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REPORT
- The ARGONOS
Page 1
A trawler of the Cantabric
Sea,
by Eric Bauthier (Belgium)
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Provisional translate by altavista robot
Cantabria, this autonomous community of Spain, corresponds to the old
province of Santander, whose chief town kept the name besides. Located
at the north of the Iberian peninsula, along the Cantabric sea in the
Bay of Biscay, this sunny province counts more than one million
inhabitants and is the permanent theatre of flourishing tourism.
Cantabria is a deeply broken area, dominated by high mountains, such as
the solid mass of the Peaks of Europe. Broad valleys draw a sinuous and
escarpée coast, as well as a series of peaceful estuaries, " Rias
", which strew the two hundred kilometers with this littoral. In
the past, this coast sheltered the arsenals from which left the ships
Conquistadores, avid browsers of new grounds of cocagne, such Hernan
Cortès, sadly returned celebrates by its conquest of Mexico and the
destruction of the Aztèque people. With nearly two hundred and thousand
inhabitants, Santander is nevertheless a quiet and accessible city, open
on the sea, whose
population increases considerably during the summer months. It faces a
majestic bay which cherishes of its fresh water, characteristic with the
Atlantic Ocean, of multiple resplendent ranges without parasols nor
transistors... This regional capital shelters the palate Magdalena, the
old residence of summer of the members of the Spanish crown, as well as
a museum concealing a masterly collection of Masters of XVIIe and XVIIIe
centuries. Santander knew to benefit fully from its coastal situation
and its fishing or marinas are more prosperous. These activities are
mainly centered on the fishing of " the bonitos ", celebrates
it Cantabric tuna, of sardines and anchovies. In spite of the
geopolitical upheavals, the secular methods of trawling remained
artisanal and traditional, and only average the techniques facilitate
from now on the hard labour of the fishermen, " the pescadores
". The Argonos trawler is one of the images most representative of
the method of current fishing and one finds this type of trawler all
along the Cantabric cornice, of San Sébastian in Coruna while passing
by Bilbao and of course Santander.
The manufacturer
Carlos Alonzo is strong a sympathetic nerve model maker originating in
Asturies and which lives with the accesses of the Belgian capital.
Member of the BMB, Brussels Model Boats, he is the happy manufacturer
and owner of Argonos, this splendid model which causes the admiration of
considerable naval model makers. Carlos Alonzo is interested in model
making in all his forms, provided that the Master-word is before all the
faithful reproduction, detailed and careful of a model. He began his
long career, whereas he was very young fellow, by the reproduction from
white metal trains. With this intention, it was shouldered by his father
and his uncles who devoted themselves also to the construction of
miniatures and mainly to the sculpture of small objects, heritage that
Carlos still has at the end of the fingers; it is necessary to say how
much it was then in the center of the crucible, because model making was
a business of family... It thus discovered its skill to work models
reduced starting from the most various materials. Of wire out of needle
it moved towards the construction of boats, and thus it carried out
prestigious models such as an American coastguard, with which besides it
took down a money medal to the championship of Belgium in presentation,
the tug boat with vapor of the beginning of the century, Saint-Charles,
made out of sheet; the coastguard with English veil Shark; the sailing
ship Richard Catch and well of other models of any gauge. As regards
figurines, Carlos Alonzo is not more penguin. He constituted, with the
wire of time, some dioramas often putting in scene Roman légionaries
actuating of " the machines of war " such as triggerfishes and
other catapults, the whole reproduces on the scale and in depth, painted
with oil, and functional in addition. Another of its achievements in
date is more particular; it is about a Spanish attic of Asturies and
Cantabria, famous and picturesque " the horreo ", maisonnette
assembled on stone pile, construction of any beauty whose wood gates and
the various walls are learnedly carved, various representative
triskèles,
the famous Celtic reasons; it is true that the Celtic culture influenced,
in old times, Spanish civilization. Construction is again entirely
painted with oil, to confer a realistic patina to him, technique known
and controlled since glosses by the figurinists.
A blow of heart
At the time of his holidays in Spain, Carlos Alonzo had took the
practice to turn over each year in the birthplace of his wife,
Santander. Thus in 1983, walking in the fishing port, it discovered the
Argonos trawler. Passer by and passing by again around the boat, it had
a blow of heart for this ship with the colors attractive, and secured by
a certain Latin heat. " Here is a beautiful boat to be reproduced
in reduced model " is said it and, making path, our model maker
noted the name of the manufacturer who put in building site this trawler,
Astilleros Solana, name which is reproduced on the cabin of Argonos. It
was put in residence to unearth in the maze of the harbour buildings,
the engineering department and finally, has force of investigations, it
could meet the architect of the boat, in person. This last shared the
passion of Carlos Alonzo and thus our model maker obtained a copy of the
original plans, in the single condition that the only intention is the
construction of a reduced model. Enchanted this acquisition, Carlos
Alonzo went again to the port and there, by unfolding the plans, it
noted with a certain distress that consequent modifications had been
made to the trawler. These modifications related to
mainly the cabin, the equipment of fishing and the tripod mast. It is
true that Argonos navigate already since nearly seven years, and during
these years, it had been adapted to the conditions of fishing. Maybe,
Carlos then contacted " the owner " of the trawler and
announced its intention to him to build an exact counterpart of Argonos.
Thus it discovered that there were three identical boats, bearing the
names of Argonos respectively, of Santa Maria Salome and of Broke of
Montana. One as of these two last was cast besides... It also learned
that this trawler bears the name of the village of the captain and that
it operates mainly in the sea Cantabrique and pushes time with other
some points to the Azores. The captain and Carlos sympathized and our
model maker could thus visit and photograph the boat under all his seams.
He even could, several years of continuation, to take part in the
maritime procession with the glory of the Virgin El Carmen, which
enabled him to embark on Argonos. He was thus broken with the traditions
of the sea. Later, it remained in liaison with " the owner "
of the boat, until the day when it last yielded its trawler to be
established in the Canary Islands. Of return in Belgium, Carlos Alonzo
could from now on undertake the construction of the boat for which it
had had this famous blow of heart. He then undertook the development of
a plan based on the many photographs and building site which,
undoubtedly, offered a hull in conformity. This plan of building site
was increased twice, which stopped the scale of the model to the 1/27
2nd. Gradually, the various parts took form and this construction
punctuated the course of the other achievements of Carlos. With its
great astonishment, it discovered, at the time of following holidays,
that Argonos had been again modified, which posed a certain dilemma with
our model maker. Towards the end of the Eighties, it even discovered
that the trawler had been repaints in red whereas its original color was
blue. It was impossible in Carlos Alonzo to make each modification to
its model and it made the wise decision to carry out the first version
which he knew of the boat, i.e. that of 1983, date on which he had taken
his photographic stereotypes. Moreover, to supplement its documentation,
it discovered, whereas Argonos was in the dry hold, the hydrants
established in the hull as well as the anodes and the sonar. It had then,
with its return of holidays, to remove the skittles stabilizer which it
had installed in accordance with the plan and to decorate its model of
the missing equipment. Finally, the construction of Argonos spread out
on nearly seven years.
The
Argonos
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