The last ship from a mighty fleet that once bound Britain’s scattered empire together will arrive today after its final voyage to St Helena, the isolated British overseas territory in the Atlantic that for hundreds of years was accessible only by sea.
RMS St Helena, one of only two ocean-going vessels that still bear the title “Royal Mail Ship”, will end a final five-day journey from Cape Town that has been marked by pipe bands, ceremonies and an outpouring of nostalgia. A flotilla of small boats, the British governor and a huge crowd will greet the ship as she anchors in the bay off Jamestown, the capital. There will be parties aboard and tours of the ship that for 27 years was the island’s only link with the outside world. Next week a special stamp will be issued and there will be a service of thanksgiving, a blessing of the crew and further festivities when the ship departs to be sold.
The vessel, built in Aberdeen and designed to carry 128 passengers and 1,800 tons of cargo, has been replaced by the £285 million airport, which opened in October for weekly flights to South Africa. A monthly cargo vessel will take goods to St Helena.
The RMS, as she was called by the “Saints”, used to ply between St Helena and Cape Town, shuttling also to Ascension, a staging post for RAF flights to the Falklands. Twice a year she sailed to Britain, a two-week journey and she made occasional trips to Tristan da Cunha, a remote dependency of St Helena in the south Atlantic that supports 266 people and a thriving lobster industry. The ship suffered several breakdowns during her lifetime, including one in 1999 that caused panic when the island was cut off over Christmas.
Scheduled to be decommissioned two years ago on completion of the airport, the ship sailed to London in 2016 for a formal farewell attended by Princess Anne. But turbulence and wind shear held up the airport opening and the ship was pressed back into service. She carried British government officials, tourists, sick islanders needing emergency treatment and prisoners from Ascension taken to serve sentences in Britain. She also carried almost everything used for daily life on the island, from cement, fire engines, cars and flour to bricks, furniture, baby food and live sheep.
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Britain funded the airport, one of the costliest built, to boost tourism and make St Helena self-sufficient. This week the island will host its first international conference, on protecting the environment in the South Atlantic. An extra flight will be laid on to bring in delegates.