Reichsbrücke

Coordinates: 48 ° 13 '42 " N, 16 ° 24' 36" E | |

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Empire Bridge, seen from the north bank of

Use motor vehicles in the basement underground,

Cyclists, pedestrians

Road train Lassallestraße - Wagramerstraße (B8 )

Location Vienna, between Leopoldstadt (2nd District)

and Danube City (22 nd District)

Prestressed concrete bridge construction, double deck bridge

Total length 865 meters

Width 26.10 meters

Release 8 November 1980

Altitude 157 m above sea level. A.

Card reichsbrücke.png

Location of the Empire Bridge in Vienna

The Empire Bridge is one of Vienna's most famous bridges. It crosses the Danube, the Danube Island and the New Danube and connects the second District of Vienna, Leopoldstadt, with the 22nd District, Danube city. The building extends from Mexico place at Handelskai (2nd district) in a northeasterly direction to the Danube City and the Vienna International Centre (District 22).

The current kingdom bridge (Reichsbrücke) was opened in 1980, it is the third crossing of the Danube in the same axis, which bears the name kingdom bridge. The first Empire Bridge (also: Crown Prince Rudolf bridge when Project: National Highway Bridge), an iron bridge on current five pillars existed from 1876 until 1937. The second Empire Bridge, a chain bridge with two 30-meter high pylons on two river piers, was opened in 1937, it was next to St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Giant Ferris one of the landmarks of the city of Vienna. After the Second World War it was the only intact Danube river crossing downstream of Linz in Austria and became the busiest stretch of road in Austria. On Sunday, the first August 1976 the bridge collapsed in the early morning hours on full width of the Danube into the water. In the accident, which was not foreseeable by the then state of the art, one person was killed. The meaning and emotional charge, which had received the bridge by its colorful past in the Viennese population, increased further by the collapse.

Prehistory

The Danube before regulation (centric is the location of the Reichsbrücke marked)

Some years after the devastating flood of 1830 was considering Emperor Ferdinand I to regulate the Danube and at the same time to build several bridges over the resulting stream bed. The plan was, among other things, a chain bridge approximately at the site of today's Empire bridge, whose construction costs were estimated at two to three million florins. However, these plans came as well as future intentions, build stable bridges over the unregulated Danube, before the Vienna Danube regulation not for execution, the projects went not beyond the planning stage. All bridges over the Danube, whether for road or since 1838 for the Northern Railway, then had rather provisional character. Jochbrücken Those were trestle bridges made ​​of wood, which were regularly swept away by floods or Eisstößen (bumps of ice chunks) and then re-built.

On 12 September 1868 eventually ordered Emperor Franz Joseph I, the nephew and successor of Ferdinand, the regulation of the Danube. At the same time, eventually, should be built "stable bridges". One of them should represent a direct extension of the hunter line (Jägerzeile) (today: Prater Road and the Schwimmschulstraße (now Lassallestraße). With the choice of this location a central urban axis should be continued, which ranged from the Gloriette in Schonbrunn over St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Prater Stern to the Danube. On the other side of the Danube, the bridge should join to the Vienna, Kagraner and Leopold Auer Reichsstrasse (since 1910 Wagramerstraße), which became a major transit route in the northeastern areas of the monarchy. The name of the bridge was accordingly to "Empire Road bridge" set.

First Reichsbrücke - 1876-1937

Crown Prince Rudolf bridge

Since 6 November 1919 : Reichsbrücke

Crown Prince Rudolf bridge since 6 November 1919: Reichsbrücke

Official name of Crown Prince Rudolf Bridge (1876-1919), since then Reichsbrücke

Use vehicles, trams (from 26 June 1898 on the current bridge single track) and pedestrian

crossing of Handelskai, Danube and floodplain

Construction iron lattice structures (river bridge), 341.20 meters

Total length 1019.75 meter (incl. bridge over Handelskai and floodplain)

Width 11.40 meters

Release 21 August 1876

Closure 11 October 1937

Toll 32 cruisers and 64 Heller per vehicle (up to 1904)

The by Franz Joseph commissioned bridge, which the main part of the 2nd district after the regulation of the Danube with the on the left bank lying part of the city Kaisermuehlen, the now Old Danube and the to 1890/1892 independent community of Kagran connected, was navigable from August 1876 to October, 1937. It has been renamed several times: During the construction period it had the preliminary name of Empire Road bridge, after its opening, it was Crown Prince Rudolf bridge. The term "Empire Bridge" but soon won through in general usage, as was said, for example, the stop of the Donauuferbahn (Railway) at the bridge officially Kommunalbad-Reichsbrücke. After the fall of the monarchy on 6 November 1919 it was officially renamed Empire bridge.

With a total length of nearly 1,020 feet, it was at that time the longest bridge connection over the Danube. It was 11.40 meters wide, the road took 7.60 meters and 3.80 meters, the two sidewalks. The original plan had provided a total width of eight fathoms (15.20 meters), the Parliament decided shortly before the start of the construction to reduce the width because of cost reasons.

The bridge consisted of three parts. The so-called Hubertusdamm, protected the March field against flood, and the flood area created in the Danube regulation (inundation) on the north, the left bank of the river was spanned by a stone, 432 meters long inundation bridge, which consisted of 16 sheets of 23 and 39 m width. Handelskai on the southern right bank of the river spanned the so-called Kaibrücke of stone with a length of 90.4 meters and four arches, each 18.96 m width. The actual current bridge was 341.20 meters long and consisted of four individual iron grating structures that rested on five 3.80 meter thick pillars, three of which were in the water. The distance of each pillar was 79.90 meters.

Construction

The current bridge seen from the north, from the left bank (St Stephen's Cathedral in the background); recording before the summer of 1898, there's no tram track

Construction began in August, 1872. Although at that time the stream bed of the Danube had already been largely completed, but not yet flooded. The Empire bridge was then, as the northern railway bridge Stadlauer Bridge and the Emperor Franz Joseph Bridge (later Floridsdorfer bridge), built in dry construction.

The building was designed by the Road and Hydraulic Engineering Department of Imperial Ministry of Interior, whose boss, Undersecretary Mathias Waniek Ritter von Domyslow, was entrusted with the construction management. Total construction cost of 3.7 million guilders. The metal construction had a total weight of 2,193 tons and was manufactured by Schneider & Co in Burgundy of Belgian welding iron.

The two piers on the banks were about five feet below the river bed, which is about eleven meters founded under the riverbed on so-called "blue Viennese Tegel" (a stiff to semi-solid floor similar to the clay which as sedimentary rock is typical for the Vienna basin). The pillars of the two foreland bridges (Kaibrücke and inundation bridge ) were established in shallow coarse gravel.

Of the four Danube bridges built at that time only the kingdom bridge (Reichsbrücke) was not opened to traffic when the new bed of the Danube on 14 April 1875 was flooded. Until 16 months later, on 21 August 1876, the birthday of the Crown Prince Rudolf, opened the Imperial Governor of Lower Austria , Baron Conrad of Sigmund Eybesfeld, representing the emperor, the bridge and gave her in honor of Crown Prince - contrary to the original plan - the name "Crown Prince Rudolf bridge". The opening ceremony was attended by a delegation from Japan, Minister of War Feldzeugmeister Graf Maximilian von Artur Bylandt-Rheidt and mayor of Vienna Cajetan Felder. The governor read a royal resolution, in which Franz Joseph announced the full imperial satisfaction with Oberbauleiter Waniek and several Engineers and Building Officers were awarded the Imperial Knights Cross. As highlight of the celebration the keystone of the last pillar of the ramp was set - under it were built into a cassette several documents, photos of the bridge, coins and medals.

Bridge operation

The Kaibrücke over the Handelskai on the south, the right bank of the Danube, recording c.1907

The bridge ramp and the four brick arches over the Handels on the south, the right bank of the Danube, it ( right) the bridge over the stream, recording from 1876

After the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889, the bridge was popularly called "suicide bridge ". It was in the first years of its operation still not a very popular crossing of the Danube. Industry and trade settled slowly to the other side of the Danube. There were also no significant trade routes from north to March Field. Via the Old Danube, which it would have to be crossed, leading to around 1900 only a rickety wooden bridge.

In the first 28 years of its operation, the crossing of the Empire Bridge was charged. 32 cruisers and 64 Heller had to be paid per vehicle, which has been regularly criticized by newspapers in Vienna. Only after the villages north of the Old Danube in the year 1904/1905 than 21st district were incorporated, the crossing was provided free of charge and increased the popularity of the bridge. From 26 June 1898, the bridge was frequented by the tram. The occasion was the 50-year Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph. The route went (over the current bridge (Strombrücke) just single track ) for the moment to shooting range (Schießstätte) at Arbeiterstrandbadstraße and was on 22 December 1898 extended until Kagraner place. Operator was the Vienna-Kagraner train (WKB), which initially used for six railcars acquired from Hamburg. In 1904, the traffic operation of Vienna-Street Railways WKB.

The end of the bridge

1910 were counted in Vienna over two million inhabitants. On the left, northern bank of the Danube, more and more settlements and commercial enterprises emerged. This increased both the importance and the traffic on the Empire Bridge. Neither the load nor the total roadway width of less than eight meters were sufficient for this additional burden. 1930 damage was discovered at the bridge, which would have necessitated the refurbishment in the near future. In recent years, their stock weight restrictions has been to protect the bridge. Vienna's city government first planned a conversion of the old kingdom bridge. In 1933, under the federal government of Dollfuss a new building was disposed.

During the three years of construction work had the old bridge remain usable - ie the existing 340 meters long by 4,900-ton Strombrücke was there moved by 26 meters downstream in September 1934, and connected with the banks. The move operation lasted only six hours, the traffic interruption to the reusability lasted three days. The suspended bridge was then three years in operation. Immediately after the opening of its successor bridge it was dismantled.

Second Empire Bridge - 1937-1976

Second Reichsbrücke

The second Empire Bridge, circa 1975

Official name Reichsbrücke, from 11 April 1946 to 18 July 1956 the Red Army Bridge

Use private transport (2 lanes next to the tracks, 2 on the tracks), tram (2 tracks in the middle position), pedestrians (sidewalks 2)

Construction through the air: "Spurious" self-anchored chain bridge with reversed horizontal thrust); broadening of the inundation bridge used since 1876

Total length 1225 meters

Width 26.90 meters (including sidewalks)

Longest span 241.2 meters in the central opening, 60.05 and 61.05 meters in the side openings

Construction September 1934

Release 10 October 1937

Closure 1 August 1976 (collapse)

The second realm bridge had a total length of 1255 meters. The current bridge had a length of 373 meters and a maximum span length of 241.2 meters, the construction of the third largest chain bridge in Europe. It had two pylons made ​​of steel with a height of 30 meters above road top, standing on two piers and with the bridge superstructure burd two steel chains carrying.

The bridge was staged as a symbol of the wealth and size of Vienna. So it was yet in the late 1930s next to St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Giant Ferris emblem for the third city of Vienna declared and served as an internationally used symbol on all promotional literature and invitations to the Vienna Exhibition in 1938.

Competition

First, the Commerce Department announced a precompetitive, although that could win the architects Emil Hoppe and Otto Schonthal, the result of which, however, did not correspond with the Ministry and the City of Vienna. The final competition for the construction of the Empire Bridge was finally announced in Spring 1933 and awarded in November. As architectural advisor to the eight-member jury acted the architect Clemens Holzmeister. The jurors selected from 64 submitted, one of which even provided for a tunnel under the river Danube. The winning project was a chain bridge by architects Siegfried Theiss and Hans Jaksch. This design provided only two pillars standing in the water. Three quarters of the full width of the river should be free spans. The bridge would connect directly to the still-to-use, only to be widened inundation bridge of the first Empire bridge over floodplain and Hubertusdamm.

Construction

Construction began on 26 February 1934, two weeks after the civil war-like battles in February. The cost of 24 million shillings were imposed to one third of the city of Vienna, two-thirds came from the federal budget. There were only Austrian companies involved in the construction. The two pillars were erected in caisson construction.

Soon the first difficulties appeared. The ground, especially in the Danube River, on which the bridge piers and anchor blocks for the chains should be founded, proved to be less viable than the planners had anticipated. It was originally planned to have to shoulder a large part of the weight of the Strombrücke, primarily of the area lying between the pillars middle part of the bridge, of two chains that run on both sides of the two pylons and should be anchored right in the river on heavy, solid anchor blocks of concrete. However, it was feared that this abutment on the Danube soft soil by the large tensile forces of 78.5 million N (8,000 t) per chain would start sliding and could not be adequately anchored in the Danube ground.

Professor Paul Fillunger of the Technical University of Vienna became the largest public critic of the building. He was of the opinion that not only the foundation of the anchor blocks, but also the pillars of the Danube in the soft ground was irresponsible because the bridge would not have the necessary stability. Contrasting opinion was his colleague of professors, soil mechanics Karl von Terzaghi. In his view, the nature of the Danube soil was suitable for the pier foundation. The disagreement was part of a personal feud, which was publicly held. Together with his wife Fillunger took in 1937 due to a disciplinary procedure that ran against him at the Technical University of Vienna his life. The construction of the bridge was rescheduled after the proposals Terzaghis: the chains were not fastened to anchor blocks on the Danube ground, but directly to the two main girders of the steel supporting structure, ie on the bridge itself anchored.

In June 1936, the building was overshadowed by a shipwreck: the people steamer "Vienna" DDSG was driven to a pillar. The ship broke up and sank immediately. Six people were killed.

The final link in the chain was composed of 98 members on 16 November 1936 inserted. Thereafter the lowering of the support stand began to displace the chain in tension. The production of the concrete deck slab of the bridge deck and the installation of sidewalks followed in the spring of 1937, in the summer, the bridge was painted dark green.

From 1 to 3 October 1937 the stress test of the building took place in the stretched chains and the pylons were slightly rotated. Were then driven as a load test 84 trucks and 28 loaded with stones streetcars on the bridge and left to stand there for a few hours. All measurements were running satisfactorily, so that on 4 October the first tram of line number 16 was able to drive over the kingdom bridge. A day later, the bridge was unofficially released for streetcar traffic. To traffic it remained locked up to its opening.

Austro-Fascist propaganda

A labor-and cost-intensive project such as the construction of the bridge was fully in line with the spirit of the Austro-fascist regime: the end of 1933, unemployment stood at 38.5 percent. The construction of the second Empire bridge can therefore be seen as a job creation project, similar to the construction of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road or the Vienna High Road.

On 10 October 1937, the Empire Bridge was officially opened. The corporate state government held a solemn state ceremony with President Wilhelm Miklas, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer, the Vienna Vice Mayor Fritz Lahr and Trade Minister Taucher who called the new Reich bridge as a "symbol of creating life force of the new Austria". Present were alongside architects, project managers and designers also a delegation of the opus "New Life" of the Fatherland Front, all workers involved in the construction of the construction companies and 10,000 school children. Soldiers of the armed forces lined the shore.

The Viennese city researcher Peter Payer writes about the pompous production:

"Conspicuously, propagated the carefully staged celebration the new model of society of the Austro-fascist government: the ending of the class struggle and overcoming social barriers through meaningful work and cooperation of all professional groups. [ ...] The completion of the bridge was portrayed as unprecedented cultural achievement, as a joint work of all involved". - Peter Payer.

The event was broadcast live on the radio, the newspapers reported widely about it. At the event, postcards, envelopes, and a commemorative stamp was issued and even a "Reichsbrücke song "composed, in which was said:

"A thousand hammers, wheels, files,

thousand hands had to rush

the great work that was!

Salvation of the work that connects,

Hail to the work, healing our land!"

- Empire Bridge Song

The Empire Bridge in the Second World War

During the Second World War the German army used two support pillars of reinforced concrete under the Empire Bridge into the Danube, so that the building would not completely fall into the water when it was hit, but could be repaired. In addition, at each of the two pylons were erected platforms for anti-aircraft guns.

In early April, 1945, in the last days of the war, Soviet armies were moving from the south and west heading to the city center. The fleeing units of the SS blew up in their retreat to the north gradually almost all Vienna Danube bridges.

For the Nordwestbahnbrücke, the Floridsdorfer bridge and the Nordbahnbrücke the "defenders" of Vienna had by Hitler's headquarters on the 8th April 1945 sought the permission for demolition, the Stadlauer Ostbahnbrücke was also blown up without explicit permission. With the Reichsbrücke, however, Hitler had personally for days the blasting ruled out, still yet at 11 April 1945, just on 13 April afternoon allowed, at a time when the southern bridgehead was already occupied by the Red Army, was the northern bridgehead without coverage in their field of fire and the German troops who had retreated to the left bank of the Danube, north west withdrew, for not beeing closed in by the Red Army. There was therefore no chance to blow. The Red Army occupied the evening of the 13th April also the northern bridgehead.

On 11 April, at the height of the battle of Vienna, the Russian troops with armored boats already had been advanced on the Danube to the Reichsbrücke (officially called by the Russians "Object 56") and had obscured the area. They went on the right bank of the Danube, about 500 meters northwest of the bridge, on land and moved slowly to the building.

Decades later, it was unclear why exactly the Empire bridge was not blown up. The Red Army, the Austrian resistance movement O5 as well as members of the armed forces later claimed they just would have prevented the explosion. One version said that, at the Battle of 11 April some soldiers of the Red Army should have gotten to the beachhead, where they destroyed the explosive lines. Another version was that Red Army soldiers were led by a knowledgeable local Vienna sewer worker sneaked through the sewer system of Vienna to the bridge to prevent the demolition. Clarity created in 2012 the analysis of historical sources with the résumé. Ultimately, it was Hitler himself which had prevented demolition of the bridge until the last moment. The Reichsbrücke was now the only intact bridge crossing over the Danube between Linz and the state border. She was thus given a status symbol, it was a sign of the resilience of Austria.

The city council renamed the Empire Bridge on the anniversary of the liberation of Vienna on 11 April 1946 in honor of the liberators "Bridge of the Red Army Bridge". Was also on this occasion by the city government to the left of the bridge driveway in the 2nd district an obelisk (reddish colored lightweight concrete on wood construction) erected with the Soviet Star on the top of which was in German and Russian to read:

"THE HERO WILL

LANDING GUARD SQUAD

AND SAILORS

IN GRATITUDE

THE EXEMPT

VIENNA "

- Obelisk, then plaque on the bridge

The obelisk was removed after 1955. The inscription was then attached on a bronze plaque that was mounted directly to the bridge. The bridge was at 18 July 1956 re-named Reichsbrücke.

Reichsbrücke in the postwar period

To the rebuilding of Floridsdorfer bridge 1946 the Reichsbrücke was the only way to reach Vienna coming from the northeast on the road. Although it was not blown up, it still suffered numerous losses, primarily by shellfire. In 1946, took place the first rehabilitation of war damage of the bridge, ​​from May 1947 work on a larger scale was made. Thereby five hanging rods have been mended and repaired the vault of the inundation bridge. The smoke control ceiling above the Donauuferbahn has been replaced. At seven chain links had to be renewed a total of 26 blades. For this temporary piers were used on barges, which again ate on the river bed. The work was finished in 1952. On the Reichsbrücke originally was wooden heel patch installed, this was 1958-1960 replaced by granite stone pavement, which resulted in an additional load of 4688 kN for each pylon bearing. The enormous, newly ascended individual traffic led more often hinder the tram traffic on the bridge, therefore the tracks in the sixties by blocking lines have been declared not approved for individual traffic of the roadway. Now, congestion of vehicular traffic was the result.

Empire bridge collapse in 1976

The southern, right after the collapse of the banks, recording August 1976

Bridge debris on the north, left bank, recording August 1976

On Sunday, the first August 1976 Reichsbrücke 4:53 to 4:55 clock crashed to almost full length of the main bridge into the water. The first radio announcement was made at 5:00 clock. An eyewitness described the collapse as". The whole bridge has suddenly lifted a foot and then dropped loud crashing on the entire length".

On the Kaibrücke as well as on the Überschwemmungsbrücke (inundation bridge) the carrier collapsed in several places, but both bridges were standing. The Strombrücke itself broke into three parts, the middle part falling into the water as a whole and and the two outer parts obliquely hanging into the water. The south-facing pylon fell downstream and damaged heavily the stern of a passenger ship, the north side pylon collapsed in the other direction on the flood plain.

At the time of the collapse, five people were in four vehicles on the bridge: a bus driver in an urban articulated, two employees of the ÖAMTC in a roadside assistance vehicle, the driver of a Volkswagen Beetle, which had requested the breakdown service because of a defective tire following an accident as well as the driver of a minibus, who was employed as a driver at the ORF. The bus driver crashed his vehicle into the Danube and was rescued unharmed within hours. The ÖAMTC employees and the VW drivers were on that part of the Kaibrücke, which indeed broke and fell, but not completely destroyed, so that they could save themselves by foot. The ORF driver was trapped in his pickup truck and found his dead the day after the collapse.

Within an hour was a quarter of all vehicles of the in Vienna available Fire Brigade on the site of the collapse, it was the alarm given stage IV. Also, police, ambulance and army were represented by large contingents. The on the bridge located water pipes that supplied drinking water to the north of Vienna, put the Handelskai under water. Explosions were also feared because the gas lines running across the bridge were broken. There was on the scene for days strict non-smoking. First, many people were north of the Danube without gas, electricity, water and telephone. Already on the second August was, however, restored the supply.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsbr%C3%BCcke

The Average Breastfeeding Session Lasts for 16 Minutes

Breastfeeding Fact

The common eider (Somateria mollissima), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large (50–71 cm (20–28 in) in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters. It can fly at speeds up to 113 km/h (70 mph).

 

The eider's nest is built close to the sea and is lined with eiderdown, plucked from the female's breast. This soft and warm lining has long been harvested for filling pillows and quilts, but in more recent years has been largely replaced by down from domestic farm-geese and synthetic alternatives. Although eiderdown pillows or quilts are now a rarity, eiderdown harvesting continues and is sustainable, as it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds.

 

Taxonomy

The common eider was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas mollissima. It is now placed with two other species in the genus Somateria that was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist William Leach. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek σῶμα sōma 'body' (stem somat-) and ἔριον erion 'wool'. The specific mollissimus is Latin, meaning 'very soft'. Both parts of the name refer to its down feathers.

 

Six subspecies are recognised:

 

S. m. v-nigrum Bonaparte & Gray, GR, 1855 – breeds in northeast Asia and Alaska; winters in the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands

S. m. borealis (Brehm, CL, 1824) – breeds in northeast Canada, Greenland and Iceland; winters in the north Atlantic

S. m. sedentaria Snyder, 1941 – breeds in Hudson Bay and James Bay (Canada)

S. m. dresseri Sharpe, 1871 – breeds in southeast Canada and northeast USA; winters around northwest Atlantic coasts

S. m. faeroeensis Brehm, CL, 1831 – Faroe Islands

S. m. mollissima (Linnaeus, 1758) – breeds in northwest Eurasia; winters in northwest and central Europe

Description

 

A common eider skull

The common eider is both the largest of the four eider species and the largest duck found in Europe, and is exceeded in North America only by smatterings of the Muscovy duck, which only reaches North America in a wild state in southernmost Texas (and arguably south Florida where feral but non-native populations reside). It measures 50 to 71 cm (19+1⁄2 to 28 in) in length, weighs 0.81 to 3.04 kg (1 lb 12+1⁄2 oz to 6 lb 11 oz) and spans 80–110 cm (31–43 in) across the wings. The average weight of 22 males in the North Atlantic was 2.21 kg (4 lb 14 oz) while 32 females weighed an average of 1.92 kg (4 lb 3+1⁄2 oz). It is characterized by its bulky shape and large, wedge-shaped bill. The male is unmistakable, with its black and white plumage and green nape. The female is a brown bird, but can still be readily distinguished from all ducks, except other eider species, on the basis of size and head shape. The drake's display call is a strange almost human-like "ah-ooo", while the hen utters hoarse quacks. The species is often readily approachable.

 

Drakes of the European, eastern North American and Asia/western North American races can be distinguished by minor differences in plumage and bill colour. Some authorities place the subspecies v-nigra as a separate species.

 

This species dives for crustaceans and molluscs, with mussels being a favoured food. The eider will eat mussels by swallowing them whole; the shells are then crushed in their gizzard and excreted. When eating a crab, the eider will remove all of its claws and legs, and then eat the body in a similar fashion.

 

It is abundant, with populations of about 1.5–2 million birds in both North America and Europe, and also large but unknown numbers in eastern Siberia (HBW).

 

A particularly famous colony of eiders lives on the Farne Islands in Northumberland, England. These birds were the subject of one of the first ever bird protection laws, established by Saint Cuthbert in the year 676. About 1,000 pairs still nest there every year. Because St. Cuthbert is the patron saint of Northumberland, it was natural that the eider should be chosen as the county's emblem bird; the birds are still often called Cuddy's ducks in the area, "Cuddy" being the familiar form of "Cuthbert".

 

In Canada's Hudson Bay, important eider die-offs were observed in the 1990s by local populations due to quickly changing ice flow patterns. The Canadian Wildlife Service has spent several years gathering up-to-date information on their populations, and preliminary results seem to show a population recovery. The common eider is the object of the 2011 documentary People of a Feather, which studies the historical relationship between the Sanikiluaq community and eiders, as well as various aspects of their ecology.

 

The common eider is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

 

Social behaviour

Eiders are colonial breeders. They nest on coastal islands in colonies ranging in size of less than 100 to upwards of 15,000 individuals. Female eiders frequently exhibit a high degree of natal philopatry, where they return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. This can lead to a high degree of relatedness between individuals nesting on the same island, as well as the development of kin-based female social structures. This relatedness has likely played a role in the evolution of co-operative breeding behaviours amongst eiders. Examples of these behaviours include laying eggs in the nests of related individuals and crèching, where female eiders team up and share the work of rearing ducklings.

Schweiz / Wallis - Aletschgletscher

 

The Aletsch Glacier (German: Aletschgletscher, German pronunciation: [ˈalɛtʃˌɡlɛtʃɐ]) or Great Aletsch Glacier (Grosser Aletschgletscher) is the largest glacier in the Alps. It has a length of about 23 km (14 mi) (2014), has about a volume of 15.4 km3 (3.7 cu mi) (2011), and covers about 81.7 km2 (31.5 square miles) (2011) in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais. The Aletsch Glacier is composed of four smaller glaciers converging at Konkordiaplatz, where its thickness was measured by the ETH to be still near 1 km (3,300 ft). It then continues towards the Rhône valley before giving birth to the Massa. The Aletsch Glacier is – like most glaciers in the world today – a retreating glacier. As of 2016, since 1980 it lost 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) of its length, since 1870 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi), and lost also more than 300 metres (980 ft) of its thickness.

 

The whole area, including other glaciers is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

 

Geography

 

The Aletsch Glacier is one of the many glaciers located between the cantons of Bern and Valais on the Bernese Alps located east of the Gemmi Pass. The whole area is considered to be the largest glaciated area in western Eurasia. The Fiescher and Aar Glaciers lying on the east have similar extensions.

 

Except the Finsteraarhorn, all the highest summits of the Bernese Alps are located within the drainage basin of the glacier. The Jungfrau and Mönch constitute the northern boundary; the Gross Fiescherhorn and Gross Wannenhorn lie on its east side; finally the culminating point, the Aletschhorn (4,193 m (13,757 ft)) is located on the west side.

 

Before reaching the maximum flow, four smaller glaciers converge at Konkordiaplatz:

 

From the western mouth flows the Grosser Aletschfirn, which runs along the northern foot of the Aletschhorn and Dreieckhorn. The Grosser Aletschfirn is supplied from the north by three notable firns: the Äbeni Flue-Firn, the Gletscherhornfirn, and the Kranzbergfirn. All of these firns have their starting points at around 3,800 m (12,500 ft). From the Äbeni Flue-Firn to the Konkordiaplatz, the Grosser Aletschfirn is 9 km (5.6 mi) long and is on average about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide. On the west, the Grosser Aletschfirn connects with the Langgletscher over the 3,158 m (10,361 ft) high glacier pass, the Lötschenlücke, into the Lötschental.

 

From the northwestern mouth flows the Jungfraufirn. This firn in fact represents the straight continuation of the Aletsch Glacier, yet is the shortest of the four tributary glaciers. It has its origin on the southern flank of the Mönch and at the eastern flank of the Jungfrau with the Jungfraujoch in-between. Up to the Konkordiaplatz, the Jungfraufirn is a scarce 7 km (4.3 mi) long, and returns to flank the Kranzberg in the west and the Trugberg in the east. At its highest point, it is 2 km (1.2 mi) wide, and further down it is still a good 1 km (0.62 mi) wide.

From the northern mouth flows the Ewigschneefäld ("Eternal snow field"), where its starting point takes the east flank of the Mönch. In an elbow, it flanks from Trugberg in the west and the Gross Fiescherhorn and Grünhorn in the east, flowing on to the Konkordiaplatz. Up to here, it is about 8 km (5.0 mi) long and averages about 1.2 km (0.75 mi) wide.

 

The mouth at the Konkordiaplatz it follows over a rise with a descent from 25 to 30 percent; here, the glacier is sharply split. Against the north is the Ewigschneefäld over the snow-covered pass of the Unners Mönchsjoch (3,518 m (11,542 ft)), connected with the catchment area of the Ischmeer (Wallis German for "Ice Sea"). Through the Obere Mönchsjoch (3,624 m (11,890 ft)) between the Mönch and the Trugberg stands a connection to the Jungfraufirn.

 

From the east, the smallest firn arrives at the Konkordiaplatz: the Grüneggfirn. Its northern arm begins below the Grünegghorn (3,860 m (12,660 ft)). The southern arm collects its snow and ice in the pot flanked by the Wyssnollen, Fiescher Gabelhorn (3,866 m (12,684 ft)), and the Chamm. Between the peaks Wyssnollen and Grünhörnli another glacier pass, the Grünhornlücke (3,279 m (10,758 ft)), connects to the Fieschergletscher. The Grüneggfirn enters the Konkordiaplatz in a gap between the mountainsides Grünegg to the north and the Fülberg to the south. On the western side of the Fülberg the Konkordia hut (mountain hut) overlooks the whole Konkordiaplatz at an altitude of 2,850 m (9,350 ft).

 

South of Konkordiaplatz, the glacier runs towards the valley of the Oberwallis (Upper Valais); on the east side, near Bettmeralp, lies a small glacier lake, Märjelensee (2,301 m (7,549 feet)); from the western side used to enter the Mittelaletschgletscher, but since the end of the 20th century the connection with the Aletsch Glacier has been lost. Further down, until about 1880, the Oberaletschgletscher did also enter the Aletsch Glacier at its mouth. But since then both glaciers have been retreating so far that they do not connect anymore (the Upper Aletsch Glacier did retreat about 1.3 km (0.81 mi) from its connecting point with the Aletsch Glacier), but both serve now only as the source of the river Massa. The river flows through the Lake Gibidum (a reservoir, and coincidentally representing the glacier's mouth region in the 19th century, which is a retreat of more than 4 km (2.5 mi)) and a gorge of the same name before reaching the Rhône near Brig.

 

Tourism

 

The area of the Aletsch Glacier and some surrounding valleys is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, thus it is protected and the facilities are mostly restricted to the external zones. The region between Belalp, Riederalp and Bettmeralp (which is called Aletsch Region) in Valais gives access to the lower part of the glacier. The Bettmerhorn and Eggishorn are popular view points and are accessible by cable car. The Massa river can be crossed since 2008 by a suspension bridge, thus allowing hikes between the left and the right part of the glacier.

 

The Jungfraujoch railway station (3,450 m) gives a direct access to the upper Aletsch Glacier as well as the normal route to the Jungfrau. It can be reached only from Interlaken in the canton Bern. Hiking paths pass the Konkordia Hut or the Hollandia Hut, eventually reaching other glaciers in the massif.

 

On the Riederfurka, at 2,065 metres between Riederalp and the glacier, is located the historic Villa Cassel, former summer residence of many famous and influential guests from the worlds of politics and finance. The house is now one of the centers of the environmental organization Pro Natura, which hosts a permanent exhibition about the site.

 

Panorama

 

Also at the mouth of the Konkordiaplatz from the east is the small but important Grüneggfirn (3 km long and averaging 600 m wide). This firn is connected in the over the glacier pass Grünhornlücke (3280 m high) to the Fiescher Glacier in the east.

 

From the Konkordiaplatz, the Aletsch Glacier has a width of approximately 1.5 km and moves at a rate of 180 m per year to the southeast on course with the Rhône valley, bordering the Dreieckhorn in the west and the great Wannenhorn in the east. It then takes a great right turn and bends ever closer to the southwest, running through the edge of the Eggishorn and Bettmerhorn of the Rhône valley. The lowest part of the great Aletsch Glacier is largely covered with detritus of the lateral and medial moraines. The glacier's toe currently lies about 1560 m high, far beneath the local tree line. From it springs the Massa stream, which flows through the Massa Canyon and is used to generate hydroelectric power. It continues through the upper half of the Brig, eventually entering into the Rhône.

 

The great Aletsch Glacier shows considerable ice cover. At the Konkordiaplatz, it has an ice cover of more than 900 m, but as it moves to the south, the greater part of the ice melts, gradually decreasing the cover to around 150 m.

 

The characteristically dark medial moraine, situated almost in the middle of the glacier, runs protracted in two bands from the Konkordiaplatz along the whole length to the glacier's toe-zone. This medial moraine is collected from the ice of three large ice fields, which all run together. The westernmost medial moraine has been named the Kranzbergmoräne, and the easternmost carries the name Trugbergmoräne.

 

Formation and evolution

 

The Aletsch Glacier resulted from the accumulation and compaction of snow. Glaciers generally form where snow and ice accumulation exceed snow and ice melt. As the snow and ice thicken it reaches a point where it begins to move due to a combination of gravity and pressure of the overlying snow and ice.

 

During the last glacial periods, the Aletsch Glacier was much larger than now. 18,000 years ago the lower part of the ridge, between Riederalp and the glacier, was completely covered by ice. Only the summits of the Bettmerhorn, Eggishorn and the Fusshörner were above the glacier. After an important retreat, the glacier again advanced 11,000 years ago during the last glacial period. The glacier reached the Rhône valley, and its ice the Riederfurka. Remaining moraines are still visible in the Aletsch Forest.

 

Since the last glaciation, the glacier generally retreated. However slight climatic changes happened and, in 1860, the glacier was 3 km longer and the ice level 200 m higher.

 

As for many other glaciers, records show a major longer-term retreat trend. The Aletsch Glacier receded by 3.2 km (2.0 mi) since 1870, including 1.3 km (0.81 mi) since 1980.[6] A record retreat of 114.6 metres (376 ft) happened in 2006 alone.

 

Since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850 the glacier has lost 20 percent of its ice mass, considerably less than other glaciers in Switzerland, which have lost up to 50 percent. This is explained with the large size of the Aletsch Glacier, which reacts much slower to climate change than smaller glaciers. It is however estimated that, by 2100, the glacier will have only one tenth of its 2018 ice mass.

 

Photo opportunity

 

On August 18, 2007, photographer Spencer Tunick used hundreds of naked people in a "living sculpture" on the Aletsch Glacier in a photo shoot which he said was intended to draw attention to global warming and the shrinking of the world's glaciers. The temperature was about 10 °C (50 °F) at the time of the photo shoot. The 600 participants on the shrinking glacier said that they had volunteered for Tunick (a collaboration with Greenpeace) to let the world know about the effects of global warming on the melting Swiss glaciers.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Grosse Aletschgletscher ist der flächenmässig grösste und längste Gletscher der Alpen. Er befindet sich auf der Südabdachung der Berner Alpen im Schweizer Kanton Wallis. Die Länge des Gletschers beträgt 22,6 km, die Fläche wird mit 78,49 km² angegeben. Der Aletschgletscher entwässert über die Massa in die Rhone. Die Fläche des gesamten Einzugsgebiets der Massa beträgt 195 km², wovon 1973 etwa zwei Drittel vergletschert waren. Oft werden bei der Flächenangabe der Ober- und Mittelaletschgletscher einbezogen, da diese früher mit dem Grossen Aletschgletscher verbunden waren. Die gesamte vergletscherte Fläche einschliesslich dieser Gletscher betrug 1973 etwa 128 km², für das Jahr 1863 wird eine Fläche von 163 km² angenommen.

 

Ursprung am Konkordiaplatz

 

Der Ursprung des Grossen Aletschgletschers liegt in der rund 3800 m hoch gelegenen Jungfrau-Region. Am Konkordiaplatz (♁645905 / 150101), einer 6 km² grossen und nur wenig geneigten Eisfläche, fliessen drei mächtige Firnströme zusammen:

 

Von Westen mündet der Grosse Aletschfirn, der entlang dem Nordfuss von Aletschhorn und Dreieckhorn fliesst. Der Grosse Aletschfirn wird von Norden her durch drei weitere bedeutende Firne gespeist, nämlich durch den Ebnefluhfirn, den Gletscherhornfirn und den Kranzbergfirn. Alle diese Firne nehmen ihren Ausgangspunkt auf rund 3800 m ü. M. Einschliesslich des Ebnefluhfirns hat der Grosse Aletschfirn bis zum Konkordiaplatz eine Länge von 9 km und ist durchschnittlich fast 1,5 km breit. Gegen Westen ist der Grosse Aletschfirn über den 3173 m ü. M. hohen Gletscherpass der Lötschenlücke mit dem Langgletscher verbunden, der ins Lötschental abfliesst.

 

Von Nordwesten mündet der Jungfraufirn, der zwar die gerade Fortsetzung des Aletschgletschers darstellt, jedoch der kürzeste der drei Tributärgletscher ist. Er hat seinen Ursprung an der Südflanke des Mönchs, am Jungfraujoch und an der Ostflanke der Jungfrau. Bis zum Konkordiaplatz legt der Jungfraufirn eine Wegstrecke von knapp 7 km zurück und wird dabei im Westen vom Kranzberg, im Osten vom Trugberg flankiert. Er ist in seinem oberen Teil 2 km, weiter unten noch gut 1 km breit.

 

Von Norden mündet das Ewigschneefeld, das seinen Ausgangspunkt an der Ostflanke des Mönchs nimmt und in einem Bogen, flankiert vom Trugberg im Westen sowie dem Gross Fiescherhorn und dem Grünhorn im Osten, zum Konkordiaplatz fliesst. Bis hierher ist es ungefähr 8 km lang und durchschnittlich 1,2 km breit. Die Mündung in den Konkordiaplatz erfolgt über einen Steilhang mit einem Gefälle von 25 bis 30 %; der Gletscher ist hier stark zerklüftet. Gegen Norden ist das Ewigschneefeld über den firnbedeckten Pass des Unteren Mönchsjochs (3529 m ü. M.) mit dem Einzugsgebiet des Unteren Grindelwaldgletschers verbunden. Durch das Obere Mönchsjoch (3627 m ü. M.) zwischen dem Mönch und dem Trugberg besteht eine Verbindung zum Jungfraufirn. Ferner mündet am Konkordiaplatz von Osten noch der wesentlich kleinere Grüneggfirn (3 km lang und durchschnittlich 600 m breit). Dieser ist nach Osten über den Gletscherpass der Grünhornlücke (3280 m ü. M.) mit dem Fieschergletscher verbunden.

 

Weiterer Verlauf

 

Vom Konkordiaplatz aus bewegt sich der Eisstrom mit einer Breite von ungefähr 1,5 km und mit einer Geschwindigkeit von bis zu 180 Metern pro Jahr nach Südosten in Richtung Rhonetal, gesäumt vom Dreieckhorn im Westen und dem Gross Wannenhorn im Osten. Er zeichnet dann eine grosse Rechtskurve und biegt immer mehr nach Südwesten ab, nun durch den Grat des Eggishorns und Bettmerhorns vom Rhonetal getrennt. Der unterste Teil des Grossen Aletschgletschers ist weitgehend durch das Geschiebematerial von Seiten- und Mittelmoränen bedeckt. Die Gletscherzunge liegt derzeit auf rund 1'560 Meter Höhe, weit unterhalb der lokalen Waldgrenze. Aus ihr entspringt der Bach Massa, welcher nach der Massaschlucht und einer Nutzung in einem Wasserkraftwerk, in Bitsch, oberhalb von Naters, in die Rhone (Rotten) fliesst.

 

Der Grosse Aletschgletscher weist beachtliche Eisdicken auf. Am Konkordiaplatz hat der Gletscher eine Eisdicke von mehr als 900 Metern, gegen Süden nimmt die Mächtigkeit des Eises allmählich auf rund 150 m ab. Charakteristisch sind die beiden dunklen, fast in der Mitte des Aletschgletschers gelegenen Moränenspuren, welche sich ab dem Konkordiaplatz auf der gesamten Länge bis in den Zungenbereich hinziehen. Es sind die Mittelmoränen, die das Eis der drei Hauptfirne voneinander trennen. Die westliche Mittelmoräne wird auch Kranzbergmoräne genannt, die östliche trägt den Namen Trugbergmoräne.

 

Gletscherschwankungen

 

In seinem Hochstadium während der Kleinen Eiszeit um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts erstreckte sich der Grosse Aletschgletscher noch rund 2,5 km weiter talabwärts. Aufgrund der allgemeinen Erwärmung seit etwa 1870 hat er besonders unterhalb des Konkordiaplatzes massiv an Volumen eingebüsst und sowohl an den Seiten als auch im Zungenbereich Flächen von mehreren Quadratkilometern freigegeben. Der einstmalige, in der Neuzeit höchste Gletscherstand kann gut an den noch fast vegetationslosen Seitenmoränen abgeschätzt werden. Seit 1850 hat die Eisdicke um teilweise über 100 m abgenommen. Früher waren auch die Eisströme des Oberaletschgletschers und des Mittelaletschgletschers direkt mit dem Grossen Aletschgletscher verbunden.

 

In der Senke zwischen dem Strahlhorn und dem Eggishorn liegt der Märjelensee, der im 19. Jahrhundert beim Gletscherhochstand zu einem Gletscherrandsee aufgestaut wurde. Seine wiederholten plötzlichen Ausbrüche durch Gletscherspalten verursachten immer wieder starke Schadenshochwasser der Massa hin zum Rhonetal.

 

Gegen kurzfristige Klimaschwankungen ist der Gletscher aufgrund seiner grossen Masse relativ immun. Während viele andere Gletscher Ende der 1970er Jahre bis Anfang der 1980er Jahre vorstiessen, reagierte der Aletschgletscher auf die vorübergehende Abkühlung kaum – ebenso wenig wie auf die warmen Jahre seit 1983. Aufgrund der zunehmend extremen Hitze der letzten Jahre zieht er sich aber nun doch – wie alle übrigen Alpengletscher – deutlich verstärkt zurück.

 

Die relative Trägheit in seinen Reaktionen auf Klimaschwankungen macht den Aletschgletscher auch zu einem idealen Untersuchungsobjekt zur Erforschung der Klimaentwicklung im Alpenraum. Die Längenschwankungen des Aletschgletschers in der Vergangenheit dürften sogar eine Rekonstruktion aller grösseren Klimaveränderungen der letzten 3200 Jahre erlauben. Die Bestimmung der verschiedenen Längenstadien des Aletschgletschers in der Vergangenheit erfolgt durch die Radiokohlenstoffdatierung fossiler Baumstämme, die der Gletscher bei einem früheren Vorstoss einmal überfahren haben muss und nun während seines aktuellen Rückzuges wieder freigibt. Der Befund fossiler Böden und von Wurzelwerk garantiert dabei, dass es sich bei dem Fundort auch um den Wuchsstandort des fossilen Baumes handelt. Durch Zählung der Jahresringe der geborgenen Stämme kann sogar der Zeitraum bestimmt werden, während dessen der Aletschgletscher den Fundort nicht erreicht hat. Mit dieser Methode wurde festgestellt, dass der Aletschgletscher bis etwa 1200 v. Chr. um einiges kleiner gewesen sein muss als gegen Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Für die Jahre etwa von 1200 bis 1110 v. Chr., 850 bis 750 v. Chr. und 350 bis 250 v. Chr. sind Vorstösse festgestellt worden. Dabei ist der Aletschgletscher von 900 bis 400 v. Chr. jedoch kleiner gewesen als am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts, genauso wie von etwa 100 v. Chr. bis ins Jahr 250. Um das Jahr 300 ist eine Gletscherlänge vergleichbar der des Höchststandes im 19. Jahrhundert festzustellen.

 

Laut der letzten Studie der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Juni 2020) schmolz die Oberfläche des Grossen Aletschgletscher zwischen den Jahren 2001 und 2014 um mehr als fünf Meter pro Jahr in den unteren Lagen.

 

Tourismus

 

Der Aletschgletscher galt schon früh als besondere Sehenswürdigkeit für Reisende und als willkommenes Untersuchungsobjekt für Forschende. Forschungsstationen gibt es seit 1937 auf dem Jungfraujoch und seit 1976 auf der Riederfurka oberhalb der Riederalp. Durch zahlreiche Luftseilbahnen besonders gut erschlossen ist der Berggrat zwischen dem Riederhorn und dem Eggishorn, der sehr schöne Einblicke in den Zungenbereich und den unteren Teil des Gletschers gewährt. Mit dem Bau der Jungfraubahn auf das Jungfraujoch (auf der Sphinx 3571 m ü. M.) wurde 1912 auch für nicht berggewohnte Leute ein Blick in den oberen Teil des Gletschers ermöglicht.

 

Am Felshang des Faulbergs östlich des Konkordiaplatzes stehen auf 2850 m ü. M. die Konkordiahütten des Schweizer Alpen-Clubs SAC. Sie dienen als wichtiger Etappenort auf der hochalpinen Gletscherroute vom Jungfraujoch oder vom Lötschental in das Gebiet des Grimselpasses.

 

UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe

 

Das Gebiet des Grossen Aletschgletschers ist zusammen mit dem einzigartigen Aletschwald und den umliegenden Regionen seit dem 13. Dezember 2001 Bestandteil des UNESCO-Weltnaturerbes Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch.

 

(Wikipedia)

IMO: 8712178

MMSI: 215813000

Call Sign: 9HA2796

Flag: Malta (MT)

AIS Type: Passenger

Gross Tonnage: 4425

Deadweight: 1000 t

Length × Breadth: 133.74m × 16.28m

Year Built: 2000

Status: Active

 

El Royal Clipper, que ostenta el Récord Guinness por ser el barco de cinco mástiles más grande del mundo y con capacidad para 227 pasajeros, en el Puerto de Motril. El velero está inspirado en el “Preussen”, el orgullo de la famosa compañía de navegación alemana “Flying Line” a comienzos del siglo XX, y que encontró su final en el Canal de la Mancha en 1910 en una colisión contra un barco de vapor cerca de Dover. El Royal Clipper es por tanto la primera fragata de cinco mástiles construida desde entonces y buque insignia de la flota de Star Clippers Mónaco.

El velero, con casco de acero, tiene 134 metros de largo y lleva 42 velas, con un área total de 5.000 metros cuadrados. Su mástil más alto incluye una sección superior de seis metros con una bisagra que permite doblar el mástil para poder pasar bajo puentes y líneas eléctricas. El diseñador británico Donald Starkey, que ha decorado muchos de los megayates más famosos del mundo, está detrás de los acogedores interiores de estilo Eduardiano, realzados con toques náuticos tradicionales.

A bordo hay 1.800 metros cuadrados de cubierta y tres piscinas, una con suelo de cristal que filtra luz a través de un atrio de tres niveles para el salón comedor que se encuentra debajo. También cuenta con un bar tropical cubierto y zonas al aire libre, un elegante Piano Bar, una biblioteca con acceso a internet, una plataforma para deportes acuáticos y un spa con servicio de peluquería, masaje y tratamientos de belleza en habitaciones con ojos de buey para admirar el fondo marino. El alojamiento lo conforman 14 suites con balcón, dos cabinas a cubierta, 90 camarotes dobles exteriores y seis cabinas dobles interiores, todas con baño privado.

 

Puerto de Motril

Motril, Comarca de la Costa Tropical

Andalucía

Builder: Chantiers de la Liane, Boulogne

Year: 1936

Location Cornwall

Length on deck: 43'6" + bowsprit

Beam: 10'6"

Draft: 5'10"

Tonnage(TM): 16TM

£65,000

 

A positively stunning and eye-catching yacht, French pre-war designed and built, UK owned and refitted is now offered for sale lying in Cornwall.

The long, fine counter stern with the sweetest of sheers, the generous beam, the high freeboard with an almost flush white scrubbed teak deck, the wonderful rich varnished teak deck works and a tall Bermudian cutter rig all serve to make this yacht a classic in every sense of the word.

The yacht was originally robustly built to a high standard in teak and has been extensively refitted over recent years in past and present ownership to make her now as good if not better than new.

Built by the Chantiers de la Liane in Boulogne, N France in 1936.

 

An old brochure we have probably dating from the early 1970’s indicates that she was offered for either bare boat or skippered charter in the South of France and claims that she had already made several North Atlantic crossings.

We first came across her in the Golfe de Morbihan in 1987 when she was owned by Ambrose von Herberstein. We sold her for him to Gareth Wright and she came under UK flag and sailed to Devon. She changed hands again to Cornish ownership, a boatyard owner who upgraded her significantly and raced her successfully in several classic regattas.

In 2005 she came to the present owner who keeps her on the River Fal. In his ownership she had some major work done in a Cornish boatyard, detailed below and is now in absolutely superb condition.

She has competed successfully on the classic yacht circuit on the South Coast coming second to Kelpie in the Fowey Classics passage race from Fowey to Falmouth in 2006. She took on the moderns in the 2010 Fowey Royal Regatta passage race from Falmouth to Fowey and flying her enormous asymmetric spinnaker she won her class.

I had the great pleasure of sailing in her to Douarnenez in the summer of 2012 when we put her through her paces in both gentle breezes when she ghosted along always moving and in stronger winds when she really picked up her heels and skipped along. She has a lovely steady motion, she responds well to a lift in the breeze, when you learn her ways she can be nursed up close to the wind and you can still cook a 3 course dinner below.

 

Construction.

Carvel planked in 1 1/8” Burma teak, caulked and payed. The hull planking is very fair, no plank seams visible and finished in expertly applied off-white enamel with a high polish.

100mm x 70mm grown oak frames at 60cm in single sweeps from forward back to the mast and from the forward end of the cock-pit (or the engine) up into the counter.

The midships sections have similar grown oak frames, wider spaced with two 40mm x 40mm steam bent oak timbers between.

All fastenings a copper nails with roves and bronze screws in the hood ends.

Heavy grown oak floors on the grown frames.

Galvanised steel floors on the steam bent timbers.

 

Ballast. External 4000kg lead ballast keel secured with bronze keel bolts.

Keel bolts replaced in the winter 2010/2011 refit.

 

Major refit in 1984, galvanised steel strap floors were removed and 38 new galvanised steel floors made and fitted. Any deteriorated timbers below the floors was scarphed in with new.

Several oak futtocks approx 3” x 2” added at the lower ends between the steamed timbers as additional strength in view of the several scarphs in the steam bent timbers.

Ballast keel dropped.

Both garboards replaced.

 

Refit 1995

New deck, cock-pit and coach-roof

New galley and quarter berth

New saloon table

 

Refit 2005.

All floors up into the counter refastened

New stem

All floors forward of the mast refastened.

 

Major refit 2010

New oak stern post

New stern tube and bearings

New engine mounts

Total repaint and revarnished to a high gloss.

 

Deck.

New deck laid in 1995 by Traditional Sail in Salcombe in yacht laid teak on a ply sub deck. The deck planks are swept round to the gunnel and joggled in to the king plank to superb effect.

Seams payed in butyl rubber.

All new deck beams in 1995.

5” varnished teak toe rail.

 

At the same time as the new deck was laid, the cock-pit coamings, the coach-roof coamings, beams and sheathed ply roof, the sliding entrance hatch and garage, the charming little twin doors with bevelled glass panels and the fore hatch were all replaced in new teak to the original design.

The yacht appears to be almost flush decked with a shallow, narrow coach-roof standing only some 6 or 7 inches off the deck, reaching up almost to the mast and not much wider than the cabin entrance hatch thus leaving what appears to be acres of wide clear side decks but just enough to give little extra head-room through the boat below.

The yacht is not fitted with stanchion posts or guard-wires, neither pulpit of pull-pit clutter her exquisite lines.

Coach-roof coamings are in varnished teak.

Sliding hatch in a garage entrance to the cabin with tow little glazed doors and a long ladder down into the bowels of the ship. Only then do you appreciate her size and her lines.

 

Cock-pit

The cock-pit coamings form a rectangle, also in highly varnished teak standing 6” off the deck and take off nicely each side of the narrow coach-roof leaving a wide bridge deck and seating each side of a deep foot well, with varnished linings and teak gratings.

Self-draining well.

The main sheet is on a horse across the well easily accessed by either crew or the helm if short handed sailing.

Engine control panel and nav instruments mounted out of the way in the well.

Deck access to the counter space is by a locker lid in the after end of the well.

Sheet winches on the deck just outside the coamings.

The long varnished tiller is mounted with bronze fittings to the rudder stock which penetrates the after deck in a finely varnished chock. Rebuilt rudder and fittings in the 2010 refit.

  

Rig.

Bermudian cutter rig on varnished (believed Oregon pine) pole mast stepped through the main deck onto the keel built in 2002 by Noble Masts in Bristol using their bird beak method of construction.

The mast is approx 8” circumference turning to octagonal just above the deck penetration and

Twin spreaders.

All stainless steel rigging fitted 2002 with swaged terminals and stainless steel rigging screws to 1995 internal stainless steel chain plates.

Single masthead standing back-stay to the counter.

Running back-stays on tackles from the upper spreaders to bronze anchor points on the quarters, the tails led to the windward winches.

Twin lowers, intermediates and cap shrouds

Inner fore stay, upper spreaders to inboard of the stemhead

Outer fore stay masthead to end of bowsprit.

Both inner and outer forestays fitted with Harken roller reefing gear.

 

New varnished spruce bowsprit in 2005 with polished stainless steel end fitting, heel fitting passing through twin chain roller stemhead fitting.

Stainless steel shrouds and stainless steel bob-stay chain.

The inner fore stay anchored to an eye bolt set through the bowsprit down to the inside face of the stem.

 

Polished stainless steel low-level pin rails either of the mast take the halyards secured clear of the mast to conserve the varnish. The pin rails cleverly incorporate a cradle for the life raft between the mast and the coach-roof.

 

Winches.

Pair of Antal ST W40 self tailing

2 pairs of top action 2-speed Lewmar 43

Pair of top action single speed Lewmar 9 either side of the entrance hatch

Mast winches

 

Staysail sheets to a bronze track each side of the mast.

Jib sheets to tracks in the scuppers each side about midships

 

Varnished boom with bronze goose neck fitting pivots on the original very substantial galvanised steel mast fitting. Bronze end cap fitting with spinning bale to take the main sheet.

Harken main sheet track, car and blocks.

 

Sails

Mainsail by John McKillop

No.1 cruising yankee

No.1 racing yankee by Hood Sails

Cruising staysail

Racing staysail by Hood sails

No.2 yankee

Asymmetric spinnaker

  

Machinery

Yanmar diesel installed new in 2005

Most unusually, this yacht has a dedicated walk-in engine room. The vertical companionway ladder is mounted on a door in the after bulkhead below the cock-pit entrance hatch. The almost full standing head-room door carrying the ladder hinges open to allow walk-in entrance with standing space immediately inside the doorway.

Aft is the very smart engine mounted on the centre-line to a conventional centre-line shaft drive fitted with a vibration-free, flexible water-cooled sea and an earthing lead.

Quite reasonable access all round and over the engine.

Good stowage space down the port side of the engine takes the inflatable dinghy, fuel cans and outboard engine.

Easy access fuel filters with clearly visible glass water traps.

Easy access incoming salt water filter

New switch board just inside the door to stbd.

All new electrical wiring on 12v circuits in the 2005 refit.

  

Accommodation. 6 berths

 

Access to the cabin is by the sliding hatch and twin glazed doors from the cock-pit down a varnished companionway ladder to an entrance lobby.

To stbd is a large quarter berth rebuilt by Traditional Sail in the 1995 refit, a generous berth set quite high due to the fine lines of the hull allowing lockers and the fridge under.

A varnished teak board can be placed on the berth as a chart desk when required.

Nav instruments on the bulkhead above the head of the berth can be seen from the sliding hatch entrance.

Galley to port rebuilt by Traditional Sail in the 1995. Thick varnished teak work surface with inset large and small deep rectangular stainless steel sinks.

Gimballed 3-burner and oven stainless steel gas cooker in a stainless steel lined recess.

Varnished teak lockers above and below.

Pressurised cold water supply to the sink.

Salt water faucet on foot pump

 

Bulkhead door forward to the saloon cabin means that the working part of the boat can be shut off from the living area.

Saloon with port and stbd settee berths.

Shelf above the port settee.

Narrow berth above the stbd settee.

Cupboards in the after corners.

Mast forward.

Oil fired cabin heater on the cabin sole to port of the mast with 12v pumped fuel supply.

Varnished cabin sole inlaid in holly

A very fine teak folding table built by Traditional Sail to the designs of the great Dr Tom Harrison Butler folds away into a box recess in the cabin sole to give a flush floor.

Varnished bulkheads, varnished coamings and sky-light above, white painted deckhead.

Blue leatherette cushions with buttoned upholstered panels to the seat backs which fold open to access lockers behind the settees.

 

Panelled varnished mahogany door forward to the forward lobby.

Forward again to the forward cabin bulkhead door.

Both doors close off the lobby to create a private ablutions compartment.

Blake sea toilet to port.

Antique drop down porcelain hand basin with fold out bronze faucet, drains in the heads below and folds away to present a teak locker door.

Forward cabin with a large double berth. It is possible to either sleep fore and aft of to sleep athwartships.

Up forward is open to the hull sides with the chain chute, electric windlass in the deckhead.Chains below the berth forward.

 

6’6” headroom in the entrance lobby and saloon, 5’10” forward.

 

Equipment

 

Nav gear

Sestral steering compass mounted on the bridge deck

Hand bearing compass

Raytheon ST60 Log

VHF radio with DSC

Furuno Navigator GPS

Raytheon Radar and chart plotter combined, single/spilt screen.

 

Safety gear

4 man life raft

3 fire extinguishers

Fire blanket

Flares

Life lines on the side decks.

 

Ground tackle.

2 x 35kg CQR anchors stow on the stemhead rollers.

Anchor chain

 

Deck gear

Deflatable dinghy with pump and oars.

Outboard engine

Mooring warps

4 fenders

 

Domestic

Galley equipment

Oil fired cabin heater in the saloon cabin

The green iguana (Iguana iguana), also known as the American iguana or the common green iguana, is a large, arboreal, mostly herbivorous species of lizard of the genus Iguana. Usually, this animal is simply called the iguana. The green iguana ranges over a large geographic area; it is native from southern Brazil and Paraguay as far north as Mexico.

 

A herbivore, it has adapted significantly with regard to locomotion and osmoregulation as a result of its diet. It grows to 1.7 m (5.6 ft) in length from head to tail, although a few specimens have grown more than 2 m (6.6 ft) with bodyweights upward of 20 lb (9.1 kg).

 

Commonly found in captivity as a pet due to its calm disposition and bright colors, it can be very demanding to care for properly. Space requirements and the need for special lighting and heat can prove challenging to the hobbyist.

 

Taxonomy

The species was first officially described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Since then, numerous subspecies have been identified, but later classified as merely regional variants of the same species.

 

Using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA-sequence data to explore the phylogenic history of the green iguana, scientists from El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States studied animals collected from 17 countries. The topology of phylogeny indicated that the species originated in South America and eventually radiated through Central America and the Caribbean. The study revealed no unique mitochondrial DNA haplotypes for subspecific status, but did indicate the deep lineage divergence between Central and South American populations.

 

Naturalists once classified the Central American iguanas as a separate subspecies (I. i. rhinolopha), but this classification was later found to be invalid based on mitochondrial DNA, and iguanas with similar nose projections appeared randomly in other populations and interbred freely with those that do not share this trait. Genetic studies in the late 2010s still recovered I. rhinolopha as a distinct species, along with several other cryptic lineages present in I. iguana, and classifying only the South American populations may be the "true" green iguana. Two new insular subspecies (I. i. insularis and I. i. sanctaluciae) endemic to St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada were also identified in 2019; a 2020 study also recovered both these subspecies as part of a distinct species, the southern Antillean horned iguana (I. insularis). The study also found the Saban black iguana (I. melanoderma), described in that study, to be the sister group of South American I. iguana, with the clade containing both being sister to that of I. insularis. The Reptile Database disagrees with these conclusions, and groups all of these within the green iguana, with four subspecies: I. i. melanoderma, I. i. insularis, I. i.sanctaluciae, and I. i. iguana.

 

Etymology

The word "iguana" is derived from a Spanish form of the Taíno name for the species: iwana. In some Spanish-speaking countries, males of the species are referred to as garrobo or ministro and juveniles are called iguanita or garrobito.

 

Distribution and habitat

The native range of the green iguana extends from southern Mexico to central Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia and the Caribbean; specifically Grenada, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Montserrat, Saba and Útila. They have been introduced to Grand Cayman, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (in the Dominican Republic), Saint Martin (island), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Furthermore, green iguanas colonised the island of Anguilla in 1995 after being washed ashore following a hurricane. Though the species is not native to Martinique, a small wild colony of released or escaped green iguanas endures at historic Fort Saint Louis.

 

Green iguana has been introduced from South America to Puerto Rico and is very common throughout the island, where it is colloquially known as gallina de palo ("bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the tree") and considered an invasive species; in the United States, feral populations also exist in South Florida (including the Florida Keys), Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Green iguanas have also successfully colonised the island of Anguilla, arriving on the island in 1995 after rafting across the Caribbean from Guadeloupe, where they were introduced.

 

The green iguana has become rare in parts of its native range of Central and South America due to hunting of wild iguanas for food, where iguanas have received the sobriquet gallino de palo ("bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the trees"). Overhunting resulted in a partial closure of markets in Nicaragua in 1976, while the government of Panama had taken action by the late 1960s to protect iguanas.

 

Green iguanas are diurnal, arboreal, and are often found near water. Agile climbers, Iguana iguana can fall up to 50 feet (15 m) and land unhurt (iguanas use their hind leg claws to clasp leaves and branches to break a fall). During cold, wet weather, green iguanas prefer to stay on the ground for greater warmth. When swimming, iguanas remain submerged, letting their legs hang limply against their sides. They propel through the water with powerful tail strokes.

 

While they may often be found in trees, these animals are well-known burrowers. The size of their burrow can range from 0.3 to 2.4 metres (1 ft 0 in to 7 ft 10 in) deep, with a diameter of 10 to 20 centimetres (4 to 7+3⁄4 in). They have been observed burrowing in canals, levees, and dikes and along seawalls in southern Florida. If individuals do not dig their own, they may even use gopher tortoise burrows or usurp those of the Florida burrowing owl.

 

Description

The green iguana is a large lizard and is probably the largest species in the iguana family, though a few in the genus Cyclura may match or exceed it in weight. Adults typically grow to 1.2 to 1.7 m (3.9 to 5.6 ft) in length from head to tail.[8] As in all iguanas, the tail comprises much of this length, and the snout-to-vent length of most green iguanas is 30 to 42 cm (12 to 17 in). A typical adult male weighs around 4 kg (8.8 lb) while the smaller adult female typically weighs 1.2 to 3 kg (2.6 to 6.6 lb). A few large males can reach or exceed 8 kg (18 lb) in weight and 2 m (6.6 ft) long. Some specimens have even reportedly been measured at a body weight of greater than 9.1 kg (20 lb).

 

Despite their name, green iguanas occur in different colours and types. In southern countries of their range, such as Peru, green iguanas appear bluish in colour, with bold blue markings. On islands such as Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, and Grenada, a green iguana's colour may vary from green to lavender, black, and even reddish brown. Green iguanas from the western region of Costa Rica are red, and animals of the northern ranges, such as Mexico, appear orange. Juvenile green iguanas from El Salvador are often bright blue, but lose this color as they get older.

 

Adult iguanas found on most of St. Lucia, mainly on the northeastern coast, Louvette, and Grand Anse, have many differences from other green iguana populations. They are light green with predominant black stripes. Instead of the typical orange dewlap, the iguanas of St. Lucia have a black dewlap. When compared to the common green iguana, females lay about half the number of eggs, 25 instead of 50. Scales to the back of their head, near the jawbone, are smaller. Their irises are white or cream, whereas other green iguanas have yellow irises.

 

Green iguanas possess a row of spines along their backs and tails, which helps to protect them from predators. Their whip-like tails can be used to deliver painful strikes, and like many other lizards, when grabbed by the tail, iguanas can allow it to break, so they can escape and eventually regenerate a new one. In addition, iguanas have a well-developed dewlap, which helps regulate their body temperature. This dewlap is used in courtships and territorial displays.

 

Green iguanas have excellent vision, enabling them to detect shapes and motions at long distances.[37] As green iguanas have only a few rod cells, they have poor vision in low-light conditions. At the same time, they have cells called double-cone cells that give them sharp color vision and enable them to see ultraviolet wavelengths. This ability is highly useful when basking so they can ensure they absorb enough sunlight to produce vitamin D.

 

Green iguanas have a white photosensory organ on the top of their heads called the parietal eye (also called the third eye, pineal eye, or pineal gland), in contrast to most other lizards that have lost this primitive feature. This "eye" has only a rudimentary retina and lens and cannot form images, but is sensitive to changes in light and dark and can detect movement. This helps the iguana detect predators stalking it from above.

 

Green iguanas have very sharp teeth that are capable of shredding leaves and even human skin. These teeth are shaped like a leaf, broad and flat, with serrations on the edge. The similarity of these teeth to those of one of the first dinosaurs discovered led to the dinosaur being named Iguanodon, meaning "iguana tooth", and the incorrect assumption that it had resembled a gigantic iguana. The teeth are situated on the inner sides of the jawbones, which is why they are hard to see in smaller specimens.

 

Primarily herbivorous, green iguanas are presented with a special problem for osmoregulation; plant matter contains more potassium and as it has less dense nutritional content, more must be eaten to meet metabolic needs. As green iguanas are not capable of creating liquid urine more concentrated than their bodily fluids, like birds they excrete nitrogenous wastes as urate salts through a salt gland. As a result, green iguanas have developed a lateral nasal gland to supplement renal salt secretion by expelling excess potassium and sodium chlorides.

 

Green iguanas from Guatemala and southern Mexico (which may belong to the distinct species I. rhinolopha) predominantly have small horns on their snouts between their eyes and their nostrils, whereas others do not.

 

Reproductive biology

Male green iguanas have highly developed femoral pores on the underside of their thighs, which secrete a scent (females have femoral pores, but they are smaller in comparison to those of the males). In addition, the dorsal spines that run along a green iguana's back are noticeably longer and thicker in males than they are in females, making the animals somewhat sexually dimorphic.

 

Male green iguanas tend to display more dominant behaviors, such as head bobbing and tail whipping. They also tend to develop a taller dorsal crest than females, as well as taller dorsal spines (or spikes). Large, round, very pronounced jowls are generally a male characteristic. Jowls are located under the jaw and are protected by the subtympanic plate, which is a large, green, circular-shaped scale.

 

Green iguanas are oviparous, with females laying clutches of 20 to 71 eggs once per year during a synchronized nesting period. The female green iguana gives no parental protection after egg laying, apart from defending the nesting burrow during excavation. In Panama, the green iguana has been observed sharing nest sites with American crocodiles, and in Honduras with spectacled caimans.

 

The hatchlings emerge from the nest after 10–15 weeks of incubation. Once hatched, the young iguanas look similar to the adults in color and shape, resembling adult females more so than males and lacking dorsal spines.

 

Juveniles stay in familial groups for the first year of their lives. Male green iguanas in these groups often use their own bodies to shield and protect females from predators, and it appears to be the only species of reptile to do this.

 

Behavior

When frightened by a predator, green iguanas attempt to flee, and if near a body of water, dive into it and swim away. If cornered by a threat, the green iguana extends and displays the dewlap under its neck, stiffens and puffs up its body, hisses, and bobs its head at the aggressor. If the threat persists, the iguana can lash with its tail, bite, and use its claws in defense. The wounded are more inclined to fight than uninjured prey.

 

Green iguanas use "head bobs" and dewlaps in a variety of ways in social interactions, such as greeting another iguana or to court a possible mate.[8] The frequency and number of head bobs have particular meanings to other iguanas.

 

Green iguanas are hunted by predatory birds, and their fear of these is exploited as a ploy to catch them in the wild. A hunter imitates the sound of a hawk by whistling or screaming, causing the iguana to freeze and making its capture easier.

 

Diet

Green iguanas are primarily herbivores, with captives feeding on leaves such as turnip, mustard, and dandelion greens, flowers, fruit, and growing shoots of upwards of 100 different species of plant. In Panama, one of the green iguana's favorite foods is the wild plum (Spondias mombin).

 

Although they consume a wide variety of foods if offered, green iguanas are naturally herbivorous and require a precise ratio of minerals (two to one calcium to phosphorus) in their diet. Captive iguanas must have a variety of leafy greens along with fruits and vegetables such as turnip greens, collard greens, butternut squash, acorn squash, mango, and parsnip. Juvenile iguanas often eat feces from adults to acquire the essential microflora to digest their low-quality and hard-to-process vegetation-only diet.

 

Some debate exists as to whether captive green iguanas should be fed animal protein. Some evidence shows wild iguanas eating grasshoppers and tree snails, usually as a byproduct of eating plant material. Wild adult green iguanas have been observed eating birds' eggs and chicks. They occasionally eat a small amount of carrion or invertebrates. Zoologists, such as Adam Britton, believe that such a diet containing protein is unhealthy for the animal's digestive system, resulting in severe long-term health damage, including kidney failure and leading to premature death. On the other side of the argument is that green iguanas at the Miami Seaquarium in Key Biscayne, Florida, have been observed eating dead fish, and individuals kept in captivity have been known to eat mice without any ill effects. De Vosjoli writes that captive animals have been known to survive and thrive on eating nothing but whole rodent block, or monkey chow, and one instance of romaine lettuce with vitamin and calcium supplements. When found in unnatural habitats, especially those of high human population, they have also been known to feed on human garbage and poultry feces. Captive iguanas should not be fed lettuce or meat, and instead receive the vitamins and minerals they need from a purely herbivorous diet.

 

As an invasive species

Caribbean

In the aftermath of Hurricane Luis and Hurricane Marilyn in 1995, a raft of uprooted trees carrying 15 or more green iguanas landed on the eastern side of Anguilla – an island where green iguanas had never been recorded before. These iguanas were apparently accidentally caught on the trees and rafted 320 km (200 mi) across the ocean from Guadeloupe, where green iguanas are an introduced species. Examination of the weather patterns and ocean currents indicated that the iguanas had probably spent three weeks at sea before arriving on Anguilla. Evidence of this new colony breeding on the island was found within two years of its arrival.

 

In February 2012, the government of Puerto Rico proposed that the islands' iguanas, which were said to have a population of 4 million and considered to be a non-native nuisance, be eradicated and sold for meat.

 

Iguanas have especially established introduced populations on islands in the Lesser Antilles, such as most of the French West Indies, Sint Eustatius, and Dominica.

 

Fiji

The green iguana is present as an invasive species on some of the islands of Fiji, where it is known as the American iguana. It poses a threat to the native iguanas through the potential spread of disease and to humans by spreading Salmonella. They were initially brought to Qamea in 2000 by an American who wanted them to eat the numerous insects on the island, although they are primarily herbivorous. They are now on the islands of Laucala, Matagi and Taveuni.

 

United States

The green iguana is established on Oahu and Maui, Hawaii, as a feral invasive species, despite strict legislation banning the importation of any reptiles, and in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. As most reptiles carry Salmonella spp., this is a concern and a reason legislation has been sought to regulate the trade in green iguanas.

 

Due to a combination of events, the green iguana is considered an invasive species in South Florida, and is found along the east coast, as well as the Gulf Coast, of Florida from Key West to Pinellas County. The original small populations in the Florida Keys were stowaways on ships carrying fruit from South America. Over the years, other iguanas were introduced into the wild, mostly originating through the pet trade. Some escaped and some were intentionally released by their owners; these iguanas survived and then thrived in their new habitat. They commonly hide in the attics of houses and on beaches. They often destroy gardens and landscaping. They seem to be fond of eating a native endangered plant, Cordia globosa, and feeding on nickernut (Caesalpinia) a primary food plant of the endangered Miami blue butterfly (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri); additionally on Marco Island, green iguanas have been observed using the burrows of the Florida burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia floridana), a species of special concern, all of which can make them more of a serious threat to Florida's ecosystem than originally believed. Currently, the damage green iguanas have caused has become significant and expected to increase, but controversy remains on how to deal with the problem.

 

In January 2008, large numbers of iguanas established in Florida dropped from the trees in which they lived, due to unseasonably cold nights that put them in a state of torpor and caused them to lose their grip on the tree branches. Though no specific numbers were provided by local wildlife officials, local media described the phenomenon as a "frozen iguana shower" in which dozens "littered" local bike paths. Upon the return of daytime warmth, many (but not all) of the iguanas "woke up" and resumed their normal activities. This occurred again in January 2010, January 2018, and December 2020 after prolonged cold fronts once again hit southern Florida.

 

Other countries

Iguanas are also present in Ishigaki Island, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan.

 

Captivity

Green iguanas are by far the most globally traded reptiles, representing 46% of the total reptile trade in the US from 1996 and 2012, with annual imports reaching 1 million in 1996. The American pet trade has put a great demand on the green iguana; 800,000 iguanas were imported into the U.S. in 1995 alone, primarily originating from captive farming operations based in their native countries (Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, and Panama). However, these animals are demanding to care for properly over their lifetimes, and many die within a few years of acquisition.

 

Recently, an increase in illegal trading has been identified, and a trade ban for transport within and out from the Lesser Antilles was suggested.

 

Green iguanas thrive only in temperatures of 79 °F (26 °C) to 95 °F (35 °C) and must have appropriate sources of UVB and UVA lighting, or else their bodies cannot produce vitamin D that promotes calcium absorption, which can result in a metabolic bone disease that can be fatal. In some locales (such as New York City and Hawaii), iguanas are considered exotic pets, and ownership is prohibited. Due to the potential impact of an introduced species on Hawaii's ecosystem, the state has strict regulations regarding the import and possession of green iguanas; violators can spend three years in jail and be fined up to $200,000.

 

Conservation

The green iguana is listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning that international trade is regulated through the CITES permit system. In addition, the green iguana is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, with a mention of habitat depletion from development being a possible concern for green iguana populations in the future. Historically, green iguana meat and eggs have been eaten as a source of protein throughout their native range, and are prized for their alleged medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. Efforts to raise green iguanas in the past have been made to raise green iguanas in captivity as a food source in an attempt to encourage more sustainable land use in Panama and Costa Rica.

 

In 2020, iguana researchers collaborated to create an extended and 'live' database on genetic variation within the green iguana. The intent of the database is primarily to guide population management, hybrid identification, and monitoring of invasions and illegal trade.

 

Cultural references

The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted green iguanas in their art. The green iguana and its relative the black iguana (Ctenosaura similis) have been used as a food source in Central and South America for the past 7,000 years. It is possible that some of the populations in the Caribbean were translocated there from the mainland by various tribes as a food source. In Central and South America, green iguanas are still used as a source of meat and are often referred to as gallina de palo ("bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the tree"), because they are said to taste like chicken.

Posted via email to ☛ HoloChromaCinePhotoRamaScope‽: cdevers.posterous.com/concorde. See the full gallery on Posterous ...

 

• • • • •

 

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Concorde, Fox Alpha, Air France:

 

The first supersonic airliner to enter service, the Concorde flew thousands of passengers across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound for over 25 years. Designed and built by Aérospatiale of France and the British Aviation Corporation, the graceful Concorde was a stunning technological achievement that could not overcome serious economic problems.

 

In 1976 Air France and British Airways jointly inaugurated Concorde service to destinations around the globe. Carrying up to 100 passengers in great comfort, the Concorde catered to first class passengers for whom speed was critical. It could cross the Atlantic in fewer than four hours - half the time of a conventional jet airliner. However its high operating costs resulted in very high fares that limited the number of passengers who could afford to fly it. These problems and a shrinking market eventually forced the reduction of service until all Concordes were retired in 2003.

 

In 1989, Air France signed a letter of agreement to donate a Concorde to the National Air and Space Museum upon the aircraft's retirement. On June 12, 2003, Air France honored that agreement, donating Concorde F-BVFA to the Museum upon the completion of its last flight. This aircraft was the first Air France Concorde to open service to Rio de Janeiro, Washington, D.C., and New York and had flown 17,824 hours.

 

Gift of Air France.

 

Manufacturer:

Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale

British Aircraft Corporation

 

Dimensions:

Wingspan: 25.56 m (83 ft 10 in)

Length: 61.66 m (202 ft 3 in)

Height: 11.3 m (37 ft 1 in)

Weight, empty: 79,265 kg (174,750 lb)

Weight, gross: 181,435 kg (400,000 lb)

Top speed: 2,179 km/h (1350 mph)

Engine: Four Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk 602, 17,259 kg (38,050 lb) thrust each

Manufacturer: Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale, Paris, France, and British Aircraft Corporation, London, United Kingdom

 

Physical Description:

Aircaft Serial Number: 205. Including four (4) engines, bearing respectively the serial number: CBE066, CBE062, CBE086 and CBE085.

Also included, aircraft plaque: "AIR FRANCE Lorsque viendra le jour d'exposer Concorde dans un musee, la Smithsonian Institution a dores et deja choisi, pour le Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace de Washington, un appariel portant le couleurs d'Air France."

Le Bambole Mk. X -"The Pin-sta-nair"

 

40mm focal length, 75º horizontal and 60º vertical angle of view.

Pinhole aperture approx. 0.3 mm, f/133.

Instax Mini instant pack film.

 

A PINhole InSTAx DeboNAIR camera!

 

My latest pinhole camera project involved hacking a non-functioning Debonair toy camera so that it can fit onto a Lomography Diana Instant Film Back. The result is a fun, compact and easy-to-use pinhole camera that takes the readily available Instax Mini instant film!

 

The photo above shows the components that you will need to convert your own Debonair into an Instax film pinhole camera.

 

And here is a photo of the completed camera: Front view

 

Check out my YouTube video to see how I did this conversion (and the camera in action): Video

Beading Strapless A-Line Black Tulle Mini-length Prom Dress

Item ID #:DR1HNPT069

||

.

علمني كيف ابتسم ..

فأنا ودعتُ الابتسامة .. منذ ودعتُ الوطن ..

.

.

.

 

تمتصني أمواج هذا الليل

في شره صموت ،

وتعيد ما بدأت ،

وتنوي أن تفوت ولا تفوت !

فتثير أوجاعي ،

وترغمني على وجع السكوت !

وتقول لي: مت أيها الذاوي

…. فأنسى أن أموت !!

  

============

 

إعدادات :

Model: Nikon 90D

Shutter Speed: 1/500 second

Aperture: F/5.6

Focal Length : 135 mm

ISO Speed : 200

 

،،

كل عام وانتم بخير وصحة وعافيه .. ()

،

الفاف إذا عجبتكم ..

تحيتي العطره لـ قلبوكم ..

 

Rashed ()

 

..

Personality

Music: Jimmy Van Heusen

Lyrics: Johhny Burke

Added Lyrics: Clyde Semler

 

Click here for full length version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOu4FQ4a1J0

 

The two added bridges and coda (IN LARGE CAPS) are my copyrighted additions and may not be published or performed without my permission.

 

This is one of my favorite hetero-sexist songs. Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke wrote many stylish songs during the mid XXth century -- among them Here's That Rainy Day, Aren't You Glad You're You?, But Beautiful, Imagination, It Could Happen to You and Polkadots and Moonbeams.

 

The lyrics have a playful male chauvinistic flavor of "guys" and "dolls" typical of the period written. My added lyrics retain some of that flavor, however placing the "doll" in contemporary attire as she strives to find acceptance for her professional skills in a competitive professional world once occupied solely by "guys". Have I succeeded in making an attitudinal adjustment? Or, is that old devil double-entendre still wagging its naughty tail?

 

++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Mary Smith had a college education

Sally Jones had a scientific streak

Suzy Brown used to lecture on ancient architecture

Josie Green spoke Latin and Greek

Just forgotten girls with forgotten brains

While history explains --

 

When Madame Pompadour was on the ballroom floor

Said all the gentlemen obviously

The madame has the cutest personality!

 

And think of all the books about Dubarry's looks

What was it made her the toast of Paree?

She had a well developed personality!

 

NOW WHAT DID BONAPARTE SEE IN JOSEPHINE?

OR CHICKEN MAN IN FAIR MAUREEN?

OR BIG KING KONG IN FAY WRAY?

I DARE SAY......HER REPARTEE!

 

And when Salome danced and had the men entranced

No doubt it must have been easy to see

That she knew how to use her personality!

 

NOW WHY'S A CUTE INTERN OFFERED SPECIAL PERKS

BY A BOSS WHO VALUES WORK

AND VALUES MORE HER WORKOUT?

NO DOUBT!

 

So don't you say she's smart

And has the kindest heart

Or what a wonderful sister she'd be

Just tell her how you like her personality!

 

AT SALES MEETINGS SHE'S A PRO

AND HER SPREADSHEETS CLEARLY SHOW

SHE CAN MAKE YOUR ASSETS GROW

WITH HER WARM AND WILLING,

ALL FULFILLING, SOMETIMES CHILLING

PERSONALITY!

Length: 25 ft

Width: 21 ft

Height: 8 ft

Crew: 1 pilot

Armaments: 2 Synthia arms Mk III laser cannon

Armor: Titanium plate

Shields: none

Drive system: 2 Cygnus Aerotech systems Mk I Centuri A engines and maneuvering thrusters

Hyperdrive system: none

 

“This ships the fastest thing in the void.”

 

-Gregory “Fast Lane” Malki wing leader 43rd Cygnus fighter wing

 

The Barracuda is part of the ongoing initiative of the Centuri Conglomerate as its own fleet redesign continues to place speed and maneuverability over and above other defensive options. here it is most noticeable as the “Barracuda” completely ensues major defensive shielding options in favor of more speed and maneuverability. Along with this the Barracuda is largely dependent on carrier facilities and close proximity ship support while its Terran Empire opponent can operate far more freely and further afield of its mothership, that said the Terran Empire rarely deploys its own interceptors far from a supporting fleet, or battle platform. That said with continued tension between the Centuri Conglomerate and Terran Empire it seems as though the barracuda will be seeing action sooner rather than later.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Some more Microspace, actually I have a lot of Microspace I'll be rolling out over the next week or so.

 

In spite of it being an enemy ship I really think I prefer this to the 'Mamba'.

 

our new hair styless and our hair getting ready to send out !!! (Jeri Anne and Chrissy)

 

Nevada Northern Doubleheader, pt 1, 1 Sept 2018

 

I had not been to the Nevada Northern in 30 years.

 

In 1982, Dad and I rose an excursion that ran the length of the line from Cobre to Ely and then the next day, explored the lines to the mine at Ruth and the smelter at McGill. The NN and the mine and mill were still in business in 1982, the railroad delivering copper to the WP at Schafter and the SP at Cobre. Dick Reynolds' Great Western Tours put on the excursion, extra cars on Amtrak and connecting buses to and from Ogden.

 

In 1988, with the mine and railway shut down for freight and the railway in the Ely area reopened for excursion service, and with the shops, yard and offices in East Ely now a museum, Dad and I drove the "Loneliest Highway in America", US 50 across Nevada, to Ely to ride the trains to Ruth and McGill. 40 was supposed to pull the train to Ruth and we saw it running on the morning train as we approached Ely, but it had a mechanical problem and our afternoon trains were pulled by a Kennecott Copper Alco RS-3. Oh, well, not a bad consolation prize. We had a tour of the shops, which seemed to be just as they were when the railroad shut down in1983. The calendar on the wall was still turned to the month when the line shut down, tools were on workbenches, a locomotive axle was in a lathe, all waiting for the workers to come back in the morning. Just a layer of dust reminded us that it had been 5 years since the workers went home and never came back.

 

And then 30 years passed. I suggested trips to Ely over the years, but my wife did not think that driving 8 hours to the middle of nowhere ranked high on her list of great ways to spend a long weekend. The girls considered trips to Ely and Great Basin National Park, but it never worked out.

 

So, 30 years went by.

 

This weekend, Anne and Elizabeth are having a mom-daughter weekend at the coast, like they do most years and with the car not completely unpacked from last weekend's Palisade camp out, I thought about heading east. Friday, after work, I packed up, put the dogs in the backseat, left a bunch of food for the cats and headed east.

 

We got as far as a bit east of Fallon, Nevada before I decided to call it a night. We found a dirt road off of US 50 and I put a camp mattress across the back seat of the car and managed to get a few hours of sleep, with one door open, so my legs would have room to stretch out. Nature called at 0550, with the eastern sky turning pink and we were on the road into the sunrise a short time later.

 

Then the car started having issues. The temperature would start rising after I'd been driving for a while and I'd stop and add water to the radiator. This went on all the way into Ely, by which time I was concerned about the car getting back home. The lady at the gas station where I filled up pointed me to an auto parts store where I got some radiator stop leak and they pointed me at a hardware store where I got more water jugs to supplement the 5 gallon jug that I already had.

 

Car or no car, the Nevada Northern was moving equipment in their yard, two steam engines by the sound of the whistles that I could hear while getting stuff for the car.

 

When i got to the East Ely depot, 4-6-0 40 and 2-8-0 93 were coupled to the day's train, 2 coaches, an open car and a caboose.

 

I got some photos of the train as it awaited boarding and then got some fast food for lunch, getting kid's burgers for the dogs in the back seat.

 

We followed the train out of town and up the hill to Ruth. It was not going fast, allowing the dozen or so people chasing it plenty of chances for photos.

 

40 and 93 both started life as saturated steam engines and were later superheated. The new steam pipes from the superheater header to the cylinders give both engines a "Popeye with his hands on his hips" look, similar to the Indian BESA converted SGC, HGC and HPC engines.

 

NN 40 is the only operating full size locomotive in the western USA that has Baker valve gear, AFAIK. Baker was popular in the east on such lines as NYC, Nickel Plate, N&W and others, but, for whatever reasons, did not catch on with SP, UP, ATSF, GN, WP, Rio Grande, or NP.

 

This album shows the train at the East Ely station and climbing to Ruth. Part two will be the return trip.

Work in progress this is the largest most complete assembly to date of this model. Still to complete - rear section beyond Door 3 and tail section as well as front underside and upper deck.

#A -2024

Glass Nylon Lace Fabric

60" Width × Running Length

Dyeable

After I had the lengths of the struts for my dome from the calculator, I ran over to Dave Eaton’s awesome LEGO Scale Converter and turned everything into LEGO units or stud-lengths.

 

This wasn’t quite as easy as that though, as there was some trial and error with the actual LEGO model’s struts to really nail down the right lengths for them. Ultimately I ended up with only 5 strut lengths for my dome because 2 of them were so close in length it was easier to fudge it than try to build the difference.

 

These are the 5 different struts that make up my dome:

 

In total from small to large, I needed to build:

 

- (30) 16-stud long struts (A)

- (30) 16.5-stud long struts (F)

- (60) 17-stud long struts (C)

- (100) 19-stud long struts (B,D)

- (30) 20-stud long struts (E)

 

To make the 16.5 long struts I used Technic part 32124 and jumpers to get the half stud offset. I’m sure there are other ways to do this.

 

This is a total of 250 struts. You would double this to make a sphere.

Another route working right through the length of the town as well as the 8 was the Coastal Clipper 1, between Lowestoft and Martham. I thought this was the route which they used the Cabriolet open toppers on, but I didn’t see any, instead just the regular closed top B9TLs. Still, I’m pretty sure the cabrios are the same sort of B9TL Gemini 1s as these, so not like I missed much.

 

AU58 ECT is a Norfolk bus through and through, being new to the Excel services and now cascaded down to the Clipper. It is seen here at The Conge – whatever one of those is – with a 1 on 19.7.23

 

I do rather like this livery.

 

Sailboat Specifications

 

Hull Type: Keel/Cbrd.

Rigging Type: Gaffhead Sloop

Length overall: 22’6″ 6.858m

Length over deck: 19’3” 5.867m

Length of waterline: 17’7″ 5.334m

Beam: 7’2” 2.184m

Draught:1’6” – 4’0”0.457m – 1.219m

Displacement:2350lb1065kg

Ballast: 700 lb / 318 kg

Sail area:194ft218.02m2

Approx towing weight:3300lb1500kg

RCD categoryC

S.A./Disp.: 17.60

Bal./Disp.: 29.79

Disp./Len.: 195.75

Construction: GRP

Designer: Roger Dongray

First Built: 1979

# Built: 1000

 

Builder

 

Cornish Crabbers LLP

Unit 5, Bess Park Road

Wadebridge

Cornwall

PL27 6HB

Telephone: +44 (0)1208 862 666

Email: info@cornishcrabbers.co.uk

  

Auxiliary Power/Tanks (orig. equip.)

Make: Yanmar (opt.)

Model: Yanmar 1GM10 9hp

Type: Diesel

 

Sailboat Calculations

 

S.A./Disp.: 17.60

Bal./Disp.: 29.79

Disp./Len.: 195.75

Comfort Ratio: 14.60

Capsize Screening Formula: 2.16

 

Shrimper 19 standard sail away specification

 

Hull Construction: Hand laid solid GRP hull with no foam core. Integral centerplate case laminated as part of the complete hull structure. Internal bunk and

forepeak moulding bonded into hull with internal structural bulkheads bonded to both hull and deck mouldings. Standard colours are off white, dark blue

or dark green. The hull and deck joint is by way of an overlap or ‘Biscuit Tin Lid’ with GRP bonding.

Rudder: The rudder is transom hung on two stainless steel hangings bolted through the transom with Hardwood backing pads. The rudder is constructed

from laminated plywood with a stainless steel lifting drop plate.

Engine Beds: Engine beds are incorporated in the GRP bunk moulding with mild steel mounts bonded into the bed design which incorporates an oil drip tray.

Ballast: Ballast is by way of iron punchings encapsulated in resin inside the hull keel moulding. A galvanised steel centerplate forms part of the ballast

with a stainless steel lifting wire leading to a winch lifting system operated from the cockpit.

Boot Top: A single boot top moulded in gel coat located above antifouling level. Colour in contrast to main hull and normally matching the deck.

Deck Construction: Hand laid GRP with Balsa core in way of horizontal load areas. Hard wood pads under deck fittings and stress points.

Cockpit : Cockpit locker lids are hand laid with Balsa core. There is integrated non slip on horizontal surfaces with an optional two tone colour. A cockpit

drain is located in the center of the main foot well with additional drainage from the seats. A central watertight locker offers general storage or houses the

diesel engine when fitted.

 

Deck Fittings: Bespoke deck fittings including bowsprit, tabernacle and chain plates are made from stainless steel. 4 aluminium deck cleats are positioned

aft & amidships with two fairleads feeding a teak Sampson post forward. All sail controls are led aft to rope clutches / jammers with a single halyard

winch to starboard. Adjustable jib & mainsheet cars. Access below is via a teak lined sliding companionway hatch and split plywood / Perspex washboards.

Extra ventilation provided by an aluminium forward hatch.

Ports: 2 aluminium fixed ports are fitted one each in the hull topsides.

Chain plates: Chain plates are in stainless steel and through bolted on the hull sides.

Vents: Ventilation is via a washboard vent and opening forward hatch.

 

Miscellaneous Equipment: Fuel filler &tank vent.(Inboard version only), Life harness attachment point by the companionway, Rope tidies for halyards.

Cockpit Lockers: Two main watertight lockers with latches and padlocks are provided. A padlock is also provided for the companionway hatch.

Mainmast: Laminated in Sitka Spruce and treated with Sikkens Cetol including a stainless steel mast band to take Cap shrouds, jib and mainsail halyards.

All deck mounted on a substantial stainless steel tabernacle.

Main Boom: Laminated in Sitka Spruce and treated with Sikkens Cetol including a Stainless steel gooseneck fitting, kicker and mainsheet bands and all

associated reefing line leads / terminals.

Bowsprit: Laminated in Sitka Spruce and treated with Sikkens Cetol including a Stainless steel pivot fitting, end plate and bobstay take off points.

Gaff: Laminated in Sitka Spruce and treated with Sikkens Cetol including a Stainless steel gaff collar with rubber protection on bearing surface. Wire hoist

span and block.

 

Standing Rigging: Cap shrouds, lower shrouds & forestay in 4mm 1 x 19 stainless steel wire with swagged ends. Chromed rigging screws. Jib mounted on

reefing spar and controls led aft to cockpit.

Running Rigging: Main throat / peak halyards – 6mm braid. Jib &Staysail halyards – 6mm braid. Main topping lift – 6mm braid. Mainsail reefing lines –

6mm braid. Mainsail outhaul – 6mm braid. Mainsheet & Jib sheets – 10mm sheet rope. All associated blocks for purchase tackles.

Mainsail: Dacron in tan or cream. 2 reef points with tie in lacing. Luff and gaff lacing as required.

Jib: Dacron in tan or cream with wire luff and tell tails.

Boom Cover: In maroon, or cream acrylic. Fixings to allow for topping lift and mainsheet take off. All sails supplied with, sail numbers, logo and ties.

Engineering

 

Outboard Version

 

Outboard well: A teak engine mounting with stainless brackets. Engine well hull blank. GRP moulded fuel tank stowage and fuel lead splitter through aft

locker compartment. (fuel lead not supplied as standard)

Inboard Version

 

Stern Gear: A 1” stainless steel shaft is fitted, connected to the engine via a coupling and fitted with a Tides Marine ‘lip seal’ gland. The shaft drives a fixed

2-bladed propeller.

Engine: Yanmar 1GM10 9hp marine diesel engine. A 55 amp (12V) alternator is fitted to the engine.

Engine Instruments and Controls: The engine instruments are located at the rear of the cockpit coaming and are recessed with a clear cover. Instruments

include audible alarm, alternator warning light, start switch and stop control. A single lever engine control is supplied and fitted in the cockpit well.

Engine Cooling: The engine is directly salt water cooled. A 1/2″ diameter pipe leads from the main seawater inlet through a strainer to the engine and

discharges overboard through the exhaust.

Engine Exhaust: A flexible exhaust hose connects the exhaust via a swan neck with water trap to the outlet fitting through the transom.

Fuel System: A plastic diesel tank with a capacity of approximately 18 litres, breather and integrated fuel gauge. The tank is fitted with flow and return

lines, the flow line having a manual shut off valve.

Plumbing

Bilge System: 1 x Manual bilge pump operated from the cockpit with a handle stored in the aft locker.

Fresh Water Tanks: 2 x 10ltr plastic jerry cans with manual hand pump. Also a bucket / sink.

Soil System: When fitted the heads discharge directly to sea via a vent loop and skin fitting.

Inlet / Outlet Fittings: Engine: In through a single skin fitting with a valve and strainer, out via the exhaust system.

Gas System: There is a double burner hob cooker attached to a separately stored gas bottle.

12 volt DC system

Batteries: Engine – one 12 volt 55 amp/hour. (Optional on outboard version)

Charging: Via main engine – a 35 amp (at 12 volt) alternator.

Switchboard: An optional switch panel is fitted to boats that have additional electronics fitted.

Miscellaneous Standard Equipment

Deck: 1 x winch handle. 1 x bilge pump handle. Stowed in aft cockpit locker. 1 x fire extinguisher – situated down below.

Joinery: The interior joinery is constructed from high quality materials and in accordance with good yacht practice. Bulkheads and side back linings are

from plywood.

Finish: All cabin woodwork is finished in a mix of painted bulkheads and varnished trim.

Soles: Rubber textured sole throughout.

Upholstery: A choice of soft or wipe down plastic upholstery is available.

600mm Equivalent Focal Length

Jenkins Marine Tug

Handfast

in the Solent passing Cowes

Vessel Details:

Length:19.8m Beam:6.60m Draft (Ballasted):2.40m

Bollard Pull: 15 tons Speed (Light): 10 knots Fuel Consumption: 180L p/hr

Fuel Capacity: 26 tons Propulsion: 2 x FPP in fixed nozzels Main engines: 2 x Deutz SBA 8M

Total Power: 1050hp Towing Winch: SWL 20t Towing Wire: 280M x Ø36mm

Deck Crane: 1,450Kg at 8.0M

MMSI: 235082707

Call Sign: 2DXC3

Our Daily Challenge 16-22 July : Fabric Designs

Bird watcher at Symonds Yat Rock looking for peregrine falcons down in the valley below.

  

The Peregrine Falcon is a large falcon, with a body length of 34–50 cm (13–20 in) and a wingspan of around 80–120 cm (31–47 inches). The male and female have similar markings and plumage, but as usual in birds of prey the Peregrine Falcon displays marked sexual dimorphism in size, with the female measuring up to 30 percent larger than the male. Males weigh 440–750 g, and the noticeably larger females weigh 910–1500 g, although weight can vary between sub-species.

 

The Peregrine Falcon lives mostly along mountain ranges, river valleys, coastlines, and increasingly in cities. In mild-winter regions, it is usually a permanent resident, and some individuals, especially adult males, will remain on the breeding territory. Populations that breed in colder climes typically migrate great distances during the northern winter.

 

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on the planet in its hunting dive, the stoop, in which it soars to a great height, then dives steeply at speeds of over 322 km/h (200 mph) hitting one wing of its prey, so as not to harm itself on impact. It should be noted, however, that in level flight the fastest-flying bird is the White-throated Needletail and either animal is often quoted as being the fastest on earth.

 

The life span in the wild is up to 15.5 years, although some have been recorded to live more than 20 years. Mortality in the first year is between 59–70%, declining to between 25–32% in adults. Apart from anthropogenic threats like collision with man-made objects, the Peregrine may be killed by large eagles, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, Gyrfalcon, Wildcat and Wolverine; inexperienced young may also be preyed upon by adult Peregrines.

 

Wildlife services around the world organized Peregrine Falcon recovery teams to breed the species in captivity. The chicks are usually fed through a chute or with a hand puppet mimicking a Peregrine's head, so they cannot see and imprint on the human trainers. Then, when they are old enough, the rearing box is opened, allowing the bird to train its wings. As the fledgling gets stronger, feeding is reduced forcing the bird to learn to hunt. This procedure is called hacking back to the wild. To release a captive-bred falcon, the bird is placed in a special cage at the top of a tower or cliff ledge for some days or so, allowing it to become acclimatised with its future environment.

I thought I had visited St Mary years ago. And indeed I had, or stood on the green in front of it, but didn't set foot inside.

 

This I didn't realise until Saturday when I was standing outside it looking at the row of cottages leading to the lych gate, I knew the scene was new to me.

 

The drizzle was still falling, so I could not linger in the churchyard, and scampered along the south side of the building, looking for the porch, but there wasn't one. Instead a simple door near to the chancel gave way when I turned the handle, after stepping over the void that acts as a drain for rainwater falling from the roof.

 

I tried hard to find the lightswitches, as in the gloom of the early afternoon, it was almost dark inside. Even when I found the switches in the south chapel, there seemed to be no power to them, so the church remained in half darkness.

 

What I did see, and was dazzled by, were tiles used to line the lower part of the chancel walls, like a mosaic, creating fantastic patterns.

 

-----------------------------------------

 

A mainly thirteenth century church restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is a high window which originally shed light onto the Rood figures (see also Capel le Ferne). Some medieval glass survives in the heads of the windows in the chancel showing angels holding crowns. The west window was designed by Morris and Co in 1874 to commemorate a former Rector, whilst the south chapel has a set of continental glass brought here by the Beckingham family from their house in Essex. Above the nave arcade is a good set of murals including a figure of St Nicholas. The famous Elizabethan theologian Richard Hooker is commemorated in the chancel.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Bishopsbourne

 

-------------------------------------------

 

Bishopsbourne is another example of a parish church belonging to the church (the archbishop, in this case), which was totally rebuilt on a large(r) scale in the 13th century (cf. Chartham). The chancel, as rebuilt, was as wide as the nave, and there is no chancel arch (and probably never has been).

The nave and chancel both show at least two phases of work of about the mid to later 13th century, so it seems likely that a rebuilding programme was being carried on in stages during the 2nd half of the 13th century (no sign exists, above-ground, of the earlier church).

Perhaps the earliest visible work are the two pairs of two-light windows on either side of the chancel. They have geometrical tracery and all sit on an internal moulded string course (there is medieval glass at the top of all these windows). This string course rises up in the east wall, and has on it the five-light east window, within trefoiled lancets, which is perhaps slightly later in date. There is also a late 13th century piscina at the east end of the south wall (though with a 19th century back wall). Externally the N.E. and S.E. corners of the chancel have angle buttresses, but these are heavily restored. It is also just possible that there were further geometrical windows further west in the chancel, which were covered/removed when the 15th century additions were made.

In the nave, as John Newman has pointed out, the two slender arcades have slight differences (N. capitals more complex than the S. ones). Also that the nave abaci are undercut, while the chancel string course is not. Originally the south arcade was at least three bays long (ie. longer than the present nave), but on the north this is not so clear. The aisles themselves are very narrow, with shed roofs continuing the slope of the main nave roof (though this shape may only be 15th century when the aisles were remodelled). The only surviving feature of the 13th century in the outer aisle walls (again heavily restored externally in the 19th century) is the north doorway with its niche (called a stoup by some writers, but not necessarily one) immediately to the east. This doorway has slightly projecting pilasters on either side, and the whole was covered by a porch until 1837.

The second main phase of work took place in the later 15th century. First, the whole of the west end of the church was demolished and a new tower was constructed with diagonal buttresses. The tower is of three main stages with the top stage rendered. The whole of the south face is mostly rendered. As this was being built, short walls were erected from the eastern diagonal buttresses to the 13th century arcade (ie. leaving the western ends of the aisles outside). (This is perhaps due to a population decrease in the parish). New west walls (containing two light perpendicular square headed windows) to the shortened aisles were also built, and four new 2-light perpendicular windows were inserted into the outer aisle walls. Along the top of the inside of the aisles walls a new moulded timber stringcourse was made (the roofs were perhaps also remade, but they are hidden beneath plaster in the aisles, and the main nave roof was replaced in 1871). At the west end of the nave the new short north and south walls contain five 3-light windows with perpendicular tracery under a 2-centred arch in their heads. On the upper nave walls, above the arcade, are remains of some fine painted figures on a painted 'ashlar' background. These were perhaps painted after the 15th century rebuilding (a date of around 1462 for the rebuilding is perhaps suggested by the will of William Harte (see below). At the extreme west end of the nave are two areas (N. and S.) of in situ medieval floor tiles. It is just possible that they predate the tower building work. (They must continue eastwards under the pews). There is also a 15th cent. octagonal font bowl (on a 1975 base). The southern chapel (the Bourne Pew after the Reformation) with its diagonal buttresses and 3-light east window is also 15th century but it was very heavily restored in c. 1853 (date over new S. door). It has a separate roof (and plaster ceiling). The rectangular N. addition with a plinth is also 15th century and was perhaps built as a vestry. It had an external door and only a small door into the chancel until the rebuilding of 1865, when a massive new arch was put in to accommodate a new organ (earlier the organ was under the tower arch). At this time also a totally new pitched roof was built over the vestry, perhaps replacing a low pitched 15th century roof. There is a high up window on the north side above the pulpit, with some old glass in it.

A new boiler house was dug under the western half of the vestry (in the 1880s - date on radiator), and its N.W. corner was rebuilt, incorporating a fireplace and chimney. The cut through N. chancel wall (and foundation) can be seen in the boiler room below.

The door into the Rood loft is in the S.E. corner of the nave.

In 1871-2 a major restoration took place under Scott, when the boarded wagon roofs were put in (nave and chancel) and new pews were installed (and choir stalls). The c. 18th century pulpit was remodelled and has its larger tester removed. The west window contains 1874 Morris & Co glass with figures by Burne Jones. There is also much c. 1877 mosaic work on the lower chancel walls and a large Reredos. The chancel floor was also raised.

 

BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles, etc.):

The main building materials are flintwork with Rag and Caenstone quoins/jambs, etc. However much of this has been removed externally by the heavy 19th century restoration. The nave arcades are of Reigate stone. The 15th century tower has fine large quoins of Kent Rag (Hythe/Folkestone stone with boring mollusc holes), and a few reused pieces of Caen, Reigate and Roman brick.

The south chapel was "partly of brick" in 1846 (Glynne) but this has now gone in the Restoration. There is also some fine early post-medieval glass in the east window of this chapel.

 

(For medieval glass, wall paintings and floor tiles ,see above).

 

(Also 15th century choir stalls, see below). There are also the arms and Cardinals Cap of Cardinal Morton (hence 1494-1500) in the S.W. chancel window.

 

There are now 4 bells (2 J Hatch of 1618; Christopher Hodson 1685 and Robert Mot 1597). The later from St. Mary, Bredman, Canterbury was installed in 1975 (a cracked bell was 'discarded').

 

A late medieval brass (of John and Elizabeth Colwell) lies under the organ - another of 1617 (John Gibon) is under the choir stalls.

 

EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH To Richard Hooker (1633) - originally on N chancel wall and moved to S chancel will c. 1865.

 

Also John Cockman (+1734) - also on N. chancel wall and moved to E. wall of N. aisle c. 1865 (when the organ was put under new vestry arch).

 

Also a fine Purbeck marble (14th century) grave slab under the N.E. corner of the tower.

 

There are also two fine 15th century (c. 1462) stall fronts in the chancel with carved panels and ends (and 'poppy heads'). The added Victorian choir stalls copy them.

 

CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:

Shape: Rectangular

 

Condition: Good

 

Earthworks:

enclosing: drop on N. and W. sides (?Ha-Ha) into Bourne Park adjacent:

 

Building in churchyard or on boundary: Lychgate of 1911

 

HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):

Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book

 

Evidence of pre-Norman status (DB, DM, TR etc.):

 

Late med. status: Rectory

 

Patron: The Archbishop

 

Other documentary sources: Test. Cant. (E. Kent 1907) 23 mentions 'one piece of that stone on which the Archangel Gabriel descended when he saluted the 'BVM' to the Image of the BVM of the church of Bourne. Towards the work of the Church of Bourne, of the stalls and other reparations, 4 marcs. Wm. Haute (1462). Also 'Beam, now before altar of B. Mary in the church' (1477) and Lights of St. Mary, St. Katherine and St. Nicholas (1484) and light of Holy Cross (1462) and 'The altar of St. Mary and St. Nicholas in the nave' (1476).

 

SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:

Inside present church: Good - main nave and chancel floor raised in 19th century (earlier levels should be intact beneath (except where burials, etc.).

 

Outside present church: Drainage trench cut round outside of church.

 

Quinquennial inspection (date\architect): October 1987 David Martin

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:

The church and churchyard: A fine 13th and 15th century church, with an impressive collection of medieval wall paintings, stained glass, floor tiles and pew fronts inside. The 13th century architectural details of the chancel windows and nave arcade are very good. There are, no doubt, the remains of the earlier church beneath.

 

The wider context: One of a group of fine later 13th century rebuildings (cf. Hythe, Chartham, Adisham, etc.)

REFERENCES: Notes by FC Elliston Erwood, Arch. Cant. 62 (1949), 101-3 (+ plan) + S. R. Glynne Notes on the Churches of Kent (1877), 130-1 (He visited in 1846); Hasted IX (1800), 335-7; Newman BOE (N.E. and E Kent) (3rd ed. 1983) 144-5.

 

Guide book: by Miss Alice Castle (1931, rev. 1961, 1969, 1980) - no plan.

 

Plans & drawings: Early 19th century engraving of interior looking W. NW (before restoration).

 

DATES VISITED: 25th November 1991 REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown

 

www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/BIS.htm

 

-------------------------------------------

 

BISHOPSBORNE

LIES the next parish eastward from Bridge, described before, in the hundred of that name. It is called in Domesday, Burnes, that is, borne, from the bourn or stream which rises in it, being the head of the river, called the Lesser Stour; and it had the name of Bishopsborne from its belonging to the archbishop, and to distinguish it from the several other parishes of the same name in this neighbourhood. There is but one borough in this parish, namely, that of Bourne.

 

THIS PARISH lies about five miles eastward from Canterbury, just beyond Bridge, about half a mile from the Dover road, and the entrance of Barham downs in the valley on the left hand, where the church and village, the parsonage, the mansion and grounds of Bourne place, and the seat of Charlton at the opposite boundary, with the high hills behind them, topped with woods, from a most pleasing and luxuriant prospect indeed. In this beautiful valley, in which the Lesser Stour rises, and through which the Nailbourne at times runs, is the village of Bourne-street, consisting of about fifteen houses, and near it the small seat of Ofwalds, belonging to Mr. Beckingham, and now inhabited by his brother the Rev. Mr. Beckingham, and near it the church and court-lodge. On the rise of the hill is the parsonage, an antient building modernized, and much improved by the present rector Dr. Fowell, and from its whiteness a conspicuous object to the road and Barham downs. About a mile distant eastward, in the vale, close to the foot of the hills, is Charlton, in a low and damp situation, especially when the nailbourne runs. On the opposite side of the church westward, stands the ornament of this parish, the noble mansion of Bourne-place, (for several years inhabited by Sir Horace Mann, bart. but now by William Harrison, esq.) with its paddocks, grounds, and plantations, reaching up to the downs, having the bourn, which is the source of the Lesser Stour, which rises here in the front of it, directing its course from hence to Bridge, and so on by Littleborne, Ickham and Wickham, till it joins the Greater Stour river. This valley from this source of the bourn upwards, is dry, except after great rains, or thaws of snow, when the springs of the Nailbourn occasionally over flow at Liminge and Elham, and directing their course through this parish descend into the head of the bourn, and blend their waters with it. From this valley southward the opposite hills rise pretty high to the woodland, called Gosley wood, belonging to Mr. Beckingham, of large extent, and over a poor, barren and stony country, with rough healthy ground interspersed among it, to the valley at the southern boundary of the parish, adjoining to Hardres; near which is the house of Bursted, in a lonely unfrequented situations, hardly known to any one.

 

THE MANOR OF BOURNE, otherwise Bishopsborne, was given by one Aldhun, a man of some eminence in Canterbury, from his office of præfect, or bailiff of that city, (qui in hac regali villa bujus civitatis prafectus suit), (fn. 1) to the monks of Christ-church there, towards the support of their refectory. After which, anno 811, the monks exchanged it, among other estates, with archbishop Wlfred, for the manor of Eastry, and it continued part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which it is thus entered, under the title of the archbishop's lands:

 

In Berham hundred, the archbishop himself holds Burnes in demesne. It was taxed for six sulings. The arable land is fifty carucates. In demesne there are five carucates, and sixty-four villeins, with fifty-three borderers having thirty carucates and an half. There is a church, and two mills of eight shillings and six pence, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of fifteen hogs. Of herbage twenty-seven pence. In its whole value, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twenty pounds, now thirty pounds.

 

The manor of Bishopsborne appears by the above entry to have been at that time in the archbishop's own hands, and it probably continued so as long as it remained part of his revenues, which was till the 35th year of king Henry VIII. when archbishop Cranmer, by an act specially passed for the purpose, exchanged this manor with the park, grounds and soil of the archbishop in this parish, called Langham park, with Thomas Colepeper, sen. esq. of Bedgbury, who that year alienated it to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, who gave this manor, with the rest of his possessions in this parish, to his second son Edward. Since which it has continued in the same line of ownership as Bourne-place, as will be more particularly mentioned hereafter, down to Stephen Beckingham, esq. the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

BOURNE-PLACE, formerly called the manor of Hautsbourne, is an eminent seat in this parish, for the manor has from unity of possession been for many years merged in the paramount manor of Bishopsborne. It was in very early times possessed by a family who took their name from it. Godric de Burnes is mentioned in the very beginning of the survey of Domesday, as the possessor of lands in it. John de Bourne had a grant of free-warren and other liberties for his lands in Bourne and Higham in the 16th year of king Edward I. He left an only daughter Helen, who carried this estate in marriage to John de Shelving, of Shelvingborne, whose grandson, of the same name, died anno 4 Edward III. at which time this manor had acquired from them the name of Shelvington. He left an only daughter and heir Benedicta, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edmund de Haut, of Petham, whose son Nicholas Haut gave to William, his youngest son, this estate of Bishopsborne, where he afterwards resided, and died in 1462, having been knight of the shire and sheriff of this county. From him it descended down to Sir William Haut, of Hautsborne, sheriff in the 16th and 29th year of king Henry VIII. whose son Edmund dying unmarried in his life-time, his two daughters, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, and Jane, to Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allington-castle, became his coheirs, and on the division of their estates, this of Hautsborne was allotted to the former, and her hus band Thomas Colepeper, in her right, became possessed of it, and having acquired the manor of Bishopsborne by exchange from the archbishop, anno 35 Henry VIII. immediately afterwards passed away both that and Hautsborne to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, whose family derived their origin from Ealcher, or Aucher, the first earl of Kent, who had the title of duke likewise, from his being intrusted with the military power of the county. He is eminent in history for his bravery against the Danes, in the year 853. They first settled at Newenden, where more of the early account of them may be seen. He at his death gave them to his second son Edward, who afterwards resided here at Shelvington, alias Hautsborne, as it was then called, whose great-grandson Sir Anthony Aucher was created a baronet in 1666, and resided here. He left surviving two sons Anthony and Hewitt, and two daughters, Elizabeth, afterwards married to John Corbett, esq. of Salop, LL. D. and Hester, to the Rev. Ralph Blomer, D. D. prebendary of Canterbury. He died in 1692, and was succeeded by his eldest son, who dying under age and unmarried, Hewitt his brother succeeded him in title and estate, but he dying likewise unmarried about the year 1726, the title became extinct, but his estates devolved by his will to his elder sister Elizabeth, who entitled her husband Dr. Corbett afterwards to them, and he died possessed of the manor of Bishopsborne, with this seat, which seems then to have been usually called Bourneplace, in 1736, leaving his five daughters his coheirs, viz. Katherine, afterwards married to Stephen Beckingham, esq. Elizabeth, to the Rev. Thomas Denward; Frances, to Sir William Hardres, bart. Antonina, to Ignat. Geohegan, esq. and Margaret-Hannah-Roberta, to William Hougham, esq. of Canterbury, the four latter of whom, with their respective husbands, in 1752, jointed in the sale of their shares in this estate to Stephen Beckingham, esq. above-men tioned, who then became possessed of the whole of it. He married first the daughter of Mr. Cox, by whom he had the present Stephen beckingham, esq. who married Mary, daughter of the late John Sawbridge, esq. of Ollantigh, deceased, by whom he had an only daughter, who married John-George Montague, esq. eldest son of John, lord viscount Hinchingbrooke, since deceased. By his second wife Catherine, daughter of Dr. John Corbet, he had two daughters, Charlotte and Catherine, both married, one to Mr. Dillon and the other to Mr. Gregory; and a son John Charles, in holy orders, and now rector of Upper Hardres. They bear for their arms, Argent, a sess, crenelle, between three escallop shells, sable. He died in 1756, and his son Stephen Beckingham, esq. above-mentioned, now of Hampton-court, is the present owner of the manor of Bishopsborne, and the mansion of Bourneplace.

 

BURSTED is a manor, in the southern part of this parish, obscurely situated in an unfrequented valley, among the woods, next to Hardres. It is in antient deeds written Burghsted, and was formerly the property of a family of the same name, in which it remained till it was at length sold to one of the family of Denne, of Dennehill, in Kingston, and it continued so till Thomas Denne, esq. of that place, in Henry VIII.'s reign, gave it to his son William, whose grandson William, son of Vincent Denne, LL. D. died possessed of it in 1640, and from him it descended down to Mr. Thomas Denne, gent. of Monkton-court, in the Isle of Thanet, who died not many years since, and his widow Mrs. Elizabeth Denne, of Monktoncourt, is the present possessor of it.

 

CHARLTON is a seat, in the eastern part of this parish, which was formerly the estate of a family named Herring, in which it continued till William Herring, anno 3 James I. conveyed it to John Gibbon, gent. the third son of Thomas Gibbon, of Frid, in Bethers den, descended again from those of Rolvenden, and he resided here, and died possessed of it in 1617, as did his son William in 1632, whose heirs passed it away to Sir Anthony Aucher, bart. whose son Sir Hewitt Aucher, bart. in 1726, gave it by will to his sister Elizabeth, and she afterwards carried it in marriage to John Corbett, LL. D. of Salop, who died possessed of it in 1735, leaving his window surviving, after whose death in 1764 it came to her five daughters and coheirs, who, excepting Frances, married to Sir William Hardres, bart. joined with their husbands in the sale of their respective fifth parts of it in 1765, to Francis Hender Foote, clerk, who resided here. Mr. Foote was first a barrister-at-law, and then took orders. He married Catherine, third daughter of Robert Mann, esq. of Linton, by whom he had three sons, John, mentioned below, who is married and has issue; Robert, rector of Boughton Malherb, and vicar of Linton, who married Anne, daughter of Dobbins Yate, esq. of Gloucestershire, and Edward, in the royal navy; and three daughters, of whom two died unmarried, and Catherine, the second, married first Mr. Ross, and secondly Sir Robert Herries, banker, of London. Mr. Foote died possessed of them in 1773, leaving his wife Catherine surviving, who possessed them at her death in 1776, on which they descended to their eldest son John Foote, esq. of Charlton, who in 1784, purchased of the heirs of lady Hardres, deceased, the remaining fifth part, and so became possessed of the whole of it, of which he is the present owner, but Mr. Turner now resides in it.

 

Charities.

MRS. ELIZABETH CORBETT, window, executrix of Sir Hewit Aucher, bart. deceased, in 1749, made over to trustees, for the use and benefit of the poor, a tenement called Bonnetts, and half an acre of land adjoining, in this parish; now occupied by two poor persons, but if rented, of the annual value of 3l.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about eleven, casually seven.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large building, consisting of three isles and three chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end, in which are four bells. This church is a large handsome building, but it is not kept so comely as it ought to be. In the chancel is a monument for Richard Hooker, rector of this parish, who died in 1600; on it is his bust, in his black gown and square cap. A monument for John Cockman, M. D. of Charlton. His widow lies in the vault by him, obt. 1739; arms, Argent, three cocks, gules, impaling Dyke. Memorial for Petronell, wife of Dr. John Fowell, the present rector, second daughter of William Chilwich, esq. of Devonshire, obt. 1766. She lies buried in a vault under the altar. A large stone, twelve feet long, supposed to be over the remains of Mr. Richard Hooker. A memorial on brass for John Gibbon, gent. of this parish, obt. 1617; arms, Gibbon, a lion rampant-guardant, between three escallops, impaling Hamon, of Acrise, quartering Cossington. Memorials for Mrs. Jane Gibbon, his wife, obt. 1625, and for William Gibbon, gent. obt. 1632. A memorial for William Gresham, obt. 1718. In one of the windows are the arms of the see of Canterbury impaling Warham. In the middle isle, in the south wall, above the capital of the pillar, opposite the pulpit, is a recess, in which once stood the image of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of this church, to which William Hawte, esq. by will anno 1462, among the rest of his relics, gave a piece of the stone on which the archangel Gabriel descended, when he saluted her, for this image to rest its feet upon. On the pavement near this, seemingly over a vault, is a stone with an inscription in brass, for William, eldest son of Sir William Hawt. A memorial for Farnham Aldersey, gent. of this parish, only son of Farnham Aldersey, gent. of Maidstone, obt. 1733. Memorials for several of the Dennes, of this parish. In a window of the south isle, are the arms of Haut, impaling Argent, a lion rampant-guardant, azure. The south chancel is inclosed and made into a handsome pew for the family of Bourne-place, under which is a vault appropriated to them. The window of it eastward is a very handsome one, mostly of modern painted glass; the middle parts filled up with scripture history, and the surrounding compartments with the arms and different marriages impaled of the family of Beckingham. On each side of this window are two ranges of small octagon tablets of black marble, intended for the family of Aucher, and their marriages, but they were not continued. In the church-yard, on the south side, is a vault for the family of Foote, of Charlton, and a tomb for Mrs. Elizabeth Corbett, obt. 1764; arms, Corbett, which were Or, two ravens, sable, within a bordure, gules, bezantee. At the north-east corner of the church-porch are several tombs for the Dennes.

 

The church of Bishopsborne, with the chapel of Barham annexed, was antiently appendant to the manor, and continued so till the exchange made between the archbishop and Thomas Colepeper, in the 35th year of king Henry VIII. out of which the advowson of this rectory was excepted. Since which it has continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury to the present time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.

 

This rectory, (including the chapel of Barham annexed to it) is valued in the king's books at 39l. 19s. 2d. and the yearly tenths at 3l. 19s. 11d. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred. In 1640 one hundred and forty-eight, and it was valued, with Barham, at two hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

 

Church of Bishopsborne with the Chapel of Barhan annexed.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp328-337

 

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Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.[2] He was one of the most important English theologians of the sixteenth century.[3] His defence of the role of redeemed reason informed the theology of the seventeenth century Caroline Divines and later provided many members of the Church of England with a theological method which combined the claims of revelation, reason and tradition.[3] Scholars disagree regarding Hooker's relationship with what would later be called "Anglicanism" and the Reformed theological tradition. Traditionally, he has been regarded as the originator of the Anglican via media between Protestantism and Catholicism.[4]:1 However, a growing number of scholars have argued that he should be considered as being in the mainstream Reformed theology of his time and that he only sought to oppose the extremists (Puritans), rather than moving the Church of England away from Protestantism.

 

This sermon from 1585 was one of those that triggered Travers attack and appeal to the Privy Council. Travers accused Hooker of preaching doctrine favourable to the Church of Rome when in fact he had just described their differences emphasising that Rome attributed to works "a power of satisfying God for sin;..." For Hooker, works were a necessary expression of thanksgiving for unmerited justification by a merciful God.[11] Hooker defended his belief in the doctrine of Justification by faith, but argued that even those who did not understand or accept this could be saved by God.

 

Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie is Hooker's best-known work, with the first four books being published in 1594. The fifth was published in 1597, while the final three were published posthumously,[2] and indeed may not all be his own work. Structurally, the work is a carefully worked out reply to the general principles of Puritanism as found in The Admonition and Thomas Cartwright's follow-up writings, more specifically:

 

Scripture alone is the rule that should govern all human conduct;

Scripture prescribes an unalterable form of Church government;

The English Church is corrupted by Roman Catholic orders, rites, etc.;

The law is corrupt in not allowing lay elders;

'There ought not to be in the Church Bishops'.[12]

Of the Lawes has been characterised as "probably the first great work of philosophy and theology to be written in English."[13] The book is far more than a negative rebuttal of the puritan claims: it is (here McAdoo quotes John S. Marshall) 'a continuous and coherent whole presenting a philosophy and theology congenial to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the traditional aspects of the Elizabethan Settlement."[14]

 

Quoting C. S. Lewis,[15] Stephen Neill underlines its positive side in the following terms: Hitherto, in England, "controversy had involved only tactics; Hooker added strategy. Long before the close fighting in Book III begins, the puritan position has been rendered desperate by the great flanking movements in Books I and II. . . . Thus the refutation of the enemy comes in the end to seem a very small thing, a by-product."[16]

 

It is a massive work that deals mainly with the proper governance of the churches ("polity"). The Puritans advocated the demotion of clergy and ecclesiasticism. Hooker attempted to work out which methods of organising churches are best.[2] What was at stake behind the theology was the position of the Queen Elizabeth I as the Supreme Governor of the Church. If doctrine were not to be settled by authorities, and if Martin Luther's argument for the priesthood of all believers were to be followed to its extreme with government by the Elect, then having the monarch as the governor of the church was intolerable. On the other side, if the monarch were appointed by God to be the governor of the church, then local parishes going their own ways on doctrine were similarly intolerable.

 

In political philosophy, Hooker is best remembered for his account of law and the origins of government in Book One of the Politie. Drawing heavily on the legal thought of Thomas Aquinas, Hooker distinguishes seven forms of law: eternal law ("that which God hath eternally purposed himself in all his works to observe"), celestial law (God's law for the angels), nature's law (that part of God's eternal law that governs natural objects), the law of reason (dictates of Right Reason that normatively govern human conduct), human positive law (rules made by human lawmakers for the ordering of a civil society), divine law (rules laid down by God that can only be known by special revelation), and ecclesiastical law (rules for the governance of a church). Like Aristotle, whom he frequently quotes, Hooker believes that humans are naturally inclined to live in society. Governments, he claims, are based on both this natural social instinct and on the express or implied consent of the governed.

 

The Laws is remembered not only for its stature as a monumental work of Anglican thought, but also for its influence in the development of theology, political theory, and English prose.

 

Hooker worked largely from Thomas Aquinas, but he adapted scholastic thought in a latitudinarian manner. He argued that church organisation, like political organisation, is one of the "things indifferent" to God. He wrote that minor doctrinal issues were not issues that damned or saved the soul, but rather frameworks surrounding the moral and religious life of the believer. He contended there were good monarchies and bad ones, good democracies and bad ones, and good church hierarchies and bad ones: what mattered was the piety of the people. At the same time, Hooker argued that authority was commanded by the Bible and by the traditions of the early church, but authority was something that had to be based on piety and reason rather than automatic investiture. This was because authority had to be obeyed even if it were wrong and needed to be remedied by right reason and the Holy Spirit. Notably, Hooker affirmed that the power and propriety of bishops need not be in every case absolute.

 

King James I is quoted by Izaak Walton, Hooker's biographer, as saying, "I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected language; but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scriptures, the fathers and schoolmen, and with all law both sacred and civil."[17] Hooker's emphasis on Scripture, reason, and tradition considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism, as well as many political philosophers, including John Locke.[2] Locke quotes Hooker numerous times in the Second Treatise of Civil Government and was greatly influenced by Hooker's natural-law ethics and his staunch defence of human reason. As Frederick Copleston notes, Hooker's moderation and civil style of argument were remarkable in the religious atmosphere of his time.[18] In the Church of England he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 3 November and the same day is also observed in the Calendars of other parts of the Anglican Communion.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hooker

Full length view of me in grey flared bottom skirt, black patent belt, white t-shirt and heels

Manufacturer: Metallunion AG

Chassis Nos.: 19100-001 to -599

Crew: 2

Weight: 10.800kg

Length (hull): 3,47m

Width (hull): 1,85m

Height: 2,53m

Engine: Magna MTU-3488c

Radio: FuG 50/c-M

Speed: 30km/h

Range: 280km

Armament: PWM.47/Sd. Laser Gun, 6x IR smoke petard

Armor: Early Police models 15mm Tungsten. Army use models 25mm Tungsten + 12mm Special Heatproof Ceramic Armor. Late models often carried individuals upgrades

and modifications.

 

Description and History

The HX-39 "Krampus" was one of the first quadrupedal tank designs conceived for the SDR forces. Designed in 2874, this compact, manned tank was originally intended as a lightly armored riot control and urban combat vehicle for the National-Defense Army Police Battalions.

Speed and armor was of secondary priority - the HX-39 was rather focussed on high mobility in difficult and confined terrain, and consequently a compact overall shape was the result.

Beyond the Police use, the Krampus (lending its name to a fiendish mythological figure) also saw sparse use with the Strahl National Defence Army as a light scout and training vehicle. These vehicles features upgraded armor and a 15mm machine gun instead of the Police version's water cannon. In 5 years of production, about 600 of these vehicles were built.

 

With the start of hostilities on Earth in 2882 and the quick advances in A.I. technology, which lead to unmanned scout vehicles like the Gans tank or the Neuspotter, the Krampus was quickly withdrawn from SDF front service. Yet, the small tank's design still proved useful for training, landing units and special operation groups, where it was kept in service in small numbers.

 

The Krampus' hull offered, thanks to its simple but sturdy construction and the original design's water tank, room for constant improvement and the development of special purpose versions. Popular field modifications in the 2880ies were upgraded armament. The 15mm machine gun was often replaced by a compact laser, and/or Neu Panzerschreck missiles were added, too. An additional flame thrower in the turret was also a popular choice as a close range weapon and means of defense. With an internal tank, this weapon would allow fourty bursts with a range of up to 60m.

In some cases with special ops teams, parts of the original Tungsten steel hull were replaced by or lined with ceramic pieces - which massively improved survivability in the changing battlefield. In some cases even indirect sight systems like the KgZF4 were installed, what got the 'Krampus' up to date with modern contemporary combat suits like the P.K.A Ausf. M 'Melusine'. The famous Skull Combat Team kept four H-39F as support units in this configuration, and a handful of other Krampus tanks still served with similar equipment in late 2886.

Beyond this development potential, its ability to retract its legs for minimum width also made it useable in scenarios where larger and especially wheeled or even tracked vehicles would either get stuck or could not use the terrain to their benefit. It would, neverthless, be rarely encountered in large scale battles.

 

Effectively, the small 'Krampus' tank saw service behind the front lines in small numbers for a long time. One was, for example, used at Bomvol & Zionel for artificial intellgence experiments in early 2883, and a battalion of modified HX-39 was employed in the SDR raid on Torifujiograd in December 2884 in a command task, where it fought alongside PKA units in an urban battlefield.

  

Well, I will admit that this story is totally fake, but based on the vague, semi-official Ma.K material which is available out there. This mecha was inspired by three things: one aspect was my faint interest for the Ma.K universe and its original mecha designs. Then there was the inspiration through the KV-2X walking tank from MiG Productions, which looks impressive but which I never liked for its (IMHO) poor technical design. And then there was the fact that I got hold of a box with collectible Melusine combat suits in 1:35 scale. There were so many of them, I seriously considered a diorama - but at 1:35 scale only a few Ma.K mecha designs are actually available as a kit. Hasegawa's Nutcracker tank would have been an option - but it was too big for my taste and the space available. So, traditional scratch-building was the only valid option!

 

This was also the starting point for a model and diorama for a model kit contest of a German SF modelers' internet forum (much like starshipmodelers.com). At this early project stage I had the idea of an urban PKA mass scene, rushing forward between ruins with the support of a small armored vehicle, soemthinmg like the Gladiator. Consequently, I wanted a (small) tank for an urban or tight setting, and keep the construction as compact and simple as possible. Four legs were a must, and I wanted to use a single stock kit for the hull. Elements for both requirements were found after long research!

 

The hull comes mostly from a 1:35 scale Hotchkiss H-39 tank. By the way, I love French tank designs from the pre-WWII era, because they most of them have a very unique and almost organic look to them, due to their cast steel hulls. The H-39 is no excemption, and this smooth look makes it IMHO quite suitable for the Ma.K universe and Kow yokoyama's design without much modification. I found a H-39 from Trumpeter, a good base for my project.

 

The legs come from a walking tank from the Japanese 'Junk Tank Rock' series of models - scratch-built tanks like Kow Yokoyama's design. The TACO-34M 'Beetle' donated its complete four legs, and with little modification some parts from this resin kit's original hull found their way onto my Krampus design.

 

Assembly rather followed "look and feel" than a true conversion plan. At an early stage I found that the typical "small tank" look of the hull had to go, and that the hull was too long for the original Beetle Tank's leg assembly. Instead of elongating the legs I decided to shorten the hull, making it even more compact. About 1.5cm were taken away from the front, and the glacis plate elongated to form a rather vertical front. This stubby look moved the turret relatively forward, which resulted in a nice and different look. For reference: in real life, the tank's hull would just be about 3.5m in length! A really tiny tank - anyone remember the 'Bonaparte' tank from Masamune Shirow's "Dominion" maga series? This could be a close relative...

 

During assembly, a lot of spare parts went into the kit, to much to make a list. But among others, many generic parts from a HO scale "Roof Details" Set from Cornerstone Modulars found their way on and into the kit. Most of the newly-built engine bulk was constructed from these parts.

 

The Melusine figures came already painted in a winter livery. Being the design benchmark for the diorama, the Krampus would receive a similar finish. Overall, the paint scheme looks much like a German Luftwaffe Dark Green from WWII, with light grey and/or white painted on top of it, plus yellow-orange markings.

 

To match this look, the Krampus was sprayed all-over in dark olive green (RAL 6003, "Olivgrün"), with some lighter shades sprayed lightly onto the top sides and dark olive drab from below - but this can hardly be discerned at all.

Next, decals were applied (from the scratch box).

On top of that and around the decals, light grey was painted with a flat brush, leaving free edges and areas which would be difficult to reach by 1/35 scale hands under field conditions. This was done twice, with Humbrol's 28 and 196 and with different brush sizes. The idea was to create an improvised and weathered look, with the dark green shimmering through. This effect would later be enhanced through a coat of snow and more weathering with black and earth colors. The stripe markings on the hull and legs were painted by hand, too, with a mix of yellow and orange, emulating the Melusine suits' OOB contrast stripes.

 

After a coat of matte varnish, the snow coating followed. As per usual, I used white joint mortar (plaster is too grayish and becomes yellow over time, as it absorbs up humidity!), rinsed through a fine mesh onto the kit which was sprayed with water.

From above, only a thin coat of fresh snow should be seen, but the legs and lower body rather clogged with dirt and snow, as if the Krampus had been walking through deep snow for some time. This was achived through more of the same joint mortar, just mixed up with a bit of water (so it would remain grainy) and real "dirt", scavenged from balcony flower pots ;)

When dry, the stuff sticks well to the kit's surface and can even stand being touched, but some hair spray and more matte varnish sealed everything in place.

 

As final step, the legs were assembled onto the hull and hydraulich tubes installed, and final painting details like some metal and rust or the commando cupola's visors were added. Finally, the Krampus was ready for action!

 

I will admit that this kit is not the most complicated one, compared to a truly scratch-built item. But matching two carefully selected basic kits yielded an IMHO nice and plausible model, and due to the time pressure of the model kit contest where it would take part in, I am pretty satisfied, esp. with more work ahead with the diorama and the tuning of about six Melusine figures...

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Friday Flower

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EFIX

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Camera:Nikon D3200

Lens:Tamron 70-300mm

Focal Length:300mm

ISO:400

Shutter Speed:1/800sec

Aperture:f/5.6

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A sunny spring day in April was a great opportunity to play with a macro lens, so I did just that - took my little 50mm macro for a spin. Not bad for a first try! Early April 2018.

 

Taken with Panasonic GX7 camera and adapted smc Pentax-M 50mm F4 Macro macro lens, wide-open at ƒ/4.

Notes: full length studio portrait of a young girl with a flower basket

 

Format: CdV by John Roarty, The City Photographic Studio, Sydney. Albumen silver photograph on cardboard, some damage and fading (carte de visite) card: 6.2 cm x 10.4 cm, image: 6.0 cm x 8.8 cm

 

Date Range: 1888-1891 at this address

 

Location: "Corner George and Market Streets, above Hunter's Boot Palace"

 

Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons

 

Repository: Blue Mountains City Library - library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au

 

Part of Local Studies Collection: CDV file

 

Provenance: donation

 

Links:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_de_visite

Paillette Over Skirt Mini-length Sweetheart Neckline 2013 Prom Dress

Item ID #:DR1HNPT017

  

½ #Length #Sleeve #Above #Knee #Dress 👉 t.co/UGJJAfVdmR #ps4share #nyc #football #rebirth #breaking #lay #ff pic.twitter.com/POGkXal6cd

 

— progress (@1bestcellphone) April 1, 2016

 

by Voigtländer SUPER WIDE-HELIAR 15mm F4.5 Aspherical Ⅱ

30.0mm ( 35mm equivalent focal length )

Length 398m, beam 54m, dwt 186528, TEU 17722

Some background:

The Space Defense Robot (SDR) Phalanx was the final Destroid designed during Space War I to act as a fleet defense mecha. After the space worthy conversion of the CVS-101 Prometheus and the SLV-111 Daedalus carriers, these ships were docked with the SDF-1 Macross and it became clear that this new gigantic vessel required a special mecha unit for medium range defense.

 

Development of the Phalanx began during the war in July 2009 and quickly reached rollout in December of that year, as it was based on proven segments. Roughly 20 Phalanx destroids were built aboard the SDF-1 Macross shipboard factories.

 

Armed with dozens of missiles in two large launchers, the Phalanx made an excellent semi-mobile missile-based battery (minor variants featured armaments such as a head-mounted gatling gun, or different sensor arrays). During the final battle of Space War I against the Zentraedi Bodol Zer Main Fleet, the Phalanx units were repainted and refitted to fire long-range reaction warheads for use against space warships. When the SDF-1 Macross broke through the Zentraedi fleet defenses and entered the interior of the massive Fulbtzs Berrentzs command vessel, all the Phalanx units unleashed their missiles and aided in the swift destruction of the enemy flagship.

  

Technical Data:

Equipment Type: Space Defense Robot/heavy artillery

Accommodation: One pilot

Government: U.N. Spacy

Manufacturer: Macross Onboard Factories

Introduction: December 2009

 

Dimensions:

Height 12.05 meters

Length 5.1 meters

Width 10.8 meters.

Mass: 47.2 metric tons

 

Powerplant:

1x Kranss-Maffai MT828 thermonuclear reactor, developing 2800 shp;

Auxillary Shinnakasu Industry CT 03 miniature thermonuclear generator, output rated at 970 kW.

 

Propulsion:

Biped, with limited zero-G maneuverability through many x low-thrust venier thrusters beneath multipurpose hooks/handles all over the hull.

 

Armament:

2x Howard SHIN-SHM-10 Derringer short-range high-maneuverability self-guided missile pods with 22 missiles each (mounted one per arm, missiles stored in two rows behind each other).

 

Production Notes:

The Destroid Phalanx made its debut in Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Episode 27, and it's the only occasion where it appears.

Original mecha designer: Miyatake Kazutaka.

Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres in area. It is about 60 km in length and at its widest almost 9 km across.- Wikipedia

 

City trip In Paris - June 2019 - Montmartre Walking Food Tour

 

The hilltop village of Montmartre has so much to offer: from its unique vineyards to its colorful bistros and its picturesque little houses, the most bohemian area of Paris will amaze you at every street corner!

 

Join us on this fantastic food tour to taste and learn everything you've ever wanted to know about French gastronomy: among a great selection of food stores, we'll take you to the best Parisian coffee place of the hill, you'll enjoy the finest chocolate candies in Montmartre and also a great assortment of cheese, wine and charcuterie a few meters away from Le Sacre Coeur.

 

Savory and sweet specialties will delight you all along the way, in the charming streets that have inspired great painters such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet and Cezanne...

 

This tour is not for the faint hearted : be adventurous !

 

( A little visit in Paris

Une petite visite en Paris )

This is a 300mm focal length LWIR reflector lens I recently acquired. Its primary reflector is about 270mm diameter and it absolutely DWARFS the Therm-App Pro with 35mm lens.

I’m having some teething troubles getting it to ‘talk’ to my Therm-App, which is not surprising given that it was designed to work with something quite different. But I have managed to get some kind of image out of it (a hand filling the screen at about 10m). I calculate that it’s probably the equivalent of a 1700mm focal length on a 35mm camera – very, very long!

 

Hopefully I’ll get to the bottom of this before too long. I’ll post updates as and when.

Name: Force Blue

Length: 63m

World's largest yacht number: >200

Shipyard: Royal Denship

Price: 200 000€ p/week

 

Name: Queen Mavia

Length: 56m

World's largest yacht number: >200

Shipyard: Oceanco

Price: 50 000 000€

  

www.social6.com/alexkane Camera: Nikon 1 J4

Aperture: f/5.6

Exposure: ¹⁄₈₀ sec at f/5.6

ISO: 160

Lens: 1 NIKKOR 18.5mm f/1.8

Focal Length: 18.5mm (49mm in 35mm equivalent)

this is Delicate Strapless A-Line Floor-length Wedding Dresshttp://www.tbdress.com/product/Delicate-Strapless-A-Line-Floor-Length-Wedding-Dress-8886924.html

Photo Copyright 2012, dynamo.photography.

All rights reserved, no use without license

 

++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++

 

The International Finance Centre (abbr. IFC, branded as "ifc") is a skyscraper and an integrated commercial development on the waterfront of Hong Kong's Central District.

 

A prominent landmark on Hong Kong Island, IFC consists of two skyscrapers, the IFC Mall, and the 55-storey Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Tower 2 is the second tallest building in Hong Kong (415 m), behind the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon. It is the fourth-tallest building in the Greater China region and the eighth-tallest office building in the world, based on structural heights; by roof height, only the Taipei 101, Shanghai World Financial Center, Willis Tower, International Commerce Centre and Burj Khalifa exceed it. It is of similar height to the former World Trade Center. The Airport Express Hong Kong Station is directly beneath it.

 

IFC was constructed and is owned by IFC Development, a consortium of Sun Hung Kai Properties, Henderson Land and Towngas.[6]

 

In 2003, Financial Times, HSBC, and Cathay Pacific put up an advertisement on the facade that stretched more than 50 storeys, covering an area of 19,000 m2 (0.2 million square ft) and a length of 230 m, making it the world's largest advertisement ever put on a skyscraper.[7]

 

Contents

 

1 History

2 One International Finance Centre

3 Two International Finance Centre

4 Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

5 IFC Mall

6 Gallery

6.1 2 International Finance Centre

6.2 International Finance Centre Mall

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

 

History

 

Tower 1 is also known as 1IFC and branded in lowercase letters, as "One ifc". Likewise, Tower 2 is also known as 2IFC and branded as "Two ifc".[8]

 

1IFC opened in December 1998, towards the end of the Asian financial crisis. Tenants included ING Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Fidelity International, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority[9] and the Financial Times.[10]

 

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority purchased 14 floors in 2IFC;[10] the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation signed a 12-year lease on 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2);[11] Nomura Group agreed to take 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) at 2 IFC; the Financial Times, an existing tenant at One IFC, took 10,000 sq ft (900 m2).[10] Ernst & Young took six floors (from the 11th to 18th floors), or about 180,000 square feet (16,700 m2), in 2IFC, to become the biggest tenant.[12]

 

2IFC, which was completed at the height of the SARS epidemic,[9] was initially available to rent at HK$25-HK$35 per square foot.[13] In 2007, as the economy has improved, high quality ("Grade A") office space is highly sought after; rents for current leases are $150 per square foot as of March 2007.[14]

 

The IFC's towers have featured in several Hollywood films, including Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, where Lara Croft leaps off the then-under-construction 2 International Finance Centre, landing on a ship out in the Kowloon Bay, and The Dark Knight, where Batman leapt from 2 IFC to 1 IFC, where an action scene then takes place.[15]

 

The 88th floor of 2IFC is the backdrop of core scenes of the German Thriller "Im Schatten der Lombardis" [1] by Berit Paton Reid, a German writer based in Dubai, UAE.

One International Finance Centre

One International Finance Centre

IFC mall Phase 1 shopping arcade

 

One International Finance Centre was constructed in 1998 and opened in 1999. It is 688 feet (210 m) tall,[16] has 39 storeys and four trading floors, 18 high speed passenger lifts in 4 zones, and comprises 784,000 square feet (72,800 m2). It is similar in design and appearance to 30 Hudson Street in Jersey City, New Jersey. The building currently accommodates approximately 5,000 people.

Two International Finance Centre

 

Two International Finance Centre, completed in 2003, is attached to the second phase of the ifc mall. This 415-metre-tall (1,362 ft) building, currently Hong Kong's second tallest, is quoted as having 88 storeys and 22 high-ceiling trading floors to qualify as being extremely auspicious in Chinese culture. It is, however, short of the magic number, because "taboo floors" like 14th and 24th are omitted as being inauspicious – because 4 sounds like 'die' in Cantonese.

 

The highrise is designed to accommodate financial institutions. For example, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is located at the 55th floor. It is equipped with advanced telecommunications, raised floors for flexible cabling management, and nearly column-free floor plans. The building expects to accommodate up to 15,000 people. It is one of relatively few buildings in the world equipped with double-deck elevators.

 

The 55th, 56th and the 77th to 88th floors were bought by the HKMA for US$480 million in 2001.[11] An exhibition area, currently containing an exhibit of Hong Kong's monetary history, and a library of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre occupy the 55th floor, and are open to the public during office hours.[17]

 

Despite common practice for owners to allow naming buildings after its important tenants, the owners decided not to allow renaming of the building.[18]

Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Main article: Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

 

The Four Seasons Hotel is a luxury hotel that was built near the IFC One and Two. It was completed and opened in October 2005. The 206 m (674 ft), 60-storey oceanfront hotel is the only Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. The hotel has 399 guest suites, and 519 serviced apartments. Amenities include a French restaurant Caprice and spa.[19]

IFC Mall

It is an 800,000 sq ft, 4-storey shopping mall, with many luxury retail brands and wide variety of restaurants. The first official Apple Store was also located in this mall (a 3-storey flagship store in Hong Kong).

 

Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港; pronunciation in Hong Kong Cantonese: [hœ́ːŋ.kɔ̌ːŋ]), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in East Asia, south of the mainland Chinese province of Guangdong, and east of the former Portuguese colony and fellow special administrative region of Macau. With around 7.3 million Hong Kongers of various nationalities[note 1] in a territory of 1,104 km2, Hong Kong is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world.

 

Hong Kong was formerly a colony of the British Empire, after the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from Qing China at the conclusion of the First Opium War in 1842. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860, and acquired a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War, until British control resumed in 1945. The territory was returned to China under the framework of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 and marked by the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.[13]

 

Under the principle of "one country, two systems",[14][15] Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system apart from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong retains independent executive, legislative, and judiciary powers.[16] Nevertheless, Hong Kong does directly develop relations with foreign states and international organizations in a broad range of "appropriate fields",[17] being actively and independently involved in institutions such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum[18] and the World Trade Organization.[19]

 

Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres, holding the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranking as the world's most competitive and freest economic entity.[20][21] As the world's eighth-largest trading entity,[22] its legal tender, Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency.[23] Hong Kong's tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by competitive simple taxation and supported by its independent judiciary system.[24] Although the city boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it suffers from severe income inequality.[25]

 

Hong Kong features the most skyscrapers in the world, surrounding Victoria Harbour, which lies in the centre of the city's dense urban region.[26][27] It has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the world's longest life expectancy.[28][29] Over 90% of its population makes use of well-developed public transportation.[30] Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring industrial areas of mainland China, which adopts loose emissions standards, has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates in winter.[31][32][33]

Contents

 

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Prehistory

2.2 Imperial China

2.3 British colony

2.4 Japanese military occupation

2.5 Post-war industrialisation

2.6 Transfer of sovereignty

2.7 Special administrative region

3 Government and politics

3.1 Legal system and judiciary

3.2 Foreign relations

3.3 Regional and administrative divisions

3.4 Electoral and political reforms

3.5 Sociopolitical issues and human rights

3.6 Military

4 Geography

4.1 Climate

4.2 Architecture

4.3 Cityscape

5 Demographics

5.1 Languages

5.2 Religion

5.3 Personal income

6 Economy

6.1 Financial centre

6.2 International trading

6.3 Tourism and expatriation

6.4 Policy

7 Infrastructure

7.1 Energy

7.2 Water and sanitation

7.3 Health

8 Transport

8.1 Rail

8.2 Roads and taxis

8.3 Aviation

8.4 Ferries

8.5 Buses and trams

9 Education

10 Culture

10.1 Sport

11 Media

12 Notable people

13 See also

14 Notes

15 References

15.1 Citations

15.2 Sources

16 Further reading

17 External links

 

Etymology

Hong Kong

Hong Kong in Chinese 2.svg

"Hong Kong" in Chinese characters

Chinese 香港

Cantonese Yale Hēunggóng or Hèunggóng

Literal meaning Fragrant Harbour,

Incense Harbour[34][35]

[show]Transcriptions

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Traditional Chinese 香港特別行政區

(香港特區)

Simplified Chinese 香港特别行政区

(香港特区)

Cantonese Yale Hēunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkēui

(Hēunggóng Dahkkēui)

or

Hèunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkēui

(Hèunggóng Dahkkēui)

[show]Transcriptions

 

The name Hong Kong originally referred to a small inlet between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. The town of Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[36] The source of the romanised name is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the spoken Cantonese pronunciation of 香港 (Cantonese Yale: hēung góng), which means "Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour".[34][35][37] Fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water influx from the Pearl River estuary or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour was developed.[37] Another theory is that the name originates from the Tanka, early inhabitants of the region; it is equally probable that a romanisation of the name in their dialect was used (i.e. hōng, not hēung in Cantonese).[38] Regardless of origin, the name was recorded in the Treaty of Nanking to encompass all of Hong Kong Island, and has been used to refer to the territory in its entirety ever since.[39]

 

The name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926.[40] Nevertheless, a number of institutions founded during the early colonial era still retain the single-word form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric, and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

History

Main articles: History of Hong Kong and History of China

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Hong Kong

 

Archaeological studies support human presence in the Chek Lap Kok area from 35,000 to 39,000 years ago and on Sai Kung Peninsula from 6,000 years ago.[41][42][43] Wong Tei Tung and Three Fathoms Cove are the earliest sites of human habitation in Hong Kong during the Paleolithic Period. It is believed that the Three Fathom Cove was a river-valley settlement and Wong Tei Tung was a lithic manufacturing site. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggested cultural differences from the Longshan culture of northern China and settlement by the Che people, prior to the migration of the Baiyue to Hong Kong.[44][45] Eight petroglyphs dated to the Shang Dynasty were discovered on the surrounding islands.[46]

Imperial China

Main article: History of Hong Kong under Imperial China

 

In 214 BC, the Qin dynasty conquered the Baiyue tribes in Jiaozhi (modern-day Liangguang region and Vietnam) and incorporated the area of Hong Kong into China for the first time.[47] After a brief period of centralisation and subsequent collapse of the Qin dynasty, the area of Hong Kong was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom, founded by general Zhao Tuo in 204 BC.[48] After the Han conquered Nanyue in 111 BC, Hong Kong was assigned to the Jiaozhi commandery. Archaeological evidence indicates an increase of population and expansion of salt production. The Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb on the Kowloon Peninsula is believed to have been built as a burial site during the Han dynasty.[49]

Sung Wong Toi, believed to be a memorial to the last two boy emperors of the Southern Song dynasty, as it appeared before the Second Sino-Japanese War.

 

During the Tang dynasty, the Guangdong region flourished as an international trading center. A military stronghold was established in Tuen Mun to strengthen defence of the coastal area.[50] Lantau Island was a salt production centre and smuggler riots occasionally broke out against the government. The first village school, Li Ying College, was established around 1075 in the modern-day New Territories by the Song dynasty.[51] During their war against the Mongols, the Southern Song court was briefly stationed at modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before their ultimate defeat at the Battle of Yamen in 1279.[52]

 

The earliest European visitor on record was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese explorer, who arrived in 1513.[53][54] Having established a trading post in a site they called "Tamão" in Hong Kong waters, Portuguese merchants commenced with regular trading in southern China. Subsequent military clashes between China and Portugal, however, led to the expulsion of all Portuguese merchants from southern China.[55] After the Qing conquest, Hong Kong was directly affected by the Great Clearance, an imperial decree that ordered the evacuation of coastal areas of Guangdong from 1661 to 1669 as part of his efforts against Ming loyalist rebels in southern China. Over 16,000 inhabitants of Xin'an County, which included Hong Kong, were forced to migrate inland; only 1,648 of those who had evacuated returned in subsequent years.[56] With frequent pirate attacks and ever increasing incursions by European explorers, forts were constructed at Tung Chung and the Kowloon Walled City.[57]

 

Though maritime trade had previously been banned, after repopulation of the coast and final defeat of all rebels with Ming sympathies, the Kangxi Emperor lifted the trade prohibition in 1684 and allowed foreigners to enter Chinese ports.[58] Trade with Europeans was more strictly regulated and became concentrated in the Pearl River Delta after establishment of the Canton System in 1757, which forbade non-Russian ships from northern Chinese ports and forced all commerce to be conducted solely in the port of Canton, just north of Hong Kong.[59] While European demand for Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was comparatively negligible, creating a large trade imbalance between Qing China and Great Britain. To counter this deficit, the British began to sell increasingly large volumes of Indian opium to China.[60] Faced with a drug addiction crisis,[61] Chinese officials pursued ever more aggressive actions in an attempt to halt the opium trade.[60]

British colony

Main articles: British Hong Kong and History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)

City of Victoria, 1860s

 

In 1839, threats by the Qing imperial court to place sanctions on opium imports caused diplomatic friction with the British Empire. Tensions escalated into the First Opium War. After British victory in the Second Battle of Chuenpi, the Qing initially admitted defeat. As part of a ceasefire agreement between Captain Charles Elliot and Qishan, Viceroy of Liangguang, Hong Kong Island was declared to be ceded under the Convention of Chuenpi. British forces took formal possession of the island on 26 January 1841. However, disputes between high-ranking officials of both countries led to the failure of the treaty's ratification.[62] After more than another year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking on 29 August 1842.[63] The British officially established a Crown colony and founded the City of Victoria in the following year.[64]

 

The population of Hong Kong Island was 7,450 when the Union Jack raised over Possession Point on 26 January 1841. It mostly consisted of Tanka fishermen and Hakka charcoal burners, whose settlements scattered along several coastal hamlets. In the 1850s, a large number of Chinese refugees crossed the open border fleeing from the Taiping Rebellion. Other natural disasters, such as flooding, typhoons, and famine in mainland China would play a role in establishing Hong Kong as a place for safe shelter.[65][66] Further conflicts over the opium trade between the British and Qing quickly escalated into the Second Opium War. Following the Anglo-French victory, the colony was expanded to include Kowloon Peninsula (south of Boundary Street) and Stonecutter's Island, both of which were ceded to the British in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860. The colony was expanded further in 1898, when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of additional territory from the Qing under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory; Lantau Island, the area north of Boundary Street in Kowloon up to the Sham Chun River, and over 200 other outlying islands were given over to British control.[67][68][69]

Queen's Road Central at the junction of Duddell Street, c. 1900

 

Hong Kong soon became a major entrepôt thanks to its free port status, attracting new immigrants from both China and Europe. However, the population remained racially divided and polarised under early British colonial policies. Despite the rise of a British-educated Chinese upper-class by the late-19th century, racial discrimination laws, such as the Peak Reservation Ordinance, prevented ethnic Chinese from acquiring property in reserved areas, such as Victoria Peak. At this time, the majority of the Chinese population in Hong Kong had no political representation in the British colonial government. The British governors did rely, however, on a small number of Chinese elites, including Sir Kai Ho and Robert Hotung, who served as ambassadors and mediators between the government and local population.

File:1937 Hong Kong VP8.webmPlay media

Hong Kong filmed in 1937

 

The colony continued to experience modest growth during the first half of the 20th century. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first higher education institute. While there had been an exodus of 60,000 residents for fear of a German attack on the British colony during the First World War, Hong Kong remained unscathed. Its population increased from 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 and reached 1.6 million by 1941.[70]

 

In 1925, Cecil Clementi became the 17th Governor of Hong Kong. Fluent in Cantonese and without a need for translators, Clementi appointed Shouson Chow to the Executive Council as its first ethnic Chinese member. Under Clementi's tenure, Kai Tak Airport entered operation as RAF Kai Tak and several aviation clubs. At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, when the Empire of Japan invaded China from its protectorate in Manchuria, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared the colony a neutral zone to safeguard Hong Kong's status as a free port.

Japanese military occupation

Main article: Japanese occupation of Hong Kong

Liberation of Hong Kong in 1945. Picture taken at the Cenotaph in Central.

 

On 8 December 1941, the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Army moved south from Guangzhou and crossed the Sham Chun River to attack Hong Kong as part of a coordinated military offensive against the Allied Powers.[71] The Battle of Hong Kong lasted for 17 days, through which British, Canadian, Indian, and local colonial units defended Hong Kong. By the fifth day, Commonwealth troops, under heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, had been forced to abandon their positions in Kowloon and retreated to Hong Kong Island.[72] With the remaining troops unable to further mount an effective defence, Governor Young surrendered the colony on Christmas Day. This day is remembered by locals as "Black Christmas".[73]

 

During the occupation, the garrisoned Japanese soldiers committed many atrocities against both civilians and prisoners of war, including the St. Stephen's College massacre. Local residents suffered widespread food shortages, strict rationing, and hyperinflation arising from the forced exchange of currency from Hong Kong dollars to Japanese military yen. Widespread starvation and forced deportation of residents for use as slave labour to mainland China drastically reduced the population of Hong Kong from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945, when control of the colony returned to the British.[74]

Post-war industrialisation

Main articles: British Hong Kong, 1950s in Hong Kong, 1960s in Hong Kong, 1970s in Hong Kong, 1980s in Hong Kong, and 1990s in Hong Kong

Flag of British Hong Kong from 1959 to 1997

 

Hong Kong's population recovered quickly after the war, as a wave of skilled migrants from the Republic of China sought refuge from the Chinese Civil War in a territory neutral to the conflict. When the Communist Party took full control of mainland China in 1949, even more refugees fled across the open border in fear of persecution.[67] Many newcomers, especially those who had been based in the major port cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, established corporations and small- to medium-sized businesses and shifted their base operations to British Hong Kong.[67] The establishment of the People's Republic of China caused the British colonial government to reconsider Hong Kong's open border to mainland China. In 1951, a boundary zone was demarked as a buffer zone against potential military attacks from communist China. Border posts along the north of Hong Kong began operation in 1953 to regulate the movement of people and goods into and out of the territory.

Hong Kong in 1965

 

In the 1950s, Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies that was undergoing rapid industrialisation driven by textile exports, manufacturing industries, and re-exports of goods to China. As the population grew, with labour costs remaining low, living standards began to rise steadily.[75] The construction of the Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 marked the beginning of the public housing estate programme, which provided shelter for the less privileged and helped cope with the continuing influx of immigrants.

 

Under Governor Murray MacLehose, the government began a series of reforms to improve the quality of infrastructure and public services through the 1970s. Systemic corruption in the uniformed services had crippled trust in the government; MacLehose established the ICAC, an independent security service under the direct authority of the Governor, to restore the integrity of the civil service.[76] Chinese was recognised as an official language during his tenure, accelerating the process of localisation in the government, slowly handing key official posts long held only by British members of the government over to local ethnic Chinese people.[77][78] To alleviate road traffic congestion and provide a more reliable means of crossing the Victoria Harbour, the Mass Transit Railway was constructed and began operations of its first line in 1979. The Island Line, Kwun Tong Line, and Tsuen Wan Line all opened in the early 1980s, connecting Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and parts of the New Territories to a single transport system.[79] MacLehose was the longest-serving colonial governor and, by the end of his governorship, had become one of the most popular and well-known figures in the territory. MacLehose laid the foundation for Hong Kong to establish itself as a key global city in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A sky view of Hong Kong Island

An aerial view of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island in 1986

 

Since 1983, the value of the Hong Kong dollar has been pegged to that of the United States dollar. The territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined due to rising labour and property costs, as well as new industrial capacity developed in southern China under the Open Door Policy, which was introduced in 1978. Nevertheless, by the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre, a regional hub for logistics and freight, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, and the world's exemplar of laissez-faire market policy.[80]

The Hong Kong issue

 

In 1971, China's permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council was transferred from the Republic of China, which had evacuated to Taiwan at the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War, to the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong was soon after removed from the organization's list of non-self-governing territories, at the request of the PRC. Facing an uncertain future for the colony and the expiration of the New Territories lease beyond 1997, Governor MacLehose raised the question of Hong Kong's status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979.

 

Diplomatic negotiations with China resulted in the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984. The United Kingdom agreed to transfer to China the entirety of the colony, including the perpetually ceded areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, at the conclusion of the 99-year New Territories lease in 1997, when Hong Kong would become a special administrative region governed separately from the mainland, retaining its free-market economy, common law judicial system, independent representation in international organizations, treaty arrangements, and self-governance in all areas except foreign diplomacy and military defence. The treaty further stipulated that the territory would be guaranteed a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer, with the Basic Law of Hong Kong serving as its constitutional document.[67]

A street at the edge of the Kowloon Walled City at night.

 

Under the terms of the Second Convention of Peking, the colony was expanded out to the New Territories, but the treaty did not include a small military outpost over which the Kowloon Walled City would later be built. After the end of Japanese occupation, thousands of refugees fleeing from the mainland during the Chinese Civil War made their way to the Walled City and became squatters occupying this parcel of land where China was technically still the sovereign power. Over the following decades, the population of this 2.6-hectare (6.4-acre) area dramatically increased, reaching 33,000 by 1987, making the Walled City the most densely populated area in the world at its peak.[81][82] Despite widespread illegal activity and unsanitary living conditions, the British largely took a 'hands-off' approach with regard to the Walled City due to the area's muddled territorial status and to avoid confrontation with the mainland authority.[83] The Sino-British Joint Declaration laid the groundwork for cooperation between the British and Chinese governments concerning any Hong Kong-related issues, including the fate of the former military fort. The Chinese government acquiesced to the demolition of the settlement in 1987.[84] The structure was cleared away in 1994 and the area converted into the Kowloon Walled City Park.[85]

Transfer of sovereignty

Main article: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the handover ceremony took place in 1997

 

On 1 July 1997, sovereignty over Hong Kong was officially transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, marking the end of 156 years of British colonial rule. As Britain's last major and most populous remaining colony, the handover effectively represented the end of the British Empire. This event made Hong Kong the first special administrative region of China. Exactly at midnight, all government organisations with royal patronage simultaneously dropped the Royal prefix from their titles and any regalia with references to the Crown were replaced with insignia bearing the Bauhinia.[86] After the handover ceremony, Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, together with Prince Charles, departed the city on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.[87]

Special administrative region

Main articles: 2000s in Hong Kong and Hong Kong–Mainland conflict

 

Almost immediately after the transfer of sovereignty, Hong Kong's economy was severely affected by the Asian financial crisis and further depressed by the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu. Financial Secretary Donald Tsang used the substantial territorial foreign currency reserves to maintain the Hong Kong dollar's currency peg and spent over HK$120 billion on significant holdings of major Hong Kong companies to prevent a general market collapse.[67] While complete disaster was averted, Chief Executive Tung's housing policy of building 85,000 subsidised flats a year triggered a housing market crisis in 1998, depressing property prices and causing some homeowners to become bankrupt.[88] Hong Kong was again gravely affected by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.[89][90] In total, 1,755 people were infected, with 299 fatalities.[91] Economic activities slowed and schools were closed for weeks at the height of the epidemic. An estimated HK$380 million (US$48.9 million) in contracts were lost as a result of the epidemic.[92] While Hong Kong was also severely affected by the global recession of the late 2000s, the Tsang government introduced a series of economic stimulus measures prevented a prolonged recession.[93]

 

Infrastructure post-handover has been rapidly developed, with major transport links continuing to be planned and constructed. The Rose Garden Project, which began under British administration, to construct a new international airport was completed in 1998 and operations began at the new site during the same year. The Ngong Ping Cable Car, West Kowloon Cultural District, multiple new railway lines, and additional cross-harbour tunnels were all completed in the first 20 years of territorial self-governance. Direct infrastructure links with mainland China are also being actively developed, with both the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and Hong Kong section of the national high-speed railway currently under construction. Construction of the rail link generated a high level of controversy surrounding the demolition of key landmarks and displacement of residents along the planned route.[94]

Hong Kong Island north coast, overlooking Victoria Harbour and Central and East Kowloon from middle section of Lugard Road at daytime

 

Political debates have centred themselves predominately on issues surrounding electoral reform and Hong Kong's jurisdictional independence from the central government. Following the handover, democratic reform of the Legislative Council was immediately terminated and the government attempted to legislate sweeping national security legislation pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law. Coupled with years of economic hardships and discontent of Chief Executive Tung's pro-Beijing stance, over 500,000 people demonstrated against the government, which eventually led to Tung's resignation in 2005.[95] Further proposals by the government to introduce a national education curriculum and nominee pre-screening before allowing Chief Executive elections triggered a number of mass protests in 2014, collectively known as the Umbrella Revolution.[96] Violent attacks on journalists, an increasing level of press self-censorship, alleged extraterritorial abduction of anti-China publishers,[97] and covert intervention into Hong Kong's educational, political, and independent institutions have posed challenges to the policy of one country, two systems. In the 2016 legislative election, there were reports of discrepancies in the electorate registry, which contained ghost registrations across constituencies, as well as political intervention to strip pro-independence individuals of their right to stand in elections[98] and alleged death threats to election candidates.[99] Social tension heightened during Leung's term, with many residents believing that China increased their efforts to exert influence on everyday life in Hong Kong. A survey in 2016 showed that only 17.8% of residents considered themselves as "Chinese citizens", whereas 41.9% considered themselves purely as "citizens of Hong Kong".[100]

Government and politics

香港候任特首林鄭月娥13.jpg 政務司司長張建宗15.jpg

Carrie Lam

Chief Executive Matthew Cheung

Chief Secretary

Main articles: Government of Hong Kong, Politics of Hong Kong, and Elections in Hong Kong

 

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, maintaining a separate legislature, executive, and judiciary from the rest of the country. It has a parliamentary government modelled after the Westminster system, inheriting this from British colonial administration. The Sino-British Joint Declaration guarantees the territory's capitalist economic system and autonomous system of government for 50 years after the transfer of sovereignty.[note 2] Under this framework, the Basic Law of Hong Kong is the regional constitutional document, establishing the structure and responsibility of the government.[101][102] The head of government is the Chief Executive, who is selected by the Election Committee for a five-year term that is renewable once. The central government provides oversight for the regional government; final interpretative power of the Basic Law rests with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Chief Executive is formally appointed by the State Council after nomination by the aforementioned Election Committee.[101] Responsibility for foreign and military affairs is also assumed by the central authority.[note 3]

Government House, official residence of the Chief Executive.

A chamber within the Legislative Council Complex.

The grey dome and front gable of a granite neo-classical building, with a skyscraper in the background against a clear blue sky.

Court of Final Appeal Building in Central. Formerly housed the Supreme Court and the Legislative Council before its current function.

 

The Legislative Council is a unicameral legislature with 70 members, consisting of 35 directly elected members apportioned to geographical constituencies, 30 members representing professional or special interest groups formed as functional constituencies, and 5 members nominated by members of the District Councils and elected in territory-wide elections.[14][103] Legislators are elected using multiple different voting systems, determined by whichever constituency a particular seat is representing. All directly elected seats are filled using a proportional representative system, while functional constituencies other than the all-territory District Council constituency choose their councillors using first-past-the-post or instant-runoff voting.[104]

 

Government policy is determined by the Executive Council, a body of advisors appointed by the Chief Executive with the authority to issue delegated legislation and proposes new bills to the legislature for debate and promulgation. Direct administration is managed by the Civil Service, an apolitical bureaucracy that ensures positive implementation of policy.[14][105] Hong Kong is nationally represented in the National People's Congress by 36 delegates chosen through an electoral college.[16][106]

 

22 political parties had representatives elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election.[107] These parties have aligned themselves into three ideological groups: the pro-Beijing camp who form the current government, the pro-democracy camp, and localist groups.[108] The Communist Party does not have an official political presence in Hong Kong and its members do not run in local elections.[109]

 

The Monetary Authority is the currency board and de facto central bank of the territory.[110] It is responsible for regulation of the Hong Kong dollar and, along with HSBC, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, and the Bank of China, issues currency in the form of banknotes. Coinage is solely minted by the Monetary Authority.[111]

Legal system and judiciary

Main articles: Law of Hong Kong and Judiciary of Hong Kong

 

The judicial system of Hong Kong is derived from the common law system of English law, and was created at the establishment of the territory as a British colony. Chinese national law does not generally apply in the region, and Hong Kong is treated as an independent jurisdiction.[112] The Court of Final Appeal is the territory's highest court, exercising final adjudication over interpretation of laws and has the power to strike down statutes and legislation inconsistent with the Basic Law.[113][114] It is led by the Chief Justice and consists of three additional permanent judges and one non-permanent seat filled by judges from overseas common law jurisdictions on a rotating basis.[14][115] However, final interpretation of the Basic Law itself is a power vested in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Judges on all courts are appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of an independent commission.[14][116] As a common law system, judicial courts in Hong Kong may refer to precedents set in English law and Commonwealth jurisdictions.[14][115][14]

 

The Department of Justice is responsible for handling legal matters for the government. Its responsibilities include providing legal advice, criminal prosecution, civil representation, legal and policy drafting and reform and international legal co-operation between different jurisdictions.[112] Apart from prosecuting criminal cases, lawyers of the Department of Justice act on behalf of the government in all civil and administrative lawsuits against the government.[112] The department may call for judicial review of government action or legislation and may intervene in any cases involving the greater public interest.[117] The Basic Law protects the Department of Justice from any interference by the government when exercising its control over criminal prosecution.[14][118] Law enforcement is a responsibility of the Security Bureau and the Hong Kong Police, with agencies like the Customs and Excise Department and Immigration Department handling more specialised tasks.

  

Triple-Length Adventure / Magazin (one-shot)

- Boss Of Castro’s Female Army Compound

- 32-Day Ocean Terror of the Escape-by-Raft Renegade

- Four Who Never Came Back

Cover: Charles Copeland

Atlas Magazines, Inc. / USA 1961

Reprint / Comic-Club NK 2010

ex libris MTP

_DSC1527

Puri is a city and a Municipality of Odisha. It is the district headquarters of Puri district, Odisha, eastern India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal, 60 kilometres south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the 12th-century Jagannath Temple located in the city. It is one of the original Char Dham pilgrimage sites for Indian Hindus.

 

Puri was known by several names from the ancient times to the present, and locally called as Badadeula. Puri and the Jagannath Temple were invaded 18 times by Hindu and Muslim rulers, starting from the 4th century to the start of the 19th century with the objective of looting the treasures of the temple. Odisha, including Puri and its temple, were under the British Raj from 1803 till India attained independence in August 1947. Even though princely states do not exist in independent India, the heirs of the Gajapati Dynasty of Khurda still perform the ritual duties of the temple. The temple town has many Hindu religious maths or monasteries.

 

The economy of Puri town is dependent on the religious importance of the Jagannath Temple to the extent of nearly 80%. The festivals which contribute to the economy are the 24 held every year in the temple complex, including 13 major festivals; Ratha Yatra and its related festivals are the most important which are attended by millions of people every year. Sand art and applique art are some of the important crafts of the city. Puri is one of the 12 heritage cities chosen by the Government of India for holistic development.

 

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

GEOGRAPHY

Puri, located on the east coast of India on the Bay of Bengal, is in the center of the district of the same name. It is delimited by the Bay of Bengal on the south east, the Mauza Sipaurubilla on the west, Mauz Gopinathpur in the north and Mauza Balukhand in the east. It is within the 67 kilometres coastal stretch of sandy beaches that extends between Chilika Lake and the south of Puri city. However, the administrative jurisdiction of the Puri Municipality extends over an area of 16.3268 square kilometres spread over 30 wards, which includes a shore line of 5 kilometres.

 

Puri is in the coastal delta of the Mahanadi River on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. In the ancient days it was near to Sisupalgarh (Ashokan Tosali) when the land was drained by a tributary of the River Bhargavi, a branch of the Mahanadi River, which underwent a meandering course creating many arteries altering the estuary, and formed many sand hills. These sand hills could not be "cut through" by the streams. Because of the sand hills, the Bhargavi River flowing to the south of Puri, moved away towards the Chilika Lake. This shift also resulted in the creation of two lagoons known as Sar and Samang on the eastern and northern parts of Puri respectively. Sar lagoon has a length of 8.0 km in an east-west direction and has a width of 3.2 km in north-south direction. The river estuary has a shallow depth of 1.5 m only and the process of siltation is continuing. According to a 15th-century chronicle the stream that flowed at the base of the Blue Mountain or Neelachal was used as the foundation or high plinth of the present temple which was then known as Purushottama, the Supreme Being. A 16th century chronicle attributes filling up of the bed of the river which flowed through the present Grand Road, during the reign of King Narasimha II (1278–1308).

 

CLIMATE

According to the Köppen and Geiger the climate of Puri is classified Aw. The city has moderate and tropical climate. Humidity is fairly high throughout the year. The temperature during summer touches a maximum of 36 °C and during winter it is 17 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1,337 millimetres and the average annual temperature is 26.9 °C.

 

HISTORY

NAMES IN HISTORY

Puri, the holy land of Lord Jaganath, also known popularly as Badadeula in local usage, has many ancient names in the Hindu scriptures such as the Rigveda, Matsya purana, Brahma Purana, Narada Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Kapila samhita and Niladrimahodaya. In the Rigveda, in particular, it is mentioned as a place called Purushamandama-grama meaning the place where the Creator deity of the world – Supreme Divinity deified on altar or mandapa was venerated near the coast and prayers offered with vedic hymns. Over time the name got changed to Purushottama Puri and further shortened to Puri and the Purusha became Jagannatha. Close to this place sages like Bhrigu, Atri and Markandeya had their hermitage. Its name is mentioned, conforming to the deity worshipped, as Srikshetra, Purusottama Dhāma, Purusottama Kshetra, Purusottama Puri and Jagannath Puri. Puri is however, a common usage now. It is also known the geographical features of its siting as Shankhakshetra (layout of the town is in the form of a conch shell.), Neelāchala ("blue mountain" a terminology used to name very large sand lagoon over which the temple was built but this name is not in vogue), Neelāchalakshetra, Neelādri, The word 'Puri' in Sanskrit means "town", or 'city' and is cognate with polis in Greek.

 

Another ancient name is Charita as identified by Cunningham which was later spelled as Che-li-ta-lo by Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang.When the present temple was built by the Ganga king Chodangadev in the 11th and 12th centuries it was called Purushottamkshetra. However, the Moghuls, the Marathas and early British rulers called it Purushottama-chhatar or just Chhatar. In Akbar's Ain-i-Akbari and subsequent Muslim historical records it was known as Purushottama. In the Sanskrit drama authored by Murari Mishra in the 8th century it is referred as Purushottama only. It was only after twelfth century Puri came to be known by the shortened form of Jagannatha Puri, named after the deity or in a short form as Puri. In some records pertaining to the British rule, the word 'Jagannath' was used for Puri. It is the only shrine in India, where Radha, along with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Bhudevi, Sati, Parvati, and Shakti abodes with Krishna, also known as Jagannath.

 

ANCIENT PERIOD

According to the chronicle Madala Panji, in 318 the priests and servitors of the temple spirited away the idols to escape the wrath of the Rashtrakuta King Rakatavahu. The temple's ancient historical records also finds mention in the Brahma Purana and Skanda Purana as having been built by the king Indradyumna of Ujjayani.

 

According to W.J. Wilkinson, in Puri, Buddhism was once a well established practice but later Buddhists were persecuted and Brahmanism became the order of the religious practice in the town; the Buddha deity in now worshipped by the Hindus as Jagannatha. It is also said that some relics of Buddha were placed inside the idol of Jagannath which the Brahmins claimed were the bones of Krishna. Even during Ashoka’s reign in 240 BC Odisha was a Buddhist center and that a tribe known as Lohabahu (barbarians from outside Odisha) converted to Buddhism and built a temple with an idol of Buddha which is now worshipped as Jagannatha. It is also said that Lohabahu deposited some Buddha relics in the precincts of the temple.

 

Construction of the Jagannatha Temple started in 1136 and completed towards the later part of the 12th century. The King of the Ganga dynasty, Anangabhima dedicated his kingdom to the God, then known as the Purushottam-Jagannatha and resolved that from then on he and his descendants would rule under "divine order as Jagannatha's sons and vassals". Even though princely states do not exist in independent India, the heirs of the Gajapati dynasty of Khurda still perform the ritual duties of the temple; the king formally sweeps the road in front of the chariots before the start of the Rathayatra.

 

MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN PERIODS

History of the temple is the history of the town of Puri, which was invaded 18 times during its history to plunder the treasures of the Jagannath Puri temple. The first invasion was in the 8th century by Rastrakuta king Govinda-III (AD 798–814) and the last was in 1881 by the followers of Alekh Religion who did not recognize Jagannath worship. In between, from the 1205 onward there were many invasions of the city and its temple by Muslims of the Afghans and Moghuls descent, known as Yavanas or foreigners; they had mounted attacks to ransack the wealth of the temple rather than for religious reasons. In most of these invasions the idols were taken to safe places by the priests and the servitors of the temple. Destruction of the temple was prevented by timely resistance or surrender by the kings of the region. However, the treasures of the temple were repeatedly looted. Puri is the site of the Govardhana matha, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankaracharya, when he visited Puri in 810 and since then it has become an important dham (divine centre) for the Hindus; the others being those at Sringeri, Dwaraka and Jyotirmath. The matha is headed by Jagatguru Shankarachrya. The significance of the four dhams is that the Lord Vishnu takes his dinner at Puri, has his bath at Rameshwaram, spends the night at Dwarka and does penance at Badrinath.

 

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal who established the Bhakti movements of India in the sixteenth century, now known by the name the Hare Krishna movement, spent many years as a devotee of Jagannatha at Puri; he is said to have merged his "corporal self" with the deity. There is also a matha of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here.

 

In the 17th century for the sailors sailing on the east coast of India, the landmark was the temple located in a plaza in the centre of the town which they called the "White Pagoda" while the Konark Sun Temple, 60 kilometres away to the east of Puri, was known as the "Black Pagoda".

 

The iconographic representation of the images in the Jagannath temple are believed to be the forms derived from the worship made by the tribal groups of Sabaras belonging to northern Odisha. These images are replaced at regular intervals as the wood deteriorates. This replacement is a special event carried out ritulistically by special group of carpenters.

 

The town has many Mathas (Monasteries of the various Hindu sects). Among the important mathas is the Emar Matha founded by the Tamil Vaishnav Saint Ramanujacharya in the 12th century AD. At present this matha is located in front of Simhadvara across the eastern corner of the Jagannath Temple is reported to have been built in the 16th century during the reign of Suryavamsi Gajapati. The matha was in the news recently for the large cache of 522 silver slabs unearthded from a closed room.

 

The British conquered Orissa in 1803 and recognizing the importance of the Jagannatha Temple in the life of the people of the state they initially placed an official to look after the temple's affairs and later declared it a district with the same name.

 

MODERN HISTORY

In 1906, Sri Yukteswar an exponent of Kriya Yoga, a resident of Puri, established an ashram in the sea-side town of Puri, naming it "Kararashram" as a spiritual training center. He died on 9 March 1936 and his body is buried in the garden of the ashram.

 

The city is the site of the former summer residence of British Raj built in 1913–14 during the era of governors, the Raj Bhavan.

 

For the people of Puri Lord Jagannath, visualized as Lord Krishna, is synonymous with their city. They believe that the Jagannatha looks after the welfare of the state. However, after the incident of the partial collapse of the Jagannatha Temple, the Amalaka part of the tower on 14 June 1990 people became apprehensive and thought it was not a good omen for the welfare of the State of Odisha. The replacement of the fallen stone by another of the same size and weight (seven tons) had to be done only in the an early morning hours after the gods had woken up after a good nights sleep which was done on 28 February 1991.

 

Puri has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of the Indian Government. It is one of 12 the heritage cities chosen with "focus on holistic development" to be implemented in 27 months by end of March 2017.

 

Non-Hindus are not permitted to enter the shrines but are allowed to view the temple and the proceedings from the roof of the Raghunandan library within the precincts of the temple for a small donation.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

As of 2001 India census, Puri city, an urban Agglomeration governed by Municipal Corporation in Orissa state, had a population of 157,610 which increased to 200,564 in 2011. Males, 104,086, females, 96,478, children under 6 years of age, 18,471. The sex ratio is 927 females to 1000 males. Puri has an average literacy rate of 88.03 percent (91.38 percent males and 84.43 percent females). Religion-wise data is not reported.

 

ECONOMY

The economy of Puri is dependent on tourism to the extent of about 80%. The temple is the focal point of the entire area of the town and provides major employment to the people of the town. Agricultural production of rice, ghee, vegetables and so forth of the region meets the huge requirements of the temple, with many settlements aroiund the town exclusively catering to the other religious paraphernalia of the temple. The temple administration employs 6,000 men to perform the rituals. The temple also provides economic sustenance to 20,000 people belonging to 36 orders and 97 classes. The kitchen of the temple which is said to be the largest in the world employs 400 cooks.

 

CITY MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Puri Municipality, Puri Konark Development Authority, Public Health Engineering Organisastion, Orissa Water Supply Sewerage Board are some of the principal organizations that are devolved with the responsibility of providing for all the urban needs of civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, waste management, street lighting, and infrastructure of roads. The major activity which puts maximum presuure on these organizations is the annual event of the Ratha Yatra held for 10 days during July when more than a million people attend the grand event. This event involves to a very large extent the development activities such as infrastructure and amenities to the pilgrims, apart from security to the pilgrims.

 

The civic administration of Puri is the responsibility of the Puri Municipality which came into existence in 1864 in the name of Puri Improvement Trust which got converted into Puri Municipality in 1881. After India's independence in 1947, Orissa Municipal Act-1950 was promulgated entrusting the administration of the city to the Puri Municipality. This body is represented by elected representative with a Chairperson and councilors representing the 30 wards within the municipal limits.

 

LANDMARKS

JAGANNATH TEMPLE AT PURI

The Temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the major Hindu temples built in the Kalinga style of architecture, in respect of its plan, front view and structural detailing. It is one of the Pancharatha (Five chariots) type consisting of two anurathas, two konakas and one ratha with well-developed pagas. Vimana or Deula is the sanctum sanctorum where the triad (three) deities are deified on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls), and over which is the temple tower, known as the rekha deula; the latter is built over a rectangular base of the pidha temples as its roof is made up of pidhas that are sequentially arranged horizontal platforms built in descending order forming a pyramidal shape. The mandapa in front of the sanctum sanctorum is known as Jagamohana where devotees assemble to offer worship. The temple tower with a spire rises to a height of 58 m in height and a flag is unfurled above it fixed over a wheel (chakra). Within the temple complex is the Nata Mandir, a large hall where Garuda stamba (pillar). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to stand here and pray. In the interior of the Bhoga Mantap, adjoining the Nata mandir, there is profusion of decorations of sculptures and paintings which narrate the story of Lord Krishna. The temple is built on an elevated platform (of about 39,000 m2 area), 20 ft above the adjoining area. The temple rises to a height of 214 ft above the road level. The temple complex covers an area of 4,3 ha. There is double walled enclosure, rectangular in shape (rising to a height of 20 ft) surrounding the temple complex of which the outer wall is known as Meghanada Prachira, measuring 200 by 192 metres. The inner walled enclosure, known as Kurmabedha. measures 126m x 95m. There are four entry gates (in four cardinal directions to the temple located at the center of the walls in the four directions of the outer circle. These are: the eastern gate called Singhadwara (Lions Gate), the southern gate known as Ashwa Dwara (Horse Gate), the western gate called the Vyaghra Dwara (Tigers Gate) or the Khanja Gate, and the northern gate called the Hathi Dwara or (elephant gate). The four gates symbolize the four fundamental principles of Dharma (right conduct), Jnana (knowledge), Vairagya (renunciation) and Aishwarya (prosperity). The gates are crowned with pyramid shapes structures. There is stone pillar in front of the Singhadwara called the Aruna Stambha {Solar Pillar}, 11 metres in height with 16 faces, made of chlorite stone, at the top of which is mounted an elegant statue of Arun (Sun) in a prayer mode. This pillar was shifted from the Konarak Sun temple. All the gates are decorated with guardian statues in the form of lion, horse mounted men, tigers and elephants in the name and order of the gates. A pillar made of fossilized wood is used for placing lamps as offering. The Lion Gate (Singhadwara) is the main gate to the temple, which guarded by two guardian deities Jaya and Vijaya. The main gates is ascended through 22 steps known as Baisi Pahaca which are revered as it is said to possess "spiritual animation". Children are made to roll down these steps from top to bottom to bring them spiritual happiness. After entering the temple on the left hand side there is huge kitchen where food is prepared in hygienic conditions in huge quantities that it is termed as "the biggest hotel of the world".

 

The legend says that King Indradyumma was directed by Lord Jagannath in a dream to build a temple for him and he built it as directed. However, according to historical records the temple was started some time during the 12th century by King Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. It was however completed by his descendant, Anangabhima Deva, in the 12th century. The wooden images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra were then deified here. The temple was under the control of the Hindu rulers up to 1558. Then, when Orissa was occupied by the Afghan Nawab of Bengal, it was brought under the control of the Afghan General Kalapahad. Following the defeat of the Afghan king by Raja Mansingh, the General of Mughal emperor Akbar, the temple became a part of the Mughal empire till 1751 AD. Subsequently it was under the control of the Marathas till 1803. Then, when British Raj took over Orissa, the Puri Raja was entrusted with its to management until 1947.

 

The triad of images in the temple are of Jagannatha, personifying Lord Krishna, Balabhadra, his older brother, and Subhadra his younger sister, which are made of wood (neem) in an unfinished form. The stumps of wood which form the images of the brothers have human arms and that of Subhadra does not have any arms. The heads are large and un-carved and are painted. The faces are made distinct with the large circular shaped eyes.

 

THE PANCHA TIRTHA OF PURI

Hindus consider it essential to bathe in the Pancha Tirtha or the five sacred bathing spots of Puri, India, to complete a pilgrimage to Puri. The five sacred water bodies are the Indradyumana Tank, the Rohini Kunda, the Markandeya Tank, Swetaganga Tank, and the The Sea also called the Mahodadhi is considered a sacred bathing spot in the Swargadwar area. These tanks have perennial sources of supply in the form of rain water and ground water.

 

GUNDICHA TEMPLE

Known as the Garden House of Jagannath, the Gundicha temple stands in the centre of a beautiful garden, surrounded by compound walls on all sides. It lies at a distance of about 3 kilometres to the north east of the Jagannath Temple. The two temples are located at the two ends of the Bada Danda (Grand Avenue) which is the pathway for the Rath Yatra. According to a legend, Gundicha was the wife of King Indradyumna who originally built the Jagannath temple.

 

The temple is built using light-grey sandstone and architecturally, it exemplifies typical Kalinga temple architecture in the Deula style. The complex comprises four components: vimana (tower structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), nata-mandapa (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings). There is also a kitchen connected by a small passage. The temple is set within a garden, and is known as "God's Summer Garden Retreat" or garden house of Jagannath. The entire complex, including garden, is surrounded by a wall which measures 131 m × 98 m with height of 6.1 m.

 

Except for the 9-day Rath Yatra when triad images are worshipped in Gundicha Temple, the rest of the year it remains unoccupied. Tourists can visit the temple after paying an entry fee. Foreigners (prohibited entry in the main temple) are allowed inside this temple during this period. The temple is under the Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri – the governing body of the main temple. A small band of servitors maintain the temple.

 

SWARGADWAR

Swargadwar is the name given to the cremation ground or burning ghat which is located on the shores of the sea were thousands of dead bodies of Hindus are brought from faraway places to cremate. It is a belief that the Chitanya Mahaparabhu disppaeread from this Swargadwar about 500 years back.

 

BEACH

The beach at Puri known as the "Ballighai beach} is 8 km away at the mouth of Nunai River from the town and is fringed by casurian trees. It has golden yellow sand and has pleasant sunshine. Sunrise and sunset are pleasant scenic attractions here. Waves break in at the beach which is long and wide.

 

DISTRICT MUSEUM

The Puri district museum is located on the station road where the exhibits are of different types of garments worn by Lord Jagannath, local sculptures, patachitra (traditional, cloth-based scroll painting) and ancient Palm-leaf manuscripts and local craft work.

 

RAGHUNANDANA LIBRARY

Raghunandana Library is located in the Emmra matha complex (opposite Simhadwara or Lion gate, the main entrance gate). The Jagannatha Aitihasika Gavesana Samiti (Jagannatha Historical Center) is also located here. The library contains ancient palm leaf manuscripts of Jagannatha, His cult and the history of the city. From the roof of the library one gets a picturesque view of the temple complex.

 

FESTIVALS OF PURI

Puri witnesses 24 festivals every year, of which 13 are major festivals. The most important of these is the Rath Yatra or the Car festival held in the month June–July which is attended by more than 1 million people.

 

RATH YATRA AT PURI

The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel 3 kilometrer to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darśana (Holy view). This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The yatra starts, according to Hindu calendar Asadha Sukla Dwitiya )the second day of bright fortnight of Asadha (June–July) every year.

 

Historically, the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.

 

The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is about 14 m high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. Th chariot is mounted with 16 wheels, each of 2.1 m diameter. The carvings in the front of the chariot has four wooden horses drawn by Maruti. On its other three faces the wooden carvings are Rama, Surya and Vishnu. The chariot is known as Nandi Ghosha. The roof of the chariot is covered with yellow and golden coloured cloth. The next chariot is that of Balabhadra which is 13 m in height fitted with 14 wheels. The chariot is carved with Satyaki as the charioteer. The carvings on this chariot also include images of Narasimha and Rudra as Jagannath's companions. The next chariot in the order is that of Subhadra, which is 13 m in height supported on 12 wheels, roof covered in black and red colour cloth and the chariot is known as Darpa-Dalaan. The charioteer carved is Arjuna. Other images carved on the chariot are that of Vana Durga, Tara Devi and Chandi Devi. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra and Ghosha yatra

 

CHHERA PAHARA

The Chhera Pahara is a significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra. During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee.

 

CHADAN YATRA

In Akshaya Tritiya every year the Chandan Yatra festival marks the commencement of the construction of the Chariots of the Rath Yatra. It also marks the celebration of the Hindu new year.

 

SNANA YATRA

On the Purnima day in the month of Jyestha (June) the triad images of the Jagannath temple are ceremonially bathed and decorated every year on the occasion of Snana Yatra. Water for the bath is taken in 108 pots from the Suna kuan (meaning: "golden well") located near the northern gate of the temple. Water is drawn from this well only once in a year for the sole purpose of this religious bath of the deities. After the bath the triad images are dressed in the fashion of the elephant god, Ganesha. Later during the night the original triad images are taken out in a procession back to the main temple but kept at a place known as Anasara pindi. After this the Jhulana Yatra is when proxy images of the deities are taken out in a grand procession for 21 days, cruised over boats in the Narmada tank.

 

ANAVASARA OR ANASARA

Anasara literally means vacation. Every year, the triad images without the Sudarshan after the holy Snana Yatra are taken to a secret altar named Anavasara Ghar Palso known as "Anasara pindi} where they remain for the next dark fortnight (Krishna paksha). Hence devotees are not allowed to view them. Instead of this devotees go to nearby place Brahmagiri to see their beloved lord in the form of four handed form Alarnath a form of Vishnu. Then people get the first glimpse of lord on the day before Rath Yatra, which is called Navayouvana. It is said that the gods suffer from fever after taking ritual detailed bath and they are treated by the special servants named, Daitapatis for 15 days. Daitapatis perform special niti (rite) known as Netrotchhaba (a rite of painting the eyes of the triad). During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.

 

NAVA KALEVARA

One of the most grandiloquent events associated with the Lord Jagannath, Naba Kalabera takes place when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha, called Adhika Masa (extra month). This can take place in 8, 12 or even 18 years. Literally meaning the "New Body" (Nava = New, Kalevar = Body), the festival is witnessed by as millions of people and the budget for this event exceeds $500,000. The event involves installation of new images in the temple and burial of the old ones in the temple premises at Koili Vaikuntha. The idols that were worshipped in the temple, installed in the year 1996, were replaced by specially made new images made of neem wood during Nabakalebara 2015 ceremony held during July 2015. More than 3 million devotees were expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalebara 2015 held in July.

 

SUNA BESHA

Suna Bhesha also known as Raja or Rajadhiraja bhesha or Raja Bhesha, is an event when the triad images of the Jagannath Temple are adorned with gold jewelry. This event is observed 5 times during a year. It is commonly observed on Magha Purnima (January), Bahuda Ekadashi also known as Asadha Ekadashi (July), Dashahara (Vijyadashami) (October), Karthik Purnima (November), and Pousa Purnima (December). While one such Suna Bhesha event is observed on Bahuda Ekadashi during the Rath Yatra on the chariots placed at the lion's gate or the Singhdwar; the other four Bheshas' are observed inside the temple on the Ratna Singhasana (gem studded altar). On this occasion gold plates are decorated over the hands and feet of Jagannath and Balabhadra; Jagannath is also adorned with a Chakra (disc) made of gold on the right hand while a silver conch adorns the left hand. However, Balabhadra is decorated with a plough made of gold on the left hand while a golden mace adorns his right hand.

 

NILADRI BIJE

Celebrated on Asadha Trayodashi. It marks the end of the 12 days Ratha yatra. The large wooden images of the triad of gods are moved from the chariots and then carried to the sanctum sanctorum, swaying rhythmically, a ritual which is known as pahandi.

 

SAHI YATRA

Considered the world's biggest open-air theatre, the Sahi yatra is an 11 day long traditional cultural theatre festival or folk drama which begins on Ram Navami and ending in Rama avishke (Sanskrit:anointing) every year. The festival includes plays depicting various scenes from the Ramayan. The residents of various localities or Sahis are entrusted the task of performing the drama at the street corners.

  

TRANSPORT

Earlier when roads did not exist people walked or travelled by animal drawn vehicles or carriages along beaten tracks. Up to Calcutta travel was by riverine craft along the Ganges and then by foot or carriages to Puri. It was only during the Maratha rule that the popular Jagannath Sadak (Road) was built around 1790. The East India Company laid the rail track from Calcutta to Puri which became operational in 1898. Puri is now well connected by rail, road and air services. A broad gauge railway line of the South Eastern Railways connects with Puri and Khurda is an important Railway junction. By rail it is about 499 kilometres away from Calcutta and 468 kilometres from Vishakhapatnam. Road network includes NH 203 that links the town with Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha which is about 60 kilometres away. NH 203 B connects the town with Satapada via Brahmagiri. Marine drive which is part of NH 203 A connects Puri with Konark. The nearest airport is at Bhubaneswar, about 60 kilometres away from Puri. Puri railway station is among the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railways.

 

ARTS AND CRAFTS

SAND ART

Sand art is a special art form that is created on the beaches of the sea coast of Puri. The art form is attributed to Balaram Das, a poet who lived in the 14th century. He started crafting the sand art forms of the triad deities of the Jagannath Temple at the Puri beach. Now sculptures in sand of various gods and famous people are created by amateur artists which are temporal in nature as they get washed away by waves. This is an art form which has gained international fame in recent years. One of the well known sand artist is Sudarshan Patnaik. He has established the Golden Sand Art Institute in 1995 at the beach to provide training to students interested in this art form.

 

APPLIQUE ART

Applique art work, which is a stitching based craft, unlike embroidery, which was pioneered by the Hatta Maharana of Pipili is widely used in Puri, both for decoration of the deities but also for sale. His family members are employed as darjis or tailors or sebaks by the Maharaja of Puri who prepare articles for decorating the deities in the temple for various festivals and religious ceremonies. These applique works are brightly coloured and patterned fabric in the form of canopies, umbrellas, drapery, carry bags, flags, coberings of dummy horses and cows, and other household textiles which are marketed in Puri. The cloth used are in dark colours of red, black, yellow, green, blue and turquoise blue.

 

CULTURE

Cultural activities, apart from religiuos festivals, held annually are: The Puri Beach Festival held between 5 and 9 November and the Shreeksherta Utsav held from 20 December to 2 January where cultural programmes include unique sand art, display of local and traditional handicrafts and food festival. In addition cultural programmes are held every Saturday for two hours on in second Saturday of the moth at the district Collector's Conference Hall near Sea Beach Polic Station. Apart from Odissi dance, Odiya music, folk dances, and cultural programmes are part of this event. Odishi dance is the cultural heritage of Puri. This dance form originated in Puri in the dances performed Devadasis (Maharis) attached to the Jagannath temple who performed dances in the Natamantapa of the temple to please the deities. Though the devadadsi practice has been discontinued, the dance form has become modern and classical and is widely popular, and many of the Odishi virtuoso artists and gurus (teachers) are from Puri.

 

EDUCATION

SOME OF THE EDUCATIONNAL INSTITUTIONS IN PURI

- Ghanashyama Hemalata Institute of Technology and Management

- Gangadhar Mohapatra Law College, established in 1981[84]

- Extension Unit of Regional Research Institute of Homoeopathy; Puri under Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), New Delhi established in March 2006

- Sri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, established in July 1981

- The Industrial Training Institute, a Premier Technical Institution to provide education in skilled, committed & talented technicians, established in 1966 of the Government of India

 

PURI PEOPLE

Gopabandhu Das

Acharya Harihar

Nilakantha Das

Kelucharan Mohapatra

Pankaj Charan Das

Manasi Pradhan

Raghunath Mohapatra

Sudarshan Patnaik

Biswanath Sahinayak

Rituraj Mohanty

 

WIKIPEDIA

Length 4 to 5 mm. This is a small bright red beetle with elytra that are shorter than the body and with black on the head and thorax. Common in the South of the UK