The Royal Navy has delivered vaccine doses to the world's most remote community. HMS Forth delivered 900 doses of AstraZeneca to the inhabitants of the tiny island of Tristan da Cunha, in the middle of the South Atlantic. The Royal Air Force first transported the drugs from RAF Brize Norton to Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. Within an hour, the valuable cargo was transferred and safely stored in the belly of the Forth into storage. The ship, which is permanently stationed in the Falkland Islands, was then able to set off on the 2500 nautical mile journey to Tristan da Cunha. The journey was challenging because the total distance of 5000 miles was close to the limit of the ship's capacity. Forth and there is no possibility of replenishing fuel supplies along the way. Good planning, taking into account wind, sea and current, was therefore essential.
Only the ship's doctor, Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Rory Goodenough, was allowed to bring the vaccine to the island. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who had spent six months on the island as a botanist many years ago.
Tristan da Cunha has neither an airport nor an unloading facility for ships in the harsh southern hemisphere winter. During the cold months, the 270 or so inhabitants of the island are cut off from the outside world. It was therefore important to deliver the medicine before the onset of winter. The Forth was the first ship to call at the volcanic island in eight months and the Royal Navy's first in six years.
Delivery of the valuable freight
Text: mb; Photos: Royal Navy
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The island is the dream destination of our lives. Because I collect islands. We almost managed to book ourselves onto a cargo ship once. But then the space was needed elsewhere. It's wonderful that the people on this remote part of the world have been supplied with vaccines by the navy. High praise.
I've never heard of the island, although I'm actually quite good at geography. Great, exciting story!
You can't do without the navy!