13 Aug

by Colin de Mowbray
Not a lot to report today other than the two yachts, Ariel and Antiope, are on their way to Oban and everything is fine except for the weather. They are in a bit of dirty stuff at present so conditions are not too comfortable which explains the lack of chatty messages. The reason for this is the nasty low pressure system off the south coast of Iceland which will be giving them strong northerly winds. Most of the message traffic has been sorting out the arrangements for the individual crew members.
As it is a bit of a no news day you get this:

... and on this day in 1704 ….
Admiral Rooke with a combine Anglo Dutch fleet of 521 ships beat the Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Velez Malaga. This was an unscientific battle of no military interest fought 25 miles SSE of Marbella. The main result was that the French made no further attempts to bother Gibraltar and it obviously it opened up the coast for the package tour operators in this part of Spain.

… and in 1762 …
Admiral Pocock fleet Captured Havana. This was a classic example of inter-service co-operation which raised a siege that started in June, took nine sail of the line and destroyed another five. It is probably a subject best not mentioned when Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Clipper Fleet visit Havana in December this year.

The log entries are produced from messages sent by both Clipper yachts via their InmarsatC using BT satellite services. They are compiled either by Colin de Mowbray or David Cullen and the intention is to have them published by 1000BST daily (but they are sometimes late!)

If you know of people without access to the Web who would like to follow the Clipper please note that both voice-back and fax-back is available on 01234 711550