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• Tall Ship Sagres

Tall Ship Sagres

by Capt. Kieran O'Higgins

A visit from the Tall Ships has now become a major event for any port and country that hosts it. In the past the Tall Ships have visited Dublin and Waterford and the public interest has been enormous. The recent Volvo Ocean race stopover in Galway also demonstrated that where maritime issues are concerned, the general public will turn out in huge numbers.

This year, the ships sailed from Halifax in Nova Scotia to Belfast where they were the centre piece of a maritime festival from 13-16 August.

I was there on the evening of Friday 14 August. The crowds on the quays were huge and it was almost impossible to pass down by the ships and look at them, never mind get on board for a look around.

However, I had a special invitation. The Portuguese sail training vessel Sagres was in port and I had received an invitation from the Portuguese Consul to attend a reception on board. No doubt this was due to the fact that I knew the Commander of the Sagres, Luis Mendes, very well as we had both attended the Aids to Navigation Management Committee of IALA for many years.

I was greeted by Luis and despite his very busy diplomatic and public relations duties, he gave me a quick tour of the vessel and the beautifully appointed public rooms. On behalf of Irish Lights, I took the opportunity to present Luis with a copy of our book For the Safety of All to mark his and his ship's first visit to Ireland.

The Sagres has an interesting history. Built in Hamburg in 1937 as a sail training vessel for the German Navy and named Albert Leo Schlageter, she made a few voyages to the Caribbean before the outbreak of war. Once war was declared, she remained alongside until 1944. At this time she ventured out into the Baltic, hit a mine and was badly damaged.

She was requisitioned by the Americans who sold her to the Brazilian Navy in 1948 for a nominal price of $5,000 as a war reparation to Brazil. She was towed to Rio de Janeiro and commissioned as the Guanabara training vessel. When the Brazilians decided she was surplus to requirements in 1960, she was purchased by the Portuguese and renamed the Sagres.

Since 1962 she has sailed the world, training cadets for the Portuguese and other navies and acting as a wonderful itinerant ambassador for Portugal.

Sagres