Final Great Seamanship: Tom Cunliffe bids farewell

It’s 21 years since my outdated buddy Andrew Bray, then editor of Yachting World, requested me to provide a six-part collection taken from nautical literature entitled Nice Seamanship. We began with Bernard Moitessier’s description of a Southern Ocean survival storm, then contrasted this with a whimsical story of excessive latitude journey from Rockwell Kent.

From there, my spouse and I continued to plunder the cabinets of our personal intensive library. Because the column advanced, it grew to become clear that readers have been having fun with it and the availability of fabric confirmed no indicators of drying up, so we carried on previous the unique shut-off date.

Yr adopted 12 months, the content material moved from historic accounts to extra up-to-date tales, and we branched out in order that on occasion we may function a pleasant piece of writing with little to do with gigantic seas or unimaginable winds. We featured sea scouts, clipper ship captains, titled girls and ‘duffers on the deep’. Every served us with wealthy leisure whereas increasing our information, however all good issues should come to an finish.

And so it’s with Nice Seamanship. That is to be my final column beneath this heading.

From the start, I’ve averted any temptation to function my very own work in these pages, however for this remaining submission, I’m breaking the mould. In 1988, my ebook Topsail & Battleaxe gained the Greatest Ebook of the Sea award.

It described two voyages. The primary, encompassing three generations, lined the Viking discovery and tried colonisation of North America within the tenth and early eleventh centuries.

The second, a mere summer time lengthy, was the journey I made with my spouse, my then-four-year-old daughter, and a crew of appreciable character of their wake. This happened in 1983 with the boat I owned on the time – an unrestored 1911 pilot cutter, of 35 tons displacement, gaff rigged with canvas sails.

Somewhat than choosing an extract from the a part of the ebook describing storms and ice off Greenland with my extremely vibrant crew, I’ve as an alternative opted for one of many biggest feats of seamanship of all time which is analysed within the ebook, the voyage of Bjarni Herjolfson.

His vessel was a 55ft knarr, typical of the redoubtable Norse service provider ships of his day; commodious, seaworthy and surprisingly close-winded, she grew to become the primary vessel from Europe to sight America.

Bjarni and his father Herjolf ran a buying and selling enterprise between Norway and the comparatively new colony of Iceland. Bjarni took care of the seafaring, his father operated the onshore aspect of the present at dwelling in Iceland.

In the meantime, Eirik the Purple, a first-generation Icelander was following his father’s footsteps by indulging in a bit homicide and mayhem. To keep away from the inevitably disagreeable penalties, Eirik opted to depart and arrange a brand new neighborhood in south-west Greenland. For causes obscure, Herjolf went with him, leaving a vacuum within the enterprise when Bjarni arrived in Iceland loaded with commerce items.

The proof for my reconstruction of Bjarni’s subsequent voyage comes from the Icelandic sagas. These have been picked over by many authorities who’ve drawn numerous conclusions. I’ve approached the matter from the standpoint of a seaman who has been there in a crusing vessel of modest efficiency and, as of us say, ‘achieved it’.

Bjarni’s knarr, in fact, had neither log nor compass. Though he had no longitude, he was in a position to decide a tough comparative latitude – no numbers you’ll observe – through the use of a stick held at arm’s size in Bergen and making a mark on the peak of the pole star.

Since each that port and Cape Farewell in Greenland stand on the similar latitude (round 60°N), and Polaris doesn’t transfer considerably, it follows {that a} heading of east or west from one will discover the opposite. Within the absence of measured miles, the Norse presently reckoned their distance run on the premise of a day’s crusing. This was often known as a doegr, which I take to be 24 hours crusing for a mean vessel.

In the actual world of sail and oar, this is able to be round 100 miles. A knarr pushed onerous with a good wind can handle much more, however one should look to the typical with no auxiliary engine. In any case, it’s a versatile measurement.

Illustrations of Bjarni and his voyage are inevitably in brief provide, so we’ve got used archive images from my very own journey to brighten our darkness right here. We be a part of Bjarni and his crew arriving in Iceland to find that the anticipated backup and gross sales workforce have flown the nest.

When Bjarni Herjolfson’s deep-loaded knarr fetched up in Iceland in the summertime of 985 her arrival was the end result of a two-year voyage. Along with anticipating payday, his males have been trying ahead to being reunited with their family members and seeing how affairs had proceeded of their absence.

For Bjarni, Herjolf’s defection additionally raised questions regarding the way forward for the shorebased aspect of his enterprise and he noticed two various programs of motion. Both he may write his father off as having gone delicate within the head by following that lunatic Eirik the Purple, or he may sail his ship and his commerce items west after the colonists.

It appears probably that, in his observe to his son, Herjolf included some phrases of encouragement about the advantages of holding the household concern collectively. If Bjarni made it to the brand new colony along with his ship-load of goodies from the homeland, the Greenlanders would certainly be able to pay prime costs for them.

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A person of Bjarni’s enterprise acumen can’t have vacillated lengthy over such a choice and, slightly than unload the knarr, he put his ideas to the crew for his or her consideration. The Vikings most popular to run their deep-sea vessels with a restricted diploma of democracy and, to a person, Bjarni’s shipmates voted to go together with him to Greenland.

That they did so within the face of the inevitable tongue-clicking and head-shaking from the same old gang of Job’s comforters on the dock is a tribute to Bjarni’s management. The gang on his knarr weren’t only a few out-of-work Vikings dredged up from the bars of Bergen and Trondheim; they have been a contented crew content material to stay collectively. Above all, they have been professionals.

In Bjarni’s day there was no ice to fret about on this passage and, in the end, nature despatched him the nice easterly he had awaited. For 3 days and three nights the truthful wind held, as Bjarni had been moderately sure it might. Now they have been coming into latitudes the place, in late summer time, the twilight deepens into darkness.

Bjarni knew he hadn’t a lot farther to sail earlier than he had run his distance because the knarr creaked, dipped and surged alongside earlier than the nice passage-making wind, however because the third 24-hour interval out of sight of land drew to its shut, the climate bit again at them.

The simple crusing breeze backed steadily into the north and it got here on to blow. Fog drove down on the gale and shortly Bjarni was confronted with dealing with his ship by way of a severe storm. All navigational concerns went, so to talk, out the porthole.

Again then: Tom Cunliffe within the cockpit of his pilot cutter Hirta. Picture: WM Nixon

Surviving the storm

At sea, there are numerous levels of heavy climate, the worst being the survival storm. What precisely the wind power and sea state of a survival storm could also be relies upon upon whether or not the sad mariner is in a ten,000-ton motor ship or a 10ft rowing dinghy, however no matter type of vessel he’s crusing, her limitations will quickly grow to be clear.

In a daily gale, a well-found crusing boat the scale of a knarr can usually proceed to make a way in direction of her vacation spot, wind route allowing, but when circumstances grow to be actually dangerous the one consideration left within the skipper’s thoughts will probably be that of holding her afloat and undamaged.

The last-ditch choices have all the time different with the kind of vessel; the knarr had modest draught and was not totally decked; she additionally had no pumps, simply quite a lot of devoted Norsemen with buckets. One of the simplest ways for her to outlive a heavy storm should be to run earlier than the wind, presenting her stern to the seas and lessening their power.

Illustration from Cunliffe’s ebook Topsail & Battleaxe exhibiting Bjarni’s probably voyage to Greenland. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

Bjarni would have had recourse to those ways on earlier events, and that, not surprisingly, is what he did this time. Driving away beneath naked poles would hold him afloat: it might additionally run up many miles in, fairly probably, the fallacious route however this might not be helped.

It’s in no way uncommon for a ship of this dimension to make 5 knots downwind in a powerful gale with no sails set. Meaning Bjarni was in all probability making between 100 and 150 miles a day.

Recalculating place

The storm lasted for ‘many days’. Due to the fog, the sailors would have had no thought ultimately what the wind route was, though winds of this nature that endure for such a time within the neighborhood of Greenland and the Labrador Sea usually blow from the north-east. Bjarni, due to this fact, in all probability went scudding away to the south and west.

Like all gales the ‘northeaster’ lastly blew itself out and the solar reappeared. It was instantly apparent to Bjarni that he was technique to the southward of Cape Farewell.

As a result of the idea of even relative longitude was nonetheless centuries sooner or later, his probabilities of discovering Cape Farewell by a straight shot have been negligible. He had neither cross-coordinates for his current place, nor for the place he was going. For a secure arrival his ship needed to be positioned on the identical latitude as Cape Farewell, however that in itself was not sufficient.

Cunliffe’s daughter, Hannah, dressed for the climate. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

When he reached that line he needed to know whether or not the Cape lay to the eastward or the westward of his place. If he may be certain of which, then to be able to arrive at his vacation spot he had solely to run down his latitude in the appropriate route till he bought there.

Beginning as he was from an unknown level effectively to the south, a course of north-east or north-west would place him sufficiently to at least one aspect or different of the Cape for him to be assured of which technique to flip when he reached the specified latitude.

His reasoning now was fairly easy. ‘If I sail north-east I’ll find yourself again in Europe, which might be grim for morale. Additionally, I’ll then must work westwards towards the westerly winds and the present. If, however, I development north-west, the ocean might be empty of land – actually none has been discovered to this point – but when I discover any in any respect it should deceive the westward of the south Greenland Cape as a result of we all know there is no such thing as a land between the Cape and Eire. If that occurs I’ll solely must work north till I discover the appropriate latitude after which run down it to the eastwards.’

So that’s what he did, and the next day Bjarni Herjolfsson grew to become the primary seaman from the Previous World to formally set eyes upon the American continent.

Chris Stewart freshens up the seizings on Hirta’s rig. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

Distant the land lay low on the western horizon. It didn’t appear like the outline of Greenland that Bjarni had been given and he knew the latitude was fallacious, however his curiosity was naturally aroused and he sailed in for a more in-depth look.

The mysterious nation was well-wooded and the coast was backed by small hills. Seeing the stands of timber should have made him sit up as a result of Iceland and, for all he knew, Greenland as effectively, have been notoriously wanting lumber of constructing high quality, each for ships and homes.

Nevertheless, along with his knarr already deep-laden with high-value cargo, he had no room even to tackle samples. Moreover, the crusing season was rising outdated and he was anxious to get again to a identified place, so he turned his ship’s bow to the northward and bowled away from the coast earlier than a south-west breeze.

Cunliffe’s Hirta was a 35-tonne 1911 gaff-rigged pilot cutter. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

To be able to make sense of holding to his authentic plan he maintained his heading, and two days later he made one other landfall. The fingers, ever hopeful, jostled spherical Bjarni the navigator, asking him if he thought they’d made it.

“No,” he replied. “Greenland is stuffed with snow peaks and glaciers. This certainly isn’t it. Additionally we’re many doegr to the southwards of the appropriate peak of the Pole Star.” However as soon as once more, he famous the great forests that grew inexperienced proper all the way down to the water’s edge.

Shortly after closing the land the wind died and the knarr was left slatting and banging within the left-over swell. Regardless of his want to research what was clearly new floor, Bjarni had made up his thoughts that it was Greenland or bust for him. Any try and go ashore now would waste time and contain him in disciplinary issues rounding up the crew to sail onwards.

The fingers, nonetheless, had different concepts. A deputation got here shuffling aft to the place he stood resolutely on the steering oar. “Right here’s how it’s, Captain,” growled the ringleaders. “The lads assume we must always go ashore and see what there’s. We owe it to the entire neighborhood, not simply to ourselves.”

Bjarni repeated his choice and retreated not an inch. “All that’s as could also be,” went on the spokesman, “however we’re going to wish water and firewood earlier than too lengthy. All of us say you need to put in to the shore.”

Cunliffe sailed Hirta to Greenland in 1983. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

Holding floor

However nonetheless Bjarni stood his floor. The lads have been outfaced and dispersed grumbling. Bjarni should have been questioning simply how far he may push what was, in actuality, a superbly good crew who have been merely reacting to an unusually irritating voyage when, within the nick of time, a recent breeze sprang up out of the south-west.

Because it got here on the spirits of the sailors rose with it as they all the time have achieved and all the time will do. Quickly the confrontation was left astern because the ship sailed away to the north-north-west and out of sight of land as soon as extra.

They ran northward for 3 doegr whereas the Pole Star rose steadily in direction of the important mark on Bjarni’s star stick. When it was practically on the similar altitude as at Bergen in Norway, they stumbled on what they took to be a 3rd nation.

A Norse knarr may sail large distances safely with a cargo. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

This time it was excessive, barren and topped with a glacier. The hopes of all fingers would have soared. Nevertheless, Bjarni should by now have been assured that he was considerably to the west of his vacation spot and, after some time, he introduced that this land was completely nugatory.

What his long-suffering crew fabricated from that assertion is left unreported by the saga tellers, however simply on the strategic second when the skipper discovered his latitude and knew past a shadow of doubt that he should now flip eastwards, the coast fizzled out and he noticed that the land he had been skirting was the truth is an island, or no less than nothing remotely the scale of Greenland.

Any suggestion from the extra unenlightened deckhands that that they had been cruising northward alongside the east aspect of Greenland was thus put to ridicule and, with success assured, Bjarni set his course due east and blasted off out to sea earlier than a rising gale.

Earlier than lengthy it was blowing outdated boots and the knarr was onerous pressed to hold her canvas, however her in a position crew saved her driving, and driving in the appropriate route this time. 4 days after leaving their remaining discovery astern, they stumbled on the imposing snow peaks that again the islands and fjords of Cape Farewell.

Cunliffe’s 1983 voyage mirrored that of Bjarni in 985. Picture: Tom Cunliffe

There, mendacity on a promontory, was a small craft that Bjarni recognised to his nice reduction as Herjolf’s and, to a hero’s welcome, he introduced his ship round what was now referred to as Herjolfness and anchored in entrance of his father’s new dwelling. Bjarni’s voyage is without doubt one of the biggest items of deductive navigation of all time, however along with his sensible seamanship, he held his crew collectively and delivered his cargo in a single piece.

He had fulfilled the aim of his voyage and no sailor can do greater than that, however throughout the lengthy winter nights that adopted, lots of the Greenlanders started muttering amongst themselves. It was a poor type of Norseman, they grizzled, who didn’t ship a full report on such thrilling new discoveries. They have been fast sufficient to criticise Bjarni, however it took a few years earlier than Eirik’s son Leif put his personal life on the road and sailed south-west to search out out for himself.

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