Aberdeen Maritime Museum has launched a stories initiative of the city’s built ships, among them the former RMS St. Helena, which for over 25 years served its remote island namesake deep in the South Atlantic, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The passenger-cargo ship was the final vessel built in Aberdeen at the site of shipyard Hall Russell & Co., which in 1988 was placed in receivership and came under the ownership of A&P Appledore (Aberdeen) Ltd. RMS St. Helena was completed in 1989 and delivered the following year to serve its owner, initially operating on the long ocean-going voyage between Britain and the UK overseas territory where the volcanic island has a population of around 4,500 inhabitants known as 'Saints'.
When introduced, the 6,767-ton vessel ran from Cardiff, Wales, and then Portland, England, with regular en route southbound calls via Tenerife, Canary Islands, and on a rare basis northbound calls via Vigo, Spain. In 1995 it was chartered in a cruise capacity, as Afloat previously highlighted its maiden call to Ireland with visits to Dublin Port and Cork Harbour (Cobh) respectively. However, the historic UK-St. Helena service ended in 2011 with the route radically changed (as revealed below), which was followed several years later with a one-off call to London, where Afloat secured an onboard visit.
The change of route saw RMS St. Helena undertake 5-day-only voyages when based out of Cape Town, South Africa, drastically reducing passage times; however, ultimately its fate would no longer be to be required to serve one of the world’s most isolated islands.
When an airport was constructed, the 'lifeline' role of RMS St. Helena became redundant in 2018, as direct scheduled air links with South Africa only took 6 hours. However, a sea-freight service to the volcanic island is still maintained on the same route by a container ship.
In that same year, St. Helena Line sold the RMS to MNG Maritime, and it was renamed MNG Tahiti to serve in the Gulf of Oman in a security role. Only months later the ship was resold and returned to the UK, almost resuming its original name as the St. Helena.
St. Helena was sold again in 2020 to its last owner, Extreme E, which used the vessel as a transport and support ship to launch their then-new radical electric motor racing series. Before entering this role, Afloat reported on its extensive refurbishment on Merseyside in 2022 to transform the vessel, with work carried out at Cammell Laird shipyard.
The extensive upgrade also involved an interior upgrade, engine rebuild, and modern navigation systems.
As for the future of motorsport racing, this has evolved as Extreme E, which claims to be the world’s first to use hydrogen power through the next generation of technology with their Extreme-H championship series.
The St. Helena was recently sold and has been turned into a passenger expedition ship for Antarctica service, as Afloat reports on the newest development, marking another chapter of this unique vessel.
