Sir Peter Blake's "Seamaster," Now "Tara," Still Hard at Work

[TaoJones]

When Sir Peter Blake was murdered on the Amazon River in 2001, it looked like his legendary 119-foot schooner Seamaster might be forced into retirement. Fortunately, the vessel continues to lead an interesting "life." Here's an update, from the latest 'Lectronic Latitude:

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"Ice Station Tara - Sailing the Snowy Sea

"December 17, 2007 – Latitude 80

"You may recall that New Zealand sailing hero Sir Peter Blake was murdered by pirates in the Amazon River six year ago this month. At the time, he was heading an ecological research project aboard the 119-ft aluminum schooner Seamaster. What happened to that expedition and the Seamaster herself were lost in the swirl of press surrounding Blake’s death.

"Shackleton's Endurance? It sure looks similar, but this is Tara during her frigid Arctic passage.
© 2007 Tara Arctic

"Sir Peter would be happy to know that the boat resurfaced recently — in both the figurative and literal sense. . . . "

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For the rest of the story, go to:

Latitude 38 - The West's Premier Sailing & Marine Magazine

TaoJones

[cat man do]

Sir Peter Blake, a true legend.

My eyes went all wet remembering his pointless death and the loss to the sailing world.

Dave

[mickmul]

He died in an attempt to protect his crew. In Ireland we have a saying "Ní mbeidh a leithéad arís ann" which translates to "A man of his measure will not be here again". Tara was the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, a fitting re-name for a yacht that carried a king among sailors.

[TaoJones]

For those who may be unaware of who Sir Peter Blake was, and what a towering figure he was in the yachting world, here's a link to his Wikipedia page:

Peter Blake (yachtsman) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TaoJones

[ribbony]

We came across "Seamaster"/ "Tara" a few times while working cooking on a Russian ship in Antarctic waters in early 2005. When it was docked in Ushuaia we could not resist spending some of our priceless shore time (4 hrs every 2 weeks) going to the other side of the bay to visit her. Very large, Uncomplicated and looking like it could survive the worst storm nature could dream of, not sure about the occupants though. You ought to see the size of the rigging gear, you could anchor the Eifel Tower with it.

One other occasion was we were to do a landing on Deception Island and when we got there a force 10 gale blew up in a very short time. The only other occupants of the islands volcanic harbour was Seamaster and a Chilean Icebreaker. Boy, was that gale a beauty, of course the guests did not do a landing and the captain chose to head out to sea in lieu of sitting in the harbour. The ships have a very tight schedule and any excuse to get ahead in bad weather was not wasted.

Again in the Russian ship, in April that year we ended up at the mouth of the Amazon where Sir Peter Blake was murdered. A great loss of knowledge and energy went with his death.