14 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009
In it for the
long haul...
WHERE Franklin failed, two Royal
“It was not all plain sailing, but it was a great
Marines succeeded in a craft just 17ft
adventure – we’ve had an awesome experience
long.
in the Arctic. We’ve put our boat through hell but
she’s been superb.”
Lt Col Kevin Oliver and Maj Tony Lancashire
His shipmate added: “Every one of the 42 days
navigated the fabled North-West Passage in
has offered a unique experience – from the Arctic
northern Canada in an open boat.
landscape and wildlife to the incredible hospitality
The duo set off from the small town of Inuvik
that we met in the northern communities.”
in north-west Canada – roughly 200 miles from
Both men are specialists in Arctic or mountain
the Alaskan border – and arrived 42 days later in
warfare. Lt Col Oliver also sailed a balsa raft
the town of Gjoa Haven on King William Island
down the Amazon while Maj Lancashire is an
(which lies about 1,300 miles from Winnipeg) after
expert in small boat operations.
covering the central section of the passage.
Their epic Arctic journey fi nished not far from ● Pirate Pete Clayton ‘encourages’ shipmates to clean HMS Liverpool’s fl ight deck
That journey took them through 1,400 miles
where Franklin’s expedition to fi nd the northern
of inhospitable seas and terrain, through
sea route between the Atlantic and Pacifi c ended
temperatures which could reach 30°C by day
in tragedy 160 years ago.
but plunge to -6°C by night. They faced pack ice,
Despite modern navigational aids and charts
bears, storms and, despite all that talk of global
which the ill-fated explorer and his men did
In need of the aargh force
warming, 90 per cent more ice than normal for
not have, the North-West Passage remains a
this time of year.
daunting prospect. HOLD on. Isn’t the Navy junior AB – all were needed to get an early fi nish possibly provided
A specially-designed sailing and rowing
“You can only fi ght nature up here to a degree,” supposed to be stamping out rid of the grease, dust, rust, sand greater incentive…
‘cruiser’, Arctic Mariner, was their home for the
said Lt Col Oliver. “In a small unpowered boat piracy, not encouraging it? and other gunk (technical term “I’ve been in the Navy for 18
six-week odyssey. It was reinforced to cope with
you can only do so much So why is there a man with a – Ed) which had accumulated on years, but this is the fi rst time
the ice and crammed with food, survival kit and
and we always said we dodgy eye patch, sword and hook the ship’s upper deck. I’ve seen this done – to dedicate
communications.
needed preparation, skill, for a hand demanding sailors clean With all that scrubbing – not just a day for the entire ship to clean
When there was no wind, the duo rowed. And
patience and luck to make HMS Liverpool? brushes but jets, dustpans, even is pretty unusual,” said PO(Pers)
where there was no ocean, the two commandos
the passage.” Well, it’s all part of the veteran toothbrushes for those awkward Lee Chadaway.
hauled their craft over the ice, some 100 or so
The obvious question is: destroyer’s efforts to look spick nooks and crannies – there was no Lt Matt Ellicott added: “We’ve
miles inside the Arctic Circle – at roughly the
why? and span. point wearing your fi nest uniform, been out of action for nine months
same latitude as Narvik.
Well, apart from the The destroyer – the oldest so ‘pirate rig’ was permitted. and we want Liverpool to look
They bumped into another vessel negotiating fact that Royal Marines surface ship in the Fleet – is at the Normally that means donning in the best possible state when
the North-West Passage, the Round the Americas have a habit of doing end of a lengthy refi t which will any clothes (such as T-shirts the FOST staff come on board.
yacht which is sailing around the continent this sort of thing, the two carry her through to the end of her bearing Liverpool’s unoffi cial Because it’s been a team effort, we
raising awareness of the environment. offi cers have raised more active life. motto ‘Ninjas not whingers’), can look back at the ship now and
The Americans were impressed by the Brits. than £10,000 for injured She faced a fi nal inspection from but some such as Pirate Pete – say she looks sparkling.
While they were dressed tip to toe in cold weather comrades. the taskmasters of the Flag Offi cer aka offi cer of the watch Lt Peter “Many years ago most ships had
gear, they found the Royals strutting around in The charity Toe in Sea Training before returning to Clayton – went a step further. a fresh water washdown involving
fl ip-fl ops. the Water aims to help sea last month, the fi rst stage in Although a sword’s not a lot of the entire crew at the end of a
“One thing was clear,” said Herb McCormick. Servicemen and women a lengthy work-up to operational use for cleaning, you can at least lengthy refi t, so we made the most
“If these guys were running the ‘British Empire,’ back to fi t, active lives readiness. attach a cloth to the end of the of this opportunity to bring back
there’d still be one.” after injury by means And it wouldn’t be right if the hooked hand… the tradition.”
There were some “heart-stopping moments” of sailing. See www. FOSTies found the Liver Bird in a Aside from a little gentle An autumn of trials now
on the journey, as Lt Col Oliver put it, notably toeinthewater.org dirty state, so it was time to revive encouragement from Pirate Pete, beckons for the Portsmouth-based
some encounters with the local bear population. for more information. an old RN tradition – a whole ship “audio-based entertainment” destroyer before Operational Sea
upper deck scrub. was the order of the day to spur Training in the New Year. After
And when we say ‘whole ship’, the sailors on with ‘DJ’ PO Dane that she serves as HMS Ark
we mean ‘whole ship’: offi cers Smallbone blaring tunes over the Royal’s trusted escort when the
and ratings, from CO Cdr Ollie upper deck (Chas ‘n’ Dave full carrier deploys to the USA next
Hutchinson down to the most blast anyone?). Bacon butties and spring and summer.
We got a job in Stanley...
THE Fighting G has been showing off what she earnest with a 20km trek along pristine sandy
can do with a demonstration to the good folk of beaches to the Maracaipe estuary, where
the Falklands. the sailors switched to dune buggies for the
HMS Gloucester anchored off Stanley then remaining 10km to Tamandare.
ferried 70 locals aboard (or one in every 44 “Our driver assured us that he knew the way
islanders…) including Governor Alan Huckle to and that he was known to his friends as Rubens
demonstrate what the Type 42 destroyer brings
Barrichello,” said S/Lt Bradshaw. “Neither was
to the Falklands ‘party’.
entirely true. “
CO Cdr Iain Lower (who was previously in the
After a four-hour bus trip, the sailors arrived in
islands in charge of guardship Leeds Castle a
the bustling city of Maceio, where a local under
few years back) and his team laid on an ‘action
12s football team challenged the Brits to a match
stations’ demo for Falklanders, showing how
on a palm-shaded pitch by the sea-front. “We
sailors on the bridge and in the operations room
went, we played and we were thrashed,” said
would deal with a possible threat.
S/Lt Bradshaw. “It’s the taking part that counts,
Sailors were also put through their paces
isn’t it?”
putting out a mock fi re while the engineers
Still, at least they could relax the next day on a
showed how they would respond to problems in
14-hour bus journey. Unfortunately, said journey
the machinery control room.
took the men along the Linha Verde highway –
The visit was rounded off with a briefi ng for the
the most dangerous road in Brazil, infamous for
Falklanders on the wider role of today’s Senior
its potholes, dangerous bends and even more
Service.
dangerous overtaking.
Having laid on a one-ship demonstration, the
How glad they were therefore to get back on
Portsmouth-based warship then took part in a
more dynamic display, this time with 50 guests
the briny. Not the Type 42, but the fastest boat
embarked, featuring fending off a fast inshore
the lads could barter for in the small port of
attack craft, a maritime interdiction strike by the
Valenca.
destroyer’s 815 NAS Lynx, a little naval gunfi re
That craft took them to the island of Morro
support, and a bit of refueling courtesy of RFA
de Sao Paulo for which the word ‘idyllic’ seems
Gold Rover.
a little understated: it possesses the ruins of a
Stanley might seem like the end of the earth…
Portuguese fort, a lighthouse, three mountains
but at least they speak English.
covered by jungle, endless mangrove swamps,
Not so the towns and ports on the shores
an ancient monastery. Offshore there are reefs
of Brazil, where nine Fighting G men found
where you can swim with sharks. And there’s
themselves on the ultimate road trip.
a beach where you can (and we believe the
The destroyer dropped them off in the northern
Gloucester men did) party long into the night.
port of Suape, giving the sailors fi ve days to reach
The pleasure/pain principle demands a little
Rio, 1,800 miles away, one map to help them on
payback. The next morning the sailors donned
their way and lashings of sun cream.
rucksacks once more and headed inland, through
And so began Brazilian Surprise, the surprise
rainforest to the Fonte de Cue waterfall.
being that none of the matelots spoke Portuguese
With the sun at its zenith and temperature and
(not that much of a surprise actually).
humidity as high as the sailors had experienced,
First stop was a mere seven miles away, the
the 25km trek felt more like 100.
fi shing town of Porto de Galinhas.
At the end of that trek, there was a boat ride
“The place was utterly deserted,” said a
across the bay to the regional capital of Bahia,
slightly disconcerted S/Lt James Bradshaw. “It
Salvador.
was only when the Brazilian football team scored
They found the city in carnival mood with the
and hundreds of people came running out onto
streets of Salvador’s old town crammed. It would
the street in jubilant celebration that the penny
have been rude not to join in. So having partied
dropped.”
through the night (again) the sailors headed
After a meal of chicken hearts and fi sh, the G straight from the carnival to the city airport for a
men settled down in accommodation which was pre-dawn fl ight to Rio.
basic to say the least and made them feel grateful “Brazilian Surprise will be long remembered,
for the comparative luxury of a 25-year-old but as our aircraft turned in to land and we could
Type 42 (not a phrase which appears regularly in see Gloucester in the docks below, we were all
these pages). relieved to have made it back home,” said S/Lt
The next day, Brazilian Surprise began in Bradshaw.
014_NN_Oct.indd 1 22/9/09 10:05:56
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