SHINING: Sunlight highlights a ship as it passes Crosby beach and the Antony Gormley iron men. Inset: The Stavros S Niarchos leaving the Mersey to join the start of the Tall Ships Race GAV210708A
I WAS on the cruise money couldn’t buy: once more, after 16 years, mid-river, amid a fleet of ships that appeared to belong to a bygone age.
Bobbing and weaving among an armada of masts and rigging. But it could have been 1708 rather than 2008. A scene waiting to be captured by the Venetian artist Canaletto or the English painter Joseph Turner. Except that in this new age, it was digital cameras and videos recording a day when Liverpool rediscovered its maritime roots. Huge crowds lining both sides of the river: Tens of thousands, like rows of confetti, in multi-coloured costumes. Some had travelled from the ends of the earth. Some from the end of the street. Others crowded apartment and office balconies to se-
The leaving of Liverpool
JOE RILEY, a veteran of the 1984 and 1992 Tall Ships’ visits to Liverpool, again reflects on one of the world’s great maritime spectacles . . . as the city says farewell to the 08 Tall Ships visit cure a prime view of 60 tall ships on parade through what had been transformed into the tailor-made maritime amphitheatre of the Mersey. A river cleared of commercial traffic, but thronged with the sort of spectacle which comes along once in a generation. Overhead, a team of Russian propeller-driven aerobatic display planes – the Yakevlovs – pluming white ribbons against the half-blue heavens bubbled with Himalayan cloud
(every bit as cumulus nimbus as Christopher Columbus). The aircraft rose and swooped, their wings just feet apart. Spectators whooped approval with good reason. Get the Red Arrows and they pass by in a microsecond. These guys lingered like hover mowers, at one time low enough to glimpse the pilots. Meanwhile, on the river, great arches of water cannon salutes sent a rainbowed cur-
tain of mist towards the Liverpool shore. From the deck of HMS Blazer, a Royal Navy patrol boat, the vista was unparalleled. The world’s media was being shown Merseyside sunny side up. One German TV producer from Cologne could not contain his enthusiasm: “Here I am, sailing with the Royal Navy. This would not have been possible for my great-grandfather.” Quite. But yesterday’s international regatta was all about peace and goodwill. It brought back memories of the 1992 Tall Ships, led by an Argentine ship just a decade after the Falklands War. And so it remains, an event propelled by young people unsullied by war. All about the
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
SAIL HO: A crewman at work on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl as a Liver Bird watches the ships head out to sea to210708s
The superstars of sail salute 21st century city
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spirit of the future, not the past. Forty-eight hours before the parade of ships, a force-nine gale had swept in from the Irish Sea. By midday yesterday, this had calmed to force four, the waves just breaking a white crest. But even a moderate head-on wind and an incoming tide running at four knots are not the best of aides to ships advancing at six knots. This – the one slight disappointment for purists – meant that there was not a lot of billowing sail to be seen. Only one ship – the class A Alexander Von Humboldt, with her distinctive emerald green dressage, had a sail set full square. Most ships had to advance under diesel
power, but still providing drama, not least the British sea cadet vessel Royalist, with her spirited crew “manning the yards” (standing tier-on-tier on mast cross-beams) in time-honoured ceremonial tradition. And there was only one early casualty: the smaller Ocean Spirit of Moray (the ship Princess Anne visited last week), delayed in dock by a technical problem. Beyond Otterspool, from early morning, vessels had begun to assemble in four distinct groupings, forming a fleet a mile and a half from fore to aft. Then, suddenly, they started to advance en masse; ship after ship after ship, heralded with great pride by the Stavros S Niarchos, crewed by 200 Liverpool youngsters – a pledge undertaken by the city council in 2005 when Liverpool celebrated the Year of the Sea. As the Stavros passed the Pier Head,
there was a gun salute from fleet auxiliary HMS Lyme Bay, flying the vice-admiral’s flag (a St George’s Cross with two red spheres). The frigate HMS Argyle thunderously echoed the same honour. Helicopters crisscrossed overhead. Other vessels sounded their sirens. What a day for the kids on board. And what a day for everyone else looking on. The high and the mighty in perfect harmony. There was a superstar – the resplendent Russian ship Mir, seen in 1992, one of the last three sailing ships to carry cargo from Australia to Europe. Not far away, the Westward Ho, a Tall Ships’ newcomer, the oldest vessel in the parade, built 124 years ago as an Atlantic fishing boat.
And what’s this? Why – yes – the Christian Radich, possibly the most famous tall ship of all time, having starred in the credits for the TV series, The Onedin Line. As the tall ships headed to the Mersey bar and into the brilliant evening sunlight, they threw Liverpool’s unparalleled and newly enhanced skyscraper skyline into massive relief. Bringing up the rear, serving as an accompanying guard of honour, were HMS Mersey and HMS Grimsby. Then, one by one, the tall ships were gone as suddenly as they had arrived, seemingly beckoned over the distant horizon by the mid-estuary swinging arms of 21st centurypower turbines. Now there’s a thought: Perhaps not that much has changed in 500 years. The wind still ruleth the waves.
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BIRD’S EYE VIEW: An eye in the sky catches the Parade of Sail, which drew thousands to vantage points on both sides of the river
FOND FAREWELL: One of the graceful ships heads out to sea, a sight which delighted the many people along the Sefton shore
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MAJESTIC: The Cuauhtemoc at full speed at the start of the Tall Ships parade. Inset: The crew of the Royalist sail past the Liver Building
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THRONG: Crowds come to see the tall ships at Wellington Dock jr200708t
LIGHT SHIP: The Cuauhtemoc at dusk in Wellington Dock
SMART: The crew of the Mexican vessel Cuauhtemoc made a fine sight in their white uniforms eb190708fta
MARCH: Ship crew leave Wellington dock for the parade at the Tall Ships festival at the Albert Dock
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HIGH STANDARD: Constantia of Sweden’s flag bearer for the crews parade around Albert Dock eb190708f
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HIGH LIFT: Sailors on the masts of the Mexican tall ship Cuauhtemoc at Wellington Dock at180708b
IN THE NET: Sailors on Alexander von Humboldt prepare rigging
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ROUGE-BLANC-BLEU: A member of the French vessel Etoile battles with a giant tricolour as he waits for the start of the parade eb190708f
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FLEET: Ships in Wellington Dock for the Tall Ships festival
Liverpool ECHO
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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ARR: Huw Lilley, 3, from Chester dresses as a pirate at Wellington Dock
ECHO picture team: Eddie Barford, Martin Birchall, Matt Goodfellow, Paul Heaps, Tracey O’Neill, Alex Petricca, Jason Roberts, Andrew Teebay, Gavin Trafford and Richard Williams
STYLISH: Ship crew in fancy dress leave Wellington Dock for the crews parade at the Tall Ships festival at Albert Dock
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THE ECHO’s Tall Ships programme and prints can be bought at www.merseyshop.com by clicking on the Tall Ships icon. The programme costs £4 plus £1.50 delivery, while the prints cost £24.99 plus £4 delivery. You can see all our available images of the Tall Ships by logging on to www.merseyshop.com/buyaphoto and browsing the Tall Ships category. Alternatively, call 0151-472 2549.
JADE BEAUTY: The green goddess of the seas...the German "Alexander Von Humoldt" arrives at Wellington Dock eb170708d