ARLA/CLUSTER: GBØBUZZ - Estação especial para a comemoração do 250ª Aniversário da 1º Viagem do Capitão Cook

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Special Event Station - 250th Anniversary of Captain Cook's 1st voyage

Hello, my name is Nigel Ferguson, GØBPK. I am a member and Special
Events/Contest Manager of Pontefract and District Amateur Radio
Society (PDARS). I am also, a member of the Captain Cook Society (no
407).

PDARS have a long history of putting on Special Event Stations (SESs) and
Special SESs such as GBØBUZZ for the visit of Buzz Aldrin (See Space
Lectures www.space-lectures.com) , GB8ØØMC to celebrate Pontefract’s
involvement in Magna Carta 800 years earlier (one of the 25 Barons
present was John de Lacy from Pontefract) and G1ØØRSGB for the RSGB’s
centenary.

2018 marks the 250th anniversary of one of the greatest voyages of
exploration in history. It has been likened to the 18th century’s
equivalent of NASA’s Apollo missions. However, unlike the NASA missions,
this voyage was going into the unknown, with no possible hope of help if
disaster struck.

It was the First Voyage of discovery by Lt. James Cook RN. A Lieutenant in
the Navy, he had risen from a humble background through the ranks,
something extremely rare for those times.
Originally sailing on Whitby colliers he learnt his trade in the North
Sea. Surprisingly he then left and joined the Navy. In Quebec, during
the war with France, he learnt surveying techniques, made an accurate
survey of the St. Lawrence River and reported astronomical
observations, which
brought him to the attention of the Admiralty who were looking for
someone to command a venture to the South Pacific.

The Royal Society (RS) had approached the Admiralty for a ship to sail to
Tahiti and view the Transit of Venus in 1769, a rare astronomical
observation. The Admiralty insisted that the Captain should be from the
Navy, and not a civilian as the RS had demanded. James Cook was chosen.
This was the first scientific voyage of discovery. The gentlemen
scientists included Dr. Daniel Solander (naturalist), Charles Green
(astronomer), Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan (artists) and
Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Banks (naturalist) and his secretary Herman
Spöring.

The Admiralty also had secret orders for Lt. Cook. Once the observation
had been completed, he was ordered to search for the Great Southern
Continent, a fabled land that was supposed to exist in the South Pacific.
As to the ship, a Whitby collier, “The Earl of Pembroke” was chosen,
renamed HM Bark “Endeavour”, and, on 25th August 1768, the little ship
sailed into legend.

There is far too much about this voyage to write about here, but there are
numerous books available and you can visit the Captain Cook Society
website, www.captaincooksociety.com for further information of this
extraordinary explorer and voyage.

PDARS are pleased to announce that they have been given the Special SES
callsign GB25ØCC to mark this voyage. We can hold a Notice of Variation
(NOV) to my licence for a period of 28 days. We intend applying for a NOV
for this call to coincide with key moments in the voyage, and make contact
(if possible) with the Pacific islands that Cook was visiting 250 years
earlier. The first NOV is 23/8/2018 to mark the sailing from Plymouth.
Hopefully Ofcom will continue to allow us NOVs for this callsign for the
next 3 years until the Endeavour returned home.

We will confirm all contacts by LOTW and eQSL. Anyone who wishes a QSL
card should either send their own QSL card direct to me, GØBPK, qthr (SAE
& $2 please), or via the RSGB bureau. All details will be on QRZ.com in
due course.

73 Nigel GØBPK