| James Kon |
THE Swiss research vessel, Fleur de Passion, which is on a four- year journey, following the route taken 500 years ago on the first circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan, is making a seven-day stop in Brunei waters.
Carrying three crew members, including Captain Pietro Godenzi, in addition to five volunteers and passengers, the ocean-mapping expedition recently set sail from Palawan in the Philippines to Brunei Darussalam.
Captain Godenzi told the Bulletin, “We’ve been on the expedition since 2015, where we set sail from Seville to Brazil, and then Chile, then proceeded to cross the Pacific Ocean in 2016-17. We were in Papua New Guinea in 2017, then in Indonesia, then to the Philippines. We have already completed two-thirds of our journey, and are heading back.”
Having moored at Brunei Bay three days ago, the crew of the Fleur de Passion was just in time to attend the 34th National Day celebrations at Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien.
Captain Godenzi said, “I’ve never seen such an amazing and big national event. There were so many people participating, and it was very colourful.”
He also complimented the pristine state of Brunei’s rainforests at the Ulu Temburong National Park.
Besides following the sea route of Ferdinand Magellan, the crew of the Fleur de Passion is also conducting scientific research on marine and environmental pollution.
“We collected air samples in Brunei, and will analyse those,” said Captain Godenzi. “We saw many plastic bags floating around during low tide, but the situation is not as bad as in Indonesia.”
Another chief mission for the Fleur de Passion is the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and their reintegration into society.
Captain Godenzi said, “Children with family problems or in trouble with the law can stay on board for two to four months, before starting fresh and moving forward.”
Eight students from the Meragang Sixth Form Centre (PTE Meragang) and Jerudong International School (JIS) were given a rare tour of the sailing vessel yesterday, while being briefed on the scientific nature of the expedition.
Led by their respective teachers, the students boarded the ship from the Mangrove Paradise Resort, and then set sail to the Queen Elizabeth II Jetty at Kampong Dato Gandi in Kota Batu.
One of the students from PTE Meragang, Muhammad Fa’ez Hafiyuddin expressed his excitement at being on board the vessel.
“I really wanted to learn and experience how a sailing ship operates,” he said, adding his keen desire to learn more about the ship’s scientific mission.
Built in 1942, in Bremen, Northern Germany, the Fleur de Passion was originally a motorboat of the German Navy. She was designed in such a way that she could be converted into a sailing boat in the event of an oil shortage. With her steel structure and wooden hull, she was largely used for mining and demining, as well as lending support to U-Boats and other clandestine activities, while passing as a fishing boat.
Having survived World War II, she was handed over to the French Navy, which she served for some 30 years, before being dismantled and sold to a French sailor, who transformed her into a sailing boat and named her Fleur de Passion, a name inspired by ‘The Boat That Wouldn’t Float’, by Canadian author Farley Mowat.
Over the next 20 years, she sailed the Mediterranean and crossed the Atlantic as a platform for scientific and socio-educational programmes.