Wednesday 8th December

Norma and Phil Heaton

Cruising in Indonesia 

Norma and Phil Heaton retired early and in 2009 embarked on a seven years circumnavigation in ‘Minnie B’, an OVNI 395: an aluminium, semi-custom sloop with a lifting keel and folding rudder. In 2014 they spent three months cruising in Indonesia from Timor and Alor in the south-east via Lombok, Bali and Kalimantan to Belitung and the Riau Islands, and on to Malaysia.  They returned the following year to sail south to Java and on to Cocos Keeling via Krakatoa.  In 2018, they sailed from the Caribbean back to Europe and their boat is currently in the Mediterranean having completed nearly 70,000 miles.  Their talk will cover weather, anchorages, culture, people, provisioning, landscapes and hazards....

Wednesday 1st December

Ayse Atuaz Phaneuf

Mayflower Autonomous Ship 

With no human captain or onboard crew, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) uses Artificial Intelligence and energy from the sun to travel further and reveal more about the ocean. ProMare is a Marine Research and Exploration non-profit company based in Connecticut, USA.  They will tell us about some of the innovative projects undertaken since their foundation in 2001.  Their latest project, is named Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400), and is supported by IBM as the lead technology and science partner. MAS400 is designed to travel the oceans collecting data about the state of our oceans.  Learn how the ship was conceived, designed, built, tested, and managed.  In part two, ProMare will tell us about some of their Global Exploration and Marine Archaeology projects, including shipwreck excavations.

Wednesday 24th November

Jane Bowden-Dan

Resurrecting Dr John Snipe

Nelson reboarded his flagship Victory (100) on 14th September 1805 at Portsmouth and sailed to retake command of the British Mediterranean Fleet blockading Cadiz, prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.  But before leaving his home at Merton on 13th September, he wrote to the Admiralty to commend the services of Dr John Snipe, Physician to the Fleet, who had died following an illness contracted whilst visiting Messina, Sicily, in order to negotiate the supply of lemon juice for the Navy.

A study of the ‘Nelson Papers’, found deposited at Merton after the Admiral’s death, which comprise official reports to him by officers on the administration of the Fleet during the periods 1796-8 and 1803-5; confirm that Snipe was a popular and conscientious physician.  He also enjoyed Nelson’s confidence, and contributed to the Mediterranean Fleet’s success.