Catholic Cathedral Construction Plans

It's been several speculative post-EQ years in the making...
But today, major plans for Christchurch's historic Catholic cathedral will be announced.
For those not familiar with the city, we're not talking the Anglican cathedral in the Square - this is the spectacular white Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street.
Catholic leaders have decided to deconstruct the most quake-damaged parts of the cathedral but keep other sections. The deconstructed parts will then be rebuilt in stages but would not replicate the original cathedral.
The plan will cost about $14 million (including the deconstruction), compared to $120-$170m to restore the whole building. Previous estimates have put the cost of a modern cathedral at about $40m.
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is a Heritage NZ Cat.1 building, completed in 1905. It's considered one of the finest examples of Renaissance-style architecture in NZ and was innovative for its use of a concrete structure with Oamaru stone cladding.
The front facade of the cathedral partially collapsed in the Feb.2011 EQ. The back of the building has since been partially deconstructed, with removed masonry, copper detailing and windows stored off-site.
Heritage expert Ian Lochhead: "The building is the grandest of all the Roman Catholic cathedrals constructed in NZ in the 19th and early 20th centuries."
More details will be announced at a press conference at 11am today.

Update: The details, as released today...

Lord Clive To Be Recovered

A sunken English warship may see sunlight this year, after being submerged for 252 years.
The 50m privateer Lord Clive, sunk by the Spaniards in 1763, was discovered off the coast of Uruguay in 2004 by adventurer Ruben Collado. He now has permission from the Uruguay govt to bring up the remains.

Collado and model of Lord Clive

The 60-gun Lord Clive was sunk by coastal fire, as the British and Portuguese tried to bombard and take the city of Colonia del Sacramento from the Spanish during the Seven Years War.
The ship, equipped to wage war for 3-4yrs, may have been carrying extensive amounts of gold.
The muddy waters and fast currents of the River Plate will prove to be serious obstacles for the recovery team. As well, the Lord Clive is covered with tons of rocky material that crews must remove first. Recovery efforts for the remains of the six-story high ship should begin this August.
Background: The vessel was originally HMS Kingston, a 60-gun Royal Navy ship, launched on 13 March 1697. She had an eventful career, taking part in numerous battles.
The ship was sold to privateers linked to the East India Company on 14 January 1762, and renamed Lord Clive.
That same year (during the Spanish-Portuguese War of 1761-1763), these privateers, fighting for Portugal, planned to conquer Spanish territory in South America. They organised a raid on Buenos Aires, but the idea was soon abandoned as the Spanish were too well-prepared.
On January 6, 1763, they tried to capture Colonia del Sacramento (on the opposite bank of the River Plate). Lord Clive and several other ships started bombardment, but encountered strong resistance from the city gun battery.
After three hours, a fire broke out on Lord Clive: it rapidly spread and, when the magazine blew up, she sunk immediately - 272 were killed.

Faroe Islands: Set The Whales Free!

Sea Shepherd has announced its 2015 Faroe Islands pilot whale defence campaign will be called Operation Sleppid Grindini.
From June 14 until October, SS will return to the rugged but beautiful Faroe Islands to again halt the mass slaughter of long-finned pilot whales and other small cetaceans there.
The campaign marks the commencement of SS's increased presence in the North Atlantic, where the organisation will use its Southern Ocean successes to combat the continuing slaughter

Sam Simon

of cetaceans.
The slaughter, known by the Faroese word grindadráp or grind, is a brutal and bloody tradition that wipes out entire family groups of whales and dolphins at one time.
The 2015 campaign name sleppid grindini means "set the whales free" in Faroese - and is the traditional order used by the grind foreman to call off a whale hunt.
Op.Sleppid Grindini campaign leader Captain Alex Cornelissen: "Our crews will do everything legally possible to ensure the pilot whales are set free. Our intervention is not aimed at imposing our values on the Faroese. It is part of a global movement driven by the passion to protect these pilot whales and all of the precious life in our oceans."
Op.Sleppid Grindini will be SS's 6th.campaign in the Faroes, and will have the organisation's strongest sea presence in the region to date. SS vessels Bob Barker and Sam Simon will be joined by its fast trimaran Brigitte Bardot.

Brigitte Bardot in the Faroes