In 1996, she was sold for scrap and was towed to the Ardoex Bilbao shipbreaking yards by the tugboat Agat. On November 19, 1996, the convoy arrived in front of Bilbao, but was not allowed to enter the port due to administrative problems. Around 11 p.m., the tow broke and the ship drifted towards the coast with four crew members on board (commander Valentin Wladimirovitch Terentiev, chief engineer Sergei Nicolaievich Kalapichine and two sailors). The next day around 2:30 p.m., she ran aground on Miramar beach in Biarritz. During this time, the tug headed for international waters to avoid being intercepted.
Sunday, April 30, 2023
The Factory Ship Frans Hals Grounding in Biarritz
Friday, April 28, 2023
Basque Corsairs and Pirates
Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Basques were the main corsairs in European waters. The Basque corsairs sowed terror in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and in Europe. The first mentions of piracy in the Basque Country date from 1303-1304: a text by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani refers to Basque pirates in Bayonne.
The Famous pirates of the Basque Country were : Antton Garai (15th century), Pedro Larraondo (15th century), Juan Pérez de Casa, Pedro Aguirre Campanario (16th and 17th centuries), Michel le Basque (17th century), Joanes Suhigaraitxipi (17th century), Jean Laffite (18th century), Étienne Pellot (18th and 19th centuries), Fermin Mundaka (1825 - 1880)
The golden age of piracy for the Basques was essentially in the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, the Seigniory of Biscay could count on some 77 corsair ships. In the 17th century, mastering naval communications was essential for the economy and shipowners, who were desperate due to taxes, wars and the losses generated by piracy, needed to protect the business in some way. And so the privateering was invented. Although in essence the activity of a pirate and a corsair is the same, the corsairs were "legal"; They conformed to a series of formalities, collected in documents or letters called letters of marque that the monarchs granted to the captains of the boats. Some ships actually carried a notary on board who testified to the captures, thus ensuring the interests of the Crown in the distribution.
Jean Lafitte was born in the years 1770-1780 and probably died between 1823 and 1827, was a French buccaneer who scoured the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of the 19th century. He created his own "Kingdom of Barataria" in the swamps and bayous near New Orleans to control the mouth of the Mississippi after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, with over a thousand men under his command. His support for the American general Andrew Jackson swung the battle of New Orleans in 1815. He took part in the slave trade, then prohibited. He and his brother Peter then founded Galveston, the first cotton port in Texas, where they spied in the service of Spain against Mexican revolutionaries between and June 1816, according to Spanish archives in Seville.
Even before the era of privateers, in the 14th century Basque pirates went to sea to attack merchant ships. The first known pirates were Anttón de Garai (In the year 1509, the courts of A Coruña sentenced Antón de Garay from Biscay to death for looting ships.) and Pedro de Larraondo, executed for piracy in the Mediterranean in the 14th-15th centuries. In those years, even Edward III of England confronted the Basque corsairs and pirates, feared on the European coasts.
The corsairs soon spread to northern Europe, the American coasts and the Barbary coasts of North Africa. And so came the golden age of privateers, San Sebastián and Hondarribia were the two main squares on the Iberian Peninsula in the 17th century, authentic nests of privateers. Their number in absolute terms was such that the crews of privateering vessels were proportionally more numerous than those included in Royal Navy vessels.
Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Basques were the main corsairs in European waters. The lordship of Vizcaya had no less than 77 corsair ships. Obviously, the Basque population was not large enough to fill all those ships, so levies were used. Only a low percentage of those who suffered attacks at sea survived the outrages of the Basques, who were mainly abandoned on deserted islands. Others, skilled navigators, were forced to join the pirate crew. This was a common practice in hacking, since forever.
Famous Corsicans were also Antonio Urtesabel, who seized the incredible number of 400 Dutch ships between 1759 and 1774, and who later became a lieutenant in the Spanish Navy. Another striking case is that of Michel Etchegorria, nicknamed Michel le Basque, was a Basque-French pirate who sowed terror on the Caribbean coast in the mid-17th century. According to what they say, he had the habit of tearing out the heart of his victims and eating it while he was still beating.
The case of Pedro de Larraondo, a Bilbao merchant turned privateer, used to be a victim of looting by the Catalans, for which he decided to become a pirate and be the terror of those who had harassed him. During the 14th century, he sowed panic in the Mediterranean, to the point that the Catalans were forced to make a pact with their natural enemies, the Moors, in order to get rid of the Bilbao once and for all. What they got. But without a doubt, the most striking and well-known case is that of Lope de Aguirre, known as El Loco or El tyrant, one of the most bloodthirsty pirates in all of history.
Thursday, April 27, 2023
My favorite watches #2
The Promaster Aqualand JP2000 series was launched in 1985. It is one of the must-have watches for professional divers and diving watch enthusiasts. It owes its success to its characteristics but also to its appearance in Luc Besson's iconic film released in 1988: Le Grand Bleu. In this feature film, Enzo Molinari, played by Jean Reno, wore a black-coated titanium version of the JP2000 with golden wrist pushers. As for the specifics, it is waterproof up to 200 meters, it has a unidirectional rotating bezel, a depth gauge up to 80 meters, a dive log, an alarm and a 1/100 chronograph. Moreover, it was one of the first diver's watches to combine analog and digital displays, with an electronic water sensor to measure depth. Its design is due to its functions and not the other way around. This one is still iconic today
Citizen Promaster BN0220-16E : At Citizen, all professional sports watches bear the name "Promaster". If they are divers, they are called Diver. And since the majority are water resistant to 200 meters, many bear the same name. Even if it is a little painful, you must therefore rely on the references to differentiate them. This one, designated BN0220-16E, displays very singular lines that we owe to a model dating from 1982 and whose colors are identical. The original model was water resistant to 1300 meters, a significant characteristic for the time, with a titanium case fitted with 4 screws installed on each protrusion of the case. This modern version is made from SuperTitanium combining the best properties of titanium, lightweight but very easily scratched, with its Duratect coating technology which increases its strength by 500% while being highly scratch resistant. Added to this is the Eco-Drive technology which has generated energy through light, both natural and artificial, allowing the quartz movement to require no batteries.
Promaster Diver Automatic NY0040-09EE. It was in 1989 that the Promaster Diver Automatic was launched on the market for the very first time. An immediate success for the Japanese watchmaker, which saw this novelty dubbed by fans of the nickname "Fugu" ("puffer fish" in Japanese), due to the curved and pointed edges of its bezel, effectively reminiscent of the singular silhouette. of this fish when it swells with dangerous spines in the face of its enemies. Since that date, Citizen has continued to develop this timepiece in several versions, thus building over the years an emblematic series, whose robustness, precision and design are appreciated, as well as the excellent quality- price. It is possible to easily recognize the characteristic design of the eldest of the Promaster series. A screw-down crown at 8 o'clock, voluminous luminescent “snowflake” indexes and hands, not forgetting the famous “Fugu” style unidirectional rotating bezel, whose curved shape and sharp notches offer optimal handling, even when the wearer's hands are wet .
Citizen Promaster NB6004-08E : One of the timepieces most appreciated by fans of Citizen's "Promaster Diver" collection, the Citizen Promaster, also known by its code name "NB6004-08E", fully deserves this status. The first thing that any lover of beautiful watches will notice is probably this matte black dial, on which is superimposed a white index contour allowing easy reading of the time. After exposure to the sun or bright light, a punchy green emerges from the indexes, obtained by a phosphorescent component called Luminova. This non-radioactive component allows optimal readability in multiple conditions, especially in the darkest corners. The Citizen Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m NB6004-08E is equipped with a manufacture movement, the Caliber 9051. Of unfailing solidity, it allows automatic winding of the watch but not only: it also benefits from automatic winding. manual ! (Need to find one ...)
Friday, April 21, 2023
Norton Commando 1971
Thursday, April 20, 2023
The vanished villas of Biarritz #1Villa Genin
Monday, April 17, 2023
The Padosa Wreck in Biarritz
Friday, April 14, 2023
Michael Lichter Photography
Michael Lichter never ceases to impress me with the quality of his photos and I strongly advise you to take the time and browse his website to discover his amazing work. In 1977, after a stint simultaneously playing drums in a BeBop jazz band, bussing tables in a restaurant and doing personal photography, Michael Lichter decided he was a better photographer than a drummer and hung up the sticks. It was during this time that he started riding his 1971 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead (which he still owns) and photographing bikers. This work, along with a series on cowboys, was exhibited in group and solo exhibitions over the next few years. Prints were included in private and public collections, most notably by ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Corp.) and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, in Paris.
Stacy McCleary started building bikes, way back in 1965, at the age of 11, when he took over the garage in his parents’ brand-new house with his booming business of building and selling mini-bikes and customized Stingray bicycles to his friends and neighborhood kids. His parents actually parked their brand-new vehicles outside so he could run his business. At 15, his first street-legal motorbike was a 1962 Cushman Eagle Scooter that his dad had purchased new.
Words via : Cycle Source Magazine