Oil rig grounded on Guernsey rocks
Although public opinion was firmly against the idea, the States of Guernsey met this week in 1935 to discuss the idea of building the current airport at a cost of £150,000 (£10.3m today). They voted in favour, against the wishes of the electors, and work started almost right away on a terminal building and four grass runways.
The Orion oil rig ran aground at Grandes Rocques this week in 1978 with 30 crew onboard after breaking free of its moorings in a storm. Emergency services had to carry out a daring rescue to winch them from the 19,000-ton structure to safety. It took until March for the rig to be refloated and taken on to Brazil.
Generaloberst Friedrich Dollmann, after whom the Batterie Dollmann was named , was born this week in 1882. He had been in command of Normandy during the Second World War. The gun originally sited at Batterie Dollmann had a range of 22km, although the weapon on display at the Batterie today isn’t the original, but a similar one recovered from the coast of Jersey.
St Martin’s parish church was consecrated this week in 1199, on a site that has now been used for worship for more than a millennium – and possibly longer. The carved figure of a woman, La Gran’mere du Chimquiere, which stands at the entrance to the church grounds has been dated to 2000BC.
The St Peter Port lifeboat helped rescue 22 crew from a chemical tanker and a bulk carrier that had collided 30 miles north west of Guernsey this week in 2006. One of the ships was at risk of sinking, complete with its cargo of 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid.
Guernsey’s national poet, George Metivier, was born this week in 1790. When he died, 91 years later, he left behind an enormous body of work including the first Guernesiais dictionary.
Sir Charles Hayward, tenant of Jethou, died on his island home, aged 90, this week in 1983. He had bought the island in 1971 for the princely sum of £91,000, and quickly set about making improvements to his new domain, having made a fortune as the largest producer of motorbike sidecars in the world.
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