Fitzgerald = Gherardini
European Anon here:an interesting article, which I translate, for those interested in the Kennedy-Europe ties: A same family, a same medieval root clinging to the lands of the Italian Valdelsa: the Gherardini, Fitzgerald, Kennedy. A triangle Italy, Ireland, United States that closes on the shores of Lake Como, at Villa Serbelloni, June 30, 1963, when the American president, before starting the official visit to Italy and unknowingly close to death, gives himself a few hours of truce, secretly meeting a Gherardini, the last descendant of the ancient family. Whose, even from a distance, he also belongs. To rebuild the path of the Tuscan Gherardians who disembark in Ireland, they leave as Fitzgerald and land in Boston, we must arm ourselves with patience (historiography), take out the atlas and look for Wales. Because the key to everything is there. Just in the annals of Wales at some point in the Middle Ages the surname Geraldines mysteriously appears, of non-Welsh or English origin, in the person of Otho, father of a Gerald, grandfather of a Maurice. The latter is the true protagonist of the story, the progenitor of the dynasty: it is he who leaves Wales with the intent to conquer Ireland in 1169, in the pay of the English king Henry II. It is he who climbs over the sea and lands on the island along with 200 other knights, survives the truculent body to body called battles, receives lands and villages as compensation. Once installed in the new fiefdoms, Maurice abandons the Latin Geraldines for the Gaelic Fitz Gerald (son of Gerald, the father). The seed is thrown, in the years it will sprout, leaving hundreds of heirs. Maurice has indeed landed and fights in Ireland with his sons Gerald and Thomas. They will give rise respectively to the main branch of the Fitzgerald accounts of Kildare-dukes of Leinster, installed in the east, and to that cadet of the counts Fitgzgerald of Desmond, settled in Munster, to the west. But if the landing in Ireland of Maurice, Gerald and Thomas Geraldines is established, the controversial point for historians is another: who are these Geraldines? And how did they get there, in Wales? Step back. As always, not everyone agrees. Especially if it is about rummaging around the first millennium, when it was difficult to go to the notary to certify a revolution or found a kingdom. Among the mercenary troops gathered by William on the French beaches, there is also a certain knight Otho, a spouse of the Tuscan family of the Gherardini of Florence, whose surname, almost unpronounceable for the Anglo-Normans, is transformed into Geraldines. Otho crosses the sea and settles in Wales with descent. That will move from there to the conquest of Ireland, a hundred years later.The majority of Italian (and French) chronicles, on the other hand, advances a second hypothesis, shaded by legendary centuries: Maurice, Gerald and Thomas are not father and children, but three bellicose brothers who fled from Florence and landed in Ireland. Always of the Gherardini family with an unpronounceable surname, always together with Henry II during the invasion of the island of 1169, and always leaving from Wales. Where, however, they have never settled, and where they are only because there is the bulk of the troops concentrated for the final assault. Be that as it may, in both versions the trace left by history starts from the tumults of medieval Florence, from the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines. From this restless race, the Gherardini, feudal lords of the Valdelsa, columns of the ancient republican aristocracy, but also fomenters of disorder, decided not to bow to the changing times. They do not yield the three brothers who have escaped, who prefer exile to urbanization, the sword to compromise. Representatives of a slow-moving chivalric spirit, I do not agree with the new way of supporting the city by skilled merchants and wealthy bankers. They do not share the mercantile vision that over the years will lead to the fortune of Florence, the Arts, the Corporations. At the Renaissance. They are Ghibellines in the soul, and ready to pay the price. Florence fights them with ardor, in fact the departure of the brothers is only the beginning of a progressive purge. A hundred years later, it is the bulk of the race that ends up exiled in Verona, along with Dante Alighieri, and for the same reasons. It is 1302, the Guelfi Neri triumph, Pope Bonifacio VIII extends his plots on Florence. This time is really the end for the aristocracy of the countryside not willing to bend. It is the end of the feudal era. After a desperate resistance, the castle of the Gherardini di Montagliati, between Siena and Florence, the confiscated property was razed to the ground. Via Gherardini becomes Via Lambertesca, the powerful family is canceled, the coats of arms together with the memory. (part1)
(Part2)
A city ostracism with long tentacles, even if cloaked in folklore: even today, seven centuries later, in Panzano in Chianti the hanging of a Gherardini is celebrated annually, involved in a fight with the local lords. Meanwhile, while the bulk of the race Gherardini is struggling with exile and invented a new beginning in Verona, the Geraldines become Fitzgerald are getting busy in Ireland. Disembarked on the island to 'Anglicizzarla', they rule it for a while in the name of the British, coming to conquer the title of Viceroy. To then convert into champions of its independence, especially when the Anglo-Saxon power changes skin and raises the Protestant banner. Catholics in the marrow, those close to the altar and far from the sacristy, many Fitzgeralds end up imprisoned or condemned to death. They argue with Henry VIII and leave their heads behind. The cadet branch of Desmond is even extinguished when the 15th Earl is assassinated in 1583: a death on which the shadow of Elizabeth lies. But for centuries the Fitzgerald of Desmond colonize the counties of Cork, Kerry and Limerick. In a changing hierarchy of major and minor kingdoms, of riches built and lost, they raise castles or simple farms, populate them with legitimate and non-legitimate children. Along the way they leave in Limerick a rosary of names: John of Callan, John Sursainge, John Fitzgerald also called Fitz Robert. From this lineage in the middle of the 18th century James Fitzgerald, the great-grandfather of the President Kennedy's mother, came into the world. Not much is known of him, only that he marries Hannah Mac Carthy in 1793, in the parish of Knockaney. They live in Lough Gur, County Limerick. Any place in the endless heathland of the midwest of Ireland, from which it is not difficult to imagine a starvation in the black years of the great nineteenth-century famine. That's what farmhand Thomas Fitgerald, Kennedy's maternal grandfather, is doing: pressured by poverty, he embarks on a ship to New York in 1850. Like Otho, like Maurice before him, he once again climbs the sea for a new beginning. In his suitcase he has a Bible, the same on which one day the (bis) nephew will swear before the whole nation becoming the 35th President. And it is right here, in any place in the Irish midwest abandoned by his ancestors, that John Fitzgerald Kennedy stops on June 28, 1963. The purpose? Receive a medal from the mayor and meet 46 fellow countrymen of Lough Gur, who share the American President with at least two things: the surname and some DNA monomer. It is a famous trip, the one made in Europe by Kennedy four months before his death, the same that takes him to Berlin, London, Dublin and finally to Italy, with a private stop in Como and an official visit to Rome and Naples. The same that will end with an unfulfilled promise: 'See you again in spring'. A political mission, of course, but also something more: a search for roots, a tribute to the history of the ancestors of which he feels epigono. In hindsight, even a farewell. Kennedy himself declares his distant Italian origins to the world: he did it on October 12, 1962, in New Jersey, during the Columbus Day celebrations. Referring to his maternal grandfather, John Francis Fitzgerald, called 'Honey Fitz', mayor of Boston and Congressman, Kennedy says literally to the Italian-American audience: "My grandfather always told us that the Fitzgeralds are actually Italian, and descend from the Geraldines, who came from Venice: I never had the courage to claim this statement, I will do it here today … ". Aside from the exchange of Florence with Venice, what emerges from Kennedy's words is the strength of tradition, that 'my grandfather always told us' built on memory, and proud to reassemble the plot. In fact, more than the belief of a distant kinship, that which links the Fitzgeralds of Ireland to the Gherardini of Tuscany seems almost a faith. From an oral source, there is an early road to historical documentation. Since the beginning of the fifteenth century, innumerable texts confirm the regular relations between the two families, based on the evocation of an ancient blood bond.
(part3)
There are the chronicles of Octavian by Rossellino Gherardini, who writes of the visit to Florence by Maurice Fitzgerald in 1413, Augustine of the Cathedral of Artefort ("said that his ancients were of the same blood de Gherardini of Florence, and wished to know someone of that home..");
there is the letter from Betto de 'Gherardini to James Fitzgerald, Count of Desmond, to recommend his son Giovanni, who was leaving for the island in 1440 ("… also in Ibernia, the most remote of the islands, where our Florentines are due to you today rulers "); there is the text preserved by the canon Lorenzo Gherardini in which Gerard Fitzgerald Count of Kildare writes in 1507 that "… we have been grateful to you for your letters, or very proud men, for whom we could understand the fervor of your fraternal love … I will briefly warn you to be from your family in these parts ..
". And on through the centuries, from letter to letter. In a weaving of relationships that unfold to this day.Returning from exile only in the middle of the last century, the Gherardini family lives a secluded life today in Florence. Every thirty years or so, he celebrates with his Irish cousins a sort of historical-re-evocative gathering, whose roots sink in time.
The last meeting took place in 1983 on the banks of the Arno. The Fitgerald delegation is headed by Gerald, 8th Duke of Leinster, last descendant - at the time - of the surviving branch, that of the Kildare-Leinster; the Gherardini representation is led by the Countess Cinzia Maria, together with the brothers Maria Teresa and Gian Raffaello. Definitely more imaginative in the names of relatives across the Channel.
"These are special meetings - confesses Jacopo Gherardini, son of Cinzia - people who have never been seen before, are called by name and embraces them with an incomprehensible, yet authentic, familiarity". Just as if you had known for a thousand years. In 1983 he held up the Irish question: strong is the idea of some complicity among Catholics to contribute to the solution of the problem. There is also a request for help for the cause, which Italian cousins take into consideration, perhaps remembering when the family supported Ciro Menotti and the Italian Risorgimento.
From the meeting of 83, the ambition is born to do something more, to join forces to generate change. At the end of the 1990s, Count Gian Raffaello founded the "Fitgerald Foundation of Florence", based in New York, a non-profit organization aimed at involving the Gherardini, Fitzgerald and Kennedy families in a historical project on the emigration of Italians and Irishmen in America.
The design does not take off, and the Foundation remains today only a few faint traces on the Internet. But the idea of collecting challenges, of continuing to fight for another conception of society, for hopes that still remain to be realized, seems to be inscribed in the chromosomes of the lineage.
Two years ago, Kerry Kennedy set up his Human Rights Center in Florence, the "Robert F. Kennedy" Foundation in honor of his father, the man shot down in Los Angeles while he was on his way to a reformist vision of the presidency. In that man, mowed on the steps of History, once again the whole imperfect parable of the family is inscribed: that of a lineage of cold and warm-blooded mind, always ready to start again, to take strength from errors and weaknesses, to fight for what is worthy of being done. And also to pay the price.
PS.
In 1985 a FitzGerald (Garret, Prime Minister of Ireland) made the Sunningdale agreement with Margaret Thatcher. This agreement was the beginning of the peace chimney in Northern Ireland a few years later
The Westinghouse Mk-11 'Abalone' rebreather was worn on the back and enabled divers to operate deeper than regular breathing apparatus. The specialized MH-11 helmet was made by Kirby-Norman.
>Unless it was the good guys who knew the plan to 187 her. They have her safe somewhere when the time is needed. Just a thought.
Yes but Where?
Keep in mind that many data are kept secret, of course, while for civil uses
Dive duration is governed by the CNS oxygen toxicity clock, the life of the CO2 Scrubber and the gas supply
Oxygen exposure limits are laid down by NOAA and according to their Exposure Limits dive duration at the default setpoint of 1.3 bar is limited to 3 hours (or 3 1/2 hours per day). This will vary if a different setpoint is selected.
Third party tested for CE certification: the Inspiration xpd and Inspiration evp's 2.5kg Scrubber stated duration is 3 hours. The Inspiration evo’s 2kg Scrubber is 2 hours *
[* tested with 797 Sofnolime in cold water (4ºC) at a continual breathing rate of 40 litres per minute RMV and a CO2 production rate of 1.6 lpm]
These times will vary as scrubber duration depends upon factors such as the individual diver’s CO2 production rate, water temperature and work rate. In practice, with an AP CO2 Scrubber Monitor (TempStik) fitted (an optional upgrade) which takes account of actual conditions, scrubber life can be accurately tracked with a visual display on the handset and these nominal durations extended considerably with confidence. Note: Without a scrubber monitor, divers should adhere strictly to these duration guide times.
The Inspiration xpd and evp's 3 litre cylinder will give up to 10 hours of diving. The smaller Inspiration evo ’s 2 litre cylinder (2 x 200 bar = 400 litres) offers over 6 1/2 hours duration.
Even if you had to work really hard on a series of dives and doubled your usual metabolic rate (to about 2 litres/min) – you would still get 5 hours or so from the one 3 litre, or 3 hours+ from the 2 litre cylinder of the smaller unit.
Keep in mind that i'm European (not doxing..) .. The most advanced nations (militarily speaking) in the field of diving for what is known, are in the order USA, Russia, Italy and Norway. Rebreather technology has been used at least by the US since 1965.
If you are an experienced diver you’ll be very aware that the bulk of your gas is lost, bubbled away, every time you breathe out and that this waste increases dramatically, the deeper you go. With fully closed circuit rebreathers like the AP Inspiration, all of your exhaled gas is retained within the system in a closed loop. It is then filtered, refreshed and recycled back to you to breathe again. Bubbles escape only during ascent and mask clearing.
Diving an AP rebreather is essentially like diving with a small nitrox blending machine on your back - one that constantly produces the best gas for whatever depth you are at. How does it do this? By using the elegant mechanism of Constant PO2.
On open circuit scuba the gas mix, or fraction of Oxygen, is constant (approx. 21% O2 in air) at all depths while the partial pressure of Oxygen (ppO2 or PO2) is variable with depth – i.e. 0.21 bar at the surface, 0.42 at 10m, 0.63 at 20m and so on.
With APD CCRs it is the opposite case: the PO2 is held constant (at a Setpoint) by the rebreather controller and consequently the mix or fraction (FO2) of oxygen is variable as the diver changes depth. How so? Read on…
The AP controller maintains a constant PO2 at the chosen PO2 Setpoint throughout the dive (usually 0.7bar at the surface and for descent and 1.3 for the rest) by adding a fresh squirt of oxygen when the pressure of O2 falls below this setpoint (due to metabolism by the diver or when ascending). As a result, the FO2 (or O2 percentage) varies with depth.
This can be better understood if you imagine a diver ascending from 50m…
At 50m the ambient pressure is 6 bar. The controller maintains the PO2 at the Setpoint of 1.3 bar - therefore, the fraction of oxygen in the loop is 1.3 ÷ 6 = approx. 0.21 or 21%. As the diver ascends the ambient pressure drops, PO2 in the loop falls and oxygen is injected by the controller until the Setpoint is regained. And so, the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) remains the same but the percentage of oxygen in the mix rises. You can see from the table above that the diver's gas is oxygen-rich at deco depths - 80%+ rising to 100% at 3m - ideal for speedy deco.
Why is oxygen-rich gas the best? Good question, and one most divers will already be familiar with:
In a nutshell… the more oxygen in the mix, the less inert gas (nitrogen, helium) for our bodies to absorb and create deco obligations. And so: Oxygen-rich = more dive-time, greater depth, less deco.
The Inspiration is a complex piece of kit - but ingeniously simple at heart. There are two onboard cylinders. One contains pure oxygen, the other a diluent gas - usually Air.
The diluent gas has several important functions: injected to maintain counterlung volume on descent, compensating for squeeze (injected either automatically via the Auto Diluent Valve (ADV) or manually by the diver if no ADV is fitted); it is also used for BCD and dry-suit inflation. Only small quantities are used – typically 30-40 bar per dive.
As a ‘diluent’ or dilutant, it dilutes the gas mix so that it is safe to breathe at depths greater than 6m. If the rebreather had only pure oxygen in the loop (as some historic designs did) then it would rise to the hyperoxic upper limit of 1.6 bar at 6m. [The physiological safety band of oxygen pressure for human beings is 0.16 to 1.6 bar] Using diluent allows the unit to maintain a safe PO2 (i.e. the unit’s 0.7 bar lower default setpoint) on descent.
The diluent gas also provides an important reserve gas supply for either a "diluent flush"or open circuit bailout if needed.
*NOTE: If Trimix / Heliox is used instead of Air as the diluent supply and modification is made to the bailout contingency, AP CCRs can be dived to depths of 100m+. For Trimix dives it is necessary to pre-mix a diluent that is suitable for the target depth in terms of PO2 and PH2. Although, on these dives there is no increase in deco-free bottom times compared to open circuit, the fact that the breathing mixture is optimised during the ascent reduces dive planning, simplifies the logisitics, reduces the gas cost exponentially, can reduce the deco times and gives the diver the stress-reducing flexibility of extended gas durations.