Ascension Island - by Gary

Our visit to Ascension Island was unusual – hardly a visit at all really!

Ascension is one of a string of oceanic islands that are still British: i.e. Burmuda, Virgin Islands, St Helena, Falklands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha, and Chagos.  But these last remnants of empire are available for rent if you’re the right sort.  In this case it’s the Yanks who are the major leaseholders, maintaining a major military base on Ascension.  But American servicemen and women hold a singular advantage over yachties – they can fly in on a B52 or Phantom Fighter or whatever.  But for us a landing entailed braving ocean rollers in our tiny rubber ducky, at a waterfront little changed since Captain Cook’s days.  It was a trifle challenging to say the least!

We spent three days anchored in the island’s lee, bouncing up and down waiting for the swell to settle sufficiently to make an attempt.  Finally on our last morning it was calm enough to give it a go.  Vicki, Zeke and Nina managed to scramble ashore – while I stood off in the dinghy.  They spent all of 30 minutes ashore purchasing important provisions.  Returning to Mojombo with the wind rising there seemed little chance of the swell continuing to abate in the immediate future, so we put to sea once again.

We spent three days waiting for the swell to settle – not really a waste of time though.  Large schools of small fish, apparently related to Piranhas, made fast work of our hull growth – by the time we left Mojombo’s bottom was slickety slick clean.  Vegetable scraps thrown over the side created a feeding frenzy.

Every morning the beaches were criss-crossed with fresh tractor tire tracks, evidence of Green Turtles hauling out under cover of night to lay their eggs.  Huge turtles were constantly swimming past the boat – we even saw two mating!

Ashore nature jostled with military installations.  Vast arrays of exotic antennae bristled in the distance.

The military presence was hard to escape – if not always high-tech.

Capturing a sense of the swell in a photo was difficult because of the long wavelength.

A wave breaks as we approach the town wharf.

This is the landing area.  Note the ropes for grabbing hold of.  As you can see the distance from the top of the ladder to the water is about 1.5 metres.

Now it is about 300mm.  In a big set the whole lot would go under.

Nimbleness and fine judgment offer distinct advantages

.

Here is the proof, at least some of the party made it ashore –  for a whole thirty minutes – long enough to buy some bread and chocolate bars.

Then it was back to Mojombo and out to sea again.  As I said, one of our more unusual visits!

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Jacobs Ladder - by Nina

Next to James Town the capital of St Helena there is a remarkably long stair way with 699 steps called Jacobs Ladder.

In the, old days (around when Napoleon was here) there was a fort on top of a cliff and the only way up was a very dangerous cliff path that had to be rebuilt all the time because rock would fall on it from the road above. They had to use the dangerous cliff path all the time because they got guano from above to put on the English ships that were sailing to England, and because they needed food for the soldiers in the fort. The Saints (locals) started looking for ideas to make it safer and easier to get up and down the cliff. Then a guy called Jacob had this brilliant idea to make a stair way with a cart on each side. These carts were waited and connected with a rope that went from one car to a winch at the top down to the other cart. Because they were balanced they could be easily up or down, after that food could go up easily and guano could come down.

The carts no longer exist but the stair way is still there.

Early that morning we got up and started to get ready to go up the stairs before school started. This photo is us just before we started going up.

The way up was long and hot. Zeke made it up first, soon after came Mum, then I managed to get to the top, then the last of all came Dad but that wasn’t fair because he had been helping me.

But it was worth the climb to see the marvelous view at the top.

There was a view over the town and the sea.

Then we made our way back down the stairs. It was a relief to get back down.

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Napoleon’s Jail – by Nina

 In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte the Emperor of France was imprisoned by the English on St Helena, a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Napoleon was born on Corsica but sailed to France when he was young and when he got older he joined the army and progressed in ranks very quickly, soon he was a general and had some troops of his own to order about. Then came the revolution, the king and queen were guillotined (had their heads chopped of) and a government was made. It was said that Napoleon helped them a lot and became very important. Napoleon fought many battles but in the middle of one he got news of the government falling apart and came back to France as quick as he could. When he got back he found the Government in a very bad way. He decided to take charge and become the president of France, but when things didn’t get any better he decided that maybe France wasn’t ready for a government just yet and crowned himself Emperor of France. Then came the Battle of Waterloo, he was defeated in a big battle with the English and imprisoned on St Helena. Napoleon died on St Helena in 1821.

At St Helena we decided to go on a tour of the island to see the Napoleonic sites.  First we went to the house that Napoleon stayed in for 7 months of his imprisonment on St Helena.  It was a pavilion for a house called Briars.  It had a lovely garden and windows all around the room.

Then we went to Longwood, the house he stayed at for the other 6 years of his imprisonment.  It was a large house with nice furniture and a large garden.  It looked to me like he had a fairly nice time there.

After that we went to Napoleon’s tomb.  It was in a beautiful valley with a small spring of water and some pine trees with bougainvillea on them.  The tomb was at the end of the valley and you could look down on it.

The Briars pavillion where Napoleon spent his first seven months – it was a single room, surrounded by windows overlooking a lovely garden.

Inside the pavilion a guide told us all about Napoleon’s time here.

Next we went to Longwood where Napoleon spent the last seven years of his life. 

Many of the furnishings were those present during Napoleon’s stay.

This is the chamber, and a replica of the bed where Napoleon actually died.

A painting of Napoleon on his death-bed.

Finally we went to Napoeon’s semi-final resting place.  He was buried here and then later dug up and re-buried in Paris.

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RMS St Helena - by Zeke

St Helena, an isolated spot in the mid Atlantic is only accessible by ship.  So it is that once a month the RMS St Helena delivers goods to the island from South Africa.  The goods can be any number of things such as cars and washing machines to fruit, vegetables and people.  The RMS stands for Royal Mail ship, so of course the ship also ferries mail.  

As there is no deep water harbour in St Helena the mail ship must anchor off-shore.  When passengers arrive a small ferry brings the passengers ashore.  To land the boat comes along side a concrete dock.  Ropes hanging from a metal bar assist you in climbing on to the dock as the ferry rises and falls on the swell.  As soon as the RMS St Helena has anchored two small lighters start work on transferring the containers ashore.

Firstly the lighter is tied up alongside the mail ship, then a crane onboard the ship lifts a container and drops it on the deck of the lighter.  The lighter then begins to motor towards the shore.  When the lighter nears the shore the deck hands secure it with a network of ropes just off the stone quay where the crane is located.  The reason for the ropes is that the swell would smash the lighter against the quay or nearby rocks if it were not secured.  Once the lighter is secured the crane swings its boom out and the deck hands secure the harness upon the container.  This operation feels very risky because the lighter is constantly heaving on the ocean swell.  The container is then swung ashore where it is loaded on a truck and taken to Customs.  The lighter then returns to the RMS St Helena where the process starts again.

The RMS Saint Helena anchored off-shore.

The ferry which services the mail ship taking passengers to and fro. Note the white water in this picture as the swell pounds the rocks just to the left of this picture. We’ve seen over one meter of swell running at this landing spot

The landing spot with the ropes hanging off a metal bar.

In this picture you can see the cranes on the key, a lighter held off the quay by a net work of ropes and in the bottom right hand corner the landing area.

The deck hands tying up the lighter to await unloading.

Securing the harness upon the container.

Lifting the container off the lighter and onto the quay.

Front to back cargo nets, lighter and mail ship.

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St Helena – by Gary

Jamestown
We came across an interpretation panel at the top of ‘Jabobs Ladder’ (see Nina’s blog) with a great description of Jamestown as follows:

Jamestown, the capital of St Helena, was founded in 1659, when the English East India Company built a fort and established a garrison at the site on James Bay, naming it after James II.  This Georgian seaport consists of little more than a singles street stretching for a mile inland nestling in a deep-sided volcanic valley, and rising to a height of 500 feet (150m).  It retains a remarkable heritage: the town’s streets echo richly with impressions recalling the past – Napoleon walked this way, as did the Duke of Wellington, Captain Bligh, Edmund Halley, Charles Darwin and Captain Cook.

Visitors to the Island land at the wharf, pass the 17th century ‘glacis’ (defense ramparts) and through the town gate to the Grand Parade in Main Street.  Along this entire route almost every building is listed because of its historic importance.  Main Street is described as one of the best examples of unspoilt Georgian architecture anywhere in the world.

The rather imposing town gate, the main portal from the
waterfront  through the ramparts to the town centre

The ‘castle’, the administrative hub of the the town’s defense.

One of the few ‘side streets’, mostly deserted on a Sunday morning.

‘... almost every building is listed...’

‘Napoleon walked this way...’

The Hinterland
Moving out of town it quickly becomes apparent that the landscapes on this tiny island are remarkably varied – it’s not all volcanised moonscape, far from it.

The view back through town as you begin to rise up out of the valley.

 

Rising up higher still, the landscapes quickly green up – and it gets cooler too.

Quaint buildings dot the landscape

Many island slopes are covered with NZ flax (Phormium tenax), the growing of
 which, in a previous era, was the island’s major industry.

Today much of the island is grazed for cattle.  However early last century, during the Boer War, this valley was the site of a vast Boer ‘concentration camp’ (a charming English invention).  Conditions of diet, health and hygiene were such that  many succumbed to typhoid – a wholly preventable disease by then.

Volcanic plugs, Lot and Lot's Wife.

The Governor’s mansion.  Is that he and the wife out for a constitutional?

Defense
Island defense has been an enduring British preoccupation.  For instance during Napoleon’s incarceration (see Nina’s blog) over 6,000 troops were stationed strategically around the island, guarding against a possible repeat of his daring escape from a previous incarceration on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

This hill-top garrison was designed as the last point of retreat
in the even of an all-out French assault.

Many of the old fortifications have this wonderful ‘lived in’ quality.

The cliffs around the island are littered with gun emplacements,  tunnels,
powder magazines and abandoned barracks.

Canons, now quietly rusting.

An old barrack building featuring a particularly long ‘long drop’ and a million dollar view.  Must have been mind numbing standing sentry duty year on end, watching, waiting...

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