Pierre Tromp on Marion Island, “Pierre was a big part of our team and loved by all”. Photograph by Louise Tromp
Pierre Dennis Tromp (18 June 1962 – 06 September 2023) was the radio technician with Marion Island’s 67th Overwintering Team that spent 13 months on the island in 2010/11. Two years later, he served as the replacement radio technician for eight months with the overwintering team on Gough Island (G69, 2013/14), after the original radio technician sadly passed away on the island.
Marion’s 67th Overwintering Team on the island towards the end of their stay. Pierre Tromp is standing, fourth from the right, photograph courtesy of the South African National Antarctic Programme
Pierre was born on 18 June 1962 in Oranjemund, Namibia (then South West Africa). In 1981, at the age of 19, he joined the South African Air Force for a ten-year stint as a radio telecommunications technician, receiving HF radio training on military equipment. During his military career he spent three years in Oshakati in northern Namibia. In later years he was self-employed, specialising in military and commercial HF systems, repeater systems, specialised communication applications and projects (click here). While on Marion he operated an amateur (ham) radio (call sign ZS8M) in his spare time, using all his own equipment and making, as he has written, “many friends”. No new antennas or aerials were erected to avoid the risk of increasing bird strikes. He also operated as a ham on Gough Island.
Pierre “hamming” in the new base on Marion Island
Pierre has written of his time on Marion: “Due to my extensive military and commercial HF training and experience, one of my main tasks was to replace and upgrade the existing HF radio system on the island. There are eight overnight huts dotted around the coast which provide accommodation and shelter to the team members while on their work assignments. The ninth hut is located inland and is situated near the top of one the highest peaks”. Pierre was tasked with recommending new radios for the huts, continuing “The [new] radios were installed in plastic tote bins, complete with batteries and a solar regulator. The batteries are charged via solar panels and there is a generator that can charge the batteries, as well as provide lighting to the hut when required.” During his year Pierre used his experience to coordinate responses when missed daily radio calls from the field huts led to concern, fortunately all resolved without further incident after search parties were sent out.
Pierre stands on the catwalk of the Kildalkey Bay field hut, fondly known by its visitors as “Hotel California”, beside an unnamed stream in the south-east corner of Marion Island
Jean Purdon, who was a marine mammal researcher or “sealer” on Marion with M67, has gathered reminisces from several of her fellow M67 members as follows.
A random memory of Pierre (one of which I’m quite fond) happened before we even reached the island. We were on the S.A. Agulhas II having dinner and Pierre was drowning his meal in chutney. We were joking about it and I think it was Kari [Schoonbee], said that maybe we should start calling Pierre Mrs. Balls [the well-known South African chutney brand]. Pierre was not terribly impressed but the rest of us had a good laugh at that.
Barend van der Merwe
The clearest memories I have are of his love for Mrs Balls, we went through bottles at an astronomical rate, and he always treating us to [defrosted] Mama’s Pies when it was his cooking turn. Also, all of us egging him on through the whole year to do a hut night – near the end he did go with Simon [Avis] and Vince [Rademeyer] to the Kildalkey Bay hut. Such a joker, but his heart was for sure in the right place.
Kari Schoonbee
Things I remember about Pierre, his larger than life personality; his love for his children and wife; his very average cooking on Marion Island (frozen pies and frozen peas); his drive to help everyone he met; his love for radio, the fact that he had to always iron his shirts on Marion – a place where no one cared about that except Pierre; his dislike of hiking; his laugh and his dance in a tiny dress to Mama Tembu’s Wedding. Love to Louise and Pierre’s son and daughter whom he constantly spoke about and always told us how proud he was of them both. We will miss you, big man.
Jean Purdon
I’ll always be grateful for our nightly radio chats when we were all by ourselves in the Mixed Pickle Cove field hut. I remember clearly Pierre speaking on the radio to us every night keeping our spirits up. One night I was alone in a hut after a long hike and was really hungry. After a brief look around, I found something called Smash [instant mashed potato made from dehydrated flakes]. I had never seen it before and didn’t know what it was, so had to ask Pierre how to cook it. Very sarcastically he told me, and ever since that day he called me Smash!
Hugh Purdon
An article once described Pierre as “a man best described as an iceberg with a beard”. We loved quoting this back to him, and he would always respond with a quiet smile. We first met Pierre in March 2010, when M67 gathered to begin our training for the 2010/2011 overwintering stay on Marion Island. Even now, it’s hard to remember what came first: his callsign, a quick joke, or his name, but I like to think it was in that order. Pierre was initially our communications guy, but he quickly became much more. He kept track of everyone, always knowing where we were, whether we were safe, and, most importantly, whether we were truly okay. He had a way of asking that question, not just about our physical well-being, but about how we were doing overall. Every day, he would ask with genuine care, a tone you could pick up even over the static of a comms radio in a remote hut with the wind howling outside. Years after returning from the island, Pierre would still check in on us, often with an unexpected message or phone call on days we seemed to need it most, always just to ask if we were doing okay.
Pierre loved Marion Island and the way nature’s dynamics played out through the seasons. He enjoyed sharing its stories with people from around the world, as far as his HF radio could reach. We would hear him recount these tales late into the night, his voice often the only company for a lonely “metkassie” [meteorological technician] on a night shift.
Andries Botha
Vince Rademeyer, Diesel Mechanic, and Pierre Tromp about to start on a hike
Following his island expeditions, Pierre continued to live in Worcester, an inland town in the Western Cape. In July 2023 he had a gall-bladder operation from which he recovered fairly well, but in September that year he was taken back to hospital, where he passed away on the 6th. Pierre is survived by his widow, Louise, and his children Brett and Kim from his first marriage.
In his memory, the M67 team members have sponsored 10 hectares for the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project, as recorded on its website Honour Roll.
The MFM Team thanks M67 for memorialising Pierre by sponsoring the project in his name, a fitting way to be remembered, and one Pierre himself would surely have approved.
With thanks to Jean Purdon and Louise Tromp.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 11 August 2026
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The research base on Marion Island; the buildings of the previous base at the back have now been removed prior to the planned eradication of the island’s mice. Pierre Tromp’s team moved from the old to the new base in November 2010
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
