Reports of vessels visiting Tristan da Cunha, and voyages to and from the island during 2005 and 2006.

News of Cruise Liner Visits have been moved to a new page in the visits section : see Cruise Liner Visits

Nine of Cups Safe arrival

tristandc.com published a picture and short account of the visit of this yacht below in early December and we have now received a New Year message to confirm their arrival in Cape Town and invite us to provide a link to their website which has a lovely record with pictures of their Tristan visit.

Check it out at www.nineofcups.com

They send best wishes for Happy 2007 and fair winds from Marcie, David and Jelly, aboard Nine of Cups, Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town, South Africa

Christmas Holiday Shipping Arrivals to remove oil rig

The specially chartered trip of MV Kelso arrived at Tristan da Cunha on Friday 22nd December, with an advance party from the Titan salvage team accompanied by an environmental assessment team. The 3180 tonne salvage tug De Hong, built in 2000 in China, chartered by salvors Titan sailed from Cape Town on 24th December and arrived on Friday 29th December.

Tristan Photograph chosen for Camogli Society Christmas Card

Season Greetings postcard which shows a picture of Tristan da Cunha. This image won the 1st prize in the Photo Contest (see www.scmncamogli.org) held by the Society of Ship Captains and Naval Engineers based in Camogli in Italy.

Camogli has strong roots linked to Tristan because of the arrival of Camogli citizens Gaetano Lavarello and Andrea Repetto who were on board the brig Italia, wrecked off Tristan on 1892.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year

from Carlo Gatti

President of Society of Ship Captains and Naval Engineers - Camogli, Italy 21st December 2006

Dreams Fulfilled for American Yacht
SY Nine of Cups called on Tristan between 5-7th December 2006. Nine of Cups is named after a Tarot card signifying 'dreams fulfilled', is crewed by David & Marrie Lynn of Denver, Colorado, USA and is en route from Uruguay to Cape Town.  Photograph from Janice Hentley shows the boat anchored off the 1961 lava flow taken from the Residency garden over a hedge of summer hydrangeas, an upturned Tristan longboat and a goalpost on the American Fence school playing field.
Record Tristan - Cape Town journey?
HMS Edinburgh (see story below and on Community News Page) had to curtail its visit on Friday 1st December and set full speed for Cape Town to evacuate a casualty, who was airlifted off the boat and arrived safely during the evening of Sunday 3rd December aboard the ship's helicopter - surely a record for the trip?
The medevac was a young crew member hailing from Dunfermline.  She was obviously in some abdominal pain but suffering stoically and carrying on with her duties.  However with appendicitis suspected, the Captain was taking no chances regarding the well-being of his crew member, so he decided to leave early and return to Cape Town.  We understand that the patient underwent a successful operation there earlier this week and is now recovering well.
December Visit from German Yacht
Sailing yacht Bank von Bremen visited Tristan on 2nd December en route from Montevideo to Cape Town.  She is owned by a syndicate of German yachtsmen based in Bremen who take it in turns to join the crew of 9 on various legs of her maiden round the world voyage.  Built in April and designed as a racer-cruiser capable of 17-18 knots, she has a distinctive 30 metre mast balanced by a 3.3 metre keel.  She had to anchor in 20 fathoms of water in the anchorage off the American Fence, from where this photograph was taken by Janice Hentley.
Skipper Rudi Olma emailed tristandc.com on Monday 4th December to thank the Tristan community for all their kindness, still 1200 miles from The Cape.

HMS Edinburgh transports Chief Islander back home to Edinburgh

HMS Edinburgh arrived at the Tristan da Cunha Settlement of Edinburgh on Thursday 30th November from Cape Town for a two day visit. The ship carried Chief Islander Anne Green and her husband Joseph who otherwise would not be home for Christmas (The next scheduled ship leaves Cape Town on 18th January). Details of the ship's visit can be found on our Community News Page.

Photo from janice Hentley shows HMS Edinburgh from The Residency Garden on 30th November - St Andrew's Day.

The visit of HMS Edinburgh is highly symbolic as it will be the final special event of the Quincentenary Year to celebrate 500 years of Tristan da Cunha history since the island's discovery by Tristao da Cunha in 1506, and coincidentally continues the Edinburgh tradition:

The Tristan Settlement was named Edinburgh of the Seven Seas by Peter Green after a visit from the first Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria) to Tristan in August 1867. During the visit Peter Green hosted a royal dinner including Tristan’s only available bottle of wine!

In January 1957 the present Duke of Edinburgh made a visit to Tristan on his way home from the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne on the Royal Yacht Britannia. He laid the foundation stone of the new Prince Philip Hall and attended a dance to music from the Royal Marines Band.

On 3rd November 2006, the Duke of Edinburgh attended a celebratory dinner at the Royal Geographical Society to mark the Quincentenary (see Association News).

HMS Edinburgh is a Royal Navy Type 42 Destroyer of 5200 tonnes with a potential speed of 30 knots. She was built by Cammell Laird in Belfast, launched in 1983, first commissioned in 1985 and completed a refit at Rosyth in 1995. The ship carries a Lynx Mk 3 helicopter and has a company of 300 with 26 officers. So there are more people aboard HMS Edinburgh than in the Edinburgh Settlement which consists normally of 270 islanders and 8 expatriates.

November Fishing Ship Arrivals

Shown left is a picture of the MFVs Jade (foreground) and Espadarte in the anchorage off the Tristan Settlement.  Both vessels arrived on Sunday 19th November to complete formalities before beginning their fishing trips.  The Espadarte is a regular visitor and has renewed a longline licence for fin fish.  The Jade is a newcomer and has taken out an experimental licence to catch octopus off the seamounts in the Tristan EEZ. Tristan Crawfishing activities can be viewed on the Fishing News and Fishing Page in the Tristan Economy section.

SA Agulhas' Annual Austral Spring Voyage to Tristan

Helicopter Arrival

The Agulhas arrived at Tristan at 17.00 on Thursday 14th September. All passengers were unloaded by four helicopter flights ashore.

Photograph of the helicopter approaching the landing on American Fence from Janice Hentley. The photograph below shows the Agulhas helicopter on the American Fence field (immediately in front of St Mary's School) in 2005, also from janice Hentley.



Agulhas Cargo

The refurbished fisheries patrol vessel Wave Dancer is pictured left after being loaded on the SA Agulhas ready for her return to Tristan. See below for Wave Dancer's trials in The Solent last January. Click to go to January Tests

 

Safely Home

Wave Dancer on 15th September safely ashore outside her Calshot harbour shed awaiting duties.

Visit of yacht Pelagic Australis May 2006

This sailing yacht with an international crew ( from England, Ireland, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and Slovakia) is undertaking a training trip from Punta Arenas via Falklands, Tristan da Cunha to Cape Town.

We apologise to regular Shipping News Page readers who have logged on expecting this picture since hearing from the crew some months ago - but the picture was received at tristandc.com HQ only on 3/7/06 and without a date of arrival.

2006 Nightingale Fatting Trip

Unusually the 2006 Nightingale Trip departed on 4th May with 2 dinghies with outboard motors being carried by the MV Edinburgh.

The party included Barney, Barry and Nicky Swain, Kevin Glass, Tanya Green, Emma Rogers, Poppy Lavarello and Donna Rogers.

They remained on Nightingale until 24th May when a launch and a company fishing boat travelled over to help them back as weather conditions prevented a safe return trip by dinghy.

Photographs see the return of boats to Calshot Harbour on 24th May.

See also Nightingale Page.


Easter Return of MF Europa

Following the April 2005 Tristan visit of the sailing barque MF Europa she called again a year later, arriving on Good Friday and departing on Easter Sunday for Cape Town.  She sailed via Nightingale Island, giving a lift there to a team headed by James Glass of Tristan's Natural Resources Department who will be working on some conservation projects until they are collected during the next scheduled call of the 'Edinburgh' at the end of the month.

South Atlantic Team Work to rescue yacht Gumption

The sailing yacht 'Gumption' passed Tristan on Tuesday 14th March with 3 crew aboard on her return to Cape Town after participating in the recent Cape Town - Rio de Janeiro Yacht Race. The crew decided not to call in as they were behind schedule.

Tristan Radio then had a distress call from them on Thursday 16th - a heavy sea had demasted the yacht 250 miles from Tristan da Cunha. No loss or injury, but they only had about three days fuel on board. Tristan asked the Hapag-Lloyd Cruise Ship MS Bremen (Captain Mark Behrend), due to call here on Saturday 18 March if they could assist.

The Bremen made a rendezvous with the yacht on Sunday 19 March at 1600 - at position S 38-35 W/E 00-00, some 925 nautical miles from Cape Town. The yacht had managed to cruise at 4-6 knots under jury rig, and all were well on board. The Bremen transferred some 160 litres of diesel fuel, giving the yacht a range of 720 nm, so they could reach Cape Town.

It was confirmed that the yacht arrived safely in Cape Town at 12.00 on Sunday 26th March.

Report from Andrea Repetto who conducted the radio communication from Tristan Radio

Greenpeace and Hocus Pocus

Monday 6th March saw a visit from the sailing yacht 'Hocus Pocus' with a crew of 3 on her return to Cape Town after participating in the Cape Town - Rio de Janeiro yacht race.
Also calling on the same day was the Greenpeace vessel 'Arctic Sunrise' with a crew of 15 in transit from Cape Town to Brazil.
The photograph shows how smaller vessels can anchor in shallower water off The Settlement, but only on calm days!
MV Edinburgh
arrived for her first 2006 passenger and cargo trip and is pictured here in perfect summer weather on 3rd February. She is due to return to Cape Town on Monday 6th February. Like London buses, boats never seem to arrive, (the last being MV Kelso in November 2005) then there are three at once...MV Edinburgh heads the queue, followed on 5th February by RMS St Helena and later in the week MV Kelso.
Wave Dancer Solent Trials
The fisheries patrol vessel Wave Dancer is pictured left undergoing sea trials on 6th January in The Solent off Portsmouth Harbour.  She was put through her paces, achieved her maximum speed of 29.5 knots (2800 rpm) with good maneuverability, and maintained a comfortable 24 knots cruising speed at 2400 rpm. Wave Dancer has been undergoing extensive refurbishment at the VT Halmatic shipyard in Portchester where she was originally built.  Modifications include replacement engines, and the fitting of stern drives which can be tilted to enable the vessel to enter the shallow water in Calshot Harbour here at low tide.  During the works, both Joseph Green and Nigel Lavarello of Tristan's Public Works - Mechanical - Department underwent training attachments arranged by the shipyard. The Wave Dancer will be transported back to Tristan during 2006 to resume her essential work.
Yacht Tryer Visit
A 34' sailing yacht called on it's way from Brazil to Cape Town visiting Tristan on 21st - 23rd December 2005.   Skipper Dick Jaeger (Netherlands), and crew members Fabiano Ponto (Brazil) & Georg Rodler (Germany) were able to come ashore on each of the three days they spent at the anchorage.The yacht is shown right at anchor photographed from The Residency lawn with its mid-summer Hydrangeas.