By Isla Valenti - Organisational Services Manager

Image of the Cedarbank, courtesy of www.shippingtandy.com

Here at Smart Green Shipping (SGS), we’re unlocking the power of wind for the shipping industry by building and financing autonomous, retrofittable wind technologies to help reduce greenhouse emissions. The first product in our suite is FastRig – a 100% recyclable wingsail.

The FastRig sails are innovative, retractable, rigid wing sails designed to be easily retrofitted to existing commercial vessels with available deck space – bulkers and tankers. They provide propulsive thrust from wind with the purpose of reducing fuel consumption, GHG emissions, and operating costs on commercial vessels.

Whilst I have no professional maritime experience (unlike my amazing SGS colleagues), I know that through my work at SGS I am supporting the decarbonisation of the shipping sector. This fact makes me feel very proud, but in addition, I have an interesting personal link via my great-grandfather, a seafarer who was unlocking the power of wind from the 1890’s.

Image of the Cedarbank, courtesy of www.clydeships.co.uk

The Cedarbank, launched in June 1892, was a four-masted steel barque built by Mackie & Thompson (Glasgow) for Andrew Weir & Co. 102 Waterloo St., Glasgow, Scotland.

My great-grandfather, Captain Andrew Drummond Moody, was its first master.

Captain Moody and the crew departed Newcastle, New South Wales, in March 1893, bound for San Francisco with their cargo of nearly 5,000 tonnes of coal. Hit by a hurricane at the tail end of the first week of sailing, whilst halfway across the Pacific Ocean, meant damage to the ship was so severe that they headed to Sydney for repairs.

After 5 weeks, they again set sail for San Francisco. However, after a little over 7 weeks of sailing, wisps of smoke from the hold were detected. The coal in the hold, well known for its instability and reportedly extracted from a seam of inferior slate coal designated for export, may already have been alight from the early stages of their journey. A tough decision ensued for Captain Moody around whether to head for the nearest landfall or continue sailing to San Francisco. The decision to plough on to San Francisco was made. For 5 weeks, the crew battled to keep the hold fire by pumping water onto the coal. Amazingly, on arrival in San Francisco, once the fire was extinguished, the water was pumped out and the remaining salvaged cargo discharged.

Following further extensive repairs, the Cedarbank continued transporting coal and grain across the globe until Andrew Weir & Co sold the Cedarbank in January 1914.

My connective tale, however, does not end there.

My great-grandfather, Captain Andrew D. Moody, retired to a place called Skelmorlie in North Ayrshire, Scotland, a mere 12 miles north of the SGS land-based FastRig wingsail test site at Hunterston PARC on the Firth of Clyde, which is the perfect on-land site for the great Scottish weather to do its worst on our FastRig wingsail ahead of on-vessel fitting later in the year.

I like to think that the spirit of Captain Moody is blowing across the timeless seas into the work of SGS, and I know he would be rightly proud to know his legacy lives on in me, his great-granddaughter.

He may, however, be less impressed by my below-average 'sea legs', given that I am known to feel squeamish on a short ferry trip. His bravery and nerve in traversing the high seas, battling hurricane weather conditions, and hold cargo fires clearly were not passed down the generational line.

And finally, please have a listen to this piece of music created by the amazingly talented Scot Mathieson in honour of my great grandfather.

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Unlocking the power of wind – it’s a generational thing.