Royal Navy rescues rare turtles knocked 1,500 miles off course by storm

The Royal Navy came to the rescue of six rare turtles blown thousands of miles off course from warmer waters towards the UK coastline. 

The Senior Service linked up with two marine life organisations to deliver half a dozen loggerhead turtles to higher temperature seas around 1,500 miles southwest of Britain. 

The crew of HMS Medway, which was heading to patrol the Caribbean, released the vulnerable creatures close to the Azores, an island chain in the middle of the Atlantic. 

Medway sailed from Plymouth last week to relieve her sister ship HMS Trent, supporting international counter-drug smuggling operations across the Americas, and assisting island communities should they be ravaged by storms during the hurricane season.

Alongside her regular cargo of food supplies, spare parts for machinery, disaster relief and aid kits, HMS Medway was also loaded with turtles named Jason, Gordon, Perran, Hayle, Holly and Tonni. 

Rod Jones, the Royal Navy’s Senior Maritime Environmental Protection Adviser, said: “As professional mariners, many of us are keen to do what we can to reduce the loss of biodiversity at sea. 

“Encountering marine wildlife is one of the great joys of seafaring and if we can assist, even in a small way, to make that more likely in the future we are pleased to be able to do that.

“Assisting turtles to return to warmer waters may not be the Royal Navy’s primary role but as a government body we are very pleased to be able to support the UK’s ambition for more healthy and diverse seas.”

The juvenile turtles were swept from the Caribbean or Eastern Seaboard of the USA by strong winds and Atlantic currents. Once in the cold waters around they UK they quickly become ‘cold-stunned’ and would have died had they not been washed up and rescued.

Five came ashore in Cornwall and Devon and have been cared for since by staff at Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium, while the sixth creature has been nurtured by the Anglesey Sea Zoo having been found on one of the island’s beaches.

Steve Matchett, group curator for Blue Reef Aquarium, said: “All the turtles arrived in a weakened state – in many cases we were unsure if they were going to make it overnight. 

“All were dehydrated and emaciated. This is due to being too cold for a long period and being unable to feed/function properly. They have all prospered once we got them past the initial stages.

“We are very grateful to the Navy for stepping in to repatriate these rescued turtles.”