● AB(HM) Amber Carr soaks up the sights of Freetown
as HMS Endurance arrives in Sierra Leone
No ice in paradise
FROM white to green.
less now falls than in the 1980s oil fields are potential targets for And so aside from smarmartening
The frozen expanses of
– has led to the desert creeping pirates and terrorists. the grounds and building alding a
Antarctica have been replaced
ever southwards and invading So Endurance showed Ghanaian new kitchen (or is it a galleya galley
by the lushness of West Africa
farmland. authorities how the RN gathers now?) the Endurance team sangam sang, ,
As in the West, so in West intelligence and deals with such played football and cricket and cket and
as ice ship HMS Endurance
Africa: the only real change thorny issues. handed out Pompey kits to the s to the
sailed into uncharted waters –
environmentally is effected when Around 100 Ghanaian military youngsters.
uncharted for her. environmental issues become and civilian personnel spent four “The best part was just being ust being
Yet the message banged by the political issues. days with the British sailors and with the children,” said d ‘Bish’‘Bish’
Red Plum drum – the effects of “African leaders are yet to fully marines, who imparted practical Rev Ralph Barber, Endurance’durance’s
climate change and importance grasp the implications on the and theoretical skills including chaplain.
of environmental responsibility continent of the phenomenon of maritime security, fishery
– remain the same whether the
“They had nothing, but wert were
climate change, yet the evidence protection, boarding, search and
backdrop is bergs and ice shelves
so friendly, so happypy.. At At
is all around us,” said Sean rescue and customs procedures.
or rich African vegetation.
times we all felt emotional.”onal.”
Doolan, regional advisor sor “The professional skills
The icebreaker/survey ship for the UK’s Department ent and energy with which the an And there was one more treaore treat t
is on an 18-month deployment for Internationalnal RoRoyal Navy has provided for the children, when the older he older
away from her home base of Development. such high-quality training such ones were invited on board the oard the
Portsmouth. And although localal will be reflected by the w icebreaker.
Instead of heading for the conditions and issues, increased effectiveness “The whole entourage came to came to
Solent after her spell of surveying such as deforestation, of our navy,” said Lt a grinding halt at a set of stairf stairs,”
around Antarctica, she headed are playing their part, Kenneth Sarbah, the said Capt Tarrant.
for Simon’s Town in South Africa Endurance’s CO Ghanaian liaison “They’d never seen stairrs before
for some much needed TLC Capt Bob Tarrant officer for the spell of and didn’t know how to o
after being exposed to the harsh and his team are in training. use them.
conditions associated with the icy no doubt that what “It’s been a very “They had never
continent. happens in his ship’s rewarding few days,” had ice creams either
But what happens in Antarctica normal domain andd Capt C Tarrant said of and wanted to keep the
– and its Northern Hemisphere what happens in West Endurance’Ed s week in wooden lollipop sticks.”
counterpart – directly, and Africa are connected. Ghana. Much of Endurance’s ws work ork
indirectly, impacts upon the lives “We and the scientists from the “I’ve been thrilled with the in Ghana was repeated along the long the
and livelihoods of people in West British Antarctic Survey witness vigour with which my ship’s coast in Sierra Leone, with with
Africa, and much further afield. first hand the acute effects of company have used their unique the ship also carrying out out
And so it was that Endurance the changes to the world’s mix of skills and expertise to surveys on the approaches ches
edged up the African coast, first climate in our everyday working support their colleagues in the to Freetown, the countrtry’s s
to Ghana, then to Sierra Leone, environment,” Capt Tarrant Ghanaian Navy.” capital and principal port..
hosting government leaders, added. Mercifully, it wasn’t all piracy, Once safely alongside,de, the
meteorologists, scientists and Climate change is just one terrorism and ‘the end of the Red Plum hosted a dadayy-long-long
British officials for brainstorming challenge facing Ghana’s leaders. world is nigh’ in Ghana. There seminar on climate change and nge and
sessions to discuss the way ahead. Perhaps more pressing on a was plenty of hope too. the importance of looking after ng after
Ghana’s coastal strip might day-to-day basis is piracy and A sizeable number of Sierra Leone’s environment which nt which
appear lush, but in the north of smuggling. Endurance’s sailors and Royal is, in parts, under threaeatt from from
the land climatic changes and Fish thieves poach an estimated Marines headed to an orphanage deforestation and illegal mining.mining.
shifts are making their presence £40m of, er, fish every year from whose 60 or so youngsters needed Among the figures aboard the ard the
felt. Ghanaian waters, there’s growing a bit of help sprucing up their ice ship for the discussion w were
Clearing forests and a dramatic evidence of drug smuggling via facilities, but above all they needed Sierra Leone’s vice president,ident,
drop in rainfall – 20 per cent the beaches and the country’s to see a few friendly faces. Samuel Samsumana.
hms endurance
es: la(phot) kaz williams,
pictur
0008_NN_Oct.indd 108_NN_Oct.indd 1 117/9/08 14:16:447/9/08 14:16:44
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48