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Sir Peter Blake's Logbooks (Hardcover)
by Peter, Sir Blake (Author), Alan Sefton (Author) |
Sir Peter Blake: An Amazing Life (Paperback) by Alan Sefton
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The Last Great Adventure of Sir Peter Blake (Hardcover)
by Peter Blake (Author), Alan Sefton (Editor)
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Sailing legend Sir Peter Blake slain by pirates
Last Updated: Friday, December 7, 2001 | 1:08 AM ET
CBC Sports
Sir Peter Blake of New Zealand, who won the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000, was killed by pirates late Wednesday night.
Blake, a native of Auckland knighted in 1995, died during a holdup aboard 'Seamaster,' his 36-metre yacht, which was anchored off Macapa in Amapa, a jungle state along the Amazon River located about 2,500 kilometres north of Sao Paulo.
According to Blake's Website, blakexpeditions.com, seven or eight assailants boarded 'Seamaster' from a rubber dinghy and shot Blake twice.
Sir Peter Blake was slain by pirates on the Amazon River on Wednesday.(Blakexpeditions)
Attempts to resuscitate him failed. He was 53.
"Armed and hooded individuals came over the rail and had the crew at gunpoint," Blakexpeditions spokesman Alan Sefton said. "It would appear that Peter was down below and heard what was going on and came charging up."
Two of the remaining nine crew members were injured as the pirates reportedly stole a spare engine and watches.
One was grazed by a bullet across his back, while the other suffered a blow to the face.
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"Sir Peter was a very special person to many people around the world, highly regarded because of the man he was, because of everything he had achieved and because of everything he represented," Sefton said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark called Blake as "a national hero," and ordered flags flown at half-mast nationwide.
"I think he is to the waters what Sir Edmund Hillary has been to the mountains," Clark said. "He's just the most amazingly accomplished yachtsman."
"He was an inspiration to all New Zealanders and we will all feel a tremendous sense of loss."
Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso "has ordered that the criminals be promptly identified and arrested," cited a Foreign Ministry statement, and "deeply regrets the tragic death of New Zealand's renowned explorer, yachtsman and scientist."
Sefton confirmed Blake was awaiting customs clearance to leave Brazil after sailing two months throughout the nether regions of the Amazon and Rio Negro, where he met "friendly, warm, hospitable people."
"And as soon as the boat gets back into so-called civilization, something tragic happens."
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Sefton added the Amazon River expedition was expected to be the last for Blake, who sailed the Antarctic Peninsula for three months in November 2000.
"For him to go this way is inconceivable and hard to comprehend," Sefton said.
Both voyages were directly related to Blake's role as goodwill ambassador for United Nations Environment Program.
Prior to that appointment, he headed the Cousteau Society, an environmental group founded in 1973 by the late Jacques Cousteau.
"When we meet people, they also have a different appreciation of what we are and why we are here," Blake wrote in his final log entry.
"The quality of water and the quality of life in all its infinite forms are critical parts of the overall ongoing health of this planet of ours, not just here in the Amazon, but everywhere. We want to restart people caring for the environment as it must be cared for."
Albeit unrelated, Blake was mailed a death threat in March 2000.
"We've always got crank mail, but it has been going beyond that recently," Blake said at the time. "So we have taken all the precautions we were advised to take."
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Blake stunned the sailing world when he skipped 'Team New Zealand' to a 5-0 whitewash of three-time champion Dennis Conner and 'Young America' in the 1995 America's Cup at San Diego.
"It's only the second time in history that it's left America," Blake said back then. "I think that's pretty damn good.
"I think the Americans are going crazy. It'll be a very popular win everywhere."
So much so that Governor General Dame Cath Tizard deemed it New Zealand's proudest moment since Hillary successfully scaled Mount Everest in 1953.
"He was a hero and role model for the New Zealand people and, obviously, a winner that was focused and accomplished his goals, whether it was winning the round-the-world race or the America's Cup," Conner said, upon hearing of Blake's passing.
Blake went on to become the first non-American entry in 149 years to defend the Auld Mug by crushing Italy's Pravda, 5-0 aboard 'Black Magic' last year.
America's Cup organizer Bruno Trouble said Blake "went through life like lightning. Peter was an extraordinary leader of men.
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"He had an amazing charisma. I think that he was actually hiding his shyness."
Blake's earlier sailing exploits are equally legendary.
He won the nine-month Whitbread Round the World Race aboard 'Steinlager 1' in 1989 -- one of five he competed in -- then the Jules Verne Trophy five years later for circumnavigating the globe on 'ENZA New Zealand' -- a catamaran -- in a record 74 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds.
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