Log of RSV Endeavour 13.04.2015: Final Log
From RSV Endeavour
Battle of Falklands wrecks: archaeological search and survey
Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
Monday 13 April 2015. Day 104
Remarks:
Today, after 104 days, the project ended. After a rough passage Endeavour arrived alongside FIPASS at 0900 hrs where Andreas Norden, Wael Dabbous and MB left ship for air-bridge back to England. As soon as the vessel had cleared customs she hastened off through the Narrows, anxious to be as far north as possible before the current storm system wraps itself around the Falklands. Its next stop will be Montevideo for a refit.
If I might, I would like to end on a personal note.
I don’t think I need dwell on the disappointment we all feel at not having been able to deliver the result that so many so keenly desired, but, in this regard, I feel a particular sense of regret for the von Spee, Sturdee and Cradock families (the descendants of the three fighting admirals), who gave the project their support and thereafter followed our activities with avid interest.
A project of this size would not have been possible without the help and support of a great many people. Space forbids that I list them all, but there are some who, for the extent and nature of their contribution, cannot go unmentioned.
My foremost debt is to our sponsor whose generosity made the project possible, but who has always been adamant in his wish to remain anonymous. Although not on the ship he was completely involved in the planning and in every phase of our activities once in the field. There are not words to thank him adequately for all he has done.
It is also a pleasure to be able to record here my gratitude to Sverker Hallstrom, the owner of Endeavour. Not only did he make his vessel, equipment, crew and staff available to us at a rock-bottom, non-profit price, but also he was in constant contact with us throughout the mission with advice and encouragement. His decades of experience were invaluable in dealing with equipment problems and the interpretation of some rather abstract side-scan data.
In the Falklands we are particularly indebted for the support we received from the Governor, Colin Roberts, CVO, and the Members of the Legislative Assembly.
The project came under the general auspices of the ‘1914 Committee’ a special committee that was established in January 2012 to organize the events surrounding the 100th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of the Falklands. At the first meeting of the Committee somebody stood up and asked if it would be possible to find the wrecks - everything that followed proceeded from that moment. The Chairman of the Committee (hand-picked by then Governor Nigel Haywood) was Phyllis Rendell, and it was she who thereafter worked harder than any other to make the search for the wrecks a reality. There were many challenges in the two years that followed and, during those moments, it was always Phyllis’s steadfast enthusiasm that kept us going.
In England vital leadership was provided by former Governor of the Falklands, Donald Lamont, who, as Chairman of the Falkland Islands Maritime Heritage Trust, oversaw the management of the funding and the preparation of the legal framework within which the project operated. In all of this he was ably assisted by his fellow trustees William Featherstone, David Ainslie and another former Governor, Alan Huckle. The project was also much helped by the Friends of the Falkland Islands Museum and Archives Trust (FIMA) which is also chaired by Donald Lamont. Both Trusts received legal assistance from Tom Murdock of Stoneking and David Gwillim and Nigel Dewar Gibb of Pitmans. Graham Bound, a Trustee of FIMA, deserves special thanks for time he spent preparing press releases.
On the ship I would like to express my personal thanks to Captain Roger White from Honduras who kept us safe during some difficult moments and never once faltered in his determination. Above all, he created the kind of atmosphere on board which brought the best out of everyone. As for the crew, they were champions all - and it is remarkable that not once in over four months did I ever hear a cross word; for those familiar with ships and the sea, this is indeed a rarity. Of the crew let me commend the following: Luigi Chettani, Juan Sosa, Jaumer Sanchez, Belham Vega, Luis Calix, Ionut Ghinea, Domingo Diaz, Jimy Pena, Julio Paz, Luis Torres, Daniel Chifor and Stefan Ichim.
Nor can I praise too much the Swedish survey team led by the remarkable Joel Soderman and ably assisted by Andreas Noren, Leon Hallstrom, Emma Julin and Emil Eriksson. Their professionalism was exemplary, and when there were the inevitable equipment failures, they worked with complete unity of purpose, for however long it took, to make everything once more operational.
There was beneath us an incredible support team of two who handled every need and crisis with perfect efficiency; they were Viorel Ceanga in Miami and Pierre-Mary Schbath in France. Within the Falklands there were also a number of people who were always there to help; foremost among them was our agent, Lewis Clifton of Byron Marine, but also we are indebted to Malcolm Jamieson at Fish Ops, Robert King at Customs, Luke Hyashi at MPA, and Tim Millar of the Garden Centre and Tim Cotter of Consolidated Fisheries. Particular thanks is also owing to David Allan, especially during the planning and mobilization phase, his advice was not always what we wanted to hear, but it was always apposite and saved us from making mistakes that would have cost us dear in time and money. Joyce Alan very kindly loaned a vehicle that was often used to run errands, transport people to and from meetings and, most important of all, on rare occasions take people to hospital for medical and dental requirements.
The research phase of this project went on for almost five years in the archives and museums of the Britain, Germany and the Falklands; the many archivists and curators who help will be listed in a more academic manner elsewhere, but mention must here be made of my colleague Thomas Schmid, one of the foremost authorities on WWI ships who worked shoulder to shoulder with me in archives and museums throughout Germany. My intellectual debt to him is more than I can repay. Others who were outstanding for their assistance during the research phase were Leona Roberts, Tansy Newman, Colleen Biggs and Rob Rowlands.
With the navigational research, the detailed scrutiny of the historic coordinates and the preparation of search charts, it is a pleasure to be able to record here my sincere thanks to the ROV expert Bob Christ of the underwater engineering and robotics company Sea Trepid of Louisiana, the two years spent pouring over data with him and his team were an education. In this regard we are also indebted to Alain Bernard of the Hydrographic Survey Office and to British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge for sharing with us their swath bathymetry. More recently the project received valuable assistance from my old friend John Kingsford and his associate Peter Cope. Mention must also be made here of the good advice we received from the sonar specialist Rob McCallum.
In our research on the topography and hydrography we collaborated closely with the Texas oil company Noble Energy who hold the licence for the area which contained our search parameters. They very kindly made their bathymetric studies of the area available to us, and of this this we made use on an almost daily basis. The two people at Noble Energy with whom we worked most closely were Rob Bunge (Exploration Manager), and the Company’s representative in the Falklands, Richard Winkelman.
For obvious reasons it was essential that the German Government were assured that the project was strictly non-disturbance and, once in the field, they were regularly brief on progress. In this regard we are very grateful indeed to Commander Jan Hackstein of the German Embassy in London who not only kept his Foreign Office informed but who also represented his Navy and Government at the Battle of the Falklands commemorations in Stanley last December.
The project was filmed by the media company TVT of London, and here I would like to express particular thanks to Charles Thompson, Matthew Wortman, Wael Dabbous, Josh Wardle, Daniel Petry and Thea Wrobbel.
We realized early on that, because of the sensitive nature our work, it was important to be totally transparent in everything we did. The dissemination of information on a daily basis was therefore important. In this regard I am indebted to my old friend Hugo Pickering in Oxfordshire for his management of the blog, and to Dan Allan in New York who ran the twitter feed.
And finally, the person to whom I owe most for support and constant encouragement, my wife, Joanna.
And so that’s the way it was; 104 days, we gave it our best, we didn't quite get there, but it was one helluva ride. Thank you all.
