The legend behind the figurehead – Dutch tall ship EUROPA

In classic Greek Mythology, Zeus, king of the gods, took many human lovers. He attracted these maidens by changing himself into various forms.
When he first cast his eyes on Europa, daughter of the king of Pheonicia, she was walking along a beach. Disguising himself as a glistening snow-white bull, he approached the maiden.
Being so gentle and tame, Europa stroked the bull and draped a garland of wild flowers around his curving horns.
Feeling no fear of the beautiful beast, she climbed on its back and let it carry her down to the shore.
But once his feet touched the water, the bull leapt into the sea and carried Europa to the island of Crete, where the Greek God took her for his bride.

In Metamorphoses, the poet Ovid (born 43 BC) wrote:
…slowly, slowly down the broad, dry beach—
First in the shallow waves the great god set
His spurious hooves, then sauntered further out
'til in the open sea he bore his prize…

Today, the goddess Europa is remembered through her presence as the figurehead on the Dutch sailing ship which bears her name.
And like the young princess, who was transported to sea on the back of the glistening white beast, today's voyage crew show the same faith and fearlessness as they are carried to sea to sail the vast oceans of the world aboard this magnificent tall ship.

Pics:
1) Europa and bull - Greek vase Tarquinia Museum, circa 480 BCE (Wiki)
2) Europa and the bull, by Fredericus de Wit (1700)(Wiki)
3) Figurehead (MM)
4) Bark EUROPA - photo courtesy of passenger on Oosterchelde.

Tall ships reflect Hobart's by-gone era

September 2013, Hobart, Tasmania was visited by a group of Dutch Tall Ships and several other ships as part of the Tall Ships Festival. Some of these ships had travelled half-way around the world as part of a circumnavigation of the globe.

This was Hobart's greatest assembly of tall ships since the bicentennial celebrations of 1988.
The old poster of a photograph taken in 1895, shows cargo and passenger ships, plus whaling ships berthed along the New Wharf (now called Princes Wharf).

Last week, Princes Wharf hosted the magnificent Bark Europa – a Dutch tall ship built as a lightship in Germany in 1911: the topsail schooner, Oosterschelde (early 20th century), and the Lord Nelson, Britain's Jubilee Sailing Trust STS especially constructed for people with limited abilities.

Across on the Elizabeth Pier another 5 ships graced the Hobart’s waterfront.

The Lady Nelson (replica 1798 colonial brig) was built on the Derwent and is a permanent feature on the harbour.
Behind her is another Dutch ship, Tecla, a 2-masted ketch built 1915. Having seen her on the water, I can confirm she is very fast.

On the other side of the pier, Hobart's Windeward Bound (earlier pic), a two masted brigantine built in Tasmania.

She is followed by the Young Endeavour STS whose crew ‘dressed’ the ship as she came into dock.

And last but not least, the Soren Larsen - Danish built but now based in Sydney, which was made famous in various movies including The French Lieutenant's Woman and The Onedin Line.


Hobart's Tall Ship Festival also hosted a fine display of wooden boats and a Viking ship, which I will include in the next post.

BAGGYWRINKLES fit for a Tall Ship

When I was aboard the Dutch Tall Ship, Bark Europa in Hobart harbour, conducting visitors around, the question I was most frequently asked was “What is that fluffy thing around the rigging?”
Having sailed aboard EUROPA for an extended voyage recently, I not only discovered what a baggywrinkle was, I also learned how to make one.
Baggywrinkles are made from old rope and their purpose is to stop the sails from chafing on the metal stays when they come into contact.

Stays are the ship’s fixed/standing rigging which support the masts.
You find smaller versions of Baggies on fore and aft yachts.
They serve the same purpose, but on a tall ship, such as EUROPA, everything is BIG including the baggywrinkles.

How to make a giant-sized Baggywrinkle.

Take a length of old rope and cut it into 12 inch (30 cm) lengths.
Unravel the rope down to single strands of spun fibre (sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy).


For a giant baggy, string-up 4 parallel lines of twine to two uprights – smaller yachts usually only use two lines of twine.
The twine needs to be a few meters longer than the length required.

In principle, the pieces of unravelled rope are tied to the two outer pairs of twine-lines and also to the inner pair thereby securing all 4 lines together.

Following the diagram – loop the strand of rope under the outer two lines of twine.
Take the two ends of rope and turn them over the twine and pull them down between the two.
Repeat this process on the other outer parallel twine-lines.
Then, using the two inner twine-lines, repeat the process – this brings the 4 lines together.
Pull the ends of rope tight and slide the knots to the end of the twine.
Continue making these simple knots and your baggywrinkle will continue to grow to the desired length.

Installing a Baggywrinkle on a Tall Ship.
Not a job for the faint-hearted!

Aboard Bark EUROPA, Derk demonstrates how to attach the baggy to the stay.
He does this by winding the length of wrinkles around and around the metal stay (rigging).

Over time the baggywrinkle will be worn down by constant wear from the sail rubbing against it, and it will need to be replaced.
The installation of baggywrinkles is an excellent way of saving massive sails from wear.
It also makes use of old rope.
And making baggies is a good way to spend a few hours when on a long sea voyage.
Happy sailing.

The SEA'S MAGIC - what is it?

For millenia, the Sea has been a source of wonder to adventurers, explorers and voyagers alike.
More recently, its magic has stirred the hearts and souls of poets, playwrights, authors and filmmakers.
The essence of the Sea is intangible, yet the Sea embraces all the senses. You can see it, hear it, touch,  taste, feel and smell it. You can even immerse yourself in it.

Yet, what is it about the Sea that transports us so easily to the world of imagination?
Is it the Sea itself?
Its mysteries?
The majesty of the tall ships that roam the vast oceans?
Or the breed of brave seafaring men who dare to venture across its immensity?

Herman Melville (Moby Dick) wrote of the Sea as a place, “...where each man, as in a mirror, finds himself”.
He claims there is a magic in the water that draws men from the land.

I have gazed into the deep and wondered, is it an intrinsic desire to return to the place from whence we came?

One hundred years ago, J. M. Barrie's children's classic, Peter Pan first graced the stage.
With pirate ships, mermaids, Captain Hook and the Jolly Roger, it was an instant box office success and it continues to delight young and old to this day. As a youngster growing up in an industrial town in the north of England, it was my favourite pantomime. What child would not wish to sail across the sky to Neverland?

More recently, Captain Jack Sparrow (aka. Johnny Depp) sailed over the horizon and onto the square screen on his ship, Black Pearl.
The Pirates of the Caribbean movies immediately caught the imagination of the world.
But was it the Sea or Johnny Depp that cast a magic spell on millions of viewers?

In the literary world, CS Forester’s adventures of Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s, Aubrey/Maturin Series have ignited the imagination of generations of readers hungry for nautical adventures offering them the opportunity to escape the humdrum of everyday life, albeit for a short time.

Sailing the high seas under a press of canvas lets you thrill to the thrum of the rigging and the thrap of the bow as it buries its beak into the oncoming swell. And once enfolded in the arms of the sea, you submit yourself to the Sea’s moods and mysteries and succumb to its movement as it lulls you to sleep, where you rekindle the fantasies of childhood, recapture the lost dreams of romance and adventure, and step back in time.

Though the days of fighting ship, fast clippers and even steam ships are gone, there still remain a few ships which today grace the great oceans swimming beneath a pyramid of sails.

The Dutch Bark Europa is such a ship. Built as a light ship in Germany in 1911, this one hundred year old vessel regularly sails from her home port in the Netherlands to the Antarctic Peninsula at the bottom of the world.
When I learned Europa was sailing to the Antipodes, I added my name to the voyage crew and have just returned from a 2,500 miles voyage. What an awesome experience it was.

Under a full press of canvas, sailing close-hauled to the wind, the days drifted by with few changes but the colours of the sunsets, the unexpected appearances of whales and dolphins and the fleeting visit by a passing wandering albatross.

At times, the ship heeled and pitched, and like many good seamen (Lord Nelson included) I was sick as a dog for a couple of days.

Ten years ago, I first embarked on a voyage on a tall ship in the Indian Ocean. It was there I first witnessed the luminescent particles (not phosphorescence) shining, like bright diamonds, in the sea. Seeing this phenomenon inspired my first book, Sea Dust.

Since then, several non-nautical books followed, but eventually the call of the sea drew me back.
All three of my books in the Oliver Quintrell Nautical Fiction Series series (Floating Gold, The Tainted Prize and Admiralty Orders) are available on Amazon as e-books ($2.99).

For the period of this Nautical Blog Hop I will be attending the Tall Ship’s Festival in Hobart, where I will be working as a volunteer guide introducing school children to the visiting tall ships.

I hope some of the Sea’s magic (whatever it is) will rub off on them.

Thank you for visiting me as part of your Blog Hop.
Here are the other Nautical Bloggers - please hop on.
J.M. Aucoin
Helen Hollick
Doug Boren
Linda Collison

Julian Stockwin
Anna Belfrage
Andy Millen
V.E. Ulett
T.S. Rhodes
Mark Patton
Alaric Bond
Ginger Myrick
Judith Starkston
Seymour Hamilton
Rick Spilman
James L. Nelson
S.J. Turney
Prue Batten
Antoine Vanner
Joan Druett
Edward James
Nighthawk News

Safety at Sea - a priority for a tall ship

When hundreds (sometimes thousands) of miles from land on a tall ship, safety on board is essential.
Bark EUROPA is very conscious of this, so unexpected drills in man-overboard and abandon ship procedures, also how to combat a fire serve to remind everyone how vulnerable we are on the ocean.

The abandon ship procedure is one of the first lessons everyone who steps aboard must learn.
When the alarm is sounded everyone aboard must don a full immersion suit to protect themselves from the cold water. There are plenty of lifeboats on deck to accommodate everyone should the necessity to abandon the vessel arise.

In a man-overboard emergency, the victim must first be located.
Then the victim must be plucked from the sea.

Derk is seen here in his immersion suit after rescuing the man-overboard (in this case, an orange buoy).

Fire is perhaps the biggest hazard on a sailing ship and when the alarm sounds, the crew are well trained to combat the hazard.
With hoses and extinguishers and dressed in full fire-fighting gear with breathing equipment, they are armed to fight a major blaze.

The results of a fire can include injuries - burns or smoke inhalation.
In this exercise, the ship's doctor, Tammi, with assistance from Claire (voyage crew medic) resuscitates a patient suffering smoke inhalation

While any disaster is being fought, the crew must bring the ship to a halt as quickly as possible.
This is no easy task if the ship is flying along making 8 or 9 knots.
Rather than waring or tacking, which can be a slow procedure and covers quite a distance, the ship can be hove to by bracing one set of square sails around and against the wind, to act as a brake.
For a man-overboard, the engines are put into reverse and the ship brought around.
Captain Eric throws the helm over to come about.

My 23-day voyage on EUROPA was uneventful, as far as major disasters were concerned. But it was reassuring to know that everyone knew what to do should an unexpected hazard occur.
Re: Sailing Dutch Tall ship, 'Europa' on Australian Bight - August/Sept 2013

Setting sun tinges Bark Europa's sails

Looking through my pictures after spending over 3 weeks aboard the Bark Europa in the Southern Ocean, I find I have a collection of magnificent sunsets.

Every one is different.
Here Europa's press of sails takes on the orange of the sunset.

I stand transfixed at the glory of nature.
Just beautiful.
Sailing Bark EUROPA along the Australian Bight - Aust/Sept 2013

Admiralty Orders - "extraordinary for realism and historical accuracy"

A review – ADMIRALTY ORDERS: This novel is extraordinary for its realism and its historical accuracy. You'll never think of Gibraltar in the same way, having read this re-creation. M.C. Muir nails it in a most discomfiting sequence of events.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, sickness and disease killed far more British seamen, marines and soldiers than did musketballs, cannonballs, mortars, sabers and bayonnets combined.
This story, based on fact, manages to create tension from the unpredictable ways of an invisible enemy much more powerful than the French or the Spanish Navies.
In this story the primary enemy is Yellow Fever, the cause and cure of which was not known until well into the 20th century.
The aloof Oliver Quintrell, captain of HMS Perpetual, finds himself perpetually at anchor, in quarantine off Gibraltar, while a fearsome disease threatens his men, the soldiers at the fort - and the one person on Earth he loves, who shouldn't even be on "the Rock." (Linda Collison)

Re-enactiment pic courtesy of Wikipedia
Book cover pic by M.C. Muir - Rock of Gibraltar, Nov 2013.

The Majesty of Sail - Bark Europa under a press of canvas in the Southern Ocean.

After 2500 miles sailing with the 100 year old Dutch Tall Ship, Bark Europa along the Australian Bight, I am home from the sea.

What a magnificent ship to sail on! She creamed the sea making nine and a half knots at times.
After visiting Sydney for the Tall Ship Races in October, she will be heading for Cape Horn.
This pic courtesy of Bark Europa. I will be posting some of my own when I come down the earth.

Just released - ADMIRALTY ORDERS by M.C. Muir

I am pleased to announce that ADMIRALTY ORDERS, the third book in the Oliver Quintrell Nautical Fiction Series was launched as an e-Book on 10th August 2013. The paperback copy will be available in October.
Set in 1804, ADMIRALTY ORDERS follows on from FLOATING GOLD and THE TAINTED PRIZE and apart from a few new crew members, the ship’s company remains the same.
I thank those readers who have taken time to provide feedback in the form of reviews, critiques and personal emails. All your comments are taken into consideration when I set about writing a new adventure.

ADMIRALTY ORDERS was inspired by a very brief visit to Gibraltar which I made during a cruise last year. This year I will be sailing along on the Australian Bight, aboard the 100 year old Dutch sailing ship, BARK EUROPA. I should prove to be an exciting adventure for me.
Later in the year, I will be cruising to South America and visiting ports on the coast of Brazil. Guess where Oliver Quintrell and his crew will be heading next?

Writing books is not easy. It’s hard work, incredibly time consuming and can make for a lonely existence. But with a ship full of sailors drifting through my head, how can I ever be alone?
In 2013, I published a short Young Adult book, KING RICHARD AND THE MOUNTAIN GOAT and THE SECRET OF THE SEA. Also, an eclectic collection of my poetry (paperback only). I plan to publish a few Children’s stories and a few short stories in the coming months.
All my books can be found on Amazon and are published as e-Books ($2.99) and in paperback.

I hope you will join with me, Captain Quintrell and all the crew of Perpetual as we set sail on the high seas for another adventure.
Marg

WORDS ON A CRUMPLED PAGE" - as reviewed by Rose Frankcombe

Margaret Muir has recently published a poetry book, Words on a Crumpled Page, an evocative title reflecting the history of the poetic inclusions.
Having a number of novels currently on the market, in the historical fiction and nautical fiction genres, Margaret has for the moment diversified and diverted from her usual writing path. Those accumulations of jottings, poems reflecting various aspects of her life over a number of years that have lain unloved and crumpled for too long, have now come to light in this new work.
How often do we have those brilliant flashes of insight at awkward moments or deep in the night when we can’t record them? Come the next day, the illumination of the previous 24 hours has vanished, never to return – unless – unless something has been scribbled down. The jottings on the cover are the actual folded or crumpled pages Margaret wrote her original poems on.
For Chapter 1 (of 10) of Words on a Crumpled Page, Margaret has chosen the title Twisted Trivia and begins with Today, a poem beginning benignly enough:
"Fronds of frost edged the cape-weed
like lace around a doily… She dried her cup…" - we had no idea what was next to unfold.
I’m sure our reaction at that reading would be a common one as the surprise end to the poem reveals itself. Once the essence of it has been absorbed, deep thought as to the whys of the act compel the reader to think quite deeply as to the agony of the protagonist.
For those who have met her, Margaret’s soft Yorkshire accent can be heard in the lines of her poems. Not a talkative woman, The Listener (Words falling on deaf ears), may in reality have been quite a trial for her:
"You never stop talking.
All day long
talk, talk, talk…"
For poets, anything’s fair game, even in this instance where the names of big rigs, the trucks plying the highways and byways of Australia were used. Go Bitch Wheels…
A lover of nature and all its bounty, there are chapters (not in order here) on earth, sea, sky, seasons. Poetry as art, haiku, joie de vivre, human emotion, and the human condition. An eclectic mix.
For those with an affinity for the sea, Sunset at Sea conjures the presence of the ocean in a benign mood, "… Dark sea murmurs as it rolls over…" but reading more into the words one finds there have been times when the sea has risen in response to Poseidon’s demand, his anger unrivalled in his quest for hapless sacrifices for the deep "…shielding the souls of sailors commended long ago…"
As indicated, this is an esoteric gathering of themes old and new. On contemporary energy collecting windmills:
"…Precocious teasers hail the virgin breeze
Catching the wind and tossing him about…"
The final poem in the collection is a very personal and a very moving one that must have been very hard not so much to write but to include.
There is something for everyone in this around 60-page poetry book. The various themes cover a broad spectrum of life, living and nature.
With this book launched, I would hope that in future another poetry book or two eventuates from Margaret’s pen, singularly following one theme, so the reader can completely immerse themselves into it, be it thematic of the sea, nature in general, love, contemporary life…
Inspiration for poems is all around us. All we need to be is observant - and jot the ideas down, just as Margaret had done…
WORDS ON A CRUMPLED PAGE is available from www.LULU.com in print for $6.80

Review of THE BLACK THREAD from the Historical Novel Society

Tina Huckle was the Historical Novel Society's reviewer of THE BLACK THREAD.

THE BLACK THREAD by Margaret Muir is an enchanting historical novel, well written with excellent local knowledge. It is a story based around the life of the mills and canal life around the turn of the century in hard working class Victorian Leeds and Liverpool. The main character, Amy Dodd, draws you into her life with the author’s excellent description and colourful narrative. Amos Dodd, Amy’s cruel father portrays a believable dark character and yet you cannot help but feel his pain and troubles.

An idealistic father he is not, and the story is full of shocking findings and clever twists. It is, I am sure, a true depiction of canal life in the Victorian age and has good historical content. The ending certainly leads itself to another book – which does, however, leave the reader a little disappointed.

Personally, the cover of the edition I was reviewing did not encourage me to pick this book up initially, which is a shame as on a shelf in a bookstore it is possible it could get over-looked, whereas the content inside is highly recommended.


Note: as author, I have tried several covers for this novel.
Here is the cover for the e-book edition ($2.99):
I also find it interesting that Tina has described this as an 'enchanting' historical novel, whereas I saw it as rather dark, Gothic and dramatic. We certainly all read and see things differently and I thank her for her comments.

THE TAINTED PRIZE reviewed by Historical Novel Society

THE TAINTED PRIZE by M. C. Muir is the second in the Under Admiralty Orders Series about Oliver Quintrell, a naval captain serving at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 (first in the series is Floating Gold about a mission that takes Quintrell down to the islands near the Antarctic). As hostilities against the French loom, Quintrell is without a ship but hoping for a chance to see action. He gets his ship but the Admiralty send him on another clandestine mission, to South America in search of another naval vessel that that has failed to return. What follows is a lively adventure as Quintrell and his crew on the frigate Perpetual search sail towards Peru in search for the missing ship

As a fan of naval fiction set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, I’m always keen to read new series and I enjoyed Tainted Prize. The author writes knowledgeably about what life must have been like in the navy at that time, both for the officers and their men. The horrors of sea battles and naval discipline are not glossed over nor the difficulties of navigating with inaccurate sailing charts as when Captain Quintrell takes his ship through the Magellan Strait.

Ideally, it would be best to read the first book in the series in order to become familiar with the back-stories of the characters, but this is a separate story so can be read as a stand-alone. I hope there’s another adventure and that, if so, we get to know more about his second in command Simon Parry and about Captain Quintrell’s wife (who seems a potentially more interesting character than Susanna, the lover who waits patiently for him to call in at Madeira).

The book is well presented and laid out with an attractive cover.

My thanks for Sue Ellison - the reviewer.
THE TAINTED PRIZE is available on Amazon.com in UK and US as paperback and e-book ($2.99).
The first book in the Oliver Quintrell Series was FLOATING GOLD.
Due 2013 - the third book in the series - ADMIRALTY ORDERS (draft cover).

Musselroe Wind Farm ready for lift off

Yesterday I had a tour of the Musselroe Wind farm at Cape Portland in NE Tasmania. Lying just south of the 40th parallel, the site is ideal to harness the Roaring Forties.
With only 6 weeks to being commissioned in June 2013, all 56 towers are in now place and virtually ready to go. Each tower, including the bus-sized Nacelle on top, is 82m high plus the blades which are 44 meters each in length.

The blades do not catch the wind as do the vanes of older windmills, but they are lifted by the wind in a similar fashion to the lift on aircraft wings – hence their shape with a leading edge. The three blades are hollow, made of fibreglass and carbon fibre and weight 7 tonnes each. They were made in Italy and China. Each turbine generates 3 mw of power. The total farm generating capacity will be 168 mw.

For inspections and maintenance, the engineers must have access to the Nacelle at the top. Accessing it is by means of an elevator which takes 8 minutes. Alternatively there is a rather long ladder – held on by magnets. We were told it takes 6.5 minutes to climb the 80m ladder if you are fit.

KING RICHARD AND THE MOUNTAIN GOAT - A myth wrapped in a Legend

Recently I dug out some children's stories I had written years ago and decided to publish them.
Two stories for boys aged 9-13 are: KING RICHARD and the MOUNTAIN GOAT and THE SECRET OF THE SEA.

Having struggled to come up with two book covers which will appeal,either to boys or the parents who buy their books for them, I decided on the following:
The first cover is for the paperback edition. It includes the black and white “Beauseant” - banner of the Knights Templars.

Cover #2 is for the e-book.

For interest – here are the black and white mountain goats which reputedly King Richard’s Knights returned to England from Switzerland on their return from the crusades.

Some years later, Richard 11 entrusted the herd to the House of Bagot where they remained protected for 600 years. Today they are known as Bagot goats and their image appears on the heraldic crest of the Bagot family.

Picture #4 – the author’s encounter with a Bagot goat which led me to investigate the history associated with the breed and to weave a boy’s story around them.

I would like to thank my friends on Facebook who gave advice on early cover ideas.
Cover images purchased from BIGSTOCK PHOTOS