In the frame of the celebration of fifty years of the School Ship ARC “Gloria”, the National Navy has been conducting a series of activities to commemorate this important anniversary.
Bolivar. The ARC “Gloria” during her 50 years, has waved the majestic Colombian tricolor flag in 77 countries; this flag is the largest of any sailing ship in the world, symbolizing in each port the greatness and the strength of unrivalled culture and the roots of Colombia.
The floating ambassador of the Colombians has embarked the dreams of more than 4,000 young people who practice their maritime training on board, supporting significantly the foreign policy of Colombia, sharing part of our country with the 190 ports visited all over the world.
This phase of the training cruise, for the first time, counts on 52 women and three men, who on board will put into practice their knowledge on coastal navigation and electronic astronomy, weather conditions, marine maneuvers, damage control, auxiliary machinery, among others, with the aim of strengthening their skills in the sea.
History
The history of the Ship ARC “Gloria” dates back to the year of 1956, when being commander of the National Navy, vice admiral Orlando Lemaitre Torres, convinced the Minister of Defense, General Gabriel Rebéiz Pizarro, on the need to acquire a training ship. For this reason, in front of several officers at a social meeting, expressed his approval to the project and to confirm his decision, he took a napkin where he wrote “voucher for a boat”, signed with his name.
After its construction, and the training of the crew, on October 9, 1968, the unit sailed for its first voyage from the port of Ferrol del Caudillo in Spain, to later arrive for the first time at the Colombian port of Cartagena de Indias, on the 11th of November of the same year.
The flagship of the colombian people, is a brigantine Ship, with a length of 76,8 meters, a draught of 4.8 metres, an area of sail of 1,693,63 square metres, and a displacement capacity of 1,300 tons.
The Commemoration
As of yesterday the Naval Museum of the Caribbean has a module memorial of the five decades of the flagship of the National Navy, where you can witness a large amount of graphic information about the construction and travel of the ship in 50 years. This module consists of a model of the ship, a trophy cabinet, panels with timeline photos, videos, and an information railing, where visitors can interact with the names of the sails of the ship.
In the same way, to celebrate the five decades of the Flagship, the launch of the documentary “Good Wind, Good Sea,” (Buen Viento, Buena Mar) directed by Mary Catherine Sandoval, daughter of admiral Alberto Sandoval Solano (R.I.P.), who was Commander of the ARC “Gloria” in 1979, in which the sea stories lived on board are recreated.
Another great event for the day was the introducing of the commemorative book of the golden anniversary of the ARC “Gloria”, produced by Villegas Editores, where you can read, in addition to history, experiences and anecdotes, curious details of the navigation.
At the end of this successful day, the first edition of a philatelic tribute to the ship was issued by the Ministry of Information, Technologies and Communications and was put in circulation by 4-72, the government mail company of Colombia.
Our floating ambassador, set sail today from Cartagena to the city of Santa Marta, in Colombia, to continue its journey through the world, next to the sailboats that participate in the “Velas Latinoamérica 2018”.
Source: Naval Force of the Caribbean – National Navy.
