What the title means is something different than I had planned . . .  So watch this series of screen shots . . .  first at 0010 hrs today.

But then, look who picks it up, re-messages it, and it appears in their news feed!!  NBC, NYDailyNews, USNews . . .!!

Tri-CityHerald comes from Washington state, and then there’s the SFChronicle . . .

. . . the ReadingEagle . . .

So when I got up this morning and read notes messaged to me and then a sampling of news from commercial outlets–as evidenced above–I’m in a tizzy.

I recognize the ship as a serious attempt at reproducing a vessel of 500 years ago and calling it Nao Santa Maria.  So when I google Nao Santa Maria, I find they’ve been in town but their very own FB notice–I believe–says “first time in the US…”  I’m done!!

 

This leads me to the vessel’s “serious” page, rather than their FB hype, and for the second time (I’ll get to that) I read this:

The “Nao Santa María” is one of the most famous ships of mankind. On October 12th of 1492, led by Christopher Columbus, it played the main role on one of the most important historic landmarks: the discovery of America, the encounter between two worlds that changed the future of universal history.

On August 3rd of 1492 it sailed off from the port of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Spain) together with the caravels “Pinta” and “Niña”, the so called three caravels from which this nao was the flagship. In all references written by Columbus about the Santa María in his famous diary of the expedition, he refers to it as “nao”, as did other chroniclers of the time:

“Cristopher Columbus loaded, apart from those two, a nao… and on the third, being the nao bigger than the rest, he wanted to travel himself, and hence it became the flagship” 

It was acquired by the Spanish Crown to be part of Juan de la Cosa’s columbine expedition. Although De la Cosa was natural from the Spanish northern region of Cantabria and lived in the southern Puerto de Santa María, the general belief is that the vessel was built somewhere on the coast of Galicia, hence her previous name: La Gallega (The Galician) . . . .     

It goes on.  You can read it here. So, Nao Santa Maria (NSM) is one of the “most famous ships of mankind” by their own proclamation, and US history books would generally agree.  How many ships’ names did you know in –say–fifth grade?

But I go on with my rant.   On NSM’s “blog” section, and you’ll see here they say they begin their “tour along the US” here back in January 2019, and at that, they state they arrive in the US then from San juan PR . . . Is PR NOT in the US?   !@#@!!   And was their summer “tall ships parade” as far west as Green Bay WI not in the US?  Moreover, did NSM’s participation in the 2019 event ever get shared nationwide identifying them as a pirate ship?

In the world of “fake news” and “spin” and otherwise biased reportage, this surely seems like a cautionary tale.    This out-of-control story about NSM as a pirate ship reminds me of this old collecting feathers story.

I first encountered and posted about NSM in Ogdensburg NY here.

All “cut’n’paste” and sentiments are solely those of Will Van Dorp, who has previous made known my attitude toward pirates here.

If you think you’ll find a disabled pirate ship in the sixth boro tis morning, well, they’re nearly to Atlantic city by now, trying to outrun the travesty of reportage captured in google . . . or bury their loot?