South West Sailing

I am a fan of the NMMC and the incredible effort the staff put in to keep the museum alive and interesting throughout the entire year.

I receive numerous e-mails during the year outlining plans for both young and old at the NMMC and confess the ingenuity and planning that they put into such schemes and events deserves recognition.

Accordingly I am delighted that at the Cornwall Tourism Awards for 2008 that the Museum was named Large Visitor Attraction of the Year.

Well done Ladies and Gentlemen you fully deserve the accolade.

Taking advantage of the northerly breeze Pete Goss and his crew on Spirit of Mystery slipped away from Newlyn on Monday night en route to Australia.

Spirit is a replica of the original Mystery a 37ft Mounts Bay lugger, which left Newlyn on the 18 November 1854, bound for the Australian Gold Fields.

116 days later after a voyage of 11,800 miles the intrepid seven-man crew reached Melbourne.

Goss together with his brother Andy, son Eliot and brother in law Mark Maidment are following in the wake of these Cornish fishermen with the aim of highlighting their achievement and raising money for Goss’s charity Cornwall Playing for Success.

Cornwall Playing for Success is an out of school hour’s initiative aimed to involve youngsters in sport and adventure activities and the voyage will feature on the website www.petegoss.com/playing-for-success.php.

Besides the voyage itself the best feature about Mystery and her crew was that the idea originated in the Star Inn at Newlyn.

How many daft brave or foolish ideas originate over a few beers?  It is nice to know that even 154 years ago men were still making rash decisions over a pint.

The Torrey Canyon is a named etched in the history of shipwrecks off the Cornish coast as the first major super tanker disaster to spark a major environmental crisis.

The Torrey Canyon piled onto a reef off the Scilly Isles in March 1967 at a time when such a disaster was regarded as almost impossible. There was no infrastructure in place to cope with such a major oil spillage at the time so the UK Government resorted to bombing and napalming the wreck to burn off the oil.

Likewise detergent was widely used to break up oil slicks with no regard for the impact on wild life.

Next Monday there will be a lunchtime lecture on the Torrey Canyon and the aftermath of its sad demise on Pollard’s Rock on the Seven Stones Reef at the NMMC with the lunch and lecture costing £12.50.

Bookings can be made on 01326 214546.

The NMMC has a whole season of winter talks on a host of maritime related subjects offering something for everyone.

This talk by Sam Willis sounds particularly interesting and definitely worth attending.

See you there!