and streets of Dulwich and it you to worry me sick when I saw a parent overtaking massive vehicles on the wrong side with a baby or kid either in a seat on the bike or a trailing contraption towed at the back of the bike about two feet above the road surface. These are exactly to kind of people that would have volunteered for this journey as a get away to nature , to prove how ‘big oil’ has ruined the Arctic ice and of course to take a break from their usually left bureaucracy condemnation of everything called capitalism whilst taking far greater risks with their Childs lives than capitalism would ever do. Personally I would have them heavily fined for putting their kids life’s in danger every morning

   These people as witnessed on this Polar Expedition or nothing short of bare-faced hypocrites

   Exciting journey though.

   Reply
5. annieoakley says:

   August 14, 2016 at 3:38 pm

   They cannot be ‘sailing’ when they are scraping the bottom. The ice is too close to shore for this to be a viable route for any boat let alone a boat with a cargo. This is just foolishness. They cannot admit they are wrong about everything.

   Reply
   • Lawrenec13 says:

     August 14, 2016 at 7:01 pm

     Their success is the kind of achievement we would al be applauding if we knew the Arctic sea ice was impenetrable and they were the first ever to make it. They tell us the ice has gone and by the luck of the devil and literally scraping the bottom of last chance saloon get their small 40ft retractable keel boat through by a whisker and somehow we arse supposed to believe that the ice is no longer a problem to marine traffic? Don’t these people realise what utter bollocks they are spouting. Old Orwell was right about telling the truth in a time of universal deceit being itself a revolutionary act.

     This so called expedition wasn’t about beating the ice by a wing and a prayer as the ice wasn’t even supposed to have been there, that was the mission statement a breeze through ice free conditions due to western mans greed and capitalism.

     Reply
6. Zedekiah Smyth says:

   August 15, 2016 at 11:05 am

   The fools are still bobbing about with the ice in the Laptev Sea, claiming that it’s 17 degrees where they are.
   Maybe they should have sailed in 1923- sounds like it was probably warmer then.
   http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136179305?searchTerm=arctic%20temperatures&searchLimits=l-decade=192#

   Reply

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