MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A “Malvinas Heroes” library to the opened at the End of the World lighthouse

The “Galileo” left from Bahía Blanca this week and is expected at Ushuaia sometime between 24/26 January, some 2.000km navigation

An Argentine yacht with a crew of five, one of them a survivor of the sinking of ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands conflict have left Bahia Blanca for Ushuaia and then on to the End of the World Lighthouse at the Isla de los Estados, where they plan to open a library under the name of “Malvinas Heroes”.

The sailing boat “Galileo” belonging to the Malvinas Argentinas Foundation will also attend a mass to honor the 44 crewmembers of the sunken Argentine submarine ARA San Juan.

The Navaltec 38 ocean-going sailing boat is 11.50 meters long, 3.75m wide, a 1.70m draft keel is on its third such cruise: on a previous occasion it joined a ceremony in the high seas to honor the lost crewmembers of “General Belgrano”, and on another they transported an image of “Our Lady of the Malvinas”, which was specially blessed by Pope Francis.

The five crew members are Nilo Navas, skipper and Malvinas veteran, Andrés Antonini, Damián Galera, Mario Monserrat and Facundo Antonini, and they expect to call at Ushuaia sometime between 24/26 January. Once in Ushuaia three more members from the “Malvinas Foundation” are scheduled to join the party.

The trip was originally planned for January 2018 but it was cancelled because of the ARA San Juan disappearance and tragedy.

“We plan to sail from Ushuaia through the Beagle Channel, a day of navigation before we reach the light house at the Island of the Estados, where we plan to open a library with books donated by Bahia Blanca residents, as well as from other provinces and countries”, indicated Navas.

The expedition will also place several commemorative plaques, and enthrone the Virgin of Malvinas, which was in Bahía Blanca and will definitively rest at Ushuaia, “its natural ground”.

Navas added that besides calling at Puerto Cook and Puerto Parry, where there is a small Argentine naval outpost with four marines, Galileo will return to Ushuaia where it will be docked for the rest of the year, since “our next planned expedition, in January 2020 is Antarctica, to visit Argentine bases, which I have been told is a unique experience”