Tristan : Tristan 500 Diary
Submitted by Tristan Times (Sarah Glass) 18.02.2006 (Current Article)
Events from 09 to 12 February are chronicled here.
PRESS RELEASE RE TRISTAN CELEBRATIONS ON THURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY
The quincentennial celebrations continued on Tristan da Cunha despite a deteriorating state of the sea.
Today was a public holiday on Tristan. Its exact date of discovery in 1506 is not recorded but 9February was taken as an appropriate day for a commemorative public holiday .In local parlance the sea became ‘bubbly’ and so after an initial run of passengers from the RMS all further ferrying was cancelled. This scuppered the eagerly anticipated football match between the island team and the RMS .The football continued with the married islanders playing the ‘singles’.
There was also a sports day for the school .This was followed by the adults playing football rounders .
Governor Clancy had lunch at the home of the Chief Islander and sampled local dishes such as stuffed mutton ,crayfish pie and clouttie dumpling.
A series of presentations were held in the evening with Administrator , Mike Hentley ably performing the Master of Ceremonies role .Governor Clancy congratulated Tristan on its Q5 and extended best wishes from people on St Helena and Ascension who had celebrated their Q5s in recent years .He also read out a message from the Bishop of St Helena and from Her Majesty the Queen .The Governor went on to announce his contribution of £ 5000 towards updating equipment at the hospital.
There was a special welcome given to Governor Clancy’s announcement that DFID had approved funding to supplement European Development Funding of the repair of Tristan’s harbour. Studies will begin this year with the intention of refurbishment work taking place in 2007.
Sarah Sanders of the RSPB presented to the Chief Islander, Anne Green the legislative framework for the protection of albatrosses and petrels and also a bi diversity plan which had been worked up with islanders.
Michael Swales of the Tristan da Cunha Association presented a plaque to commemorate the Q5 .Inscribed on the plaque is a ship of the type that Tristao Da Cunha was probably on when he came upon Tristan .The ship is set against a backdrop of an outline of the island . Round its edges are set the 7 island names with the dates that these men arrived.
Mr Swales also presented a cheque to the Head teacher of the school, Marlene Swain and announced that the Association would make arrangements for a scheme to offer further education to one student per year.
The evening continued in lighter vein with dancing and an Elvis Tribute concert from Rikki Nolan.
TRISTAN DA CUNHA PRESS REPORT FOR FRIDAY10 FEBRUARY
Governor Clancy attended a meeting of the Island Council at which there were a series of presentations .Sarah Sanders of the RSPB spoke about the Royal Society’s continuing interest in the Tristan group of islands because of their world importance for seabirds. A project looking at rats on Tristan was already underway. Preliminary indications were of substantial populations of rats at the potato patches and Settlement .However they did not seem so numerous in the higher areas where the seabirds nest.
Dr Mike Owen, the public health specialist also gave his preliminary findings. He identified a number of practical improvements to secure the quality of the water supply and to reduce risks from the rubbish dump. He noted that the incidence of diabetes was much lower on Tristan then in St Helena but there was no scope for complacency on Tristan with changing diets and trends towards obesity. The Island Council felt that the island might benefit from a visit from a dietician.
Andrew James whose company has the fishing concession set out the economics of the fishing operation and ideas for trying to restrict illegal fishing. The Island Council agreed to continue to work in partnership on these issues.
Governor Clancy referred to words from Her Majesty the Queen’s message of congratulations to Tristan and underlined the continuing commitment if the UK Government which had been so recently demonstrated by his announcement about DFID funding being added to EDF monies for the refurbishment of the harbour.
The Governor also presented to the Chief Islander, Anne Green a boxed `set of engraved silver ingots. He hoped that this set of 50 ingots depicting the monarchs of England from King Edgar to the present day would be appreciated by the whole of the island as a memento of their Q5.Symbolicaaly he saw each ingot as representing a decade `since Tristan’s discovery and the overall theme as indicating the link between the island and the UK
In the evening the Governor hosted a reception which melded into the 18th birthday party and dance of Wayne Swain.
TRISTAN : PRESS REPORT FOR SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY
Rough seas on Thursday and Friday had disrupted the plans for the Q5 celebrations with some RMS passengers unable to get to or from the ship. There was thus some speculation as to whether the RMS would be able to leave on the Saturday as planned. However fishermen on Friday became increasingly confident that the weather would ameliorate. And so it proved.
Saturday morning saw the loading of passengers and cargo on the fishing vessel, Kelso and then by 4 p.m. embarkation on the RMS was complete and the RMS set off towards Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands. These are only some 20 miles south of Tristan and passengers enjoyed good views of both islands before the course was set for overnight travel to Gough Island.
This Q5 visit had seen the largest number of passengers on Tristan for an extended period and whether the main interests were birds, stamps or remote places all agreed that the visit had been a great success.
Whilst on Tristan the Governor, who has been in regular contact with the Staff Officer, was able to catch up with work and news from St Helena. He noted the unfortunate sinking of the Helena Dorothy but he was pleased to note the splendid way in which the community rallied around and the sympathy offered by the Acting Governor, Ethel Yon. Governor Clancy on his return will look into whether the government can bolster the contribution from the community.
SUNDAY PRESS REPORT RE TRISTAN
The Q5 trip had always included a circumnavigation of Gough Island – weather permitting. And the weather was very kind as the RMS crossed latitude 40S into what are known as the ‘Roaring Forties’. On Sunday 12 February the winds were mewing rather then roaring and it was possible to see clearly the outline of Gough a good hour and a half before the RMS began its circle.
All the passengers were thrilled to see Gough but there was a special emotion for the 6 passengers who are surviving members of the expedition which stayed on Gough for several months in the mid 1950s. The Goughalites, as they term themselves comprise Sir Martin Holdgate, John Heaney, Michael Swales, Dr Robert Chambers, Dr Roger Le Maitre and Philip Mullock. They were a multi–disciplinary team who mapped the island and studied its fauna, flora and geology. They filed daily weather reports and sent these to South Africa. The South Africans were so impressed that they decided to set up a permanent weather station on Gough. These experts gave fascinating commentaries as the RMS went slowly around Gough and also enthralled the passengers with illuminating and witty presentations and slide shows.
The RMS stood off at the South African weather station. Governor Clancy spoke to the station leader from the bridge and sent best wishes from people on St Helena and Tristan. The team at the base were eager to hear voices from the ‘outside world’ and there were conversations with Captain Rodney Young, Sarah Sanders of the RSPB and a few of the Goughalites. The scientific team at the station had not noticed any of the so-called killer mice attacking chicks but they explained that this is a feature of the winter when other food for the larger than average mice becomes scarce.
The variability of the weather was underlined as the RMS was 30 minutes into its course to Cape Town. Looking over the stern it was possible to see squalls providing further water for the abundant vegetation of Gough.Then Gough was lost in cloud and passengers turned their minds to more traditional RMS pastimes of preparing for dog racing and the fancy dress ball.
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