Ben Fogle - The Teatime Islands: Adventures in Britains Faraway Outposts

PENGUIN BOOKS

THE TEATIME ISLANDS

Ben Fogle took part in the BBCs hit series Castaway 2000. He now presents BBC1s Countryfile, and his writing has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. The Teatime Islands is his first book and the fulfilment of a lifetimes ambition. He lives in London.

The Teatime Islands

Adventures in Britains Faraway Outposts

BEN FOGLE

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published by Michael Joseph 2003

Published in Penguin Books 2004

Copyright Ben Fogle, 2003

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN: 978-0-14-194622-1

Contents

The Teatime Islands

To my family, for letting me be a dreamer

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Sukey Cameron and everyone at FIGO for all their hard work planning, organizing and hosting me twice, Becky Ingham, Debbie Summers, Councillor Richard Cockwell, Hattie Lee for her hospitality, Karen Taylor, Rob McGill, Neil Watson, Ken Greenland, Tex and Mandy at Port Edgar for their time, HM Governor Donald Lamont and Lynda Lamont, HMS Endurance, HH Administrator Geoffrey Fairhurst and Wendy Fairhurst, Chief Islander James Jimmy Glass, Constable Conrad Glass, Yvonne and Lewis Glass for their hospitality, HH Administrator Bill Dickson and Trisha Daniels, HM Governor David Hollamby and Mrs Hollamby, Captain Roberts and the crew of the RMS St Helena with particular thanks to Purser Geoff for his humour during the long passages, Linda Butler at Andrew Weir Shipping for coping with my disorganization, Didier Wattrelot and the Sauvage for getting me to Pitcairn against the elements, Johnny Hobson for all his kind help both on and off Ascension, Adam Hensham and Buffalo, the crew of the Dream Voyager, Jeff Shea, Ted Cookson, Brian Appleby, Dick Benson, Bill Woodward, Doug Patterson and family, Dulcie and Bobby Robertson, Shelco and Bryan Jones, Basil George, Michael Swales for his indispensable knowledge, Anne and Frank Dakin for their wonderful story, Air New Zealand for the comfy seats, Ken Lennox for his photographs and all those trips, Lucy Irvine for the inspiration, the Taransay castaways, Colin Cameron, Chris Kelly, Jeremy Mills and everyone at Lion Television for the opportunity, Sheila Jowers for her artwork and Roger Stephenson for all his helpful advice. A hearty thanks to Charles Veley; good luck to you, sir you have made the world a very small place. And finally, to everyone who helped me along the way, thank you.

Julian Alexander and all at LAW, Ginette Chalmers and Kathryn Fleming at PFD for the transition, to Ed Bettison, Clare Pollock, Georgina Atsiaris and all at Michael Joseph and Penguin for helping me steer a course through the publishing ocean, and for allowing me to fulfil my dream, and thanks to Peter McClure for the maps. Special thanks to my editor Rowland White for his enthusiasm and zeal throughout.

To Mum and Dad for their unfailing support and encouragement throughout the years, and to friends and work colleagues who have put up with incessant book talk for so long. Thank you all for putting up with me, and sticking around.

To my darling Kinvara: thank you for an understanding and patience way beyond the call of duty and for always being there for me. You will always be special to me, x.

Toby Grimwood and Linford Casenove, two friends and fellow dreamers, their lives cut tragically short, you are not forgotten.

To the people of Tristan da Cunha, Pitcairn, Ascension, St Helena, the Falklands and the British Indian Ocean Territories: this book is about you and for you. Thanks, guys.

Introduction

A milky Corn Flake fell on to the kitchen table as I spluttered over my bowl of breakfast cereal. NAVAL OFFICER FINDS ISLAND, read the small article in the Daily Telegraph. My eyes strained as I read the news story hidden in the depths of the broadsheet: A Royal Navy petty officer who discovered an island in the South Atlantic which did not appear on any charts may have the rocky outcrop named after him. The article went on to explain that Mark Robinson, 28, a medical assistant, was serving on HMS Endurance when he saw the island, which is a quarter of a square mile in size with a peak of 18 feet.

I was flabbergasted, mesmerized and, quite frankly, very, very envious. What was an island doing hanging about undiscovered this was 2002 not 1702 and, more to the point, where were all the other officers looking? It certainly didnt inspire my confidence in the Royal Navy, although the visual acuity of their medical assistants was reassuring.

That an island could remain undiscovered in the twenty-first century seemed inconceivable. I dusted off my world map and scanned the South Atlantic. I had forgotten how vast that great South Atlantic ocean is, and as I searched across it I reacquainted myself with some old friends, the Teatime Islands.

I have been fascinated by islands and travel since I was a young boy. I went on my first expedition when I was just six. It was teatime and I had just finished a milk chocolate digestive. I decided to visit Ostrov KotelNyj in the Arctic Ocean above the former Soviet Union. A bitterly cold island chain highlighted by an assortment of fallen biscuit crumbs and inhabited, I imagined, by a lost tribe of brown-jumper-wearing Latin teachers, it seemed a suitably remote place to begin my daydream travels.

The trip had been a success, and over the next few years these teatime expeditions took me to some of the most remote corners of the earth: from the South Sandwich Islands (if I told you they were giant floating ham and cheese sandwiches you wouldnt believe me) to Christmas Island (inhabited by a whole tribe of Father Christmases). I was the Teatime Traveller. The world was at my knees (my mother actually made me some special cushioned kneepads for comfort, and because I wore through so many trousers) and I embarked on some serious finger-walking.

The school became so concerned about my lack of attention that I was eventually sent to a number of specialist doctors who examined everything from my hearing to my sight, and all because I was busy daydreaming down the Amazon. I can still remember thinking how useful the ear doctors little torch would be for night-time trips.

I found a map of Britains former empire in an old National Geographic. I was dazzled by the vast tracts of colour that streaked the globe pink. It seemed incredible that this small rainy island in Western Europe once governed nearly a quarter of the worlds population and about the same proportion of the earths land. The British Empire was the biggest empire ever, encompassing 1,000 territories, but how had we done it?