GLASGOW 2014: ST. HELENA FINALLY ARRIVE AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES

By Saj Chowdhury, BBC Sport in Glasgow, 23^rd July 2014

A Royal Mail ship, two flights, 8,500 miles and 10 days of travelling - the St. Helena team’s route to Glasgow 2014 has been nothing short of epic.

St. Helena is a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean which has a population of only about 4,000.

The party of eight, six athletes and two officials, set off on a five-day crossing to Cape Town on 11^th July and stopped off for three days before arriving, via Amsterdam, on Monday.

“It has been all-out, non-stop travelling,” said 22-year-old badminton player Lee Yon, who did short running bursts on the RMS St. Helena to keep fit. “It took 10 days to get here.”

Yon’s team manager Nick Stevens said: “I got him to do some shadow play, so he was doing his strokes without the racquet and the shuttle on the top deck, similar to shadow boxing. But the area to practise in was not even the size of a badminton court.”

Since 1989, St. Helena has relied on RMS St. Helena, a cargo-passenger ship and one of the last remaining Royal Mail ships, for transportation of people and goods. However, from 2016 it will have its own airport.

“That will make it a lot easier for us to compete,” added Yon.

St. Helena at the Commonwealth Games: This is their sixth CWG - they have yet to win a medal; St. Helena will be competing in the swimming, badminton and shooting

See also: Sport in St. Helena

BRITAIN’S LAST OVERSEAS TERRITORIES HOME TO MORE THAN 1,500 UNIQUE SPECIES

Spiky Yellow Woodlouse getting world famous{a}

The Independent Wednesday 21^st May 2014, by Cahal Milmo

Britain’s remaining colonial possessions - stretching from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean - are teeming with unique animal species ranging from a spiky woodlouse to a shrimp confined to two mid-Atlantic rock pools, according to a study.

The first comprehensive survey of wildlife on the 14 Overseas Territories from Montserrat to the Chagos Islands found more than 1,500 animals and plants which are unique to their surroundings and found nowhere else on earth.

The findings mean that the islands outside the United Kingdom mainland are home to nearly 95 per cent of all uniquely “British” species. Experts at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which was commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to conduct the research, said it was possible a further 2,000 unique or endemic species exist in the territories.

The unique creatures already known to exist include the Cahow, a dove-sized seabird found only in Bermuda and thought extinct for 300 years until it was rediscovered in 1951, and a flightless moth recently discovered on Tristan da Cunha in the southern Atlantic.

But the researchers warned that many of the species are extraordinarily rare and work needs to be done to assess their conservation status. Among the rarest creatures are the Ascension Island predatory shrimp, which exists in just two rock pools, and the spiky yellow woodlouse, of which just 90 individuals have been found on St. Helena.

Jonathan Hall, of the RSPB, said: “Because there has been no assessment of these unique British species, we have no idea how they are faring: they could be thriving, or hurtling off a cliff. We simply don’t know, but we urgently need to find out.”

St. Helena, the volcanic outcrop in the middle of the Atlantic used to imprison Napoleon, was found to contain the highest number of endemic species with 502 unique animals and plants, followed by Bermuda, with 321.

Anguilla in the Caribbean had fewest with five, followed by the British Indian Ocean Territory, better known as the Chagos Islands, with nine.

Editor’s Note

We tried to find this article on www.independent.co.uk but failed. Their search just didn’t work and the pages were to slow and too illogically categorised to search manually. So this copy comes from the St. Helena Independent.

See also: Endemic Species

‘LIBERTY BOUND’ EXHIBITION SHOWCASES THE FIRST ARCHEOLOGIST JOURNEY TO ST. HELENA

BayTV, Liverpool 3^rd April 2014 By Gaelle LeGrand

Exploring the concept of freedom through the journey of slaves on St. Helena: the new exhibition of the International Slavery Museum, ‘Liberty Bound’, lands on this tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

This remote place, located more than 1,200 miles away from the nearest coast, has been a stopover for many ships since the 17^th century.

More than 200 hundred years later, a team of archeologists decided to reach the island and explore the remains of this place where hundreds of people were made slaves.

Dr Andrew Pearson, Historian and Archeologist in Cardiff and at Bristol University, led the team over the island to pursue his researches. He said: “ We expected to find very little. St. Helena is known as the place for Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile from 1815 to 1821.

“We were the first archeologists ever to work on the island, and beyond Napoleon, there wasn’t anything that much known about the island.

“What we found in Rupert’s Valley were an enormous number of bodies of African slaves freed by the Royal Navy in the 1840’s and the 1850’s, but within very small dense areas of burials and graveyards, so it was quite of a macabre find but a very significant one.”

“Millions of African were shipped across the Atlantic between the 15^th and the 19^th century, but you can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you can only read about it. That’s quite an abstract experience.

“Here, in Rupert’s Valley, we’ve excavated 325 of African bodies, who were quite literally, straight off the slave ship.

“So you come face to face with the victims and that’s an extraordinarily powerful thing to face. Children, young mothers, young adults, all essentially killed by the slave trade.

The team also found artefacts belonging to the slaves who had been buried on their arrival in St. Helena.

Dr Pearson said: “It also personalise it. In the exhibition, we have thousands of glass beads, which were worn as earrings or necklaces, we have bracelets. We start to see people as people, who have a sense of beauty, of their own esthetics, a sense of their own identity.”

Saint Helena, which was discovered in 1502 by Joao da Nova, a Portuguese navigator, moved to the hands of the English East India Company in 1657. The island is considered as a gem on both historical and cultural levels.

Dr Pearson said: “Saint Helena is an extraordinary place, first of all by the fact that you can only reach it by boat. The thing that appealed to me is that it’s not fragmented. Because there has been so little development, it all still joins up, it’s all a whole.

St. Helena is now part of the British Overseas Territory. The British government has invested £250,000 in the construction of an airport on the island, an operation that led to the discovering of the slaves’ remains. The airport is meant to bring 30,000 tourists every year on St. Helena.

See also: Slaves and slavery

MEET JONATHAN, ST. HELENA’S 182-YEAR-OLD GIANT TORTOISE

BBC 13^th March 2014 By Sally Kettle, St. Helena

Our world is full of weird and wonderful creatures, many of which amaze scientists and non-scientists, alike. But is it true that a living tortoise could have started its life in the first half of the 19^th Century?

Plantation House in St. Helena sits proud amid gumwood trees alive with chirps and whistles.

It is the official residence of Mark Capes, Governor of the British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic. I have not come to see the governor, nor the large brown hillocks which dot the pristine lawns.

It’s only when my guide Joe Hollis, the sole vet on the island, bangs on a large metal bowl, that all becomes clear. The hillocks rise and trot surprisingly swiftly towards us.

Meet Jonathan, Myrtle and Fredrika, three of five giant tortoises who live on St. Helena. Their shy friends David and Emma are hiding in the rough.

“He is virtually blind from cataracts, has no sense of smell - but his hearing is good,” Joe tells me. At 182, Jonathan may be the oldest living land creature.

Jonathan, a Boer War prisoner, and a guard, around 1900

Jonathan is a rare Seychelles Giant. His lawn-fellows hail from the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean. Aldabra Giants number about 100,000, but only one small breeding population of Seychelles tortoises exists.

Map of Ascension, St. Helena and Tristan Da Cuhna

St. Helena was born as a violent volcano, and along with Ascension and Tristan du Cunha in the South Atlantic, is famed for its isolation and close-knit society. Jamestown, its capital, became a centre of commerce for the East India Company in the 17^th Century.

Many victims of the slave trade - sick and dying - would spend their final hours on the shores of St. Helena. And then there was Napoleon, in exile.

Its inhabitants, known as Saints, share this complex past, and ethnic traits of Africans, Americans, Europeans and Chinese.

Nobody knows why Jonathan ended up in St. Helena.

During the 17^th Century ships could contain hundreds of easily-stacked tortoises, like a fast-food takeaway. In the Galapagos islands alone around 200,000 tortoises are thought to have been killed and eaten at this time.

How did Jonathan avoid this fate?

Maybe he became a curio for Hudson Janisch, governor in the 1880s.

Thirty-three governors have come and gone since then, and nobody wants Jonathan to die on their watch. Mr Capes is certainly keen “that he should be treated with the respect, attention and care he surely deserves”.

A photograph taken in 1882 shows Jonathan at his full size, and it can take 50 years to reach that physical maturity.

The years since haven’t always been kind. Tourists would often do whatever it took to get “that” photo.

Now, a viewing corridor runs along the bottom of the lawn to keep overzealous sightseers at bay. It was a huge privilege for me to get so up close and personal.

Jonathan loves having his neck stroked. His head extends out from his shell to a surprising length.

He snaps for his food - bananas, cabbage and carrots - with some ferocity. Joe almost lost the end of his thumb and has resorted to wearing thick gloves.

“He doesn’t mean to nip me,” he says, “he just finds it difficult to locate his food.”

Tortoises scrape at the grass with their horny beaks, made from keratin, like nails.

More on Jonathan

Seychelles giant tortoises can weigh up to 300kg (660 lbs) and grow to be 1.3m (4 ft) long

Jonathan’s life has spanned eight British monarchs from George IV to Elizabeth II, and 51 prime ministers

It is thought Jonathan was brought to St. Helena from the Seychelles as a mature adult in 1882

If it’s correct that he is 182 years old that would make him about 10 years too young to have met Napoleon, who died in 1821, even if he had spent his whole life on St. Helena

Blindness made it hard for Jonathan to find the right vegetation, and due to malnutrition Jonathan’s beak became blunt and soft, adding to his problems finding food.

Now there’s a new feeding regime, in place where Joe delivers a bucket of fresh fruit and vegetables every Sunday morning.

With this extra nutritional boost Jonathan’s skin now looks plump and feels supple.

His beak has become a deadly weapon for anyone attempting to shove a carrot anywhere near his mouth. And he can belch.

Tortoises may be slow but they are noisy, especially when they mate: “A noise like a loud harsh escape of steam from a giant battered old kettle, often rounded off with a deep oboe-like grunt.” Joe reassures me it’s another indicator of good health.

Unfortunately, Jonathan’s trysts have not produced young - thus far.

Though giant tortoises like Jonathan can live up to 250 years, the community has already drafted a detailed plan for when he finally pops his shell - dubbed “Operation Go Slow”.

It will ensure all runs smoothly when the inevitable happens, in fact his obituary has already been written.

It has also been decided that stuffing Jonathan would be a rather morbid and outdated thing to do.

Instead his shell will be preserved and will go on display in St. Helena.

The Saints would like to raise funds for a life-size bronze statue of him.

When he goes, Jonathan will be mourned by friends and admirers on St. Helena and around the world.

But to me, he is also a symbol of a remote society, soldiering on in genuine isolation.

This story was also carried by www.globalanimal.org.

See also: Jonathan the tortoise

LAST POST: QUEEN’S BATON SAILS FOR FINAL TIME TO REMOTE SAINT HELENA

BBC 27^th February 2014

The RMS St. Helena is one of the last working Royal Mail ships in the world - a lifeline for the people living on its namesake island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier this month the Queen’s Baton Relay, the Commonwealth Games’ version of the Olympic torch, travelled on a special voyage. The transport of the baton highlighted the ship’s vital role to the lives of the 4000 people who live on the British Overseas Territory, located between Africa and South America and famous for being the island of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte.

Built in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1989 to specifically supply the island, the ship has provided everything for the islanders. However, all is about to change for the people of Saint Helena.

An airport is due to open on the island in 2016. When it becomes operational, the RMS St. Helena will be retired to the annals of maritime history.

After visiting the 18 Commonwealth countries on the African continent in January and February, the baton left Cape Town in the shadow of Table Mountain. The baton for Glasgow 2014 is the third time the ship has transported the Queen’s message for the Games.

The ship’s 2^nd officer and navigator Mia Henry posed with the baton above cargo containers full of goods to support the people of Saint Helena.

Cheddy Josan is the ship’s boatswain. He is in charge of maintaining the ship and is seen here making a new gangplank.

The RMS St. Helena looks after its crew and passengers with this work station. The emergency communication system can contact the coastguard at Falmouth on the English coast.

This station operates the stabilisers to stop the RMS St. Helena rolling in rough seas.

Third Officer Mike Gibson holds the Queen’s Baton below decks during the ship’s voyage from Cape Town to Saint Helena.

As well as being an operational cargo ship, the RMS St. Helena hosts tourists who are drawn to its unique journey. Shuffleboard is a popular pastime.

Commonwealth Games Federation Honorary Secretary General Louise Martin CBE (centre), who competed for Scotland at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in the swimming finals and was central in Glasgow’s successful bid to host this year’s event, holds the Queen’s Baton with the crew of RMS St. Helena.

The baton’s final journey on the RMS St. Helena ended here, in sight of the popular tourist destination of Jacob’s Ladder. Saint Helena is around 1,948 miles (3,135km) west of Cape Town and around 2,380 miles (3,830km) east from Fortaleza on the Brazilian coast. By the time the next Queen’s Baton Relay travels around the world in the months before the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, the ship will have been replaced by an airport.

See also: Sport in St. Helena • RMS St. Helena

W/BAY SHIPS GIANT CRAWLER CRANE

Informanté Namibia 23^rd January 2014, by Floris Steenkamp

At a mammoth 230 tonnes, the Liebherr LR1200 crawler crane counts among the most powerful cranes around for large construction projects.

Last week, Basil Read Mining had to ship its LR1200 from the port of Walvis Bay to the island of Saint Helena where it would be used for the construction of a permanent wharf at the island’s Rupert’s Bay. The wharf is key to the economy of the island and also instrumental for construction equipment and machinery for Basil Read Mining and Construction which also currently constructing the island’s first international airport.

The crane was dismantled into 33 separate sections and loaded onto the cargo ship NP “Glory 4”, destined for Saint Helena. The loading operations were complicated by the size of the dismantled units, as well as the sheer weight. The heaviest component of the crane, the base machine or car body, weighed in at a whopping 40 tonnes. Basil Read also loaded a truck and specially-designed flatbed trailer of Wesbank Transport on the ship, that would transport the crane on the island to the site where the crane is to be re-assembled for operations.

A temporary jetty had to be constructed by Basil Read on the island to facilitate the roll-on roll-off of discharge of cargo, including the disassembled crane units.

St. Helena Island is a British overseas territory and the airport currently constructed at the airport by Basil Read Mining and Construction is funded by the UK Department For International Development (DFID), at an estimated cost of £250 million (N$4.5 billion), including construction and operating costs for 10 years.)

It is expected that the airport be fully operational by February 2016. Apart from a major boost for tourism and downstream economic development for the island, the international airport would also be strategic for airlines operating cross Atlantic flight routes to Latin America, the Bahamas and the Southern United States. This includes using the Walvis Bay Airport as a last fuel stopover before crossing the Atlantic via the Saint Helena international airport.

Saint Helena also views Walvis Bay as a strategic point for imports and exports. A trade delegation from the island visited Walvis Bay in recent years, to discuss mutual trade and investment relations that would reach full potential once the airport construction project concludes.

See also: Fly here?

YORKSHIRE ECOLOGIST NOW OUR MAN IN ST. HELENA

Yorkshire Post 6^th January 2014

SINCE it was first discovered by the Portuguese in 1502 the remote island of St. Helena has only ever been accessible by boat. But this will change in 2016 when aircraft will begin to land at the new airport now under construction, bringing with them thousands of tourists to the British territory in the South Atlantic - a development it is hoped will transform the island’s economy and future.

But the change presents a major challenge to one Yorkshireman who lives on the island and is part of a team tasked with protecting the hundreds of species of animals and wildlife which can only be found in St. Helena.

Conservation worker Ross cutting back invasive New Zealand flax

Dave Higgins, who was born in Hull, has lived and worked around Yorkshire including jobs for Defra in Leeds and for the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust. However, his latest conservation job has taken him to a more exotic location on the other side of the world as he looks to safeguard the future of various “endemic” species - those which can be only be found in one place. He said:

“St. Helena can currently only be reached by ship which takes five days from Cape Town or two days from Ascension Island. Sometimes it can be just one ship a month. This will change in 2016 when an airport opens on Prosperous Bay Plain. This will be a major event in the island’s history.”

Mr Higgins said the development of the airport created two risks for conservationists both in terms of the loss of natural habitat because of construction work underway and also the large increase in the numbers of people likely to be on the island as the result of the regular air travel. He said:

“St. Helena could well be a mecca for eco-tourists. The projections suggest tourism will peak at 30,000 per annum by 2022 from a less than a 1,000 per a year which we have at present.”

Mr Higgins has been tasked with writing plans for 14 national conservation areas, include national parks, nature reserves and important wirebird areas. He said that in some cases he was dealing with rare species which could be at risk of extinction.

“St. Helena is renowned for its unique and numerous endemic plant and invertebrate species. These include the bastard gumwood tree, a cloud forest tree fern, the spiky yellow woodlouse and the golden sail spider. Many of these are critically endangered. The island’s history since discovery has been one of extinction with numerous species having disappeared due to habitat loss and non-native invasive species. The wirebird is a small plover and is now the only remaining endemic bird species on the island.”

He told the Yorkshire Post the “museum rarity” of the place which conservationists are working in was both frightening and exciting. He added:

“The 823m high summit of Diana’s Peak, which is 50 hectares of mountain range, holds more endemic species than any European country while almost half of the invertebrates living in the islands’ national parks cannot be found anywhere else in the world. To date conservationists know of 200 species of endemic invertebrate just in the peaks. Some of these are reliant on a single tree species. Many of these trees are hidden on cliffs or in ravines. Local conservationists tell me that if we lose one of our endemic plant species there could be a suite of invertebrate extinctions. Little isolated hotspots of wonder are surrounded by a sea of invasive New Zealand flax. All around these biological jewels lies the threat of non-native species and habitat loss. The island’s wonder is under constant siege.”

Mr Higgins saw the job at St. Helena advertised and was interviewed for it in London. His first journey to the island took a week as he flew from RAF Brize Norton to Ascension Island but then had to wait several days for the next ship heading on the two-day trip to St. Helena.

It is a far cry from what the Yorkshireman had been used to before he took up the role. Mr Higgins was born in Hull and lived around the region in Leeds, Hull, Cottingham, Ripon, Sutton Howgrave and Askrigg during his earlier career.

See also: Endemic Species