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85-618: Captain John Treasure Jones RD , (15 August 1905 – 12 May 1993) was a British naval officer who became a well-known media figure in the mid-1960s following his appointment as the last master of the Cunard liner , RMS  Queen Mary . He has been described as one of the 20th century's most distinguished mariners, in war and in peacetime. His forebears were men of the sea, who had captained sailing ships, and he elected to follow in their tradition. John Treasure Jones

170-594: A monopoly over trade with the Faroe Islands and forbade the Faroese from trading with other countries. The trade monopoly in the Faroe Islands was eventually abolished in 1856, after which the area developed into a modern fishing-based economy with its own fishing fleet . In 1846, the Faroe Islands finally regained formal political representation when they were allocated two seats in the Danish Rigsdag ;

255-611: A daughter. After retiring from the sea he regularly played cricket for the Master Mariners up until the age of 83. In later years he also took up golf and regularly took his clubs along with him on board ship. Once he retired he continued playing regularly as a member of Stoneham Golf Club, Southampton. His decorations and medals were: In 1968 the University of Wales conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate in Law . In 1978

340-563: A four-year apprenticeship with J. C. Gould Steamship Co. Ltd. of Cardiff . He first joined SS Grelgrant , a 4,785-ton tramp ship , and later transferred to SS Grelhead . Outward-bound they delivered coal from the South Wales coalfields to bunkering stations around the world and returned with cargoes of grain. Having completed his apprenticeship as a bosun , he regularly attended nautical school in Cardiff in order to progress through

425-539: A majority for parties opposed to independence: following protracted negotiations, Denmark granted home rule to the Faroe Islands on 30 March 1948. This agreement granted the islands a high degree of autonomy, and Faroese finally became the official language in all public spheres. In 1973 the Faroe Islands declined to join Denmark in entering the European Economic Community (EEC); as a result,

510-509: A number of loanwords from Old Irish. A traditional name for the islands in Irish , Na Scigirí , possibly derives from Eyja-Skeggjar , ("Island-Beards"), a nickname given to island dwellers. According to Færeyinga saga , many of the Norwegian settlers in particular were spurred by their disapproval of the monarchy of Harald Fairhair , whose rule was also seen as an inciting factor for

595-490: A part of the European Economic Community in 1973, instead keeping autonomy over their own fishing waters; as a result, the Faroe Islands are not a part of the European Union today. The Løgting, albeit suspended between 1816 and 1852, holds a claim as one of the oldest continuously running parliaments in the world. The islands' endonym Føroyar , as well as its English name Faroe Islands (alt. Faeroe or

680-495: A period of high volcanic activity in the Early Palaeogene around 50–60 million years ago. The islands are built up in layers of different lava flows (basalt) alternating with thin layers of volcanic ash (tuff). The soft ash and the hard basalt thus lie layer upon layer in narrow and thick strips. The soft tuff or ash zones erode away relatively quickly, and the hard lump of basalt above the eroded tuff falls away, forming

765-601: A political dimension with the advent of the Faroese language conflict in the early 20th century. Both sides of the conflict were represented by the country's first-ever political parties: the Union Party ( Sambandsflokkurin ), founded in 1906, which supported Faroese literature but opposed its usage in education; and the Self-Government party ( Sjálvstýrisflokkurin ), which sought to introduce Faroese as

850-486: A result of its northerly latitude and proximity to the Arctic Circle , the islands experience perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short winter days. The capital and largest city, Tórshavn , receives the fewest recorded hours of sunshine of any city in the world at only 840 per year. While archaeological evidence places the first known habitation as early as the 4th century, Færeyinga Saga and

935-584: A senior first officer, serving in RMS ; Samaria , RMS  Scythia , RMS  Britannic , RMS  Georgic and RMS  Queen Elizabeth . In February 1954 he was appointed staff captain RMS Caronia , until he was given his first command of cargo/passenger liner RMS Media in May 1957, followed by the 22,017-ton liner RMS  Sylvania , then the 22,592-ton RMS  Saxonia in 1959 to

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1020-527: A short distance to the south. Snow also is seen at a much higher frequency than on outlying islands nearby. The area receives on average 49 frosts a year. The collection of meteorological data on the Faroe Islands began in 1867. Winter recording began in 1891, and the warmest winter occurred in 2016–17 with an average temperature of 6.1 °C (43 °F). The Faroes belong to the Faroe Islands boreal grasslands ecoregion. The natural vegetation of

1105-590: A spoken language until the 19th century. Following the Napoleonic Wars , the union between Denmark and Norway was dissolved by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814; while Norway was transferred to the Swedish Crown, Denmark retained possession of Norway's North Atlantic territories, which included the Faroe Islands along with Greenland and Iceland. Shortly afterwards, Denmark asserted control and began to restrict

1190-760: A straightforward compound of fær ('sheep') and eyjar ('islands'), meaning "sheep islands", in reference to their abundance on the archipelago. Clergymen Peder Clausson and Lucas Debes began casting doubt on this theory in the 16th and 17th centuries, arguing that the West Norse-speaking settlers, whose word for sheep was sauðr instead of the East Norse fær , could not have coined it from this exact origin. Debes surmised that it could have derived from fjær ('far'), while Hammershaimb leaned towards fara ('to go, to travel'). Others have theorised an Old Irish origin: relating it to

1275-661: A survey sponsored by NATO , the British Museum (Natural History) and the Carlsberg Foundation, is preserved in the Ulster Museum (catalogue numbers: F3195–F3307). It is one of ten exsiccatae sets. A few small plantations consisting of plants collected from similar climates such as Tierra del Fuego in South America and Alaska thrive on the islands. The bird fauna of the Faroe Islands

1360-518: A tropical system. The climate varies greatly over small distances, due to the altitude, ocean currents, topography, and winds. Precipitation varies considerably throughout the archipelago. In some highland areas, snow cover may last for months with snowfalls possible for the greater part of the year (on the highest peaks, summer snowfall is by no means rare), while in some sheltered coastal locations, several years pass without any snowfall whatsoever. Tórshavn receives frosts more often than other areas just

1445-603: A westward ice mass have eroded the intervening mountain range into a narrow ridge. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing country under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Faroese government holds executive power in local government affairs. The head of the government is called the Løgmaður ("Chief Justice") and serves as Prime Minister and head of the Faroese Government. Any other member of

1530-502: Is Lítla Dímun . The islands are rugged and rocky with some low peaks; the coasts are mostly cliffs. The highest point is Slættaratindur in northern Eysturoy , 882 metres (2,894 ft) above sea level . The Faroe Islands are made up of an approximately six-kilometres-thick succession of mostly basaltic lava that was part of the great North Atlantic Igneous Province during the Paleogene period. The lavas were erupted during

1615-522: Is a local domestic sheep breed, the Faroe sheep (depicted on the coat of arms ), and there once was a variety of feral sheep , which survived on Lítla Dímun until the mid-nineteenth century. Grey seals ( Halichoerus grypus ) are common around the shorelines away from human habitations. Several species of cetacea live in the waters around the Faroe Islands. Best known are the long-finned pilot whales ( Globicephala melaena ), which still are hunted by

1700-466: Is dominated by seabirds and birds attracted to open land such as heather , probably because of the lack of woodland and other suitable habitats. Many species have developed special Faroese sub-species such as the common eider , common starling , Eurasian wren , and black guillemot . The pied raven , a colour morph of the North Atlantic subspecies of the common raven , was endemic to

1785-898: The Admiralty ), before taking over the River-class frigate HMS  Dart on 30 August, and command of 49th Escort Group in the Mediterranean Sea . In June 1945 Jones was promoted Acting-Captain RNR and posted to South East Asia Command under Admiral Mountbatten . He was appointed as divisional sea transport officer of the Netherlands East Indies , based in Java , Batavia. The war in Asia had ended in August 1945 with

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1870-665: The Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland. On 4 November 1940, when returning to Liverpool from a patrol between Portugal and the Azores , Laurentic was torpedoed and sunk, 300 miles west of the Bloody Foreland in Ireland, with the loss of 49 lives. The 367 survivors were adrift for about six hours. The following month he was appointed to the command of HMS Sunflower , a new Flower-class corvette that

1955-614: The Faroes ( Faroese : Føroyar , pronounced [ˈfœɹjaɹ] ; Danish : Færøerne [ˈfeɐ̯ˌøˀɐnə] ), are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark . The official language of the country is Faroese , which is closely related to and partially mutually intelligible with Icelandic . Located a similar distance from Iceland , Norway , and

2040-506: The Folketing . Until 2007, there were seven electoral districts, which were abolished on 25 October of that year in favour of a single nationwide district. Administratively, the islands are divided into 29 municipalities ( kommunur ) within which there are 120 or so settlements . There are also the six traditional s ýslur : Norðoyar , Eysturoy , Streymoy , Vágar , Sandoy , and Suðuroy . While no longer of any legal significance,

2125-762: The Japanese capitulation but they were still required to deal with the return transport of troops and supplies, as well as the shipping of the civilian and military prisoners of war out of the Japanese camps. Jones was demobbed in March 1947 but remained in the Naval Reserve. He was promoted to captain RNR on 31 December 1949 and retired from the service in 1960. Jones rejoined the Cunard Line in March 1947 as

2210-476: The Kalmar Union in 1397, and came under de facto Danish rule following that union's dissolution in 1523. Following the introduction of Lutheranism in 1538, the usage of Faroese was banned in churches, schools and state institutions, and disappeared from writing for more than three centuries. The islands were formally ceded to Denmark in 1814 by the Treaty of Kiel along with Greenland and Iceland , and

2295-738: The Løgting was subsequently replaced by a Danish judiciary. Following the re-establishment of the Løgting and an official Faroese orthography , the Faroese language conflict saw Danish being gradually displaced by Faroese as the language of the church, public education and law in the first half of the 20th century. The islands were occupied by the British during the Second World War , who refrained from governing Faroese internal affairs: inspired by this period of relative self-government and

2380-703: The Settlement of Iceland . The founding date of the Løgting is not historically documented, though the saga implies that it was a well-established institution by the middle of the 10th century, when a legal dispute between chieftains Havgrímur and Einar Suðuroyingur, resulting in the exile of Eldjárn Kambhøttur, is recounted in detail. Christianity was introduced to the islands in the late 10th and early 11th centuries by chieftain Sigmundur Brestisson . Baptised as an adult by then- King of Norway Olaf Tryggvason , his mission to introduce Christianity

2465-595: The United Kingdom , the islands have a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi) with a population of 54,676 as of August 2023. The terrain is rugged, and the subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) is windy, wet, cloudy and cool. Despite the northerly climate, the temperatures are moderated by the Gulf Stream and average above freezing throughout the year, hovering around 12 °C (54 °F) in summer and 5 °C (41 °F) in winter. As

2550-642: The aircraft carrier HMS  Glorious and four months in the destroyer HMS  Viscount on the Mediterranean station. In November 1932 Jones managed to obtain employment as an assistant superintendent stevedore with Rea's Ltd, working with the Leyland Line ships at the Canada and Huskisson Docks in Liverpool. The Leyland Line was sold to T. & J. Harrison Ltd. and Jones soon left

2635-529: The declaration of Iceland as a republic in 1944 , the islands held a referendum in 1946 that resulted in a narrow majority for independence. The results were annulled by Christian X , and subsequent negotiations led to the Faroe Islands being granted home rule in 1948. While remaining part of the Kingdom of Denmark to this day, the Faroe Islands have extensive autonomy and control most areas apart from military defence , policing , justice and currency , with partial control over its foreign affairs . Because

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2720-640: The Faroe Islands are not part of the same customs area as Denmark, they have an independent trade policy and are able to establish their own trade agreements with other states. The islands have an extensive bilateral free trade agreement with Iceland, known as the Hoyvík Agreement . In the Nordic Council , they are represented as part of the Danish delegation. In certain sports, the Faroe Islands field their own national teams. They did not become

2805-478: The Faroe Islands had a parliament ( Løgting ), which was abolished in 1816, and the Faroe Islands were to be governed as an ordinary Danish amt (county), with the Amtmand as its head of government. In 1851, the Løgting was reinstated, but, until 1948, served mainly as an advisory body. The islands are home to a notable independence movement that has seen an increase in popular support within recent decades. At

2890-517: The Faroe Islands is dominated by arctic-alpine plants, wildflowers, grasses, moss, and lichen. Most of the lowland area is grassland and some is heath, dominated by shrubby heathers, mainly Calluna vulgaris . Among the herbaceous flora that occur in the Faroe Islands is the cosmopolitan marsh thistle, Cirsium palustre . Although it is often asserted that the islands are naturally treeless, several tree species, among them shrubby willows ( salix ), junipers ( juniperus ), and stunted birches, colonized

2975-412: The Faroe Islands, but now has become extinct; the ordinary, all-black morph remains fairly widespread in the archipelago. Only a few species of wild land mammals are found in the Faroe Islands today, all introduced by humans. Three species are thriving on the islands today: mountain hare ( Lepus timidus ), brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus ), and the house mouse ( Mus musculus ). Apart from these, there

3060-528: The Faroe Islands, with cold summers and near-continuous subpolar winds. The following species from Tierra del Fuego , Drimys winteri , Nothofagus antarctica , Nothofagus pumilio , and Nothofagus betuloides , have been successfully introduced to the Faroe Islands. A non-Chilean species that has been introduced is the black cottonwood , also known as the California poplar ( Populus trichocarpa ). A collection of Faroese marine algae resulting from

3145-630: The Faroes ), derive from the Old Norse Færeyjar . The second element oyar ('islands') is a holdover from Old Faroese ; sound changes have rendered the word's modern form as oyggjar . Names for individual islands (such as Kalsoy and Suðuroy ) also preserve the old form. The name's ultimate etymological origin has been subject to dispute. The most widely-held theory, first attested in Færeyinga Saga , interprets it as

3230-603: The Islands fell firmly under Norwegian rule following Tróndur's death in 1035. While the Faroe Islands formally remained a Norwegian possession until 1814, Norway 's merger into the Kalmar Union in 1397 gradually resulted in the islands coming under de facto Danish control. When the Protestant Reformation reached the Faroe Islands in 1538, the Faroese language was also outlawed in schools, churches and official documentation; thus Faroese remained exclusively

3315-410: The Løgting itself was reinstated as an advisory body to the amtmand in 1852. An official Faroese orthography was first introduced in 1846 by Lutheran minister Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb , returning the language to print after 300 years of only existing in oral form. With the return of written Faroese to the public sphere after more than 300 years, nationalism gained a foothold in Faroese society:

3400-502: The Norse, having first learned of the islands from Scottish and Irish accounts as a fearann , could have coined Færeyjar as a phono-semantic match . Archaeological studies from 2021 found evidence of settlement on the islands before the arrival of Norse settlers, uncovering burnt grains of domesticated barley and peat ash deposited in two phases: the first dated between the mid-fourth and mid-sixth centuries, and another between

3485-556: The North Atlantic, having carried 2,112,000 passengers over 3,792,227 miles (6,102,998 km). On 31 October she sailed from Southampton for the last time with 1,093 passengers and 806 crew. For the first time in his long career, this was Treasure Jones's only voyage around Cape Horn . She arrived in Long Beach, California , on 9 December 1967 and the captain lowered both the Cunard house flag and his own Blue Ensign when he conducted

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3570-633: The Reserve Decoration. The Reserve Decoration and the Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal for RNR ratings were both replaced by a combined-services Volunteer Reserves Service Medal on 1 April 1999. Faroe Islands in Europe  (green and dark grey) in the Kingdom of Denmark  (yellow) The Faroe or Faeroe Islands ( / ˈ f ɛər oʊ / FAIR -oh ), or simply

3655-409: The beginning of time" and previously populated by heremitae ex nostra Scotia (" hermits from our land of Ireland/Scotland") for almost a hundred years before being displaced by the arrival of Norse "pirates". Church argued that these were likely the eremitic Papar that had similarly resided in parts of Iceland and Scotland in the same period. Writers like Brøgger and Peter Andreas Munch had drawn

3740-695: The cabinet is called a Minister of the Faroese Government ( landsstýrismaður/ráðharri if male, landsstýriskvinna/ráðfrú if female). The Faroese parliament – the Løgting ("Law Thing ") – dates back to the early days of settlement and claims to be one of the longest functioning parliaments in the world, alongside the Icelandic Althing and the Manx Tynwald . The parliament currently has 33 members. Elections are held at municipal and national levels, additionally electing two members to

3825-869: The coast of Northern Europe, between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean , about halfway between Iceland and Norway , the closest neighbours being the Northern Isles and the Outer Hebrides of Scotland . Its coordinates are 62°00′N 06°47′W  /  62.000°N 6.783°W  / 62.000; -6.783 . Distance from the Faroe Islands to: The islands cover an area of 1,399 square kilometres (540 sq. mi) and have small lakes and rivers, but no major ones. There are 1,117 kilometres (694 mi) of coastline. The only significant uninhabited island

3910-653: The company. In July 1934 he returned to sea with the Blue Funnel Line , in SS Machaon and then SS Rhexenor . In 1937 he joined the Cunard White Star Line as a junior third officer on his second liner, the 16,243-ton liner RMS  Lancastria serving under Captain Bisset . By the time the war had started he was senior third officer in the 26,943-ton MV Britannic . In August 1937 he

3995-405: The course of volcanism and the age sequence of the layers. There are major differences in the shapes of the islands' terraces. The lowest and oldest series are thick lava deposits that can be seen on the southern part of Suðuroy, Mykines and Tindhólmur and the western side of Vágar. The basalts of the lower basalt series are often pillared, which is shown by elongated, angular and regular pillars in

4080-421: The early 1960s. From December 1962 he commanded RMS  Mauretania . Whilst his previous commands had been solely on the North Atlantic, Mauretania was used for cruises. Even so, she was facing competition from much more modern ships and was beginning to lose money for Cunard Line. In 1964 Texaco completed a new oil refinery in Milford Haven , Pembrokeshire, just 10 miles from where John Treasure Jones

4165-402: The end of World War II , some of the population favoured independence from Denmark, and on 14 September 1946, an independence referendum was held on the question of secession . It was a consultative referendum, the parliament not being bound to follow the people's vote. This was the first time that the Faroese people had been asked whether they favoured independence or wanted to continue within

4250-428: The etymologies of neighbouring Orkney and Shetland , Scottish writers James Currie and William J. Watson suggested respectively the words feur ('pasture, eaten-up outfield') and fearann ('land, territory') as possible derivations, arguing that the original Celtic attestations of the islands made this more likely. Archaeologist Anton Wilhelm Brøgger concurred, elaborating on Watson's theory by positing that

4335-403: The first terrace. Volcanic activity has varied over millions of years, with periods of quiescence and various periods of quiet eruptive fissures and explosive volcanism. In a few places, mainly on Suðuroy, thin layers of coal are present, which are the remains of swamp forests from the time between volcanic eruptions. The plateau has therefore been divided into different basalt series according to

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4420-484: The first year of the Second World War , on 12 April 1940, British troops occupied the Faroe Islands in Operation Valentine . Nazi Germany had invaded Denmark and commenced the invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 under Operation Weserübung . In 1942–1943, the British Royal Engineers , under the command of lieutenant colonel William Law, built the first and only airport in the Faroe Islands, Vágar Airport . The British refrained from governing Faroese internal affairs, and

4505-503: The grades of his nautical qualifications. Jones joined the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) as a probationary midshipman in 1923. On completion of his apprenticeship in 1925, aged 20, he completed six months training as a midshipman in HMS  Hood , followed by HMS  Velox and HMS  Ajax . Jones then joined Hall Bros of Newcastle in 1926, serving at first, as third mate , on the tramp ship SS Ambassador and then, as second mate , on SS Caduceus . In August 1929, at 24, he

4590-459: The heights, often resulting in a characteristic curved landscape shape. This can be clearly seen on Vágar, the northernmost part of Streymoy and the north-western part of Eysturoy. Glacial activity has reduced plateau surfaces, especially on the northern islands, where the surfaces have been reduced to a series of narrower or wider zig-zag rows along the length of the islands: especially on the islands of Kunoy, Kalsoy and Borðoy, where an eastward and

4675-420: The island after the Ice Age, but disappeared later - apparently as a result of grazing impacts, possibly aggravated by a shift to relatively wetter cooler climatic conditions about the same time. A limited number of species have been successfully introduced to the region, in particular trees from the Magellanic subpolar forests region of Chile. Conditions in the Magellanic subpolar forests are similar to those in

4760-457: The islanders in accordance with longstanding local tradition. Orcas ( Orcinus orca ) are regular visitors around the islands. The domestic animals of the Faroe Islands are a result of 1,200 years of isolated breeding. As a result, many of the islands' domestic animals are found nowhere else in the world. Faroese domestic breeds include Faroe pony , Faroe cow , Faroe sheep, Faroese goose , and Faroese duck . The islands were built up during

4845-432: The islands are not part of the European Union (EU) today (although as Danish citizens, Faroe Islanders are still considered EU citizens). Following the collapse of the fishing industry in the early 1990s, the Faroes experienced considerable economic difficulties. The Faroe Islands are an island group consisting of 18 major islands (and a total of 779 islands, islets , and skerries ) about 655 kilometres (407 mi) off

4930-408: The islands became effectively self-governing during the war. After the war ended and the British army left, this period and Iceland 's declaration as a republic in 1944 served as a precedent and a model in the mind of many Faroe Islanders. The Løgting held an independence referendum on 14 September 1946 , resulting in a very narrow majority for independence; 50.73% voted in favour and 49.27% against;

5015-399: The islands refer to the Papar and the Irish, such as Paparøkur near Vestmanna and Papurshílsur near Saksun . Vestmanna is itself short for Vestmannahøvn ("harbour of the Westmen "). Tombstones in a churchyard on Skúvoy display a possible Gaelic origin or influence. Old Norse-speaking settlers arrived in the early 9th century, and their Old West Norse dialect would later evolve into

5100-451: The islands' autonomy. In 1816, the Faroe Islands was reconstituted as a county ( amt ) within the Danish Kingdom : the Løgting , having operated continuously for almost a millennium, was dissolved and replaced by a Danish judiciary, and the post of løgmaður ( lawspeaker ) was likewise replaced by a Danish-appointed amtmand (equivalent to a governor-general). As part of its mercantilist economic policy, Denmark maintained

5185-482: The late-sixth and late-eighth centuries. Researchers have also found sheep DNA in lake-bed sediments dating to the year 500. Barley and sheep had to have been brought to the islands by humans; as Scandinavians did not begin using sails until about 750, it is unlikely they could have reached the Faroes before then, leading to the study concluding that the settlers were more likely to originate from Scotland or Ireland. These findings concur with historical accounts from

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5270-482: The margin was only 161 votes. The Løgting subsequently declared independence on 18 September 1946; this declaration was annulled by Denmark on 20 September, arguing that the number of invalid votes (481) being greater than the narrow margin in favour made the result invalid. As a result, King Christian X of Denmark ordered that the Faroese Løgting be dissolved on 24 September, with new elections held that November. The Faroese parliamentary election of 1946 resulted in

5355-421: The modern Faroese language . A number of the settlers were Norse–Gaels who did not come directly from Scandinavia, but rather from Norse communities that spanned the Irish Sea , Northern Isles , and Outer Hebrides of Scotland , including the Shetland and Orkney islands; these settlers also brought thralls of Gaelic origin with them, and this admixture is reflected today in the Faroese genetic makeup and

5440-416: The modern Faroese national movement is commonly agreed to have begun with the Christmas Meeting of 1888 , held to "discuss how to defend the Faroese language and Faroese traditions". This meeting led to the rise of two of the movement's most prominent early figures: Jóannes Patursson and Rasmus Effersøe . It was initially exclusively concerned with the status of the Faroese language , but it soon gained

5525-423: The mountain side. Very regular vertical columns are found on northern Mykines, where they can be up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. The middle basalt series consists of thin lava flows with a highly porous interlayer. This series has very little resistance to crumbling and weathering. As these erosion processes are more severe at higher altitudes than lower down, the lowlands are filled with weathering material from

5610-593: The mountains, although some coastal or low-lying areas may have very mild-winter versions of a tundra climate. The overall character of the climate of the islands is influenced by the strong warming influence of the Atlantic Ocean, which produces the North Atlantic Current . This, together with the remoteness of any source of landmass-induced warm or cold airflows, ensures that winters are mild (mean temperature 3.0 to 4.0 °C or 37 to 39 °F) while summers are cool (mean temperature 9.5 to 10.5 °C or 49 to 51 °F). The islands are windy, cloudy, and cool throughout

5695-586: The night of 22/23 November he navigated the mud straits of the River Forth without tugs , and made the final berthing through the shallows above the mud banks on the midnight high tide. He briefly commanded RMS  Queen Elizabeth and then RMS  Queen Mary from September 1965. In August 1966, under his command, she made the fastest eastbound passage since August 1938 in 4 days, 10 hours and 6 minutes, averaging 29.46 knots (54.56 km/h). On 27 September 1967, Queen Mary arrived back in Southampton having completed her 1,000th and last crossing of

5780-467: The official language in all public spheres and additionally demanded increased political autonomy for the islands. The Faroese language gradually won out; laws and protocols of the Løgting were written in Faroese from 1927 onwards, schools switched to Faroese as the language of instruction in 1938, and Faroese was fully authorised as the language of the Church the following year. Finally in 1944, Faroese gained equal status with Danish in legal proceedings. In

5865-405: The opening of the North Atlantic ocean , which began about 60 million years ago, and what is today the Faroe Islands was then attached to Greenland. The lavas are underlain by circa 30 km of unidentified ancient continental crust. The climate is classed as subpolar oceanic climate according to the Köppen climate classification : Cfc , with areas having a tundra climate, especially in

5950-560: The sale to the City of Long Beach on 11 December 1967. Treasure Jones retired in August 1968, aged 63, after a career of 47 years, of which he served almost 43½ continuous years at sea. He died of an aneurysm on 12 May 1993 at Chandler's Ford , near Southampton aged 87. At school he had been in the first elevens for football and cricket . He was also a very competent boxer , which stood him in good stead during his apprenticeship years. In August 1933 Jones married Eulalie Isobelle (Belle) Lees in Haverfordwest and they had three sons and

6035-420: The same connections from Dicuil's writings, with the latter arguing that these Papar were also the ones to bring sheep to the islands. A ninth-century voyage tale concerning Irish saint Brendan , one of Dicuil's contemporaries, details him visiting an unnamed northern group of islands; this has also been argued to be referring to the Faroe Islands, though not nearly as conclusively. A number of toponyms around

6120-413: The same period: archaeologist Mike Church noted that Irish monk Dicuil described a group of islands north of Scotland of very similar character to the Faroe Islands in his work De mensura orbis terrae ("Of the measure of the worlds of the earth"). In this text, Dicuil describes "a group of small islands (...) Nearly all of them (...) separated by narrow stretches of water" that were "always deserted since

6205-579: The term is still commonly used to indicate a geographical region. In earlier times, each sýsla had its own assembly , the so-called várting ("spring assembly"). The Faroe Islands have been under Norwegian-Danish control since 1388. The 1814 Treaty of Kiel terminated the Danish–Norwegian union, and Norway came under the rule of the King of Sweden , while the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland remained Danish possessions. From ancient times

6290-466: The writings of Dicuil place initial Norse settlement in the early 9th century. As with the subsequent Settlement of Iceland , the islands were mainly settled by Norwegians and Norse-Gaels , who additionally brought thralls (i.e. slaves or serfs ) of Gaelic origin. Following the introduction of Christianity by Sigmundur Brestisson , the islands came under Norwegian rule in the early 11th century. The Faroe Islands followed Norway's integration into

6375-472: The year of award. The ribbon, suspended from a ring, was dark green until October 1941, and green edged white thereafter. To qualify, fifteen years' service was required (not counting service as a midshipman ), with wartime service counting double. Clasps to the Reserve Decoration were awarded to recognise further periods of 15 years' service after the first award. When just the ribbon of the Decoration

6460-400: The year with an average of 210 rainy or snowy days per year. The islands lie in the path of depressions moving northeast, making strong winds and heavy rain possible at all times of the year. Sunny days are rare and overcast days are common. Hurricane Faith struck the Faroe Islands on 5 September 1966 with sustained winds over 100 mph (160 km/h) and only then did the storm cease to be

6545-532: Was being completed at Smith's Yard in Middlesbrough . Ninety percent of the crew had not been to sea before, but were strengthened and knit together by a small number of trained ratings and naval pensioners. Once trained, they joined B1 Group in Derry which was employed escorting Atlantic convoys . On 17 December 1942, while escorting Convoy ON 153 , HMS  Firedrake , the escort group commander's ship,

6630-480: Was born on 18 August 1905, at Cuckoo Mill Farm at Pelcomb Cross, outside Haverfordwest , Pembrokeshire. His father, Shrewsbury Treasure Jones, was a hay & corn merchant and ran the small 45 acre farm as a side line. In 1917 he gained a scholarship to Haverfordwest Grammar School , but did not complete his formal education as the possibility of employment on a ship came along, just a week before taking his final examinations. In 1921, not yet 16, Jones signed on for

6715-656: Was born. Texaco chartered Mauretania to take the guests from Southampton to Milford Haven and back. The opening ceremony was performed by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother , who travelled down on the royal train. Afterwards, the captain hosted lunch on board for the Queen Mother and the other guests. In the autumn of 1965 it was announced that Mauretania would be withdrawn from service and sold to Ward's ship breaking yard in Inverkeithing, Fife in Scotland . On

6800-569: Was granted the Freedom of Haverfordwest, his home town. On the final voyage of Queen Mary in 1967 he was awarded: Bibliography Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve The medal consists of the cypher of the reigning monarch in silver gilt surrounded by a oval silver cable tied with a reef knot at the base and surmounted by a gilt crown. The reverse is plain, with later issues often engraved with

6885-577: Was part of a greater plan to seize the islands on behalf of the Norwegian crown. While Christianity arrived at the same time as in Iceland , the process was met with much more conflict and violence, and was defined particularly by Sigmundur's conflict with rival chieftain Tróndur í Gøtu , the latter of whom was converted under threat of decapitation. Although their conflict resulted in Sigmundur's murder,

6970-535: Was promoted to lieutenant RNR. In August 1929 he joined the White Star Line on his first liner , SS Euripides , taking emigrants out to Australia and then on SS Delphic . The Great Depression set in and shipping fell on bad days. In November 1930 the company sent him to do twelve months reserve training in the Royal Navy , after which he was laid off. In 1930–31 Jones served six months afloat in

7055-601: Was promoted to lieutenant commander RNR. From September 1939 he served as the Navigating Officer on the armed merchant cruiser Laurentic (formerly SS  Laurentic of the Cunard White Star Line). Initially their task was to patrol the waters between Iceland and the Faroe Islands to prevent German supply shipping getting in and out of the North Sea . Later they were re-deployed into

7140-561: Was torpedoed by the U-211 and sunk. HMS Sunflower picked up 27 survivors in 60-foot (18 m)-high waves, for which Jones was Mentioned in Dispatches , and took over command of the convoy escort. In 1943 Jones was promoted Commander RNR and commanded HMS  Wellington and then HMS  Bayntun (one of the first Captain-class frigates built in Boston , Massachusetts for

7225-817: Was worn, each clasp was indicated by a silver 'rosette' on the ribbon. The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Decoration was of the same design as the Reserve Decoration but was distinguished, from 1919, by a different ribbon. In 1966 the Royal Naval Reserve (drawn from the Merchant Navy ) and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (civilian volunteers) were merged. Thereafter awards of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Decoration were discontinued, with all reserve Royal Naval officers eligible for

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