{"id":247,"date":"2018-11-01T08:32:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T08:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/?p=247"},"modified":"2018-11-17T12:48:27","modified_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:48:27","slug":"extraordinary-people-on-tdc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/?p=247","title":{"rendered":"Extraordinary people on TDC"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the development of the society in such a very remote place as Tristan da Cunha, going back over 200 years, it is not surprising that there are some extraordinary aspects to the people on the island, both as far as individual people are concerned, and also relating to how some noteworthy social customs have developed.\u00a0 That is not, however, the limit to the incidence of extraordinary people on the island.\u00a0 Some of the expat staff stationed here certainly fit into this category, and some of the visitors also deserve a mention.\u00a0 All in all, it seems that through its extreme remoteness the island does nurture and attract people who are extraordinary!<\/p>\n

Through the eyes of a visitor to the island, some of the working practices are remarkable.\u00a0 In particular it is astonishing how all members of the community come together for specific work tasks.\u00a0 For example, when a ship has to be unloaded everyone leaves their normal places of work and becomes part of the unloading team \u2013 working as a stevedore on the ship, manning the barges bringing cargo into the harbour, driving a relay of tractors and trailers from the harbour to the warehouse, unpacking crates, and being part of a human chain to stack boxes in the warehouse. There are other events when an \u2018all hands day\u2019 can be declared \u2013 for example when everyone is needed to replace a roof on a house.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Islanders teamed up to re-roof the church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are also the examples of remarkable people in connection with the island fishing industry.\u00a0 For the most part, fishing on Tristan means crayfish fishing.\u00a0 Each boat is crewed by two men, and eleven small open boats go out on the days that have been declared as \u2018fishing days\u2019.\u00a0 The boats make a very early start, the little boats wallow horribly in the water particularly when they are not making way when the pots are being hauled.\u00a0 The boys leave the harbour at first light, and in the shoulder months the low temperatures and the chill factor can be really testing. Every man a hero!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fishing boats coming back into harbour at the end of a long day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once the crayfish are landed, they are transported to the factory.\u00a0 The people who work at the factory are also remarkable.\u00a0 During the week it is largely pensioners who do this work, some of them approaching the age of 80.\u00a0 They may work for 8 hours or more during the day, or in the evening the factory siren may call them out for an evening shift of anti-social hours.\u00a0 The Tristan fishing industry is dependent on this reliable and loyal work-force.\u00a0 It is another example of the extraordinary people of Tristan.<\/p>\n

It should not be thought that all Tristanians are alike \u2013 they may come together for specific tasks, but they are generally highly individual.\u00a0 The population today is just 250 people, and I could probably detail them one by one to show how a high proportion of them are individually extraordinary \u2013 but that would not go down well on the island.\u00a0 I must not be seen to have any sort of bias or favouritism!<\/p>\n

At any one time, there are around 12 \u2013 15 expatriates stationed on Tristan.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, at present these include three teachers, a doctor and a nurse, the Administrator, a finance man, a factory manager and engineer, a retail specialist, and an agriculturalist (me!), as well as a short-term postdoctoral researcher from the Natural History Museum.\u00a0 Most of these expats are on 2-year contracts, except for the Administrator who is generally here for three years and the doctor who may be here for five months.\u00a0 In a general sense, the expats can be described as being extraordinary.\u00a0 They have committed themselves to spending a couple of years on a tiny island where the facilities are extremely limited (shops, restaurants, healthcare facilities, etc), where they leave behind family and friends, and for the most part where the opportunities for professional contact and CPD (Continuous Professional Development) are quite limited.\u00a0 These privations are not for everyone!<\/p>\n

As a result of Tristan\u2019s location, deep in the South Atlantic, there are many scientists and specialists who come to the island.\u00a0 In the course of the two years that we have been here somewhere over 140 people have passed through. \u00a0These may be fisheries experts, conservation specialists, seal experts or bird professionals.\u00a0 They may be South African personnel going to Gough Island for a 12-month tour of duty, or the team coming off Gough after their 12-month stint.\u00a0 They may be the construction staff who built the new health centre, many of whom had experience in Antarctica.\u00a0 Or they may be specialists in seismology, volcanology, global magnetism or nuclear detection.\u00a0 It is a real experience for the people on Tristan, both Tristanians and expats, to be able to have contact with all of these visitors, many of whom can be described as extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Of special mention is the dentist from Edinburgh, who comes to the island every year for three week\u2019s work, bringing her daughter with her.\u00a0 Her much-travelled daughter slots back into the little school on Tristan, where she catches up with all her island friends.\u00a0 This must be the most extreme example of taking your child to work with you!<\/p>\n

\"\"
A cruise ship at anchor off Tristan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Our dutch friends at the harbour, with their yacht at anchor behind them<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also have a small number of tourist-related people coming to the island.\u00a0 A few small cruise ships make a visit, weather permitting, as do a small number of sailing yachts.\u00a0 That gives us a further \u00a0chance to meet some more extraordinary people.\u00a0 I am thinking here of the two Dutch men in a yacht, who stopped off to buy some groceries and then continued on to Melbourne and finally Adelaide, stopping off on the way at Les Isles de la Desolation.\u00a0 I am also thinking of the young girl who sailed single-handed from Sweden to Tristan \u2013 real adventurers come to Tristan!\u00a0 And how about the cruise-ship tour guide who came earlier this year \u2013 it materialised that before that job, she had joined her partner on a small wooden yacht deep in Brazil.\u00a0 They sailed the ‘wrong way’ round Cape Horn, and in two years they sailed back to Norway \u2013 in fact she made history by becoming the first Norwegian female ever to sail through the North West Passage.\u00a0 After passing eastwards through the North West Passage, they of course passed Baffin Island \u2013 this is the home of another extraordinary visitor we had here for a few weeks this year!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yacht Lady Free ice bound going through the North West Passage (Photo Cecilie Evjen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Yacht Lady Free approaching a Beluga whale (Photo\u00a0 Jan Martin Nordbotten)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the development of the society in such a very remote place as Tristan da Cunha, going back over 200 years, it is not surprising that there are some extraordinary aspects to the people on the island, both as far as individual people are concerned, and also relating to how some noteworthy social customs have … Continue reading “Extraordinary people on TDC”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-social","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.penguins-and-potatoes.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}