Bulwark’s got to lead old Durham town

SOME ships make do with one civic honour.

But not HMS Bulwark. She

doesn’t believe in half measures. The assault ship is already the proud recipient of the Chairman’s Medal from the County of Durham. That came courtesy of the

efforts by the ship’s company to support under-privileged people in the region, notably by raising thousands of pounds for local charities. Now the sailors and Royal

Marines also enjoy Durham’s highest honour, Freedom of the City.

A couple of dozen sailors, led by Commanding Officer Capt Gavin Pritchard, headed to the North East to receive the honour – typically bestowed on civic leaders and local worthies, such as the late England football manager Bobby Robson. Capt Pritchard also unveiled a plaque in Durham Town Hall to mark the occasion.

On completion of the formal act of presenting the freedom scroll, the RN personnel were invited to a reception hosted by Durham’s bodyguards, aldermen, councillors, and lord mayor. In time-honoured tradition, the freedom scroll for the warship permits the ship’s company to march through Durham with bayonets fi xed, drums beating and so on... which Bulwark will do for the fi rst time when the sailors lead the city’s Armed Forces Day celebrations in June. Bulwark has been bound with the historic university city since she was commissioned back in 2003.

The ship has just started a £30m refit – the first in her career – in her home base of Devonport following her exertions leading the Taurus task group to the Far East last year.

TWO sailors killed surveying the frozen continent are to be honoured by monuments in the UK and the South Atlantic as part of ambitious plans to honour those who gave their lives for

scientifi c exploration.

Twenty-seven men and women working on behalf

have

Frozen heroes

of the British Antarctic Survey and its predecessor, the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey, died in the past 70 years in the pursuit of a greater understanding of the most hostile environment on the planet.

They are being honoured with memorials in St Paul’s Cathedral, the Scott Polar Research Centre in Cambridge and probably the Falklands.

And alongside their names, those of two RN personnel: LS Reg Hodge and AB Mike ‘Shady’ Lane, killed by an explosion aboard HMS Protector in December 1963 while the Antarctic patrol vessel was using depth charges for seismic survey work. AB Lane was blown overboard by the force of the blast (his body was subsequently recovered); LS Hodge was blown about 15ft from the epicentre of the explosion. Shipmates found him laying face down on the deck. Several comrades were injured by shrapnel.

“One of the flight deck plates was like a pepper duster and the plate under the explosion was bent like a piece of plastic,” recalled AB Eddie Large, whose life was saved by instinctively ducking when he heard the blast. “I will never forget that day – I can still see Reg’s and Shady’s faces – it’s like watching the same film over and over.”

Protector made immediately for Stanley in the

Falklands where the two sailors were buried with full military honours. Nearly five decades later, the RN continues to

support the scientific mission in the Antarctic region – and the dangers were highlighted by the plight of Protector’s present-day successor, HMS Endurance, which almost sank when her engine room flooded in late 2008.

As for BAS’ losses, they range from downed aircraft and mountaineering accidents to being attacked by wildlife.

All will be remembered by a circular memorial plaque of Welsh slate featuring a relief map of Antarctica (pictured inset) which will be installed in the crypt at St Paul’s.

Conservationists are hoping the thousands of sailors who’ve enjoyed the rare opportunity to visit this stunning island will dip into their pockets to save its wildlife.

Although it’s renowned as the last resting place of Sir Ernest Shackleton (his gravestone is

pictured, right, by PO(AWT) ‘Dutchy’ Holland of HMS

York – more from them overleaf) and as the home of a wonderfully-rich assortment of seals and birds. The latter are increasingly under threat from a rampant rat population which came to South Georgia with the first humans and have subsequently begun to devour many of the eggs laid by birds. The rodents have all but wiped out the South

Georgia pipit, which now lives only in rat-free surrounding islands and a tiny strip of otherwise inhospitable coastline. The South Georgia Habitat Restoration Project aims to rid the island of rats in the largest scheme of its type in the world, a cull estimated to cost between £6m and £7m and lasting more than three years. HMS Clyde’s ship’s company have already chipped in with £300, while some of HMS York’s ship’s company took part in the annual half- marathon which added another £1,300 to the fund. Rather larger figures have been donated by trusts and foundations to ensure the first phase of the killing begins. That will see a test cull carried out around

Grytviken next February with South Georgia hopefully rodent-free by May 2014 if the trial run and fundraising prove successful. More details can be found at www.sght.org

Georgia...

A two-part sculpture is also due to be erected; half in Cambridge, the other in the Southern Hemisphere, probably in the Falklands. Sixteen of the dead also have geographical

features – mountains, headlands, islands – named after them. The aim of the memorial project by the British Antarctic Monument Trust is to ensure all those who were killed receive the same honour. The trust is keen to trace relatives of LS Hodge and AB Lane – as well as families of the scientists and researchers who died – to inform them about the memorial plans.

More details about the project can be found online at www.

antarctic-monument.org.

■ MEANWHILE in South

Details are available from trust secretary Brian Dorsett-Bailey, 34 Essex Road, Watford, Herts WD17 4EP, e-mail

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