Expedition in the ice
At the weekend, a multinational sailing crew, led by the Global Offshore Sailing Team (GOST) and the Munich skipper and expedition leader Jochen Werne, will head north from Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen. The expedition called "Arctic Ocean Raptor" wants to reach the 81st parallel in memory and in the footsteps of famous Arctic explorers.
Svalbard and 81 degrees north
The chief historian of the expedition, Bernd Lehmann, explains: "In 1553 there was a first Arctic expedition on behalf of London merchants to find the sea route to Chin north of the Russian continent. Another expedition started in 1593 when two Dutch ships sailed to the northeast under the navigator Willem Barents. This attempt also failed because of the ice drift near NowajSemlja. On the way back, however, Barents discovered Svalbard in June 1596 and the habitat of the whales there."
With royal support
The sailors will be on the move on a Delphi47 - and with the support of several heads of state. Chancellor AngelMerkel, Norway's King Harald V and the Canadian and Italian governments sent official greetings.
Arctic Ocean Raptor
With the extreme journey to the prospective ice line, the expedition wants to draw attention to the sensitive arctic ecosystem as well as historical memory. The second part of the expedition then leads south from Longyearbyen. At the edge of the northern Norway Sea, those seamen and aviators of all nations who took part in the arctic convoy operations in World War II are to be commemorated.
Memory of Marines
In a statement by the expedition: "They had fulfilled their nautical duties under the prevailing partly merciless weather conditions as well as the constant threat of the respective enemy. To remind everyone of them, the crew was given a solemn ceremony at about 77 degrees north latitude The Norwegian King Harald V and the Canadian government each hand over a wreath to the sea accompanied by the national anthems on a cornet. The Russian Arctic Convoy Museum Project in Loch Ewe, Scotland has also asked for a memorial."
The Global Offshore Sailing Team works with various shipping historical institutions, including the German Society for Shipping and Marine History, the International Maritime Museum Hamburg, the Asociación parlInvestigación y Difusión de lHistoriNaval de Cuba, the Associazione Nazionale Bersaglieri and the British Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club. The course of the expedition can be followed on viInternet.
Promote global relationships
Expedition leader Jochen Werne
The GOST was founded in 1999 by Jochen Werne and Guido Zoeller with the aim of establishing and promoting global relationships and international exchange by commemorating historical events at sea. The members come from different nations (including Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, USA, Spain, Kazakhstan, Palestine and Greece). With worldwide expeditions, GOST commemorates historical events and spans the arc between past and present in order to keep maritime traditions alive and well.
The most important expeditions in recent years include the "Arctic Ocean Predator 2011" from Tromsø through arctic waters to Svalbard, the "Expedition Cerberus 2012" on the traces of the Cerberus company in 1942 from Brest to Kiel and in 2015 the "Expedition 176 - The Cuban Sub Battle”in memory of the victims of the Cuban Molasse tanker Mambi and the German submarine 176 sunk on May 15, 1943 off Kuban.