St. Helena - a remote island in the Atlantic | (Travel Documentary) DW Documentary

onions and potatoes even staples like these are part of the regular shipment of supplies taken to a remote island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean [Music] the only way to transport cargo to st. Helena is by sea and that includes pretty much everything essential to everyday life and only one ship makes frequent journeys to the islands port the RMS st. Alena is the islands lifeline it's one of the last working Royal Mail ships in the world every three weeks the cargo line sets out from Cape Town South Africa for the five-day sea journey to st. Helena Mia Henry is the second officer on board but the island is her home it's one of the most remote places on earth it's not by chance that Napoleon was sent to live in exile here there's definitely an element of mystique there and I've always been interested in the history anyway so yeah you always kind of think about what it was like in the days of sail ships what it must have felt like coming to this big black rock in the middle of the ocean [Music] bridge captain note and boys on his way down as well now so that that's fine the captain has given the order to depart it will be some time before the crews see land again [Music] the st. Helena sales under the British flag the island is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena Ascension and Tristan da Cunha located in the South Atlantic as Table Mountain fades in the background the ship sets off on the same route Portuguese explorers followed long ago [Music] Mia Henry is on duty up on the bridge one of her tasks is to keep the ship on course there was a time when as many as a thousand ships traveled this route each year st. Helena was a vital stop for ships sailing around Africa today only the RMS st. Helena travels regularly to the lonely island what would have been very difficult even if you were one degree of course if you were coming out from the Cape so even if we were one or two degrees of course over the length of the journey between Cape Town and st. Selina yes it is possible to completely miss the island the island is located in the middle of the South Atlantic between South America and Africa those wishing to travel here have to embark on a long journey from Cape Town 3,000 kilometers in five days one of the most remote on earth the island is just a hundred and twenty-one square kilometers in size the RMS Saint Helena is not just a container ship it also provides employment to many of the island dwellers almost all the crew members live on st. Helena a lot sign up specifically for a chance to leave the island not many could afford to pay the fare the few passengers on board who wile away the hours on the sundeck have their own special reasons for taking the trip on an island so I don't quite know what to expect from what I've heard there's lots of activities going on I believe the the saintil Indians are very friendly people and there's always social activities going on so basically I am going with an open mind and I will see when I get there st. Alena is one of the very few truly remote islands in the world and when people have this idea of an island they generally think of an island like st. Alena most islands are actually relatively accessible nothing but water as far as the eye can see for days on end the travelers passed the time in traditional British fashion by playing cricket on the sundeck for example the nets aren't there simply to protect the spectators they also keep the ball from going overboard it's rare to see someone splashing in the pool but nobody wants to miss out on England's de facto national sport it's one of the last Royal Mail ships traveling in the world that actually still carries the Queen's Mail in dip bags you know in the property in the proper fashion so yes I think all that adds to the charm of the ship and you know the atmosphere as well results of the castle Currie Cup played on Sunday Park another of officer Mia Henry's duties is to announce the results of the cricket tournament something the British passengers in particular appreciate [Music] [Music] on the last evening at see the captain hosts a reception for everyone on board another holdover from old Empire complete with cocktails and formal dress [Music] for this one evening the container ship is almost like a cruise liner and as night slowly falls the boat is that much closer to the island [Music] it's the morning of the arrival the passengers cabins have to be cleaned one last time though the crew would prefer to be on deck after five days at sea there's a feeling of excitement in the air even among the crew [Music] it first appears as a gray strip on the horizon and then the island slowly comes into view near Henry will safely navigate the ship into her home Harbor with the help of the helmsman the island Rises abruptly like a huge black castle from the ocean that's how Charles Darwin once described santolina there are rugged cliffs everywhere it's only safe to land in a few spots I was thinking when Napoleon got here for his exile he must have felt well and truly exiled because it's taken us quite a while to get here and I imagine it was a bit slower in those days I mean it is so remote you just can't can't really comprehend unless you've been on a boat [Music] the horn sounds the ship's arrival it's one of the last duties mere Henry will perform on board a new job awaits her here on the island the Royal Mail ship may not be making the journey much longer after 17 years on board she's going ashore for good today [Music] Mia Henry is trading the wide open sea for the solitude of the island [Applause] [Music] Jamestown the capital and only port [Music] much here is reminiscent of the former colonial power and not just the bobbies strolling the streets [Music] [Music] st. Helena an isolated village in the middle of the Atlantic is home to just 4,500 people most are descendants of seafarers castaways and slaves from all over the world at some point they were stranded on this rugged terrain in the middle of nowhere washed up by the waves of fate originally the island was nothing but bleak volcanic rock like the people all the flora and fauna were imported from elsewhere brought either by wind or by wave some plants and animals cannot be found anywhere else endemic tree ferns the remote mountains of st. Helena are the only place this species survives but the past has caught up with them for much of the 20th century flax was grown on plantations here the flax industry was the engine of the islands economy the industry eventually fell into decline but the plants continued to spread over the land ranges like Dennis Leo and Kyle Joshua are trying to keep the flax and other plants brought by people from foreign lands in check st. Helena is sometimes called the Galapagos of the South Atlantic but without the Rangers efforts many of the endemic flora and fauna would be threatened by extinction every European male and he brought his rubbish here well I think this tree I would say this tree is special for semolina because it just goes to show you that 500 years on from discovery it's still access you know it hasn't been destroyed so it's very important to keep them going you know to keep our land clean and going the original plants are worth fighting for but it's a tough battle perhaps even futile it's much the same down in the harbor every three weeks the RMS st. Helena brings fresh supplies to the islands inhabitants despite strict controls foreign plants and animals still managed to make it to shore along with the usual goods today the ship has brought very special cargo crates from Paris that contain historic treasure furniture used by Napoleon during the years he spent in exile on the island after being restored in Paris they'll now be back on display on st. Helena that's good news for basil George he's a tour guide on st. Helena Napoleon's home might help to attract more tourists this time only two visitors have travelled with the ship a lot of people I think I've been doing tours for quite a long time and you find it's most of the elderly people who come who can who can't afford the time basil George won't earn much today but that means he'll have more time for something else that's also important on a remote island shopping the stores are restocking their shelves with the fresh produce brought by the cargo ship it won't last forever so it's wise to move in quickly like basil George finding bottled and canned goods is never a problem but fresh fruit is another story hey all the mushrooms is done [Music] the next morning is gray and overcast it almost resembles rural England only here there's even more wind and damp one former occupant of this stately home complained of it frequently [Music] Longwood House which served as Napoleon's home is owned by the French government the French Emperor was sent here by the British in 1815 and it's where he stayed until his death six years later his Knights are said to have been sleepless restlessly he wandered from one bed to another he had three of them in all boredom seemed to have been a problem for him as well as the damp in the house the restored furniture is being reinstalled in the house including Napoleon's billiard table that's reason enough for tour guide basil George to stop by he finds Napoleon's former prison most impressive I think it was just to have a campaign to try and get him released I think to see how badly he was being treated and and I think the campaign Vasil George and his son Kevin know that not all prisoners on the island had it so good they are descendants of a man who was himself banished to st. Helena along with countless others as a prisoner during the Boer War Basil George's grandfather lived in a camp here on this windy plateau six thousand men were sent by the British to the encampment [Music] like most of the islands inhabitants basil and Kevin's family is a mix of many cultures their ancestors came from all parts of Europe Basil's great-grandfather from China among the few traces left of the South African Boers is this cemetery full of victims of a typhoid epidemic Vasil George's grandfather was one of five prisoners who chose to stay on the island after being released they'd come to appreciate life on the remote island [Music] it's near Henry's first day on her new job as a security agent she will ensure that everyone in the harbor sticks to the rules and regulations she won't be saying goodbye to the sea completely but now most of her days will be spent here on a speck of land in the middle of nowhere for myself I won't be able to just go and do some retail therapy now as before but I think the island and everything that goes with it has other advantages that you will not find anywhere else in the world so we can enjoy the sea as you know I'm a I'm passionate about the sea so now I can spend my weekends either in the ocean or Mears partner Leroy also shares her love of the sea the coast all around the island is a habitat for hundreds of dolphins it's just after six o'clock in the morning Leroy is out on a boat with his brothers when they go fishing they always hope to catch something big they drop anchor in an area frequented by tuna fishing is one of the few ways to earn money on the island today Leroy is in luck won't give up the fish puts up a fight but after 20 minutes Leroy manages to pull a hundred and ten kilos of prime tuna into the boat via frozen so the value drops but freshest fish here freshly caught we get thirty pounds but fresh on the flight out quickly zombie is up to two to three hundred pounds which is a big difference now you know but for that the island would need an airport the British government invested more than three million pounds towards making this remote island a little less remote that's a lot of money considering there are only four thousand five hundred inhabitants but it would make it easier for more tourists to visit the island a change not everyone embraces Mike Olson is one of the project's harshest critics he runs a radio station on the island and says most people here share his reservations about the airport the solitude is part of their identity and that might be lost due to air traffic [Music] it's very friendly it is a little bit happy-go-lucky maybe and some of that inevitably will disappear but we don't want all of that to disappear we still want a bit of it and it was thinking I will be like anywhere else and we don't want a McDonald saving corner and and and those chicken in the other because saintly not wouldn't be the place that it is [Music] whenever Michaelson is out walking the hills around the airport he feels vexed about the waste of money although millions were spent to complete the runway there are still no scheduled flights to or from the continent Mike Olsen shows us a video of a test flight the plane failed at two attempts to land only the third try was successful the airport is in an area prone to severe wind shear something that only became clear after its construction as a result landing and takeoff is dangerous particularly on a runway that ends with the 300 meter drop meteorologists are now investigating whether the winds around the airport are indeed dangerous if they are the peaks of two mountains might be blasted off otherwise the expensive Airport might serve as nothing more than a simple airstrip for light aircraft that don't require the full length of the runway that wouldn't bother Ranger Dennis leo in the least he says the more remote the better it is for the island and its nature Kyle and Dennis have spotted an animal that can only be found on st. Helena the extremely rare st. Helena plover or wire bird as it's called here to distract from its nearby nest the bird feigns a wing injury but the nests are what interest Dennis and Kyle most they keep a record of all the eggs and adult birds they see there are only 500 wire birds left on the island as ground nesters they're threatened by rats and feral cats I get a throw from this I have to say this is you know I like doing this you know and when I get a cat in the trap it's a good feel and you know I know I got it I know I've gotta kill it but like if you ever lost to Chuck like if you know you find a check this week and you lose it the next week you feel like a parent sometimes you know oh my god my little chicks gone you know the fact that the Europeans turned the island into a fortress is a curse of a legacy says Dennis others like basil and Kevin see this historical legacy as an opportunity to attract more tourists not enough money has been made with Saint Helena's attractions to date they believe they love their Island and the fortress above the harbor its sadness them to see how more and more people are leaving st. Helena because there's not enough work here that's why they support the airport project and hope it will bring in tourists is not enough accommodation to deal with a boom and therefore there's been talk of looking at investors but I think you control the number of tours that come to the island and then yes you grow with it rather than having big investors coming in but I can't see how the Ireland can pay for all the services it has to deliver four and a half thousand people in the developed country it would be a village I don't think that they could cope with having to provide all the services your human resource base is far too small to be able to do it the time has come for the passengers and crew of the RMS Saint Helena to depart a ritual that soon may be a thing of the past once the airport goes into operation the ship will be taken out of service Miah Henry has come to see it off this time it will leave without her her former colleagues have already taken their positions on the bridge of the RMS st. Helena beaten up touch the ground yep to be honest okay it does feel like some part of my identity has just away from me at the moment so I'm I know it's my new job is going to be different but I'm hoping that kind of find some of that identity again [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 3,325,017

Rating: 4.8206682 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, ship, travel, Saint Helena, St. Helena, Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte, desolation, DW, Deutsche Welle, royal mail, Dw documentary

Id: Egzd7PsmNTo

Length: 25min 56sec (1556 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 28 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/dicemechanic]

Some of my earliest memories are of living on this island for a few months as a five year old. It was the first place I went to school. We had to shit in an outhouse into a bucket. Cockroaches everywhere. Giant tortoises. Cannons. Tuna. Steep.