A big sailboat rammed another big sailboat

The training sailboat Royal Helena crashed into another large sailing vessel, Nao Victoria, in the Dutch town of Audesilde on Tuesday.

As eyewitnesses of the accident report, the Bulgarian barquentine Royal Helena entered the harbour at speed and crashed into the Spanish cruiser Nao Victoria moored there. Fortunately the damage to the latter was limited to damage to a small section of the bulwark.

Nao Victoria is a replica of the Spanish caracca Victoria, one of the five ships of Fernand Magellan's fleet. « Victoria» was the only one to complete a circumnavigation of the globe. She returned to Spain badly damaged and with only 18 crew members on board, a small fraction of the 250 people taking part in this adventure. The ship had been purchased by a merchant to transport goods. In 1570, on the way to Seville, the ship was lost. The replica «Victoria» was built in Spain in 1991. Following her famous prototype, the ship made her own circumnavigation of the globe between 2004 and 2006. Nao Victoria is currently on tour around Europe.

Barkentina Royal Helena was built in Bulgaria in 2009. The vessel is owned by a yacht brokerage company, which uses the sailboat as a training vessel and as a charter vessel.