S/V Atlantis

[Grey Roger]

There's a pretty good chance that during Summer I'm going to spend a week aboard the Atlantis.

Not @Pieter Boelen's new boat, though that was indirectly responsible. After reading about the planned name change, for a bit of amusement I did a Google Image search for anything else called Atlantis, and among others, found this:

A bit of following up shows that this Atlantis belongs to the Tallship Company, which owns several sailing ships and uses them for passenger cruises.

In particular, this (only available in German):
Whisky Segelreisen - Tallship Company

It's a cruise aboard a German sailing ship round Scottish islands. I'm interested in sailing ships. I live in Scotland. And I have German relatives. This voyage ticks so many boxes that about the only thing missing is an invitation with my name on it, but I'm not making that a requirement. So with any luck, I won't be active on this forum in late May...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That sounds just bloody awesome, @Grey Roger!

Plus... further proof that "Atlantis" is a perfectly valid name for a sailboat.

 

[Homo eructus]

Nice! Enjoy the trip!

That ship reminds me somewhat of the Thalassa, a Dutch tall ship on which I spent a few days sailing from England to Spain in 2005 (the same regatta in which the Pride of Baltimore was dismasted, it was a pretty rough night, although I slept for most of it)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That ship reminds me somewhat of the Thalassa, a Dutch tall ship on which I spent a few days sailing from England to Spain in 2005 (the same regatta in which the Pride of Baltimore was dismasted, it was a pretty rough night, although I slept for most of it)

I still want to do something like that one day! Sounds bloody brilliant.

 

[Grey Roger]

Nice! Enjoy the trip!

That ship reminds me somewhat of the Thalassa, a Dutch tall ship on which I spent a few days sailing from England to Spain in 2005

Funny you should say that. Look what we found in Port Ellen:


More photos and a full report to follow...

 

[Grey Roger]

So, the fun started on Saturday 20th May. Passengers made their way to Oban, where the Atlantis was moored, by various means. I went by train via Glasgow and so did quite a few others, judging by the number of German-speakers in the same coach, several with obvious indications of intent such as booklets from the company or shirts commemorating previous similar cruises. This was some of them after arrival on board:


And this was Atlantis:


We weren't the only sailing ship in port:


Later we spotted the Flying Dutchman, but we weren't too worried. For one thing, she had already apparently taken a prize; for another, she wasn't as big as Atlantis.

After we'd dumped our luggage, some of us went for a wander round Oban. Here's a panorama of most of the town:


We had to go for a walk because we'd arrived a bit early and the crew were still sorting out our cabins. After we returned, I finally got to see where I'd be spending the next few nights:


And then we were formally introduced to the crew:


We weren't scheduled to leave Oban until the following day, so this is what the place looks like at night:


By the way, I wasn't joking about the Flying Dutchman. She's rather less impressive in real life than in the game or film:

(That black ship in front of her is the Lady of Avenel, the ship seen earlier in another part of port.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That's quite a sizeable ship, that is! Great interior too.

And talking about "Atlantis", behold this picture I took yesterday:

Yes, my dear boat no longer sports her old name and is not nameless anymore either.
"S/Y Atlantis" it is!

 

[Grey Roger]

Just as well yours is registered at Lelystad to avoid any confusion. Ours is from Amsterdam:


So, on the morning of 21st May, we set off:


When we got the chance, we set sails:

The woman is one of the crew. The man is not. We got to join in! I can't take photos and pull a rope at the same time, and everyone wanted a go, so I couldn't ask someone else to photograph me because if I did, while I was doing so, someone else would probably have taken the rope I was about to pull. But I was partly responsible for this one:


A ferry passed us. They don't get to see sailing ships all that often, so they were rather interested:


Although the main purpose of the cruise was to visit whisky distilleries, they were all closed, this being a Sunday. So we visited Duart Castle instead:

See that dinghy speeding away from the ship? That's how we got ashore.

During the English Civil War, which wasn't limited to England, Duart Castle was on the side of the Royalists. So after Cromwell had won, he sent a small fleet to attack the castle. Three ships were sunk in a storm, and one of them was soon found - in fact, judging by a map, we must have been moored pretty close to it. There was a poster display and also this painting:

(Bearing in mind that this is in the context of the English Civil War, what is wrong with this picture? )

Somewhat earlier, after the Spanish Armada had been defeated and was trying to sail round the British Isles to return to Spain, one of its galleons ended up in Tobermory. I'm not sure if this model, which was on display, looked anything like the Tobermory galleon, but it certainly looks like our Fast War Galleon, so I may try to do another retexture...


As a souvenir, I picked up a deerstalker hat, which led to the other passengers calling me "Sherlock Holmes". Not just the passengers, either - when we were all back aboard, one of the crew went through the register to make sure we really were all back aboard, and pointed out to me that there was no Mr. Holmes on the register.

In the evening, we got down to the real business of the cruise - whisky! We had a Dutch whisky expert who gave us a bit of a lecture about the stuff, as well as instructing us on the full ritual of tasting, and then we got to practice on these:


Incidentally, the ship has a small library - well, actually a bookshelf in the bar. One of the books is all about a Windjammer Parade in the 1970's. And one of the ships present was the Black Pearl. Forget any fictional ship you may have heard under that name, this is the real one:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Sounds like you had a positively glorious time!!!

Bearing in mind that this is in the context of the English Civil War, what is wrong with this picture?

Big damn Dutch flag on that middle ship?

As a souvenir, I picked up a deerstalker hat, which led to the other passengers calling me "Sherlock Holmes". Not just the passengers, either - when we were all back aboard, one of the crew went through the register to make sure we really were all back aboard, and pointed out to me that there was no Mr. Holmes on the register.

 

[Grey Roger]

I forgot to mention a little story which I read on one of the boards in Duart Castle. Lachlan Cattanach, 11th chief, was married to Elizabeth, sister of Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll. The marriage didn't go well and there were no children, so in 1519 Lachlan decided to end the marriage by dumping Elizabeth on a small rock which is covered by the sea when the tide is in. Fortunately for Elizabeth, some passing fishermen heard her, rescued her, and took her to her brother, who was none too pleased. Meanwhile Lachlan, not knowing this, now wrote to Colin, offering his condolences and suggesting the body be brought to Inveraray to be buried among her kin. The Earl of Argyll played along. And so, when Lachlan arrived to deliver the coffin, he was shown into the hall where the family were dining - among them Elizabeth, sitting next to her brother. She presumably forgave Lachlan and asked for his life to be spared because he got away with it. But the Campbells hadn't forgotten, and Lachlan was murdered in his bed in 1527 during a visit to Edinburgh.

The rock where Elizabeth was supposed to drown is now known as Lady's Rock. The tide, and for that matter the weather, didn't allow us to see it while we were at Duart Castle.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Holy crap, that's quite some story!

 

[Grey Roger]

The first distillery we visited was supposed to be on Jura, but there was a snag. The wind was being particularly unco-operative, and unlike in PoTC where you can moor at any port or beach which happens to be convenient to your next objective, we had to pick somewhere where, in the event of the anchor coming loose, we wouldn't spend the rest of the night aground. That somewhere put us out of reach of Jura. So this was what our mooring place looked like in the morning:


Ever noticed a message in "system.log" about "Bad rope"? This is when a rope has been defined at one end but not at the other. And this is what "Bad rope" looks like in reality:


Defining the other end involves a bit more work than editing a file:


And so, to business. With Jura out, the first distillery we visited was Bunnahabhain, on Islay, and although it has a pier, the water at the pier was too shallow for the keel of Atlantis. That meant we got to ride in the dinghy again. We were welcomed by the tour guide, paid for the full tour, and went in...


Incidentally, it seems someone else wasn't as careful on the way in as we were.

 

[Grey Roger]

How whisky is made:
First you get some malted barley - that's barley which has been moistened, allowed to start to germinate, then dried out. Very few distilleries do this themselves; there are a few places which do it in bulk - more about that later. The malt goes into a mill and is ground down into grist:


This is mixed with water in the mash tun:


And then it's brewed for a while in a washback, which looks like a huge wooden barrel:


At this point it's about the strength and consistency of a modest beer. So it goes into a still, where it gets distilled, after which it's about the strength of wine; then it goes into a second still, after which it's serious spirit:


The spirit's strength is checked in the spirit safe:


The spirit is clear, tastes basically burny and a bit sweet, and you can call it neat spirit, rotgut, or pretty well anything else you like, but you're not allowed to call it whisky until it's been in an oak cask for at least three years and one day, and usually a lot longer:

 

[Grey Roger]

So now we'd seen how whisky was made, we got the chance to try some:


Then it was back to the ship:


We passed a couple more distilleries on the way, including this one, which we didn't visit - yet:


And then we arrived in Port Ellen, where we would spend the night:


In the bar of Atlantis is a clock which always gives the right time.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Goodness gracious me, that's some epic hilarity again!
You've got a gift for writing entertaining stories, you do.

And I like the specificness of "three years and one day".

 

[Grey Roger]

"Three years and one day" isn't my idea. That really is the official specification.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

"Three years and one day" isn't my idea. That really is the official specification.

That only makes it MORE hilarious.

 

[ANSEL]

@Grey Roger Thank you for telling us the story and as @Pieter Boelen says you got a gift for
telling stories.

 

[Grey Roger]

Tuesday, 23rd May. Remember how I said distilleries don't tend to make their own malt, they get it from somewhere else which produces the stuff in massive quantities? Port Ellen is such a place. But although Port Ellen has no distilleries of its own, there are three of them up the road. Literally. It's called the "Three Distilleries Path" and signposted as such. And so some of us went for a little walk:


The local wildlife was keeping an eye on us. Crows in this part of Scotland aren't your usual Mk. 1 basic black crow; they're grey, with black head and wings:


This was the old Excise House. I've no idea if anyone named Shaypen ever lived here, but judging by washing in the back garden, someone is certainly living in it now, it's not a museum, so we didn't call in:


We were still being watched:


And then we arrived at the first distillery, Laphroaig. There's a place for washing your boots. The significance of this would become clear later...


Inside was a poster display room showing the history of the distillery. The US was (and is) a big export destination for whisky, so the Prohibition hit a lot of distilleries hard. Laphroaig pulled of a neat trick; they managed to get their stuff classed as medicinal and it was the only whisky legally available in the US at that time. The poster room also served as a lounge, with the inevitable tasting:


They've got a nice scheme going now. You sign up on a touch-screen computer as a Friend of Laphroaig, the only cost being your name, age and e-mail address, which means you're probably going to get spammed, but any half-decent spam filter will deal with that if you aren't quite as friendly as they'd hoped. In return, you get a certificate printed while you wait, which entitles you to 1 square foot of land. There are GPS co-ordinates for your plot, for those who have the reading of them, though GPS isn't that precise which means your square foot is likely to have the same co-ordinates as those of the next Friend. And you're entitled to claim your "rent" - a dram of whisky. I signed up for a laugh, and so did one of the other passengers:


The meaning of the welly-washing station now became clear. You also get to pick a little paper flag, then you can go out into a field, try to guess which bit of the field is yours, and put the flag on it. Judging by several groups of flags on the way, some people either couldn't be bothered to walk that far or didn't want to chance it if there had been rain recently and the field had turned muddy. In case of that, you could borrow a pair of wellington boots, and presumably clean them when you got back. The weather hadn't been that bad recently and anyway I had decent hiking boots, so I didn't bother with theirs, but both I and the other guy duly set off to make our mark in this field:


That cairn on the left of the field commemorates the fact that Prince Charles, in his role of Lord of the Isles, visited the place in 2015, when the distillery celebrated its 200th anniversary. The distillery is proud of its royal connection and gets to put "By Royal Appointment" on all its bottles.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

And then we arrived at the first distillery, Laphroaig.

On behalf of my father:


That's his favourite whiskey!