Two Royal Navy sailors from the Isle of Wight who serve on the same warship have been helping with the relief effort in the Philippines.
Leading Photographer Keith Morgan, 28 and Engineering Technician Jay Shirlaw, 24 are from East Cowes and Cowes respectively and are both on board Portsmouth-based HMS Daring. The Type 45 destroyer is on a nine-month deployment around the world and was on an exercise off the coast of Singapore with navies from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand when she was re-tasked with helping the aid effort in the Philippines.
Speaking about the latest deployment, Keith said:
“We met at the back end of the last deployment in the Gulf and now we are here on the same ship again but this time in the Philippines. One the first day that we began to distribute aid to some of the remote Philippine islands, I landed on a beach on Guintacan island and the first person I saw was Jay.”
Jay, who is married to wife Isabel and has been in the Royal Navy for two years, added:
“It’s like we have gone from one island to another.
“On the last deployment there were three of us from the Isle of Wight but it has now gone down to just the two. When we started chatting we realised that we both went to the same school and both our dads know each other – it’s a very small world.”
HMS Daring has already loaded aid at the port of Cebu and has been distributing it among communities on remote islands that were devastated by the typhoon, destroying homes, crops, schools, community centres, water wells and generators. The aid donated by the Department for International Development (DfID) consisted of 500 food baskets which can feed a family of four for a week, 500 family shelter kits, 500 hygiene kits, 1500 four litre water carriers and 400 five litre water carriers. They also embarked a team of 14 medics from Save The Children.
Her sailors have also been visiting remote areas such as Canas, Calagnaan and Tulunanaun islands which are to the north east of the island of Panay and have been helping with crucial repair works to demolished buildings, battered fishing vessels and blocked roads.
One of Keith’s main roles has been to go ahead of the ship with the Lynx helicopter and capture images of the islands below in order for the command team to assess where the aid is most needed. Keith said:
“Some of the islands were really devastated by the typhoon and others barely touched.
“They were long hours to fly and take photos – we would be out for over six hours each day – but it was worth it to make sure we can find the communities that need the aid.”
Jay is a Marine Engineer and a High Voltage specialist so has been out on the islands as part of the teams assessing storm damage to generators – which the remote islands rely on for their electricity.
In terms of equipment the ship also holds 700 ration packs, 550 litres of bottled water and can provide 100,000 litres of potable water within 24 hours, generators, firefighting equipment, thermal imaging cameras and an emergency relief pack containing essentials such as generators, floodlighting and rescue equipment .
HMS Daring is the first in class of the Royal Navy’s six new Type 45 destroyers which are the largest and most powerful destroyers ever built for the Royal Navy.
