By Alistair Thomson

DAKAR (Reuters) - Alarmed at climate change and environmental destruction, photographer Jeff Barbee set out to sail half way across the Atlantic and chronicle the slow death of species on some of the most remote islands on Earth.

Despite having barely sailed before, Barbee got himself a berth on a racing yacht from Cape Town to St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, posting blogs, pictures and video on his Website www.jeffbarbee.com via satellite phone along the way.

"When you look at what's happening to islands around the world and what we're doing to them, it's like a microcosm of what we're doing to the planet," Barbee told Reuters after his 4,440 nautical mile voyage to Senegal, where he was organizing the next stage of his odyssey to Cape Verde in the mid-Atlantic.

After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the British sent defeated French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to St Helena to die, and since then many of the island's unique species of plants and animals have gone the same way, or risk doing so before long.

Barbee was born in Colorado but has spent more than half his life in Africa and as a freelance photographer is used to getting pictures from unusual places.

"Most of my work centers around the environment ... I used to do high-altitude work, fixing bolts at the top of oil platforms in Angola and tightening nuts on the masts of diamond ships, because it got me to those places," he said.

But the voyage was far from plain sailing, battling adverse winds and wild weather for two weeks on the leg to St Helena while Barbee learned to sail on the job.

"Sailing in the deep ocean leaves no room for mistakes," he said.

HEROES' WELCOME

Barbee and his crew mates, captain and boat builder Andre Watson and first mate Deon Tulleken, finally landed on St Helena to a heroes' welcome from fishermen and local media alike.

"We were news because nothing ever happens on St Helena," he said. "These are the friendliest people I've ever met."

The "Saints" as they are known, have learnt to get along together in virtual isolation from the rest of the world, although there are plans to build an airport.

"I found most of the Saints want the airport, and the main reason is most of them have loved ones who have moved abroad because the economy is so poor," Barbee said.

"It's not for me to dictate, but if the Saints think they will survive with their culture intact, then I believe they are sadly mistaken."

Just a few thousand of them live on the island, sharing the 90 sq. km (35 sq. mile) of dry land with many species found nowhere else on earth, such as the 340 remaining wirebirds, one of the most endangered birds on earth.

Barbee set up a link on his website for web surfers to help another endangered species, the St Helena Gumwood Tree, by having one planted in their name in return for a donation.

"Already we've had 75 trees planted," he said.

For some other species it is already too late.

"Three years ago they lost the last St Helena Olive tree, and that's an entire species. Some might say why should we worry about that, but within the galaxy we live on an island ourselves," Barbee said.

"If we don't take care of it, we are going to suffer the same fate as the St Helena Olive."
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.

Photo:
U.S. photographer Jeff Barbee sails across the Atlantic Ocean in this picture taken in July, 2007. Alarmed at climate change and environmental destruction, Barbee set out to sail half way across the Atlantic and chronicle the slow death of species on some of the most remote islands on Earth. REUTERS/Jeff Barbee/Handout