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- HMS Leopard 1st Commission
HMS Leopard 1st Commission
- By Robby G
- Published 05/6/2008
- HMS Leopard
-
Rating:
Part 8
Argentina
29th March, was an early start. At 0500, with the British Ambassador to the Argentine, His Excellency Sir John Ward and his wife Lady Ward, together with the Naval Attache and Mrs Vincent-Jones, embarked, we set out on the return trip through the channels to Punta Arenas. After dawn we made most of the passage at 20 knots, slowing down only for shallow waters and rocky patches. The sky was overcast, as it had been on our trip down, and rain fell intermittently. The Pacific was milder than the last time, and we anchored off Muelle Prat, at Punta Arenas, at 2030 that night.
We landed our Chilean Naval pilot, whose expert services had been most helpful, and remained at anchor overnight.
According to Chilean authorities, our return from Ushuaia had been the fastest passage on record, our time of 15 hours beating the previous “record” by 19 hours. It is also believed to be the first time one of H M Ships has passed through the northern part of Whale Boat Sound and Brecknock Pass en route to Ushuaia. We had hoped to pass round Cape Horn on our return, but lack of time forced us to content ourselves with a near miss. I don’t suppose it was anything to do with the passengers we were carrying, no, not much!
30th March, and its farewell to the Magellan Strait, and back out into the more uneasy waters of the South Atlantic.
Plodding steadily up the Argentine coast until on the1st April we entered the enormous Golfo Nuevo and anchored of the little town of Puerto Madryn.
There was very little to do here, on the fringe of Patagonia, but we did repair the desperately derelict jetty. The soccer team travelled to the nearest town of Trelew and once again got a trouncing from the natives. The locals put on a good dance for us and the Leopard hosted a cocktail party, which was attended largely Welsh speaking locals, who had migrated to Patagonia 50 or 60 years ago and were thrilled at this first visit by a Royal Navy ship since that of the light cruiser Delhi in 1935.
Whilst in the Golfo Nuevo there was an incident with a submarine. This was very hush, hush, and full facts were never divulged. Classified as “ keep yer mouth shut”
So having departed Puerto Madryn, after what was supposed to be a quiet visit, we had a not so eventful weekend at sea, we arrived at Puerto Belgrano.
4th April .When we steamed up the long channel to the harbour of Puerto Belgrano we were passed by the main part of the Argentine fleet on its way to sea for exercises, and were impressed by the look of the training-cruiser Argentina. Soon after our arrival the “non-paying guests,” the Ambassador and his party left us to return to Buenos Aires, but prior to his departure he presented us with a silver cup, the Sir John Ward Trophy, in remembrance of his stay aboard Leopard. I wonder if I give a nice silver cup to Cunard Lines they would in return give me a nice little cruise across the Atlantic?
Just across from where we were berthed was the battle cruiser General Belgrano, formerly the USS Phoenix, sold to Argentina nine years earlier in 1951. Phoenix survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour but was to meet her fate during the Falklands war, (1982) when she was sunk with 3 torpedo’s from the British submarine Conqueror, resulting in the tragic loss of 323 men. Also alongside was the aircraft carrier Indepencia formerly HMS Warrior.
PHOTO. General Belgrano & Indepencia
When HMS Warrior visited the Argentine in 1957, Vic-Admiral Rojas, then the country’s vice president, had presented the ship with a handsome silver tray. Now that Warrior had taken on a new lease of life as the Indepencia- though one Argentinian officer remarked that she still “smelt English” ( apparently Argentine ships have quite a different smell from our familiar pot-pourri of paint and soap and one knows what else)- to the Captain fell the pleasant task of re-presenting the tray to her former home. The little ceremony was much appreciated by the Argentinians.
Puerto Belgrano, was a fine, big dockyard with the garden city of Punta Alta outside its gates housing a purely naval community.The Argentine Navy, once again were the perfect hosts. To those who wanted to get away from all navy matters, ventured a little further, to the city of Bahia Blanca. I found this quaint little city a great run-ashore.
8th April, after four enjoyable days we sailed, and as we moved down the harbour Argentine ships were manned and guards and bands paraded to bid us farewell. Once again we had shown the flag and had been appreciated.
9th April. Arrived at Mar Del Plata, the first big city for seven weeks and also the holiday resort of the Argentine, we all looked forward to a good run-ashore and a chance to break the bank at the casino, which at the time was the worlds biggest.
PHOTO. "Paddy" the Chef takes care of our Argentinian visitors!
On our second day here a group of us were invited to a guided tour of the casino. We were met at the door by a very elegant, not so young, lady, dressed in the full regalia of ball-gown and wrap. Bouffant hairstyle, and dangling earings. After introducing herself, she proceeded to give us the wonderful tour of what was in no doubt a wonderful place. We stopped at various tables and she described the game being played at each one. A few free drinks were graciously accepted and on completion of our “walk-round” we were each presented with chips to the value of 1000 pesos. (230 pesos to the pound). We were now free to try our luck at the tables. Well the £4 did not last long, the casino had got it back, there was no more free beer so it was time to leave. On leaving the casino, any sailor seen to be carrying a camera was accosted by locals wanting to buy it. I had bought my camera in Gibraltar at the start of our trip. I believe it cost about five pounds, anyway, when I was offered 5000 pesos I could’nt let it go quick enough, film ‘n all. What a good night we had with the proceeds!
More asado’s were attended, the best one by far, was held by gaucho’s at a local ranch.Besides the usual beef and sheep roasting in the middle of nowhere, the local plonk (wine) was the stimulant to get you on the back of a horse with one of these, loveable, mad gaucho’s. After this event I had the high pitched voice of a choir-boy!
In one of the numerous bars that I visited (cultural purposes only, of course!) I was fortunate to meet a crew member of the German Battleship Graf Spee. He was the bar owner and he showed me his photograph albums of his life in the German navy, especially his links with Graf Spee. The walls of the room at the back of the bar were covered with German naval momentos, the only thing not present was the swastika.
The ship had been open to visitors in many ports prior to here, but this was to be something new in our experience. That first Sunday afternoon, when we coped with 4,326 visitors and had to turn away a queue about six wide and half a mile long on shutting shop at 1700hrs, will live long in memory. The pressure kept up pretty well during the following week and altogether we had over 10,000 visitors during the four days we were open.
14th April. We sailed at 1500hrs, after a crowded three weeks which had taken us from the stark desolation of Tierra de Fuego to the sophisticated joys of Mar del Plata, and caused all of us to revise our ideas about Argentina pretty extensively.
Argentina
29th March, was an early start. At 0500, with the British Ambassador to the Argentine, His Excellency Sir John Ward and his wife Lady Ward, together with the Naval Attache and Mrs Vincent-Jones, embarked, we set out on the return trip through the channels to Punta Arenas. After dawn we made most of the passage at 20 knots, slowing down only for shallow waters and rocky patches. The sky was overcast, as it had been on our trip down, and rain fell intermittently. The Pacific was milder than the last time, and we anchored off Muelle Prat, at Punta Arenas, at 2030 that night.
We landed our Chilean Naval pilot, whose expert services had been most helpful, and remained at anchor overnight.
According to Chilean authorities, our return from Ushuaia had been the fastest passage on record, our time of 15 hours beating the previous “record” by 19 hours. It is also believed to be the first time one of H M Ships has passed through the northern part of Whale Boat Sound and Brecknock Pass en route to Ushuaia. We had hoped to pass round Cape Horn on our return, but lack of time forced us to content ourselves with a near miss. I don’t suppose it was anything to do with the passengers we were carrying, no, not much!
30th March, and its farewell to the Magellan Strait, and back out into the more uneasy waters of the South Atlantic.
Plodding steadily up the Argentine coast until on the1st April we entered the enormous Golfo Nuevo and anchored of the little town of Puerto Madryn.
There was very little to do here, on the fringe of Patagonia, but we did repair the desperately derelict jetty. The soccer team travelled to the nearest town of Trelew and once again got a trouncing from the natives. The locals put on a good dance for us and the Leopard hosted a cocktail party, which was attended largely Welsh speaking locals, who had migrated to Patagonia 50 or 60 years ago and were thrilled at this first visit by a Royal Navy ship since that of the light cruiser Delhi in 1935.
Whilst in the Golfo Nuevo there was an incident with a submarine. This was very hush, hush, and full facts were never divulged. Classified as “ keep yer mouth shut”
So having departed Puerto Madryn, after what was supposed to be a quiet visit, we had a not so eventful weekend at sea, we arrived at Puerto Belgrano.
4th April .When we steamed up the long channel to the harbour of Puerto Belgrano we were passed by the main part of the Argentine fleet on its way to sea for exercises, and were impressed by the look of the training-cruiser Argentina. Soon after our arrival the “non-paying guests,” the Ambassador and his party left us to return to Buenos Aires, but prior to his departure he presented us with a silver cup, the Sir John Ward Trophy, in remembrance of his stay aboard Leopard. I wonder if I give a nice silver cup to Cunard Lines they would in return give me a nice little cruise across the Atlantic?
Just across from where we were berthed was the battle cruiser General Belgrano, formerly the USS Phoenix, sold to Argentina nine years earlier in 1951. Phoenix survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour but was to meet her fate during the Falklands war, (1982) when she was sunk with 3 torpedo’s from the British submarine Conqueror, resulting in the tragic loss of 323 men. Also alongside was the aircraft carrier Indepencia formerly HMS Warrior. PHOTO. General Belgrano & Indepencia
When HMS Warrior visited the Argentine in 1957, Vic-Admiral Rojas, then the country’s vice president, had presented the ship with a handsome silver tray. Now that Warrior had taken on a new lease of life as the Indepencia- though one Argentinian officer remarked that she still “smelt English” ( apparently Argentine ships have quite a different smell from our familiar pot-pourri of paint and soap and one knows what else)- to the Captain fell the pleasant task of re-presenting the tray to her former home. The little ceremony was much appreciated by the Argentinians.
Puerto Belgrano, was a fine, big dockyard with the garden city of Punta Alta outside its gates housing a purely naval community.The Argentine Navy, once again were the perfect hosts. To those who wanted to get away from all navy matters, ventured a little further, to the city of Bahia Blanca. I found this quaint little city a great run-ashore.
8th April, after four enjoyable days we sailed, and as we moved down the harbour Argentine ships were manned and guards and bands paraded to bid us farewell. Once again we had shown the flag and had been appreciated.
9th April. Arrived at Mar Del Plata, the first big city for seven weeks and also the holiday resort of the Argentine, we all looked forward to a good run-ashore and a chance to break the bank at the casino, which at the time was the worlds biggest. PHOTO. "Paddy" the Chef takes care of our Argentinian visitors!
On our second day here a group of us were invited to a guided tour of the casino. We were met at the door by a very elegant, not so young, lady, dressed in the full regalia of ball-gown and wrap. Bouffant hairstyle, and dangling earings. After introducing herself, she proceeded to give us the wonderful tour of what was in no doubt a wonderful place. We stopped at various tables and she described the game being played at each one. A few free drinks were graciously accepted and on completion of our “walk-round” we were each presented with chips to the value of 1000 pesos. (230 pesos to the pound). We were now free to try our luck at the tables. Well the £4 did not last long, the casino had got it back, there was no more free beer so it was time to leave. On leaving the casino, any sailor seen to be carrying a camera was accosted by locals wanting to buy it. I had bought my camera in Gibraltar at the start of our trip. I believe it cost about five pounds, anyway, when I was offered 5000 pesos I could’nt let it go quick enough, film ‘n all. What a good night we had with the proceeds!
More asado’s were attended, the best one by far, was held by gaucho’s at a local ranch.Besides the usual beef and sheep roasting in the middle of nowhere, the local plonk (wine) was the stimulant to get you on the back of a horse with one of these, loveable, mad gaucho’s. After this event I had the high pitched voice of a choir-boy! In one of the numerous bars that I visited (cultural purposes only, of course!) I was fortunate to meet a crew member of the German Battleship Graf Spee. He was the bar owner and he showed me his photograph albums of his life in the German navy, especially his links with Graf Spee. The walls of the room at the back of the bar were covered with German naval momentos, the only thing not present was the swastika.
The ship had been open to visitors in many ports prior to here, but this was to be something new in our experience. That first Sunday afternoon, when we coped with 4,326 visitors and had to turn away a queue about six wide and half a mile long on shutting shop at 1700hrs, will live long in memory. The pressure kept up pretty well during the following week and altogether we had over 10,000 visitors during the four days we were open.
14th April. We sailed at 1500hrs, after a crowded three weeks which had taken us from the stark desolation of Tierra de Fuego to the sophisticated joys of Mar del Plata, and caused all of us to revise our ideas about Argentina pretty extensively.
An Argentinian Asado (Bar-B -Q)
Thankyou, Argentina, for making us most welcome.