Its the four masted steel barque 'Dundonald', 2205 tons,. Owners T Dixon and Sons, registered Belfast. c.1900. Wrecked March 7, 1907. Disappointment Island, off the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand.Eleven lives lost. Speaking of the SS GB
because i've got nothing better to do, i couldn't help investigating the date correction in darker ink on the pic above. I counted 5 sources that claimed the "24th" of September 1860. Would love to know who added the correction, and why/how they knew it was "wrong". (not saying either are correct)
Nope - it never floated beneath the completed suspension bridge. Only went under it on its way 'home' on a raft...
"Disappointment Island".....as descriptive names go, that's up there with the great's, IMHO Initial thoughts were that it was discovered by Roy Walker, but apparently named by British mariner Abraham Bristow who was the first European to reach the Auckland Islands. Whilst aboard the ship Sarah in 1807, he unsuccessfully surveyed the island for fur seals and a base to reach the nearby fur seal rookeries on the western cliffs of Auckland Island. Everyday's a school day!.
My old man took me to see it return, I remember going and that’s about it. Fairly sure he took some 8 mm footage that’s possibly in my brothers possession.
Obviously that’s nonsense, but my brother, who is a senior psych nurse, recently told me about something known as trans-generational epigenetic inheritance, which is where acquired traits can sometimes be passed down from parents without any changes to the offspring’s genetic information. We were discussing the strange case of my working cocker spaniel, who, despite never having been trained as a gun dog, and at the age of almost 6, suddenly switched into “work mode” when he saw me shooting my air rifle for the first time (I’d previously always kept him shut away in the house for safety reasons). He automatically knew (more or less) what to do by enthusiastically searching for dropped targets and in fact he doesn’t just know what to do, he gets really insistent and pissed off with me if I won’t let him join in.
Fascinating subject Epigenetics, almost the cutting edge of the nature/nurture debate. The guy to read/listen to is Robert Sapolsky. His Stanford University lectures are available on YouTube. Ps: His lectures are considered the best in the Uni by the students. (wow!)
Thanks for that. I have a 2.5 hr drive ahead of me this afternoon so a couple of those might be just the thing to help pass the time.
And now for something completely different... I noticed this picture on the cover of a French mag recently - upside down the new Ducati looks like this....... But right way up it looks like this ...... How bizarre !
Yes, something like that, not unpleasant. Must delete it from my phone 'cause I keep catching a glimpse of it when scrolling through pictures Photographer must have been aware of how it would look upside down, as it has ben lined up perfectly to bring out that result. Strange thing to see !
