Wednesday June 26, 2024 – At sea on Route to New York City, USA
The early lecture was cancelled in favor of an emergency exercise of the crew, which often takes place. A fire, a man overboard or other such situation is simulated and the crew are trained on what to do. So the first, and actually the only lecture we attended was the Marine Archaeologist Mensun Bound talking about his life and discoveries. He was a fifth generation born Falkland Islander born on February 4, 1953, and raised in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands which at the time had a population of 1,000 people. Life was simple, grow vegetables and livestock to survive the winter and gather enough peat to make it through the winter warming water and home. He attended Fairleigh Dickinson and Rutgers Universities in New Jersey, USA, but is mostly associated with Lincoln and St. Catherine’s colleges at Oxford University in the UK. He became the Triton Fellow in Maratime Archaeology at St. Peter’s College Oxford. In 2013 he retired from academic life to continue his interest in deep-ocean archaeology. While best known for his discovery of the Shackleton’s ship – Endurance (subject of yesterday’s talk) he previously participated in many other ship-wrecks like the Madrague de Ginés (France) and Mary Rose (England) and is a specialist in Etruscan Archaeology. One of his early discoveries was the shipwreck off Giglio Island (part of the Tuscan Archipelago including the islands of – Montecristo, Pianosa, Elba and Capraia in the Tyrrhenian Sea. This Etruscan shipwreck dates back to 600 BCE. It was a cargo ship containing copper and lead ingots, amphorae (with wine still in them, apparently tasting of vinegar) and a Corinthian Helmet. Another was the Hôi-An Cargo ship (22 kilometers west of Da Nang) with extensive (2 large warehouses) collection of Ming-Vietnamese porcelain. In 1997 The Admiral Graf Spee near Montevideo, Uruguay in the River Plate (sunk in 1939). Also the HMS Agamemnon (built 1781) which was Lord Nelson’s first Major command and part of the Battle of Trafalgar found in the Maldonado Bay near the mouth of the River Plate. In 2014-15 he led a search for the Imperial German East Asia Squadron, sunk during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. He eventually found the flagship SMS Scharnhorst in April 2019. He participated and / or led numerous more wrecks. I found it fascinating and would love to spend hours hearing about his numerous exploits around the globe.
However, we had planned on going to the Lunch and Learn experience, so skipped the other lectures. On this occasion the Wine tasting and lunch featured North American wines (California, Oregon and Canadian wines) presented by Chief Sommelier, our friend – Subramani Paneer at the Verandah restaurant. The 8 wines, with accompanying food were: –
Food – Salad of Maine Lobster with Lemon Foam, red onion, egg and sour cream
- Pinot Gris, A-Z Wine-works, Oregon,USA
- Sauvignon Blanchard, Avesta, Stags Leap, Napa valley, USA
Food – Roasted Guinea Fowl, wild mushrooms, braised baby onions and Madeira Sauce.
- Chardonnay Valravn, Sonoma County, California USA
- Chardonnay Buena Vista, Carneros, USA – Our favorite white
Food – 21 day dry aged filet of beef Aubrey Allen, Maris potato piper, wilted spinach, vine roasted tomato red wine glazed
- Mission Hill, Pinot Noir, Canada
- Cannon Ball Merlot, California, USA
- Cabernet Sauvignon St. Superb, Napa County, USA – Our favorite red
Food – Baked New York Cheesecake, Graham Cracker Crumb, and sour cream glaze
- Cabernet Franc Ice Wine, Peller Estates, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada – delicious
The evening show was the American comedian who was at best moderately amusing, however, many Americans in the audience thought he was terrific, One in particular, cackled like a hen on dope at every joke, she sat right behind me!
Roger & Anne Travels 