THE South Atlantic Media Services, Ltd. www.sams.sh Vol. 3,SENTINEL Issue 4 - Price: £1 “serving St Helena and her community worldwide” Th ursday 17 April 2014 French tribute to the life and military career of Napoleon Bonaparte Page 5 From the Control Tower - Airport Update page 10 and 11 HE Governor Capes inspecting the French troops at a special ceremony held at Napoleon’s tomb on Tuesday completing their military, human and naval training. Richard Wallis, SAMS From St Helena the ships will travel west to South America and provide help in the prevention of drug On Tuesday two warships of the French Navy, Land- smuggling. ing Helicopter Dock (LHD) Mistral and Stealth Frigate During this port visit, meetings and exchanges with (FLF) La Fayette call in at St Helena from early morning the residents of St Helena took place and crew mem- to late evening. bers toured the historical sites of the island. LHD Mistral and FLF La Fayette have been deployed A military ceremony took place at 3pm at The Tomb, since March and will be on duty until July 2014 for mis- with Governor Mark Capes, Michel Dancoisne-Mar- sion “Jeanne d’Arc.” There are 155 offi cers from various tineau, Consul-honoraire de France, and senior offi - professional backgrounds from 18 different nationalities cers and crew members of both warships. Bark Europa - Three page report inside, A Life Under Sail One Day French Kiss including pictures from page 12 Successful Naval Charm Assault on St Helena onboard the LHD Mistral by “Jeanne d’Arc” mission Page 2,3 and 5 Visit of French warships, LHD Mistral and FLF La Fayette Jamestown Vision 2020 Document Shelved page 24 LHD Mistral positioned in James’ Bay on Tuesday 2 www.sams.sh Th ursday 17 April 2014 THE SENTINEL REPORT Bon Jour! Local boats brought the visitors ashore, after Welcome a failed attempt to use their own landing craft Aboard! Welcome As more than 800 Ashore French sailors made their way off the ships, SAMS reporters wait- ed patiently to meet Public Liaison Offi cer, Caroline Du Cret and English Royal Navy Offi cer, Dominic Tay- lor for a tour of larger; Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) Mistral. Caroline & Dominic Richard Wallis & One Day French Kiss Sharon Henry, SAMS Successful Naval Charm Assault on St Helena by “Jeanne d’Arc” mission Both the Mistral and the La Fayette have been deployed since March and will be continuing until July for the “Jeanne d’Arc” mission. This particular mission is a four month multi dimensional operation where the French Navy’s trained offi cers, as well as foreign offi cers, carry out their fi rst operational deployment. The aim is to make the young offi cers acquire a solid foundation in military leadership and seamanship thanks to the practical in situ nature of the training and the experience of taking responsibilities. The ‘Well Deck Master’ whose job it is to make sure all goes well with the process said it could be quite diffi cult when there is a big swell. To the stern of the Mistral is the ‘Well Deck’ where the military action group that goes from land to sea will disembark. Launches are de- Getting up close and signed to power in through the back of the ship personal to the Mistral and be loaded with trucks, tanks and supplies. A large part of the Mistral is set aside for the onboard hos- pital which is fully equipped with two operational theatres, The Mistral, with the La Fayette, makes up part of an am- an MRI scanner and all kinds medical equipment. phibious group who are strategically pre-positioned in the In addition to the two surgical units, comprehensive tech- Atlantic Ocean where military operations and Bilateral co- nical platform and 69 medical operation actions will be conducted. beds, the onboard medical fa- cilities can be expanded with additional medical shelters in the helicopter hang- ers. This can come in very useful when the Fresh Mistral is called upon Crates of St Helena to assist in humanitar- tomatoes, loaded ian crises. The Mistral onboard Mistral on was recently had to do Tuesday just that in an evacua- tion of over 400 people from the Lebanon. THE SENTINEL Th ursday 17 April 2014 www.sams.sh 3 REPORT One of the two Puma helicopters, secured inside the large aircraft hanger The air component of the Mistral is composed Access to the fl ight deck is via an elevator that ers are obvious with hydrants and warning of units from the 5th Combat Helicopter Regi- will lift the helicopters from the 2000+ square signs evident throughout . ment and on the ship they had two ‘Puma’ ma- metre hanger up to the open air. The space Joseph Renjour, who showed us around the noeuvre and assault helicopters and two ‘Ga- available can hold up to 16 heavy helicopters helicopters and hanger, said, “a helicopter zelle’ reconnaissance and attack helicopters.” or 32 smaller helicopters. because of the material that it is made of will Another helicopter was on fl ights around St The warship carries all of its aviation fuel in fully burn in about two minutes.” Helena. tanks and the fi re safety concerns in the hang- Did U Know... Movie Star La Fayette The La Fayette, was featured in the 1995 James Bond fi lm GoldenEye, as the site for the un- veiling of the Euro- copter Tiger, which is subsequently stolen in the fi lm. Ready for the sea or land, one of the amphibious, all action vehicles inside Linked by a ramp to the “Well Deck” is the “Upper Vehicle Hanger” where all the smaller vehicles for missions are stored on the Mistral. The vehicles are armoured including those that look like Jeeps. Surprisingly the amphibious vehicles are also armoured and still manage to stay afl oat as they propel themselves to land so where conventional engines can take over. The Mistral can carry 110 armoured vehicles or 13 main battle tanks stationed on two decks adding up to more than 2,650 square metres dedicated to vehicle storage. She can comfortably house 450 troops in quarters designed for long The Bridge was still busy in port term deployments. continued on page 5 4 www.sams.sh Th ursday 17 April 2014 THE SENTINEL SENTINEL EXCO REPORT COMMENT BIP recipients. Executive Council approved this proposal. Sharon Henry, SAMS Executive Council met today, Wednesday The second item sought to reinstate the re- 16 April, with two items on the Open Agenda. quirement for certain types of development The fi rst item was the proposal to increase applications to be referred to ExCo for ap- Loiter: is a word that’s had a few of us reach- Government Landlord Housing rental by £1 ing for the dictionary this week. According proval. These are generally large scale infra- per week, effective from 1 July 2014. It was structure projects that are crucial to the eco- to Chambers, it means to proceed linger- noted that this will have no impact on IRB and ingly; to dawdle; to linger or lurk. That’s nomic development of the Island. Executive fair enough but when you’re greeted with an Council agreed that it is important to retain unwelcoming, ‘No Loitering’ sign that was political oversight of such projects and agreed erected in the Castle Gardens on Tuesday, it that a directive should be issued to the Chief makes you wonder the purpose of this public Planning Offi cer. park? If you’re after tranquillity, birdsong, On the Closed Agenda, the St Helena Mari- shade or a place to pass the time in town, time Sector Review from Marine Maven was the beauty spot of the Gardens should be the discussed. The report had made a number of place to go. recommendations and these had been consid- But what constitutes loitering? Will the war- ered by the Economic Development Commit- dens shoo you away after an hour lingering tee. Not all recommendations had been agreed on a park bench reading a book? What is an and the report and a press release outlining the unacceptable time? agreed actions from SHG will be published Everyone is excitedly awaiting the long soon. weekend of the Easter break and tucking into On behalf of Legislative Council I would like their fi sh and hot cross buns on Good Friday to wish you all a happy, chocolaty and safe and Easter eggs on Sunday. Easter. I am one of those people who can’t bring ExCo myself to buy Easter eggs, as I see them as 16 April 2014 extortionately overpriced, egg-shaped, hol- low chocolates in pretty packaging. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t bring myself to spend £8 on something, that if you melted it down FOR SALE you’d get a regular bar of chocolate. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t condemn any- Mobile Kitchen one for buying them, but I think you get more for your buck if you just bought one of your usual favourites (mine’s a Lindt at £2.38). Custom built mobile kitchen. Clever commercialism has led us to believe that you must show your appreciation and Consists of grill, Bain Maries, ice container, lavish loved ones with the gift of Easter eggs. This leaves some feeling guilty if they can’t containers for sauces, sink unit. Unit is to be afford to. attached to the back of a car/truck. One parent has told me they’ve spent £16 on their little one’s Easter egg this year- gulp - was it laid by the golden goose? Bah humbug - What’s the Easter equivalent For further details contact Julia/Robert of a Christmas Scrooge? Hope everyone Benjamin on Telephone No.