European

Maritime Newsletter
Heritage No. 4. April 2000

Italian pride in British-built steam tug

by Mr. John Robinson

O nly one steam vessel

now survives on the
Italian shipping register.
ships refitting in Naples
were grateful to take steam
from her when their own
She is the old Naples har- boilers were under repair.
bour tug »Pietro Micca«,
lovingly restored over the By 1993 cuts in military
past three years by a team of spending reduced the US
volunteers based at Fiumi- presence in Naples, and »Pi-
cino near Rome and now etro Micca« was due for dis-
looking as bright and smart posal. Alerted by the team
as she did when launched on of engineers who had tend-
the River Tyne in England ed her machinery so care-
as the river tug »Dilwara« in fully for decades, a group
1895. led by Pierpaolo Giua and
his family campaigned to
After only a few years serv- have her preserved. The
ice in England, this 31 m. Italian Government declined
coal-fired vessel was trans- to assist, arguing that it is
ferred to Genoa in 1903 and already responsible for 70%
moved to Naples two years of cultural monuments in
later, having been re- Europe, and cannot under-
named »Pietro Micca«. take to add moveable monu-
During World War 1 she ments to that list. A pro-
served as an auxiliary mine- posal to display her at the
sweeper, before reverting to Naval Museum in Venice
towage and salvage duties was also rejected. Deter-
in and around Naples. She mined not to let his compa-
was again requisitioned for triots scrap this vessel that
minesweeping during World had served Italy faithfully
War 2, and in 1952 her boil- for nearly a century, Signor
ers were converted for oil- Giua begged and borrowed
firing. Motor tugs eventu- the 60 million lira scrap
ally took over her towing price, and formed a team to
duties, but American war- (continued on page 2...)
 European
Maritime
Heritage
Newsletter
Published on behalf of the
EMH by:
Danish Schooner Charter
Strandpromenaden 3
DK-3000 Helsingør
Denmark
Tel: +45 4926 0746
Fax: +45 4926 0741
E-mail:
schooner.charter@get2net.dk
Editorial staff:
Ole Vistrup
Contributors:
Anne-Marie Fridlund
John Reynolds
John Robinson
______________________
EMH
Office & Secretary
Thedo Fruithof
Dijkweg 222
NL-1619 JC Andijk
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 228 593 136
Fax: +31 228 593 136
E-mail: thedo@wxs.nl
President:
Mr. Anders Berg
Allégatan 11
S-572 75 Figeholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 491 31456
Fax: +46 491 31683
E-mail:
ssf@oskarshamn.mail.telia.com
Treasurer
Michael vom Baur
Hinter den Fuhren 36c
D-28790 Löhnhorst
Germany
Tel: +49 421 62 2039
Fax: +49 421 62 3867
E-mail:
Michael.vomBaur@t-online.de
______________________
Address changes:
Please inform
the
EMH Office & Secretary
(...continued from page 1) wara«. In 1997, and again in can accommodate meeting
look after the veteran. They 1999, the »Pietro Micca« and small conferences
took their name from G L made an extended passage afloat, while remaining cer-
Spinelli, a young volunteer to Monte Carlo for classic tificated and well-equipped
supporter and son of a pre- boat festivals, and is char- for the towage and rescue
vious engineer, whose active tered for water sampling duties that prompted her
and lively contribution was surveys off Italy’s Mediter- construction at South
prematurely terminated by a ranean coast each year. But Shields 105 years ago.
fatal road accident. most of the costs of her up-
keep fall on private benefac-
To date an estimated 3 mil- tors, and her proprietors are For further details of
lion lira have been expended keen to see this distinctive »Pietro Micca«, contact:
on restoration. The rotten and immaculately-restored
wheelhouse has been com- steamship used more widely Tecnomar
pletely and authentically re- for educational and philan- Via Monte Cadria 77
built, but the original triple thropic purposes. Her spa- 00054 Fiumicino-Roma
Italy
expansion Tyne-built engine cious deck could easily ac-
survives. Despite her very commodate a recompression
long career under the Italian chamber to support diving Tel/Fax: +39 6 65 80 691
flag, her engine-room tele- operations; equally she is
graphs still carry instruc- very suitable as a prestig- E-mail:
tions in English, and her bell ious and distinctive Com- pietromicca@faronet.it
still carries the name »Dil- mittee boat for regattas, and
Maritime Heritage 2000
in the coastal region of the European Union
10-13 July
A n international confer-
ence in Brest, 10-13
July just before the interna-
maritime past has been re-
evaluated over the last
twenty years, to focus on the
time heritage in different
European countries and to
propose specific measures
tional event Brest 2000. opportunities now offered in support of development
The objectives of these con- by a properly designed strat- of maritime heritage poli-
ference are to contextualise egy, to reflect on the eco- cies.
processes by which the nomic dimensions of mari-
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: francoise.peron@univ-brest.fr

2
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
tes of pay were often lower,
pure sailing vessels continu-
ed to be economic to build
in Northern Europe after the and operate. Spanish fruit
introduction of marine oil- schooners remained a fami-
engines early in the 20th liar sight in ports and har-
century. Engineers in Den- bours all over Europe up to
mark, Germany and Sweden the middle years of the 20th
worked to improve the relia- century, when they were
bility and performance of eventually ousted by motor
such motors, and as their coasters and road transport.
prices and weights were
progressively reduced, Because such vessels were
many were installed as auxi- frequently built of soft-
liaries in what were previ- wood, few have survived in-
ously pure sailing vessels, to old age. Many hundreds
permitting crew numbers to of them were built at Torre-
be reduced. vieja, on Spain’s Costa
Blanca, and one of them,
But in the Mediterranean built for the Flores family of
countries, where sailors’ ra- shipowners and named

»Pascual Flores« in Torrevieja

»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 first 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
(continued on page 5...)

3
Luxury steam yacht repatriated
by Mr. John Robinson

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 »Nahlin in the 1930’s...
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 ...and today
than 200,000 miles, equiva-
lent to several circumnavi- Albert«. Later that year he
gations. A professional crew abdicated rather than give
of 58 looked after the guests up Mrs Simpson. Lady Yule
occupying her six palatial had by then evidently grown
guest cabins, decorated in tired of »Nahlin«, and when
Louis XIV style, while four Helen Lupescu, mistress of
geared steam turbines total- King Carol II of Roumania,
ling 4,000 hp. propelled suggested using the elegant
them at up to 17kts. yacht for amorous pursuits,
»Nahlin« was the last, and her lover agreed and bought
arguably the most beautiful, the vessel in 1938, changing
of all the yachts designed by her name to »Luceafärul«.
G. L. Watson in Glasgow. After Carol was deposed by Mrs Simpson and King Edward VIII. »Nahlin«’s most ce-
Her facilities included a the Iron Guard in 1940, lebrated guests.
swimming pool, gymnasium various uses were found for
and dance floor, and invita- the yacht, and under Com- sive alterations to her super- ing more than half a century
tions to join her were highly munism her name was structure. In 1996 Nicholas in Roumania, but her princi-
prized among European and changed to »Libertatea«, Edmiston, a successful Brit- pal structure remains sound
American socialites. When while she served as a ish yacht-broker, commen- and intact, and a full resto-
Britain´s King Edward VIII school-ship. ced negotiations to save the ration is currently being
was courting the American old »Nahlin« from further costed at Devonport dock-
divorcée Mrs Wallis Simp- By 1966, prolonged neglect decline in Roumania. Even- yard, under the direction of
son in the face of public dis- had reduced her glamour, tually she was towed to Is- Dr. William Collier, who
approval in Britain, he char- and her engines had long tanbul and loaded onto a specialises in such projects
tered the »Nahlin« for an ceased to turn, but the yacht heavy-lift ship for delivery for Fairlie Restorations Ltd,
Adriatic cruise in 1936 continued in use as a float- to Falmouth, where she was a small and highly special-
rather than risk any dis- ing hotel at Galatz on the unloaded in October 1999. ised yacht restorer based at
agreement over using the lower Danube. Happily this Most of her opulent fittings Port Hamble near South-
Royal Yacht »Victoria & role did not require exten- had sadly been pilfered dur- ampton.

4
 Events 2000
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

Classic fruit schooner...

(...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 In August 1999 the French
the »Pascual Flores« slowed heavy-lift ship »Clipper
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.
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
sailing lighters 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.

5
 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
6
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. More information:
Österreichischer Seefahrtsverein, Herr Hugo Herrmann,
In this way »Il Nuovo
Seilerstätte 1, A-1010 Wien, Austria.
Trionfo« is still ploughing
Tel & Fax: +43 1 512 8296
the traditional waters of the
Mobil: +39 338 393 0877 or +43 664 254 7212
trabakel’s.
E-mail: hugo.herrmann@seefahrt.at

From John Reynolds we ha-
ve received a book of humo-
rous nautical cartoons, pro-
bably dating from the 30’s.
2 To be continued...
Next Issue
Nautical Cartoons
Part I
Originally the book belon-
ged to Mr. Reynolds’ father.
In this and coming issues of
the EMH Newsletter we will
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-
publish pages from the book,
hoping that our readers will
enjoy the humour.
If anyone recognizes the car-
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
toons and are able to give us
some background informati-
on on their origin, we would
be pleased to receive a note.
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.
7