Sail with New Freebooters

UK newspapers have been publishing a steady stream of reports of the nonsensical consequences of Health & Safety regulations and the way they are interpreted, but this is just one facet of a worldwide trend towards regulation and micro-management. Mainland Europe is suffering, too - and it is affecting the operation of tall ships and [...]

After 5 months in La Seyne sur Mer for her winter overhaul, Belém will set sail from Toulon on April 10th, on the first voyage of her summer season . For nearly two months, this tall ship will be taking trainees for a series of short trips along France’s Mediterranean coast between Toulon, Sète and [...]

I have just received a newsletter from the Belém Foundation. Apart from the usual updates on where Belém is and what she’s doing, there is a note from the Foundation’s president, Paul le Bihan, thanking the French bank Caisse d’Epargne for their support over the last 30 years, and commenting that the Foundation  is now [...]

by Margaret B Dickinson.
Click on the photo below to see the full collection of Margaret’s superb photos on flickr.com
John Masefield’s “Sea Fever” did it for me, and more so the “Onedin Line” with all that adventure and romance and billowing sails, Aptly, this BBC TV drama series was created by a Liverpudlian, Cyril Abraham, [...]

by Mike K-H
Belém left Quebec at 02:00 on Monday 7 July, so there probably weren’t many people around to see her off. 14 hours later she anchored off the town of Trois Rivières, halfway to Montreal, and remained lit up for the benefit of the ‘Trifluviens’ until she weighed anchor at 04:00. A keen photographer [...]