Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Gypsy Moth Transits Globe Again.



via Independent.

t was the pride of Plymouth, a ship greeted by fanfare after making waves among a proud local public when it completed the first solo circumnavigation of the globe. Yesterday, the yacht Gipsy Moth IV charted the same course into Plymouth harbour, 40 years to the day after its first famous voyage.

On 28 May 1967, the 53ft ketch was steered into Plymouth Sound by the trusted hands of the aviator and yachtsman Francis Chichester. Yesterday, it was crewed by a team of young people in a repeat of its original 30,000-mile odyssey which saw it travel around the globe via the three capes of Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, making only one stop along the way.

t was the pride of Plymouth, a ship greeted by fanfare after making waves among a proud local public when it completed the first solo circumnavigation of the globe. Yesterday, the yacht Gipsy Moth IV charted the same course into Plymouth harbour, 40 years to the day after its first famous voyage.

On 28 May 1967, the 53ft ketch was steered into Plymouth Sound by the trusted hands of the aviator and yachtsman Francis Chichester. Yesterday, it was crewed by a team of young people in a repeat of its original 30,000-mile odyssey which saw it travel around the globe via the three capes of Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, making only one stop along the way.

Sir Francis's journey took nine months and a day. The adventurer, who had survived lung cancer, was knighted by the Queen using the sword of his fellow nautical adventurer Sir Francis Drake. He died in 1972.

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