A DORSET pensioner is among a group of travellers making an historic final voyage by boat to a remote island.

Saint Helena lies in the South Atlantic and at the moment the only way to get there is a five-night journey on the Royal Mail ship, the RMS Saint Helena.

The ship leaves from Cape Town, South Africa.

But Saint Helena – famous as the island prison where Napoleon Bonaparte died – will be propelled into the 21st Century when its first airport opens later this year.

Hilary Townsend, of Stalbridge, will be one of the passengers aboard HMS Saint Helena’s final journey.

Mrs Townsend, who describes herself as ‘well into her 80s’, said she is ‘very much looking forward’ to the trip.

She said: “It will be the last time the ship sails, so it really is a historic voyage. I’ve actually been before but this time we will also be stopping at another island, close by, Tristan da Cunha, which I have never visited.”

Mrs Townsend added: “It was a friend who first heard the ship was going out of commission, and she got straight onto the shipping company and managed to bag us a cabin aboard the last journey. It’s really marvellous.”

Saint Helena is a British Overseas Territory, and was initially used as a pit-stop for passing ships. Travellers introduced goats which plundered the island’s vegetation, leading to intense soil erosion, but today the island is known for its beautiful natural habitat and peace and quiet.

Recent years have seen strenuous efforts to re-afforest the island and regenerate its native species, both with impressive results.

That could change when the airport opens as it is expected to bring more tourists to the beauty spot.

Napoleon was exiled by the British on Saint Helena after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 until his death in 1821.

The island made a lonely prison, more than 1,000 miles away from the West African coast.

He was originally buried on the island, but his remains were later moved to France.