Allan & Ursula Ward: Port Owen, Cape West Coast, South Africa.

Shearwater 39:
- L.O.A. 43ft (13.22m)
- L.O.D. 39ft (12m)
- L.W.L. 34ft (10.3m)
- BEAM 13ft(3.9m)
- DRAFT 6ft(1.8m)



HOW IT ALL BEGAN .

I placed my order on Nebe Boats on the 19/10/1992 for what was initially planned to be a complete factory built yacht that l would sail home to Durban from Capetown once she was completed. Unfortunately due to the demise of Nebe Boats in the early days of her construction it did not turn out that way, so l decided to truck her home to Ramsgate on the KZN South Coast to finish building her in our garden at home.

For many years we could proudly boast that we had the most expensive piece of garden furniture in town, but at the time l had no idea of how massive this project would turn out to be. As anyone who has built a blue water cruiser will tell you, particularly if she is kitted out with all the systems and the equipment that a modern cruiser has onboard these days, it is a daunting task . Looking at the positive aspects of this project, l know the boat intimately in that l designed and installed the systems, so from a repair and maintenance perspective l have no issues carrying out the work that is necessary from time to time.



The big day arrived on the 29/8/2008 when we craned her out of the garden onto a rig to truck her through to Durban for launching . What followed was three months of preparations to ready her for the maiden voyage to our home port in Port Owen on the Cape West Coast.

We had a fast passage down the South African East Coast including a storm off the notorious Wild Coast and arrived in Port Owen in dense fog. Windward had passed her first test with flying colours and since then we have enjoyed some great sailing on the West Coast.


The master plan has always been to go cruising, so our plans are to leave for Brazil via Luderitz and St Helena Island at the end of February 2014. So far everything is on track although the “To Do“ list still grows each day.

The purpose of this blog is to record our adventure for ourselves, family and friends. Although it will probably end up being a brief summary of events while we are cruising, we hope you will enjoy and share some of our experiences with us.

LIVING THE DREAM .

Saturday, May 14, 2016

ILES DU SALUT . DEVILS ISLAND .



Knowing that one of our stops on route to the Caribbean would be Iles du Salut often referred to as Devil's Island , l decided to re-watch the 70's movie Papillon , the story about a prisoner who escaped from this penal colony .
Well it is one thing to sit in the comfort of your home and watch the Hollywood version of the story of these prison islands but walking around the now defunct prison complex particularly if you have a wild imagination like mine tells a completely different story of the grim existence the prisoners must have experienced here .

Iles du Salut is in fact made up of three different islands all alongside each other namely Ile Royale , Ile Saint Joseph and Ile du Diable . Opened in 1852 it operated as one of the harshest of penal colonies for 101 years , finally being shut-down in 1953 when more and more people became aware of it's existence and the brutal conditions that inmates suffered while serving out their sentences there and with the public outrage that ensued the French government closed the facility for good .

Over 80000 prisoners were sent there with very few ever returning to France as apart from the extremely harsh conditions they lived under many died from disease and with the most hardened criminals being held there prisoner-on-prisoner violence was common .

Ile Royale was where the prisoners were received and held while Ile Saint Joseph must have been a living hell . This island was where prisoners were punished for either trying to escape or some form of misdemeanour and they were kept in solitary confinement in total darkness and silence . I stood in one of the tiny cells for around 15 minutes and tried to imagine what it must have been like to be locked up in one of these damp dark spaces in the humidity that these islands experience and came to the conclusion that dying while attempting an escape would be a far better option . It is unimaginable the suffering the inmates must have experienced in these cells bearing in mind that many held captive there were in fact innocent of the charges brought against them . At the time common-law criminals were convicted by juries rather than magistrates .

Probably the most famous prisoner was Captain Alfred Dreyfuss who was unjustly convicted of treason . He served his time on Ile du Diable which was reserved for political prisoners . 239 Republicans who opposed Napoleon along with 331 priests if my memory serves me correctly were sent here . It did not take much to become a resident of this horror island , a simple malicious rumour is all it took for many who rotted in this hell-hole.


For once the Hollywood version of a story was pretty tame compared to the reality of the true version of events . For those who were innocent it was an unspeakable tragedy .
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