Gil Eannes (ship, 1955)
.jpg) The Gil Eannes as a museum ship in Viana do Castelo
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The Gil Eannes is a hospital ship built in 1955 , which was used to support the Portuguese cod fishermen in the North Atlantic until 1973 and has been a museum ship in Viana do Castelo since 1998 .
Construction and technical data
The first Portuguese hospital ship with the name Gil Eannes was the former German cargo ship Lahneck , which Portugal had confiscated on the side of the Allies in 1916 after the entry into the war and converted in 1927 for the new task. As a replacement for the now obsolete ship, the Grémio dos Armadores de Navios da Pesca do Bacalhau ("Association of Cod Fishermen ") commissioned the Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo shipyard in Viana do Castelo with a new building in 1954 .
For the shipyard, which was only founded in 1944, the new building was one of the first larger ships after several trawlers . She constructed it especially as a supply and hospital ship for the “white fleet” of the cod fishermen, the Frota Branca , which was laid down under hull number 15 . When it was launched on March 20, 1955, it was named after its predecessor, Gil Eannes, after the 15th century Portuguese navigator and explorer Gil Eanes .
Its length is 98.45 meters, it is 13.72 meters wide, has a draft of 5.49 meters and is measured at 3467 GRT or 1805 NRT with a deadweight of 2274 tons. The hull was reinforced with ice for the trips in the North Atlantic. The drive consisted of two diesel engines from Fairbanks, Morse and Company of Beloit (Wisconsin) , which each achieved 1400 horsepower and acted on two screws . With that she reached a top speed of 12.5 knots . As a hospital ship, the crew included 72 officers and men. There was also space for up to 6 passengers and 74 patients.
The Gil Eannes was already planned as a hospital ship and was equipped like a small hospital with wards, treatment room, radiology, two operating theaters, a chapel and leisure rooms. Three doctors and nurses traveled on board, but also a priest, who also gave their services to fishermen from other nations. At the same time, the ship served not only medical but also material supplies for the fishermen and had cold rooms for food as well as storage rooms for equipment and fuel.
history
Shortly after commissioning on May 3, 1955, the maiden voyage of the Gil Eannes in the North Atlantic led to the Newfoundland Bank to support the Portuguese fishing fleet. The most important event of the "White Fleet" at that time was the arrival of Gil Eannes in May 1955 with a statue of the Madonna of Fátima . It was a gift from the Portuguese fishermen to the people of St. John's , who were always friendly and helpful. For this event, the entire Portuguese fishing fleet ran into the port with the new Gil Eannes and around 4,000 fishermen brought the statue in procession to the Basilica of St. John's.
Like its predecessor, the new hospital ship accompanied the fishing fleet on their fishing trips. On a typical voyage, the fishing season started in April / May of one year when they brought a load of salt to Newfoundland. On site she looked after the Portuguese fishermen medically and with supplies. It delivered mail, fresh food, fuel and other supplies, but was also used as a tugboat , icebreaker and rescue ship: if a dory was trapped in the ice by one of the cod catchers , the Gil Eannes created a navigable channel for the return journey.
The ship made the last voyage to Newfoundland in 1973 - at that time, the Portuguese fishery on the Newfoundland Bank ended because overfishing had led to conflict with Canada . In the following years , the Gil Eannes served as a cargo ship for the transport of dried cod from Norway to Lisbon. In 1975, after a time as a trailer in the port of Lisbon, the Portuguese government ordered the ship as a floating hospital to Angola and brought refugees from Angola to Portugal. Then it went again as a freighter to Norway, Canada, South Africa and Spain. In 1984 the ship was finally launched in Lisbon and sold for scrapping in 1997.
With the news of the imminent scrapping, the city of Viana do Castelo tried to get the ship as they wanted to remember the city's maritime past. With the support of the community, institutions, companies and citizens, the “Gil Eannes Commission” or the later “Gil Eannes Foundation” restored the ship and made it accessible in 1998 as a museum ship.
literature
- Jean-Piere Andrieux: The White Fleet. A history of Portuguese handliners , Flanker Press, St. John's 2013, ISBN 978-1-77117-236-3 .
- Commercial Fisheries Review, Volume 18, United States Department of the Interior, Washington DC 1956, pp. 59–60 ( limited preview in Google Book Search )
Web links
- Gil Eannes Foundation website (Portuguese), accessed October 21, 2019
- Carlos Rodríguez: The Portuguese hospital ship "Gil Eannes" at tecnologia-maritima.blogspot.com (Portuguese), accessed on October 21, 2019
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrieux, p. 30f.
- ↑ Ship characteristics on the website of the Gil Eannes Foundation
- ^ A b c Carlos Rodríguez: The Portuguese hospital ship “Gil Eannes” at tecnologia-maritima.blogspot.com
- ↑ Commercial Fisheries Review, Volume 18, United States Department of the Interior, Washington DC 1956, pp. 59–60 ( limited preview in Google Book Search )
- ↑ Andrieux, p. X, p. 33
- ^ History of the ship on the website of the Gil Eannes Foundation