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SA Agulhas's probable penultimate trip underway

SA Agulhas left Cape Town on Thursday 2nd September for her annual voyage to Gough Island via Tristan da Cunha, expecting to arrive at Tristan for unloading of passengers and cargo on 9th September, with a scheduled departure from Tristan on 2nd October and arriving back to Cape Town on 8th October.

Left ~ Archive photo of SA Agulhas at anchor off Tristan with its helicopter coming into land on the American Fence field.

The 2010 trip may be the penultimateTristan journey for South Africa's polar research vessel SA Agulhas as its replacement is being presently built in Finland and is scheduled to be delivered in April 2012. The new ship, like the SA Agulhas, will perform the crucial annual relief and supply function to the three remote stations Marion Island, Gough Island and SANAE (South African research base) in Antarctica.
The SA Agulhas was built in 1977 by Mitsubishi, Shimonoseki, Japan and is operated by the South African Government's Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, Directorate: Antarctica and Islands. The annual Agulhas trip has a huge significance for Tristan as it allows a 3-4 week residential stay for up to 30 visitors. As it carries a helicopter passengers are normally unloaded on arrival, even if the harbour is closed.

1st 2010/11 MV Edinburgh Fishing trip news update
MV Edinburgh left Cape Town on 24th August for her first extended fishing trip around the outer Tristan Islands (Gough, Inaccessible, Nightingale). The ship arrived at Tristan on 31st August, but passengers and cargo (including copies of the August Tristan Newsletter for all island families) were not unloaded until Thyesday 2nd September.
MV Edinburgh's quick July turn-around
Although held up by bad weather on the outward journey, MV Edinburgh arrived on Friday 22nd July, disembarked passengers and limited cargo, loaded out-going passengers and left the same day, arriving in Cape Town on 28th July, 3 days earlier than scheduled. This is believed to be the first occasion the ship has turned around in a day. Aboard the ship was the new Director of Medical Services Dr Shridar with his wife and two children.
2010/2011 Shipping Schedule Announced
The annual provisional shipping schedule has been announced and is published as usual on our Shipping Page. There is a welcome return to 10 annual return trips from Cape Town, so in the coming summer there is a gap of less than two months between the last 2010 and first 2011 arrivals. The Baltic Trader is retained for additional trips during the fishing season when MV Edinburgh makes extended trips to the outer islands.
MV Edinburgh's schedule has seen considerable slippage in recent months. It arrived on Wednesday 23rd June on its 3rd 2010 voyage, some three weeks later than planned. Passengers were landed safely on Thursday 24th June and unloading was well underway on a beautiful calm and crisp Friday 25th only a week after a storm caused severe damage to Calshot Harbour - see Storms Page for details.

RFA Black Rover's Visit 29-31 May 2010

The ship, led by Captain Ray Bennett called in en route from St Helena to the Falklands.  On Friday 29th, numerous boat runs brought crew ashore to look around the Settlement. Sadly, bad weather meant that Saturday was a washout but Sunday saw a number of the ship's company ashore.  There was a soccer match (which Tristan Tigers won 5-2) as well as guided walks and tours for the visitors, both around and beyond the Settlement, including a 1961 volcano hike with Jim Kerr and doctor Derek, and afternoon golf. Several of the visitors were able to enjoy a few pints at the Albatross Pub or a snack and a coffee at the Tourist Centre.

In one way, some of the visitors were rather lucky.  During Sunday night,
only a few hours after a group had been strolling around the bottom of the volcano base, a rockfall struck exactly where the visitors had been walking.

 One of the only two remaining Rover Class RFAs, it was good news to hear
that she should be around for a good few years yet.

News report and photos
from Dawn Repetto
and David Morley

 

 

FPV Argos Georgia's Confidential Mission

Falklands based Fisheries Patrol Vessel Argos Georgia underwent a visit to Tristan waters from 31st March - 8th April 2010. The ship's visit was designed to catch and deter any vessels who may consider illegal fishing operations in Tristan waters. We have deliberately not published any information on the visit until after the mission was complete and the vessel returned to the Falklands Islands. A full report on the important visit can be found on the Fishing News page.

Photograph from David Morley of FPV Argos Georgia off Tristan on 1st April 2010.

MV Edinburgh

The Edinburgh arrived on the 23rd April and during her visit she went to Gough to do some fishing surveying. The ship departed on Sunday 2nd May with passengers who included diver Geoff Frijohn, Nicola McHugh, (who has completed her nurse training programme) and a fisheries team of Tanya Green, Warren Glass, Sarah Glass, Phillip Rogers and Rodney Green who will take part in a EU certification training course in Cape Town.
Professor Molchanov's final visit

Regular cruise ship visitor Professor Molchanov made what is believed to be her last visit to Tristan da Cunha 9-11 April 2010. Arriving in bad weather on Friday 9th, it wasn't until Sunday 11th that the harbour could be used, but in weather that prevented any passengers landing. This was the final cruise ship visit of a most disappointing 2009-10 summer season
 The Professor was photographed right on 10th April by David Morley.
See also a report on the ship's visit by Dawn Repetto on the separate Cruise Ship Visits Page.
MV Edinburgh
departed for Cape Town from Tristan da Cunha on Thursday 25th March and is scheduled to return from Cape Town on 15th April, arriving Tristan 22nd April. The next three Edinburgh trips (April-May; May-June; June-July) are passenger and cargo trips whereas the February-March trip and those later in the year (August-November; November-February 2011) are extended for fishing around the outer (Gough, Inaccessible & Nightingale) islands. See Shipping Schedule for details.

Corinthian II Visit
The 4280 tonne Nobel Caledonia expedition cruise ship Corinthian II arrived on Thursday 11th March 2010 for a two day visit which included
a trip to Nightingale Island and a morning visit to Tristan on 12th March.
See Cruise Ship News Page for more pictures and a report.
Photos : Sue Scott

Loss of SV Concordia on voyage to Tristan da Cunha

The 3 masted sailing yacht SV Concordia capsized and sank some 480 kms off Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday 17th February 2010. At 2.30pm the ship experienced a sharp and sudden vertical blast of strong wind (known as a 'microburst') which managed to knock SV Concordia onto its side in a mere 15 seconds, and sink within 30 minutes. The 48 students and 16 crew aboard jumped overboard and then managed to crawl into the three life rafts and a dinghy launched during the emergency.
Rescue took 50 hours as the crew of 64 spent two nights at sea in distressing circumstances. Their radio equipment was underwater and unusable, so an emergency beacon was automatically released into the water.
The distress signal was apparently first picked up by Brazilian coast guards at 10pm on Wednesday 17th, but it was not until 8am on Thursday 18th that Brazilian Search and Rescue contacted the Canadian Rescue Co-Ordination Centre to liaise over the Concordia's signal. Brazilian and Canadian authorities then tracked the source of the distress signal, so that at 5pm that day a search aircraft took off, locating the life rafts at 8pm, nearly 30 hours after the accident.

By 4.30pm on Friday 19th February, some 50 hours after the ship capsized, the crew were picked up by the cargo ships Crystal Pioneer, Hokuetsu Delight and a Brazilian Frigate. They arrived at a Rio de Janeiro naval base on Saturday 20th February, and were then bussed to Sao Paulo for their onward flight to Toronto, arriving on Monday 22nd.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised the Brazilian navy and merchant ships for their 'swift and heroic response', but concern has been expressed elsewhere at the delay in the rescue operation.
Tristan Administrator David Morley received an email from the Class Afloat team confirming the loss of SV Concordia, thankful that all hands were saved and summing up the incident as, 'a very shocking, sad incident indeed.' David sent Tristan's sympathy and best wishes to all concerned.

The 57.5 metre long Concordia was built in 1992 and is operated by the Canadian-based Class Afloat programme, giving students the opportunity to crew a full-rigged ship and travel around the world. The Class Afloat programme is run from West Island College International, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, from which the vessel departed in September 2009.

The ship crossed the North Atlantic to the UK before visiting the Mediterranean and Black Seas, then hugged the North-West African coast and across to Recife in Brazil from where she departed on 9th February.
The 48 young people were Grade 11 & 12 and first year university students, some only 16 years old. A year's sailing programme tuition fees are quoted at US$40,600.

Tristan 2008 Visit
by SV Concordia
In March 2008 SV Concordia visited Tristan da Cunha when students came ashore and visited St Mary's School - see news and photographs on the
St Mary's School News Page and Cruise Ship News Page
and was due to return this year.
Revised Shipping Schedule
There has been a significant update to the Tristan shipping schedule for 2010. The first MV Edinburgh trip has been extended for the outer-island fishing quota to be caught, so the ship is planned to make the return journey on 23rd March. This is the first outgoing ship of 2010 and therefore there will be great competition for the 12 berths available for passengers.
Other 2010 sailings remain as published, but the August Edinburgh Cape Town - Tristan trip dates have now been confirmed. This trip is the first of the 2010 - 2011 fishing season and we await news confirming whether the MV Baltic Trader or a replacement vessel will be used for two trips in September - October and November - March.
The full schedule is on the Shipping Schedule Page
MV Edinburgh Returns
MV Edinburgh returned to Cape Town after the ship's second 2009/10 extended fishing trip, departing Tristan on 4th February and arriving late on 10th February 2010. The ship is due to return to Tristan from Cape Town on 24th February, and arrive on 3rd March. Aboard will be Chief Islander Conrad Glass and his wife Sharon after their sojourn in UK and South Africa.
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This page first published January 2010