Royal Naval gaff-rigged cutter
Coastguards and RNLI volunteers could have been forgiven for thinking they had entered a time-warp when they were called to help a sailing boat which had been blown against the inside of Sunderland's New South Pier on Saturday afternoon.
Instead of finding a local yachtsman in distress, they were greeted by the sight a replica Royal Naval gaff-rigged cutter, crewed by eight individuals dressed in Nelsonian naval uniform.
Only the presence of a port security officer brought reality to the situation.
Fortunately, the only injuries were to the pride of the six men and two women – all members of the Historical Maritime Society (HMS) – who had been en route to Roker harbour beach to take part in a historical naval re-enactment during last weekend's Roker Regatta.
After rowing from Sunderland Marina, the crew had been unable to make headway under sail and found themselves being blown against the breakwater.
Luckily, the boat – known as "Blue Launch" – came to rest alongside the pier steps, enabling six crew members to scramble ashore and hold onto mooring ropes until the lifeboat arrived.
With the naval launch having to be towed back to the marina, plans to stage the re-enactment were abandoned.
Spectators would have enjoyed the spectacle of simulated musket and cannon fire, as Royal Marines fought with a gang of smugglers (also HMS members) who had landed barrels of contraband Dutch gin on the beach.
The Historical Maritime Society is a UK-based historical research and re-enactment group recreating past-glories of the Royal Navy.
Its main area of interest is the late-18th and early-19th centuries, with members aiming to educate the public about naval life during the time of Britain's greatest naval hero, Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson.
The Society's 24-foot "Blue Launch" is a reproduction of a ship's boat
used at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, when Nelson saved Britain from the threat of invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte by leading the attack on a combined French and Spanish fleet.
These boats were not named or numbered but were identified by the colour in which their gunwales were painted.
Built at Durham, the launch was constructed by HMS members from authentic plans and made its debut at the International Festival of the Sea's Trafalgar 200 celebrations in 2005.
More recently, the society has become involved in the Second World War Royal Navy re-enactment and has taken part in filming on board HMS Belfast in London for a Discovery Channel film about the sinking of the German battleship, Scharnhorst and for the BBC War at Sea series.
Further information about the Historical Maritime Society can be found on its website at www.hms.org.uk
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
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