Submarine chief sailed solo around the world in self-built vessel

Bill King,  the last surviving submarine commander from the second World War who completed a solo circumnavigation of the world in 1973 in a purpose-built boat he built himself, has died at the age of 102.

The British submariner and yachtsman operated an organic farm in Co Galway for more than 60 years.

Having planned to undertake his circumnavigation for many years, in 1968 he became the oldest participant in the inaugural Sunday Times Golden Globe race. He joined the race to recover psychologically from the effects of his wartime service which, he said, had left him a "nervous wreck".

Sailing the junk rigged schooner Galway Blazer II, during the race he lived on raw food, including fruit mixed with almond paste, as well as green sprouts he grew on board. He passed the time reading spiritual writings along with the novels of Tolstoy, and said the solitude did not bother him because of the beauty that surrounded him. He found himself alone with God, he recalled, as sin was not an option.

After the schooner capsized in 50ft waves and both masts were broken northeast of Gough Island in the south Atlantic, he was towed to Cape Town.

A second attempt to circumnavigate in 1969 also failed. A further attempt in 1970 when he again sailed Galway Blazer II was interrupted when illness and hull damage forced him ashore in Australia. Having resumed his journey in December 1971, a large sea creature, either a whale or shark, damaged his boat about 400 miles southwest of Freemantle. After three days carrying out emergency repairs at sea he returned to Freemantle, "barely able to limp into port".

King eventually realised his ambition, completing his global circumnavigation in 1973. In 1975 the Cruising Club of America awarded him the Blue Water Medal to mark his achievement.

William Donald Aelian King was born in 1910, the son of William Albert de Courcy King and Georgina Marie MacKenzie. His father, who joined the Royal Engineers in 1894, served with the 36th (Ulster) Division in Belgium during the first World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916, and died on the Western Front in 1917.

King was brought up by his mother and grandmother, a formidable woman who learned to ski at 75 and still sailed in her 80s. Possibly because of her influence, after preparatory school he was sent to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, where in addition to his studies he enjoyed boxing and long-distance running.

He began serving with the Royal Navy in 1927, and was posted to the battleship Resolution, patrolling the Mediterranean. Postings to a variety of vessels in other locations followed and in 1939 he was appointed commanding officer of Snapper. Under his command, the submarine sank six enemy ships while patrolling the North Sea in the first year of the second World War.

During the war he was promoted to commander and awarded seven medals, including the DSO and Distinguished Service Cross. Other commands he held included the Trusty and Telemachus, which in 1944 sank the Japanese submarine 1-166. Arising from this action, a bar was added to his DSO.

Sixty years later, in 2004, he received two visitors at his home in Oranmore Castle: Akira Tsurukame, whose father perished on board 1-166, and Katja Boonstra-Blom, whose father died when the 1-166 sank the Dutch submarine K XVI. Together, they planted a tree in the grounds in memory of his guests' fathers.

He ended his Royal Navy career as executive officer of the submarine depot ship Forth, and formally retired in 1948.

In 1949 he married Anita Leslie, a distant cousin of Winston Churchill who had been an ambulance driver with the Free French Army and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by General Charles de Gaulle. The couple lived in a hunting lodge on the lands of Oranmore Castle, which they were reported to have bought for £200. He developed an organic farm and garden, and they both hunted with the Galway Blazers.

He was not the first member of his family to reside in Galway. His grandfather William King was the first professor of natural history and geology at Queen's College Galway, now NUI Galway.

King wrote an account of his wartime experiences, The Stick and the Stars, which was published in 1958. He wrote of his sailing adventures in two more books, Capsize (1969) and Adventure in Depth ((1975).

He was filmed for two documentaries about the Golden Globe race, and in 2009 his great grandnephew Luke Leslie produced the short film King of the Waves, which dramatised his solo circumnavigation. It was screened before King and his family on his 99th birthday, after which he took to the dance floor until the early hours of the morning.

Predeceased by his wife in 1984, he is survived by his son Tarka and daughter Leonie.

Russia, Ireland Sign Space Cooperation Memorandum

Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos and Ireland’s National Space Center have signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation in space exploration.

“The memorandum reaffirms the strive of both countries to promote the development of bilateral cooperation in the area of space exploration in the framework of 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other international treaties on peaceful space exploration,” Roscosmos said in a statement on Thursday.

The document also outlines basic principles and conditions of Russian-Irish cooperation in scientific space research, satellite navigation and Earth remote sensing.

Ireland joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in December 1980 to become the 11th member.

The country contributed 15.6 million euros (about $20 mln) or 0.4% to the ESA budget in 2012.

A growing number of Irish companies are becoming active in the European space program, with a strong focus on technology innovation.

In November 2011, Russia and Ireland signed an agreement at the 8th Russian-Irish Joint Economic Commission in Moscow to work together across a range of Space and Physics related programs.

The German

New Irish Naval Service Patrol Boat Laid down at Babcock Marine’s shipyard in Appledore.

New Irish Naval Service Patrol Boat Laid down at Babcock Marine’s shipyard in Appledore.

STX Canada Marine PV90 OPVSTX Marine is pleased to report the keel-laying of the first of two Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Irish Naval Service (INS).

The keel was laid by Commodore Mellet, Flag Officer Commanding Naval Service, on May 18th, 2012 at Babcock Marine’s shipyard in Appledore, North Devon.

The ceremony was attended by senior representatives of the Department of Defence, the Naval Service and STXM.

Six Satellites Launched on Three Rockets in Same Day

Friday May 18th was a busy day in the rapidly growing space-launch industry with three rockets, launched from three separate locations, placing six satellites into Earth orbit. In contrast to the global fanfare that followed the failed South Korean launch attempt, these flawless launches from Russia and Kazakhstan were hardly noticed by the world media.

The first to launch was a Russian Soyuz U lifting off from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome military spaceport.  The rocket is reported to have placed a Yantar-4K2M (Kobalt-M) optical reconnaissance satellite into low-Earth orbit (LEO).  The Kobalt-M is a classified military reconnaissance satellite equipped with enhanced optical imaging capabilities featuring a film-return capsule arrangement designed to physically return captured and recorded imagery back to Earth.

The second, following shortly after the Soyuz U launch, was a Japanese H-IIA/202 rocket lifting off from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center carrying four satellites into orbit, three of Japanese origin and one for South Korea.  The H-IIA/202 carried aloft Japan’s Global Change Observation Mission – Water Satellite 1 (GCOM-W1), nicknamed “Shizuku” meaning “drop” or “tear drop” designed to monitor global patterns of water circulation and changes in climate patterns as part of the A-Train international collaborative program.

Hitching a ride with the GCOM-W1 were two smaller Japanese satellites, the SDS-4 and the Horyu-2.  The SDS-4 (Small Demonstration Satellite-4) is part of a Japanese program developed to test new and emerging space technologies for future incorporation in operational satellites.  The Horyu-2 was designed by students with Japan’s Kyusyu Institute of Technology to test an experimental high-voltage solar array.

The fourth satellite aboard the H-IIA/202 was South Korea’s Kompsat-3 (Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-3).  The Kompsat-3, also known as Arirang-3, is reported to be a lightweight Earth observation satellite equipped with an enhanced high-resolution optical sensor.  The Kompsat-3 features a multispectral camera with a 0.7-meter maximum resolution purportedly designed to provide high-resolution electro-optical (EO) images in support of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to include enhanced imagery for agricultural, environmental, and oceanographic monitoring purposes.

The last launch of the day was a Proton rocket lifting-off from a launch site at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.  This launch placed the Nimig-6 communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit to deliver Ku-band direct-broadcast television service to Canada.  The upper stage, Breeze-M, of this rocket requires a series of burns before final separation approximately nine hours after launch.

With its ambitious satellite launch on Friday, and the first instance of launching a foreign satellite, Japan has successfully achieved its goal of joining the global satellite-launch industry, a $4.3 billion business of immense promise.

Commercial satellite launches have increased dramatically in recent years and is now attracting a growing field of competent competitors looking to cash in on the promise of lucrative returns for those firms able and willing to provide this unique service at reasonably low cost.  Considering the costs involved in reaching this goal and the costs yet to come, Japan’s ability to offer competitive pricing is a matter of significant concern when the cost of Japanese labor is factored in.  For now, it certainly looks like Japan is in the crowded race for future business.

Foyle 'submarine' is just rock and debris, reveals minister

The mystery of the ‘submarine’ in Lough Foyle has been solved.

The answer? A rocky outcrop and a lot of man-made debris.

On a visit to Londonderry yesterday, Environment Minister Alex Attwood revealed what divers sent down to investigate the anomaly on the bed of Lough Foyle had discovered.

At one point it was believed the boat-shaped image sighted in a sonar scan could have been the wreck of a WWII submarine. But after sonar scans, it emerged the image was a strange pattern.

Divers from the Centre For Maritime Archaeology were sent down to inspect the lough bed on May 4. With visibility at no more than a few feet, they were forced to carry out fingertip surveys of the area.

The minister said: The dive has concluded that there is a seam or ridge of bedrock/rock outcrop on the riverbed, around which there is various debris.

“There is no photograph to confirm this due to poor water quality — but diver and sonar images lead to the conclusion that there is nothing of significance on the bed of the lough.”

Mr Attwood said the debris appeared to consist of a mixture of metal and timber, but it was difficult to glean more detail as the visibility was so poor.

“The quality of the water varies depending on the time of year. They could only see a few feet in front of them,” he said.

“Unless there is some compelling evidence otherwise, that concludes the matter.

 “I also want to recall how the search was commenced in the first place — the search for a missing person. As the story of the ‘submarine that never was’ closes, I wish to remember the family of the person who was missing.”