The island of Saint Helena, a volcanic tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean, is Britain’s second-oldest remaining overseas territory after Bermuda.
The island is around 16 by 8 kilometres in size and lies 4,000 kilometres east of Rio de Janeiro and 1,950 kilometres west of Namibia and Angola.
The island used to be served by ships of the Union-Castle Line, which ran between the UK and South Africa. However, Union-Castle withdrew from the route completely in 1977 and the British government had to purchase a ship to service its remote territory. The part passenger, part cargo ship, Northland Prince, was bought, refitted and renamed RMS St Helena.
RMS St Helena docked on the River Thames, 9 June 2016
As transport and cargo requirements grew, the original ship was deemed too small and in 1989 the second and current St Helena was built in Aberdeen.
At 6,767 gross tonnes, with berths for 156 passengers plus 56 officers and crew, this Royal Mail ship is equipped to carry a wide range of cargo to meet the needs of the population of Saint Helena.
In 2005, the British government announced plans to construct an airport on Saint Helena, to provide a faster and more frequent service for the inhabitants and to help them develop their tourist industry. Initial plans were to open the airport in 2010, followed by the removal and disposal of the ship. Following a number of delays, work finally started in 2012 with an opening date set for early 2016, with an opening ceremony in May 2016. The final cruises were scheduled for RMS St Helena and she arrived in London just a few days ago for her farewell to Britain.
RMS St Helena alongside HMS Belfast, June 2016
Unfortunately, serious flight security concerns, related to windshear, mean that the opening of the airport has been significantly delayed. As a result, RMS St Helena retraces its steps and sails back to Capetown in a few days’ time, resuming its vital and much-loved service until at least September 2016.
Making the journey to St Helena on the boat has been on my travel wish list for some time, so now I have another small opportunity to deal with that.
Copyright Debbie Smyth, 9 June 2016
Part of Thursday Special
Travel with Intent 
Most interesting, Debs….hope you do get your wish 🙂
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Thanks Sue
On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 9:23 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Lovely interesting post Debbie – and have coincidently just watched the news about the delay on the airport. I hope you get your wish Debbie jx
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It’s a beauty, Debbie. I love it with Shard in the background and in the shot where it stands next to HMS Belfast.
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You’d better catch it before the sails are finally down. I love boat cruises but am mortally scared of drowning
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One of my travel fantasies is visiting Tristan da Cunha…
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How do you get there? We can fly to Ascension from an RAF base here in England, but I don’t know about Tristan da Cunha. Swim?
On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 8:40 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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No airport… gotta take the boat from Cape Town, it takes six days, apparently.
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I think it’s 5 days to St Helena. So sounds right
We obviously have similar dreams!
On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 9:00 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Not to mention Napoleon’s last “abode”. 😉
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Indeed! One of the reasons I’s like to get there
On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 7:21 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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It’s always been one of my dreams to sail the seas on a ship like that. 🙂
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