The pride and joy of the Algarve’s regional tourism board, the replica caravel Boa Esperança, is on a tour of duty in the northwest of Spain including a stop-off in the harbour of the city of Vigo whose harbour authorities are less than impressed with Portuguese seamanship.
The caravel was meant to stop once it reached Vigo harbour but failed to, suffering what the local newspaper politely called ‘an engine problem’ which causing the ship to plow into a metal walkway at full speed ahead.
The walkway ended up on the harbour floor and the captain in the harbour-master’s office to explain how the caravel had failed to stop.
The local ‘Faro de Vigo’ newspaper posting a video of the incident (see link below) which had been posted on Twitter by an unamused ports authority.
“The event occurred around 20:00 (October 20th) when the boat came in to dock at the quayside and suffered an engine failure,” reported the local rag.
The Boa Esperança "could not prevent its bow hitting the aluminum structure, which was dislodged in seconds."
According to the newspaper, "the dock's walkway later was recovered from the seabed by a crane and will be fixed back to the ground after suffering damage caused by the Portuguese caravel Boa Esperança."
Contacted by Sul Informação, Desidéio Silva, the president of the Algarve’s tourism board who has overall responsibility for the outward bound operation, played down the incident and said the walkway had soon been re-erected and that the caravel had no visible signs of damage.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-rBUCsXsec
Comments
How do you think we discovered so many lands, the ships probably drifted off course and ended up somewhere but we crafty Portuguese were heard to say ''we're lost'' only to be replaced by ''we discovered a new land'' they should re wright the history books.
were started, looked forward with great pleasure to the event. However, from boarding to returning and tying up it was quite obvious that the crew , at that time, were total amateurs who did not have a clue about seamanship. The decks were cluttered, untidy and dirty,
both topside and below deck. No one took time to give information about the ship or explain things to the uninitiated. Casting off and returning to the berth were laughable events. From this accident it would not seem that things have much improved.
If it fails at a crucial moment, there's nothing the crew can do [Ask me how I know...].
The fault is none the less with the captain, who is responsible for all systems being in good order.
Of course the original vessel had no engine; if the winds were favorable, it would have been brought in under sail [a maneuver requiring considerable skill] , and otherwise pulled manually.
Much slower.