We shall not forget them.

A great thread-one of the classics-thanks to all who have contributed reminders of where "sailing" and "Yacht Design" came from. I wonder if they would be as proud of us as we are of them?
Thanks for the idea, Richard.

 

Well,

nothing is real, nothing is easy to grasp, when we don´t know (and accept), how our ancestors went to sea. We are still learning, thats ok.

Inch by inch, shape after shape they refined the crappy sampans they were cought on,

then we came with new technologies, assuming we know better.


Ha, Ha.................

 

We probably know a lot less, but technology makes it a lot easier. If you go and think those times through then one can begin to realise how gutsy they must have been.

If you're out in the wild without lights and vehicles and GPS's and stuff you quickly realise how helpless - really - we are without our modern aids.

I was in a big scrap yard one night, scariest experience I ever had. You hear noises and things you cannot place or relate to. Probably is the same on a boat you don't know the sea, the weather, currents, traps and pittfalls and not even sure if the earth was really round or flat.

 

The complexity of a large sailing ship boggles my weak mind. I can only respect to the genius minds which developed the sailing gear found on these great ships.

 

Just don´t forget them!

Richard

 

Including this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearchus

 

Fantastic thread Richard and great contribution from every one.
Many great people payed in blood and sweat for us to have the luxury and comfort we live in today.

May they rest in peace ...

 

We won't forget them, the seafarers from many nations.

 

Rescuers of Ameland

I like to copy an extract of our game ‘‘Where is this?’’ to this place of heroes..!!

Not for the horses, though they are worth it too, but...

For the eight Men mentioned from 1844 till 1863.​

extract from post #5145 till #5156

Cheers,
Angel

 

Hmm,

that was the meaning of this thread, let us not forget them.

Well done Angel.

 

This reminds me of my... Hmm, lets see... Grandmothers Grandfather? Yep, that's it. As well as being a marksman, he started out as a sailor, on one of the German clippers (from Hamburg, no?). Julius Shütte was his name anyways, born 1863. He became some kind of officer, or even a captain on one of those clippers. One day on a particularly hard voyage where they had lost many men, and were critically short on manpower, Julius was flushed overboard in a storm. As the highest (if not the only) command on the ship, they desperately tried to fish him up, risking the entire ship. Luckily Julius could swim (not common), and rather well in fact. For three hours in a storm, they tried to fish him up, finally succeeding, and they could continue home.

He served as an officer in the Kaiserliche Marine during WW1, and was old, poor (hyperinflation lost all his money) and eventually died during WW2.