The Bluebird K7 recovery

Pablo Picasso once said: "The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." Any form of art is capable of doing so. Can you imagine that something you created could inspire and change the course of History? Donald Campbell's body and his outstanding Bluebird were found thanks to a song. Never underestimate the power of art, any form of art.

The Bluebird K7 was the name of the hydroplane used by Donald Campbell to break 7 water speed records between 1955 and 1967. it was the first successful jet-powered Hydroplane. When it was created, the record was set of 178 miles per hour. When the Bluebird K7 broke its first record, it was capable of pushing the bar 100 miles per hour more than the previous record, an outstanding read of 186 miles per hours was more than enough to write a new chapter in speed records.

Donald Campbell was able to unveil the grey post-war Britain's' austerity with flying colors. His Bluebird K7 was the latest in British technology breaking the water speed record 6 times. During this time, Lady Fortune was right by his side.

In the late 50s', he managed to flirt with land speed records too. After several setbacks, in 1964, he became the only man to break the Land speed record plus the the Water speed record. Pitifully for him, his achievements didn't gave him what he wanted. Americans could go even faster on rocket-powered vehicles, his way of doing things couldn't cope with the advances of the time. Man was in space, times were a changing...

Stubborn as he was, he focused on beating the American in their own game. He began to work on a wheel driven rocket-powered vehicle to put again British engineering on top. To do so, he had to rely on his battle horse, the mighty Bluebird K7. His idea was to push the Water record over the 300 miles per hour to get the necessary sponsorship and be able to fight the Americans on land.

The K7 was originally designed for a top speed of 250 mph. he updated his Bluebird and choose Coniston waters to achieve the unachievable back in 1967. Bad weather and some technical problems lead to the disastrous ending of the Bluebird and Campbell on their final attempt to break the record.

Back in 1994, many years from the dreadful news, a young singer called Steve Hogarth wrote a meaningful lyric that ended up in their newest record. The name of the album "Afraid of Sunlight," the song, "Out of this world."

Hogarth was still having a hard time with Marillion die hard fans. He got into the fold to replace Dereck Dick (A.K.A. Fish) as the lead singer. "Afraid of sunlight" became a huge success for the band that many believed had seen its better days with Fish. The record reached top 10 in the UK charts, it became one of their most critically acclaimed albums.

While listening to the record, a young diver called Bill Smith got moved by the meaningful lyrics of "Out of this World" and decided to look for the Bluebird and recover it.

He meticulously searched Coniston Waters to finally find the exact spot where the boat rested. Steve Hogarth and another member of the band came of site to see the resurface of Campbell's machine.

I heard him tale the story of the recovery on his Podcast. It was a meaningful recollection of events. His way of putting into words the exact moment when he saw the blue paint still intact was nothing less than incredible. It was October 2000 when the first section was recovered.

On May 2001, the remains of Campbell's body were found, but the skull and his helmet are still missing. The cause of death was not possible to be determined. It was said later that the force of impact could have caused Campbell's decapitation.

Campbell was buried in Coniston cemetery on the worst day possible for such news, it was September 12, 2001. He was sadly overshadowed by the terrorists attack that changed the world as we knew it. It was arranged to be featured on BBC news as a highlight, but I guess that Campbell burial was not as big as the worst terrorist attack in modern history.

During the service Steve Hogarth performed "Out of this world" solo. It was way too complicated to bring the band to play inside the church. By mutual agreement they decided that it was better to only have him and his microphone in such an intimate setting. What can I say about what he described? He was scared and deeply concern of not being able to maintain his composure. He simply closed his eyes and let the story take the lead.

When the song was over, without hearing a single clap, sat with his face looking straight down, amazed by how some scribed lines on paper got him this far. This story still brings chills up and down my spine.

Sure I'm a Marillion fan boy, but this song is just more than just a song. during the early 90s' my Dad used to have a Blue Ford Sierra XR4i, he always referred to his car as the "Bluebird" in honor of the achievements of Campbell's Bluebird K7. My Dad is a race enthusiast and he was and still is up to date with everything speed-related.

What a wonderful story, I was not aware that Hogarth performed on Campbell's funeral. It's incredible how far can some words and chords can take you, music is powerful, never underestimate the power of music.