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The Ascension Island Newspaper |
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The Ascension Island Newspaper |
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On Tuesday the 4th of August,
Captain Paul Owen and the officers and crew of The Maersk hosted
a dinner on board, in order to celebrate the 15th anniversary of
the arrival of the vessel on Ascension. Representatives of the
island's organisations were present. Chef David Locksmith along
with stewards Nicholas Leahy and Danny McNutty surpassed
themselves in providing a wonderful dinner. In his speech to the
guests, the Captain spoke of the pride that the Maersk company
felt in providing services to the MoD. He also spoke of the
excellent relationship that the Maersk crew had with all of the
community on Ascension. "We look forward to maintaining and
developing this relationship over the years up to and beyond the
millenium." Captain Owen went on to describe how many of the
personnel currently on board had returned from time to time over
the last 15 years, and spoke of the special affection that he and
many of his colleagues within the fleet felt for the island;
"The unique atmosphere to be savoured here is cherished
among us."In reply, Sqn Ldr Adrian Hayward, the RAF Station
Commander, thanked the Captain and crew for providing such a
splendid evening. He described how the Maersk Ascension had
become part of the island landscape, and how well her crew had
fitted in with the island's community. He wished the Maersk
Ascension well and looked forward to Ascension Island being
associated with Maersk Ascension for many years to
come..............................KH/SF
Originally named "Jessie Maersk" and flying the Danish flag, Maersk Ascension was built at the Kaldnes yard in Tongsberg, Norway in 1976. For the next 7 years, she traded world-wide carrying a variety of products under the ownership of A.P Möller.
The Maersk Company Ltd purchased the vessel in July 1983, renamed her Maersk Ascension and placed her under the British flag. She was delivered on charter to the Ministry of Defence on July 13th of that year, and proceeded to Ascension Island, where she arrived at 2220 hours on the 4th of August 1983.
Maersk Ascension remained on station until 1991, when it was decided to send the vessel to dry dock, during which various work was undertaken on the vessel, including the replacement of the bow section in order to allow her to remain on station for a further extended period.
In 1994 Maersk Ascension was asked to assist in movement of personnel to and from St helena following the breakdown of the normal transportation. Although not fitted for carriage of large numbers of passengers, The Maersk was pleased to assist, and a total of 78 passengers were transported.
Apart from these occasions, and the regular periods of steaming around the island, Maersk Ascension has remained on station for the whole 15 year period.
On 4th August, 1983, Maersk Ascension arrived at Ascension Island to commence her employment as the Strategic Storage Tanker for the Ministry of Defence. Since that time, she has remained on station, apart from a period in 1991 when she was dry-docked at our yard in Odense, Denmark.
During this period, the blue hull of the "Maersk" as she is locally known has been an integral part of the scenery, anchored approximately 1 mile off Georgetown, and readily visible from the southern part of the Island. Although there have been changes in crews on board over the years, all our personnel on board the "Maersk" have also become part of the Island community.
The Maersk Company is proud to have been able to provide this service to the Ministry of Defence during this period, and equally proud of our excellent relationship with the personnel who work and live on the Island.
On behalf of ail Maersk personnel, both afloat and ashore, 1 would like to say how much we have enjoyed the past 1 5 years, and look forward to maintaining and developing our relationships at all levels over the years up to and past the Millennium".
T T Andersen
"You're going to be the RN LO," the Station Commander told me, but this was in my first few days at RAF Ascension, and so it sank into the deep and murky recesses of my mind, obscured by the rigours of contract monitoring. The title RN LO stands for Royal Navy Liaison Officer, and it was to be my task to prepare fore RN visits and look after them when they arrived.
Fast forward to a month ago when the Station Commander warned me that secret signals were flying around that a submarine was going to visit Ascension. "No problem," I thought, but little did I know...
The weeks before the arrival of the boat were spent arranging everything that they would need, despite the difficulty of not being able to tell anyone too much because of the secret signals that the RN like to use to send dinner requests, but this is Ascension and everyone knew really.
The first clue that the boat was about to arrive was when the crew of the Maersk saw a periscope sail past on Monday morning, followed by the boat surfacing to the North of Clarence Bay. My part was firstly to ensure that the mail, provisions (victuals in Navy speak) and newspapers got on board and discuss arrangements for visits ashore.
Climbing aboard the boat was a feat in itself, and credit is due to the excellent boat-handling skills of the Maersk crew who had to chase the boat around the Bay as it could not come to a halt due to the 1½ miles of electrical flex it towed which is part of the sonar system.
The boat itself is what an estate agent would call 'compact and bijou', but some bits of it look like something out of Star Trek, but there are currently no cardboard cut-outs of the Captain of HMS Triumph available which will disappoint some readers, I learnt the reason for Navy terms: the Officers' Mess is called the Wardroom, but that is obviously a corruption of 'wardrobe' as you could probably fit a couple of shirts, a pair of shorts in there and probably squeeze in your socks. The whole environment is a claustrophobic's nightmare, people over 5'10" have to stoop (see how many bumps there are on the Station Commander's head now!), and sleeping in a sleeping bag on a shelf under a torpedo definitely doesn't do too much for me.
Monday night saw some pasty white sailors ashore for the night, and a sociable night was spent in the Messes, We were, however, unable to prove whether or not the sailors from nuclear submarines glow in the dark, but there was a distinct lack of microwaves on board for cooking food.
Tuesday morning (very early) saw the Ag. Administrator, the Station Commander, the USAF Base Commander and selected others on board for a very tasty breakfast, although I am still of the opinion that the Mess on board lacked something in not having windows.
The vessel set sail on Tuesday morning, bound for St Helena with several bags of mail on board, leaving Ascension with a slight port shortage.
A big thanks must go to the crew of the Maersk who worked minor miracles during the whole visit as their boat crews chased the submarine all around the Bay whilst trying to give them mail and take their people ashore. The Mess Staff at Travellers were also incredibly helpful and made the RN very welcome. Thanks also to my deputy, Flt Lt Sheila Cuthbert, who took time off from healing the sick to help. All in all, it was a very interesting visit and once the Mess Guests account has recovered from the expenditure, we will be looking forward to the next one !
by Flt Lt Simon Reade
We continue to install fiber optic cable on the new poles around the island. The advantages, once complete, will be significant. First, the overhead poles and lead shielded cable on base will come down, improving the aesthetic view. Additionally, we will be removing approximately 56 kilometers of poles and lead shielded cable on the island. Aside from the advantages that new fiber optic cable gives us, we are ridding the island of a source of lead. We are committed to being good enviromnental stewards on Ascension. We will then cut the poles and lead shielded cable into three-foot sections and ship them off the island. If any organization or person can make permanent use of the poles, we will provide them free of charge beginning the end of August.
We will begin the first of five dormitory renovations on I 0 Aug 98. Each dormitory will take six months to complete, and we plan to have two dormitories undergoing renovation simultaneously. There is potential some permanent party personnel, and most certainly temporary duty personnel, will be doubled up in the interim. This entire project will take two years to complete.
You may notice something new going up in our high frequency antenna field out the One Boat Road. The antenna is part of our modernization program for our communications systems. As a reminder, please stay clear of this area; the antennae are hazardous.
Regarding safety, I am concerned for the welfare of people as the tourism initiative is pursued. We have never had to fence any of our facilities as Ascension Island was considered "closed." Please, if you are affiliated with any group who plans to travel near our facilities, call me as soon as possible for clearance and a summary of the risks. Safety is paramount to us.
On a more serious note, the Volcano Club recently experienced several incidents where individuals have become so unruly, they disrupted activities being sponsored.
Additionally, some unsupervised underage children have been noticed in and around the facility. Access to the Volcano Club is my option. Should these infractions continue, I will ban individuals or groups from the Club. The island and Volcano Club have a long tradition of camaraderie, but I can not subject the majority to an unpleasant, unruly minority.
On a personal note, thanks to all of you for your hospitality. I've traveled around the world while in the US Air Force, and you win the "hands-down" award for genuine and sincere friendship.
Technical Sergeant Ed Rocha and I are looking for anyone interested in playing "pick-up" basketball during the week in the evenings.. Nothing serious, but we do plan to run hard and get a good workout. If interested, we can be reached extension 2200/2219
Major Jeff Lowdermilk
Last updated: 01/10/98
All articles © copyright 1998 The Islander Newspaper.
All rights reserved.