[11thCW] THE BEAUTY OF A WAVE

No words just the motion image of a wave to see all its beauty.

[11thCW] THE BEATLES' "YELLOW SUBMARINE"

"Yellow Submarine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. It was included on their 1966 album Revolver and issued as a single, coupled with "Eleanor Rigby". The single went to number one on British charts, remained at number one for four weeks. [+info] (From Wikipedia). 

We'll be posting more songs related to the sea during the actual Cultural week.

Video:

Lyrics:

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed up to the sun
'Til we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

(Full speed ahead Mr. Parker, full speed ahead
Full speed ahead it is, Sergeant
Action station, action station
Aye, aye, sir, fire
Captain, captain)

As we live a life of ease
Everyone of us has all we need (has all we need)
Sky of blue (sky of blue) and sea of green (and sea of green)
In our yellow submarine (in our yellow, submarine, ha ha)

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

Fuente: LyricFind

Autores de la canción: John Lennon / Paul McCartney

Letra de Yellow Submarine © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

[11thCW] FELIXSTOWE: THE PORT OF BRITAIN

The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk is the United Kingdom's busiest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe.

Video:

Info video about the importance of British ports:

[11thCW] A SEXTANT WITH HISTORY (2)

This is a sextant with history. It belonged to my grandfather and was given to him by Jacobo F. J. Stuart y Falcó, XVII Duke of Alba & Count of Andrade, Ambassador of Spain in London in 1942.

These photos show the sextant, the box that contains it, its original certificate and a page from a Spanish newspaper from 1954, on the first anniversary of the Ambassador's death, telling the story of the sextant and the meeting between the ambassador and my grandfather Félix Neira back in June 1942.

Below is the translation into English of the story. On the previous blog-post you can see what a sextant is used for when sailing a boat (HERE). Galician version of this post at ArquivosDoTrasno.

"To the first class coastal fishing skipper Mr Felix Neira Neira souvenir from the Ambassador of Spain in London Duke of Alba & Count of Andrade. London June 1942."

[Spanish newspaper, 1954. A year after the Ambassador's death]

"[...] Being today the first anniversary of the death of his excelency Mr Jacobo F.J. Stuart y Falcó, XVII Duke of Alba, an event which occurred during his stay in London as Spanish ambassador becomes relevant.

During the last world war, a small Galician fishing boat was fishing in front of the French coast in a place called inappropriately "the great sun" ("le grand solle"). Suddenly an English destroyer, which was trying to escape from a German torpedo plane's persuit, invaded the fishing area. The destructor's prow headed towards the small fishing boat that without being able to change direction collided and sunk. All the fishing crew were safe and went on board the destructor. Scarcely after an hour on the English ship, the planes hit it and the fishermen were in a shipwreck a second time, but luckily again, they were collected by another ship which took them to England.

Once in Great Britain, the Galician castaways were taken care of by our Embassy and met the ambassador, who held a long interview with the skipper of the fishing boat. The Duke of Alba was interested in the details of the adventure and the skipper's life, who had lived mostly in Pontedeume. They also talked about the loss of all the crew's belonging on board and the skipper also regretted having lost a sextant, which he had bought very recently. It was the most heartfelt loss for him.

Having spent the necessary time to organize their trip back to Spain, the skipper went to the Embassy to say goodbye and he received a parcel containing an excellent sextant, together with a singular card, which said: 'Duke of Alba & Count of Andrade".

The Duke of Alba's present to the Galician skipper was a delicate summary of what they had been talking about in their conversation. The sextant would take up the place of the one lost in the wreckage and as the Duke had chosen, among his thirty two titles, the one of Andrade, it was an elegant souvenir to the place where the skipper had lived many years: Pontedeume."

In men's lives, pure emotions are almost always disguised with intimacy and simplicity. Knowing about these intimate acts is necessary to know about the person. [...]"

Jose María Basanta Barro

[11thCW] WHAT'S A SEXTANT USED FOR? (1)

Wikipedia

What's a sextant used for?

Translated from "SaberAlgoDeTodo".

Sailors have always had to solve the problem of knowing where the position of the ship.

The first instrument able to answer this demand was the astrolabe, examples of which had already been found in the wreckage of a Greek vessel of the IV century BC. A development of this device was the sextant, an instrument that is used to calculate the position of a ship.

Who invented the sextant?

The nautical sextant considered one of the most important inventions of the Middle Ages was invented by John Bird at the request of John Campbell in 1757. This invention replaced the astrolabe, which was less accurate and had been of great importance for many exploration voyages and the developments in sailings as it had been the main instrument to measure latitude for many years.

How does a sextant work?

It's made up of a a circumference arch -a sixth of a circumference, from here its name-

provided with a small spyglass or telescope and two mirrors; one is permanently fixed and the other movable.

It's used in this way: you address the spyglass towards a previously chosen star, after you turn the instrument so that the star's image appears reflected on the movable mirror. Then you turn the instrument until the image of the reflected star appears on the horizon; you look how much the instrument has turned and so measure the height of the star.

Video:


The following post is about A SEXTANT WITH HISTORY: a sextant that belonged to my grandfather.

[11thCW] THE STORY OF THE SWEDISH SHIP 'VASA' & HOW IT SANK

 The Vasa ship.

Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum) at Stockholm.

Vasa or Wasa (Swedish pronunciation: [ˇvɑːsa] (listen)) is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship sank after sailing about only 1,300 m in  her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside Stockholm harbor. The ship was recovered with a largely intact hull in 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Vasa Shipyard") until 1988 and then moved permanently to the Vasa Museum in Djurgarden (Royal national Park) in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 35 million visitors since 1961. Since her recovery, Vasa has become a widely recognised symbol of the Swedish "great power period". [+info] (From Wikipedia)

- VASAMUSEET EXHIBITION CLOSE-UP

Video about the Vasa and Vasamuseet:

Video about how the Vasa sank:

CONFUSING: 'ABOVE' vs 'OVER'

 

[11thCW] THE 'TITANIC' WRECKAGE: HOW IT SANK

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner operated by the White Star Line that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making the sinking one of modern history's deadliest peacetime commercial marine disasters. RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time she entered service. She was built in a shipyard in Belfast. Thomas Andrews, chief naval architect of the shipyard at the time, died in the disaster. [+info] (From Wikipedia)
The video recreation of how it sunk.

Video HOW THE TITANIC SANK: (James Cameron Titanic animation)

Video STORY OF THE TITANIC:

[11thCW] HOW EARLY SAILORS NAVIGATED THE OCEANS

The earliest navigation methods involved observing landmarks or watching the direction of the sun and stars. Few ancient sailors ventured out into the open sea. Instead, they sailed within sight of land in order to navigate. When that was impossible, ancient sailors watched constellations to mark their position. Watch the video below for information.

Video:

[11thCW] THE IMPORTANCE OF GREENWICH IN THE HISTORY OF NAVIGATION

Greenwich (/ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ/ (listen) is an area of South East London, England. 

Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. The town became the site of a royal palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century, and was the birthplace of many Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was demolished to be replaced by the Royal Naval Hospital for Sailors, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873, and they remained a military education establishment until 1998.

The maritime connections of Greenwich were celebrated in the 20th century, with the siting of the Cutty Sark (video below) and Gipsy Moth IV next to the river front, and the National Maritime Museum (video below) in the former buildings of the Royal Hospital School in 1934. [+info] (From Wikipedia)

Info video:

Video about the importance of Greenwich in the history of astronomy & navigation:

Video about the National Maritime Museum @ Greenwich:



Video "CUTTY SARK":

[11thCW] BRITAIN & THE SEA: BASIS OF ITS TRADE AND EMPIRE

Including a short documentary about what the sea has meant to Britain in its history.

Video:

This animated map video describes the development of the United Kingdom's colonial empire due to its unchallenged command of the seas..

Video:

PRACTICING ADVICE

 

- More situations for advice:

1) I always feel tired and have no energy to do anything.

2) My clothes are all starting to get too tight.

3) I lost my pet 3 days ago and still can't find it.

4) I was working on my computer and it all went black and I lost all my data and documents.

5) I don't like my job but I am having trouble finding a new one.

6) One of the women who I work with hates me and is spreading horrible gossip about me.

7) I smoke too much and want to quit but every time I try I get really sick.

8) I don't want to go to college but my parents expect me to.

9) My brother is moving to a dangerous village in Africa and I don't want him to go because I'm scared of him.

10) I like a boy/gril who doesn't know and I'm too shy to ask how they feel.

11) One of the people I work with is making me crazy. they are always around and they are so loud.

12) I'm so bored and nothing seems to interest me or seem fun.

13) I'm having a hard time going to sleep at night.

14) I feel very lonely and like no one likes me.

15) My best friend spends too much money on clothes and never has enough to do anything with us.

16) I want to buy a new black berry now or real soon but don't have enough money.

17) I failed a really important exam and now don't think I can graduate.

[11thCW] HOW BIG & DEEP IS THE OCEAN?

Working on the topic of the SEA. Today we start posting a series of entries with information on the topic. 
To start with here are some videos that show us how big and how deep an ocean is.

Video "HOW BIG IS AN OCEAN?"

Video "HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN?"

- OCEANS OF THE WORLD BY SIZE