egbert Posted 1 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2016 The Brits in pursuit are freezing as well. Crews are trading their daily rum ration to avoid the next look-out duty in the crow's nest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 1 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2016 A side fjord that needs to be searched. What will bring the next bending, What will be expected behind this rock nose? Tension grows and you can hear the heartbeats of your crew member. It must be here - somewhere- close. Only the faint noise of the own steam engine can be heard, Other than that - total silence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 1 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2016 This is the second attempt in 14 days to find the Dresden's lair. We know it is somewhere between Cockburn Channel and possibly Barbara Channel. Last week we attempted our approach from Magellan Strait into Barbara C. But some 10km before we reached Barbara C. the night fell with all its pitchblack power down here. This time our approach starts in Magellan Strait with the attempt to reach Cockburn before nightfall. Dead ahead you see the wide entrance into Cockburn that narrows down shortly after entering the fjord. It is all jinxed, as if the Dresden does not allow us to find her lair. We are cursed a second time and cannot do it in time before the twilight swallows all contours. Later in the night a British countryman told me that he swears he even could smell the smoke from the anchored Dresden, but I did not pay too much attention as he ordered his 4th gintonic..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 1 April , 2016 Share Posted 1 April , 2016 Today we are finally back on the search for the Dresden. Back in the Magellan Straits. Had two meetings with our Chilean pilots who surprisingly had a lot of historical knowledge about the cruiser hiding here. But they do tell some tall ones sometimes! Ask them about traversing the Angoustora Kirke - Kirke Narrows, though, that will be a tale to catch you All the following pictures that will come the next two days will be actual pictures from the 1915 route and places the Dresden sailed and anchored here at the end of the world. ... How much more difficult was it 1915 Indeed! And think what it was like for Magellan and others in sail ships going through there! Those cross-winds and down bursts - even in 'summer'... Once steam-powered ships came to the fore the Magellan and Beagle Channels were basically abandoned as a major route of passage west-east... I hope the following set of images will not become too boring as they seem to look all the same. They are fantastic imagery - really great, so thanks Egbert! Happy memories, although I was never that way this late(!) in the southern year, but I can assure you, some of your photographs would look the same if taken in December! Hope you are enjoying king crab, bife de lomo and a sufficient supply of pisco sours! Now I AM beginning to feel envious!!! Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 1 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2016 Julian, thanks for the comments. Any additional comments on posts# 20 and 21? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 2 April , 2016 Share Posted 2 April , 2016 Julian, thanks for the comments. Any additional comments on posts# 20 and 21? Yes, the two at the pier I certainly remember - I thought they were MTB's but evidently not. The one on land may have still been tied up when I was last there in 1995 but clearly not now. Funny thing was that after I enquired at the Foreign and Commonwealth office in 1984 seeking help on how to get an Argentine Visa - it had to be done through Paris at the time - I had this phone call asking me where I would be visiting and the caller got quite interested when I said I was going to Ushuaia... Would I like to communicate any observations on military things there on my return? If so call this number... I never did as I didn't think they would be that interested in these three rather sad looking things... Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 2 April , 2016 Thanks Julian, the search has been called off at presently 120km/h storm with 30 ft waves (three-zero) All hands needed for safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 2 April , 2016 Share Posted 2 April , 2016 Egbert, that sounds about normal from what I was told for April - and it can be as bad in January. We used to pop out in the so-called 'Pacific' in early morning at sunrise, when the seas were a tad calmer... Now, you be careful! My old USA travel company was once threatened with a law suit by somebody getting a sprained ankle after going out on deck in such weather on the grounds that the signs on the doors said only that 'Passengers must take care on deck in bad weather'... Her claim? We should have locked them as we were aware of the danger. - but case dismissed.. Then next, think of those poor mariners down there on a warship in WW1 with its nice all-steel decks to walk along... Oh, and if you are on the bridge, enjoy watching how the deck flexes in those waves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 2 April , 2016 Thanks Julian, I am afraid the storm was sent by the Dresden as she does not allow any visits in her lair. Adverse weatjer seemed to help her a lot. This storm came as fierce and sudden as a storm can do here out of the blue again. So lets go back to the 4th of January 1915: Promptly at 8 P.M. Sierra Cordoba weighed anchor, her boiler pressure at its highest and her smoke stack shrouded in wire gauze to avoid betrayal by sparks. For the first ten miles of her course, being still in Martinez Sound, her presence was concealed from the cruisers as here the mountains interposed their bulk. The critical moments would come when she swung into Keats Sound, which is commanded from Sholl Bay; but here the elements came to the aid of the would-be unobtrusive steamer. The furious storm continued, the night was as black as pitch and, except for occasional breaks, no objects could be discerned even a hundred yards off. After carefully nosing her way out of Martinez, Sierra Cordoba swung round into Keats Channel and, hugging the precipitous Goodwin side, which furnished a very effective background, raced along at full speed on a bearing. The hurtling, sleety smother of darkness held; they were now close to the cruisers, but in this weather the keenest look-out was futile. The cruisers were passed in safety; but now, all but blindly, Sierra Cordoba had to thread her way in the darkness through the savage labyrinth of rocks and little islands that led to Cockburn and thence to Adelaide Passage. Pagels remembers that Captain Schaeffer was nearly frantic with nervous foreboding during this unorthodox paseo, but realised that risks had to be taken. It was all for the Vaterland. The entrance to Christmas Bay (Gonzalez Channel) might well have spelt disaster to them in spite of their earlier good fortune, even when they reached it in the morning's watery light. This passage is a snaky S-shaped narrow, at most a hundred yards wide, banked by lowering, lofty cliffs, a most hazardous pass for any bark of greater tonnage than a canoe. But fortune was again 'mitt uns': Sierra Cordoba braved it on a strong outflowing tide, a roaring current, and this gave the ship, with her twin screws and powerful engines, good steerage-way. The last danger-point was successfully negotiated and soon Sierra Cordoba, to the delirious hochs of both crews, dropped anchor four hundred yards from Dresden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 2 April , 2016 Sierra Cordoba sailed less than 100km to reach her customer in Gonzales C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 2 April , 2016 Ready for replenishment. Source: httpswww.flickr.comphotos28047774@N048845151520 santiagonostalgico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 3 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 3 April , 2016 The replenishment took place in January, which is still summertime here. My picture below was taken now and winter comes fast in March\April. This image is the closest i could take from the Dresden/Sierra Cordoba meeting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartH Posted 3 April , 2016 Share Posted 3 April , 2016 This is such an education..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 3 April , 2016 Share Posted 3 April , 2016 This is such an education..... And friend Egbert is very lucky (1) to be there and (2) to have such a cooperative captain! I repeat, after 20 years away from there, I am quite envious... Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 4 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 4 April , 2016 And friend Egbert is very lucky (1) to be there and (2) to have such a cooperative captain! I repeat, after 20 years away from there, I am quite envious... Julian Trust me, nothing, absolutely nothing has changed here, be it 1995 or 1915. It is really the end of the world, endless fjords, volcano mountains and the boiling sea behind the inland channels. Oh yes the penguins are now living in their 5th generation since the Dresden days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 4 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 4 April , 2016 Meanwhile the Dresden weighed anchor, sent the Sierra Cordoba away and navigated out of her lair...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 4 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 4 April , 2016 This RN Admiralty chart shows the Dresden sailing directly from Tierra del Fuego to San Fernando Island. They were utterly wrong. One of our Chilean pilots, to my surprise fully aware of the Dresden's history, reveiled the true story........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 6 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 6 April , 2016 The pilot pointed out the next hiding place the British never searched in February/March. While the Dresden was about 1200km further north in one of the most beautiful fjords of Chile, near the town of Puerto Montt, the RN continued their search in the fjords of Magellan Strait. But as I said the zillions of fjords and side-fjords made it impossible to find the needle in the haystack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 6 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 6 April , 2016 SMS Dresden found her new hide-out around 6th of February in Fjord Quintaupeu, a small side-fjord not accesible for big ships. Even for the Dresden size they needed lots of soft soap to squeeze through Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 6 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 6 April , 2016 It is a deserted, soulless place. Only the penguins and seals enjoy the beauty of the lush scenery. We are sailing the same narrow and only navigable waterway as the Dresden did, 101 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Feledziak Posted 6 April , 2016 Share Posted 6 April , 2016 Stunning current imagery and superb exposure of a topic I have been watching for some time, Great work Egbert. Great picture at post 91. Keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 7 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 7 April , 2016 Thanks Martin. On the way to fjord Q. Not far away from where this picture is taken. Is it us or is it the Dresdens view? It is so difficult to accept that this is a present day picture and not taken by one of the men of the Dresden. Also here - they sailed at +- 10m accuracy the same only navigable waterway in the middle of the main fjord only to be watched by prying penguins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 7 April , 2016 Author Share Posted 7 April , 2016 Short of fjord Q's narrow entrance the Dresden thought to see icebergs, like we thought. But to everybodys relieve it was only poop from penguins, as I said earlier, from penguins in their 5th generation since 1915. Truly historic sh!t. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 7 April , 2016 Share Posted 7 April , 2016 Egbert, I could not help but being reminded when looking at your photographs of the time I was escorting / guiding a New York based group sailing south from Puerto Montt one December. Now this IS a true story... Third day out a group of ladies ask me what has happened to the sunshine, and comment on how it seems to be getting colder than it was before. I explained that as we went further south then naturally it would get colder, to which one of the group commented, "But it should get warmer when you go south! It's always warm in Florida!"... Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 7 April , 2016 Share Posted 7 April , 2016 I made the journey past Fjord Q 26 years ago. Great memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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