Island liner’s mid-Atlantic Legacy
THE departure of the popular RMS St Helena from Cape Town this afternoon will close the curtain on a unique service that has linked the city with the mid-Atlantic islands – St Helena and Ascension – for nearly 40 years.
Shipping has been an essential part of St Helena’s life since the British became interested in it in 1644, formally colonised it from 1659 and developed it to become an important provisioning station for the sailing ships passing through the mid-Atlantic.
Once steamships appeared on the trade to Cape Town, coal storage facilities were added on the island.
As the introduction of the motor ship had increased vessels’ range, the number of callers at St Helena decreased and, accordingly, so did the island’s importance to Atlantic shipping.
However, on September 2, 1914, the lookout on Ladder Hill fired a gun to signal the sighting of a special convoy whose arrival had been anticipated, as its movements had been telegraphed to St Helena.
Islanders hurried to the shore of James Bay and the cliff-tops to watch the Union-Castle liners Balmoral Castle, Briton, Dunluce Castle, Goorkha, Guildford Castle, and Kenilworth Castle – escorted by HMS Astraea anchor to the west of Jamestown, the island’s capital.
All had been on the South African coast when World War I broke out and had gone to Cape Town for refit to carry 4 000 Imperial Guardsmen and their equipment to Britain.
After six days at sea, the convoy sighted the island’s imposing volcanic cliffs, towering above the heaving Atlantic that plunges to depths of over 4 000m within a few nautical miles from the coast.
About a month later, HMS Astraea called again, her guns protecting the intermediate steamers, Dover Castle and Garth Castle, bound from South Africa to Britain.
From his pre-World War II recollections, my islander-friend, Eric George, now 84, recalls the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle and the battleship HMS Hood anchoring in James Bay. “Eric,” I said, “what were the first Union-Castle ships you saw off the island during their voyages between Britain and Cape Town?”
“Llandovery Castle and Llanstephan Castle,” he responded. Those were among the company’s intermediate steamers that were regular visitors, bringing cargo and passengers to this fascinating, remote and rugged island.
En route to Britain, UnionCastle’s intermediate ship Dunvegan Castle was the first vessel to arrive after the outbreak of World War II, bringing mail and only one passenger to the island during a brief call on September 15, 1939.
Escorted by the 1918-vintage cruiser HMS Danae, Athlone Castle arrived six weeks later, carrying “stores for the garrison”, and in the shipping arrivals book, the harbour master noted that the cruiser “patrolled the port while Athlone Castle discharged cargo”.
Hundreds more ships arrived off the island during the war, many bunkering from Royal Fleet auxiliary tankers stationed there.
Once shipping services resumed after the war, numerous cargo ships called to load the island’s abundant flax for Britain, where it was used for mailbags; Union-Castle ships continued as the regular link, and hundreds of islanders – including my friend Eric – recall voyages aboard these vessels.
In 1960, he sailed for Ascension Island in the intermediate liner Warwick Castle.
When its intermediate liners were withdrawn, Union-Castle scheduled calls by some of its mail ships and built the 25-knot cargo mail ships, Southampton Castle and Good Hope Castle, in the mid1960s, for the St Helena and Ascension Island service, yet their speed allowed them to keep to the mail schedule.
In 1967, both ships had additional accommodation fitted especially for those islanders and officials needing to travel between the islands, to Cape Town or Southampton.
Following the termination of the Southampton-South Africa mail service in October 1977, the maiden voyage of RMS St Helena in 1978 heralded a new venture that would service the cargo and passenger needs of the South Atlantic island.
However, the current RMS St Helena – custom-built in 1990 for the trade – attracted passengers from far and wide, many booking their voyages to the island in anticipation of embracing the unique history of St Helena, while enjoying five days each way on this special ship between Cape Town and the island.
Indeed, tourism was centred around the ship on which hinged the hopes of greater economic development on the island.
The island has few resources. A rich and carefully preserved human history and a 14 million-year geological past that began with the island’s fiery birth from the midoceanic ridge have bequeathed picturesque scenery, ranging from colourful moonscapes and precipitous cliffs – sculpted by the sea – to grassy hillsides or dense woodland.
While the ship landed several dozen visitors on the island every three weeks, several calls per year by cruise ships help the island’s coffers.
One call by a large liner can bring thousands of pounds in landing fees alone to the island’s treasury. Apart from benefits to the formal tourism sector, some earnings come to many locals from the cruise ship passengers.
Dozens license their vehicles as taxis for the day to take visitors to remote and spectacularly beautiful parts of the island; others set up refreshment stalls, or operate as tour guides.
Restaurants employ extra staff for the day, and the post office is crowded with philatelists wanting the beautiful island stamps.
But visits by the cruise ships are concentrated during the southern hemisphere’s summer when the vessels are en route to or from Cape Town.
Often heavy swells, generated by depressions well to the north-west, prevent passengers from landing and the ship continues her voyage, leaving nothing for those islanders who had gone to some expense and trouble to earn even meagre revenue from the tourists.
The island’s future, economists concluded, lay not in a new ship, but in larger numbers of tourists visiting the island, leading to the decision some years ago to build an airport.
After much debate, work began, and, despite a couple of scares relating to wind-shear experienced by test flights, the first commercial flight landed at the new airport late last year.
Following the airport delays, several sell-by dates for the ship came and went, as she continued moving excited passengers and cargo to this remarkable island.
As her final passenger-carrying voyage begins this afternoon, many reflect with deep nostalgia on a unique service that will stop.
The small freighter Helena will continue to move cargo to the islands, and she also has a few berths for passengers.
Those who travelled in the old ship, however, will miss her special atmosphere, excellent service, delicious cuisine and wonderful people aboard.
Sadly, economists could not measure the special appeal of this remarkable vessel.
Because she was manned mostly by islanders, passengers became immersed in the spirit of their island-home from the time of boarding. Indeed, the ship was an integral part – perhaps the central part – of the St Helena Island experience.
As they watch Table Mountain dip slowly behind the horizon astern, those aboard RMS St Helena today will understand those poignant lines, written by Laurens van der Post, commemorating the last sailing of the mail ship Windsor Castle in 1977:
“I remained on deck. I remained there until the Cape itself sank into the sea, because I knew I would never again see it do so in that way.”
As they watch Table Mountain dip slowly behind the horizon astern, those aboard RMS St Helena today will understand those poignant lines, written by Laurens van der Post, commemorating last sailing of the mail ship Windsor Castle in 1977