St Helena

St. Helena has been a special time for the crew of the Oosterschelde. Starting with our approach solely under sail under a moonlit starry sky as we maneuvered our way to our anchorage in front of Jamestown, the main town of this intriguing little rock located deep in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Many of us only knowing snippets of its rich history of being Napoleon’s place of exile.

In order to make the most of our time here a program was created particularly to involve the local school children and create a connection with the Oosterschelde. This spoke nicely to the 500 years of maritime history of the island. One full day was allocated for the secondary students to take turns to visit the ship on her anchorage, while the primary pupils circled the us in another boat. The crew gave extensive tours around the Oosterschelde explaining the day to day running of a traditional sailing ship; touching on navigation, sail handling, maintenance etc. This was a very wholesome experience both for the crew and for the students involved.

Another part of the program was the following day Esther, Timo and Matu from the crew joined Stewart and Mariana from Darwin200 to visit all the schools on the island. Starting with the beautifully situated Prince Andrew secondary school, we gave a presentation explaining Charles Darwin’s connection to St Helena – he was very fond of his time here. We also talked about what the Darwin200 project entails and the key role the Oosterschelde plays in it. Another angle of presentation was to inspire the local students into a career at sea, particularly as many of them have grown up around boats. In recent times opportunities for such jobs have been limited due to the new airport and the termination of the RMS St Helena.

For the remainder of the morning we visited 4 primary schools for similar presentations. The Q&A’s that followed were free flowing and both the kids and the crew had a lot of fun together answering all the questions. Many of these questions were very well thought through relating to the wildlife witnessed along the way and looking at every aspect of running of the Oosterschelde.

This program gave the crew a more in depth experience of St Helena and created a strong connection between the locals and the ship. I will always remember the hospitality and positivity we experienced here. Now we are looking on with excitement at the voyage to come to Ascension Island.