Eye of the Wind sails

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 8

Eye of the Wind sails

NZPA-Reuter London With Prince Charles, heir to the British Throne, at the helm, a 150-tonne sailing ship has put to sea to work up for a voyage round the world that will trace the route taken 400 years ago by Sir Francis Drake. Drake’s circumnavigation ended with his return to Plymouth in 1580 with enough gold and jewels — looted from the Spaniards — to finance Elizabethan England for one year. But the commemorative voyage by the two-masted brigantine Eye of the Wind

has the more peaceful goals of exploration and community work, to be performed by some 200 young volunteers who on different legs of the trip will form the Prince Charles, a Royal Navy commander, told the 24-strong first-leg crew that modern society was too worried about possible mishaps befalling young people. So they were often denied a chance to prove themselves and leam the discipline which was “the hallmark of a civilised human being.” After Prince Charles

leaves the ship today, Eye of the Wind will have two weeks of sea trials. Projects awaiting the voyagers include hunting a sunken treasure ship in the Caribbean, digging for a lost city in Central America, and excavations in Sudan. Chosen from among 38,000 applicants, the international crew will include Gurkha soldiers from Nepal, a British policewoman, and an Icelandic journalist. The veteran British explorer. Major John Blash-ford-Snell directs “Operation Drake.”