Amitabh Sharma, Features Coordinator

A total of seven officers, 43 sailors, 270 Indian Naval Cadets and 30 foreign officer trainees are a part of this voyage. The ship will arrive in Grand Turk, the Turks & Caicos Islands from Antigua on April 30, en route to Port Canaveral.

Man has always been intrigued by the unknown and has always been in the quest of going fathoms into the deep blue sea to seek that unknown. Explorer Christopher Columbus said: "By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination."

Years after Columbus and his likes set out to seek new civilisation sailors of the Indian Navy are braving the high seas and undertaking a voyage across the globe aboard their sailing ship INS Tarangini, facing the elements and the unknowns of the seas for a journey around the globe.

In its latest voyage, the INS Tarangini, commissioned in November 1997, is the only sail ship of the Indian Navy. The sail ship has circumvented the globe twice prior to this voyage, with the aim of spreading messages of world peace and harmony.

Indian Naval Ship Tarangini (The name 'Tarangini' comes from the Hindi word 'Tarang' meaning waves) is calling on the port of Antigua from April 19 to 24. This will be the first time that the ship is visiting the Caribbean.

INS Tarangini departed from Kochi in India on January 10, 2007. Transiting through the Suez Canal it would reach the Atlantic coast of North America in early May 2007 in time to participate in the 'Tall Ships Challenge Series 07', organised by the American Sail Training Association.

The INS Tarangini is participating in a series of Tall Ship events, The World Peace Cup, Sail Virginia, Sail Rhode Island and Sail Boston. A total of seven officers, 43 sailors, 270 Indian naval cadets and 30 foreign-officer trainees are a part of this voyage. The ship will arrive in Grand Turk, the Turks & Caicos

Islands from Antigua on April 30, 2007 en route to Port Canaveral.

She will be calling at 24 ports in 16 countries on this adventure, and return to Kochi, India on October 31, 2007.

INS Tarangini was designed by Colin Mudie and built at Goa Shipyard in India. The Ship's crest depicts a mother swan teaching her young ones to swim and fly.

The Ship carries 20 sails with a sail area of 965.4 sq. m. In sailing parlance, the ship is termed as a 'Three Masted Barque', which means the ship is 'Square Rigged' on Fore Mast and Main Mast and 'Fore & Aft' rigged on the Mizzen Mast.

INS Tarangini is the first ship of the Indian Navy to have circumnavigated the globe, from January 2003 to April 2005. Sailing on the theme of 'Building Bridges of Friendship Across the Oceans' she called at 37 ports in 18 countries covering a distance of 34,923 Nautical miles.

Tarangini has also taken part in the Tall Ship Races in the Great Lakes; the ship won the ASTA Great Lakes Challenge 2003.

Another voyage

In 2005, INS Tarangini undertook another voyage across the high seas of Europe ; this time the mission 'Strengthening Bridges of Friendship Across the Seas', in this voyage the ship visited 13 countries covering a distance of over 15,000 nautical miles.

INS Tarangini, along with INS Tir and INS Krishna form the First Training Squadron of the Indian Navy, the fifth largest in the world. Naval Cadets passing out of the National Defence Academy join the ships of this squadron every June and December for their training in Seamanship and Navigation.

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com