Saint Helena History

Saint Helena's main interest is its history.  It was a major ship resupply stop since the 1600's, especially under the control of the British East India Company. The ships sailing  between Britain and Asia, travelling around the Cape of Good Hope, on both outbound and inbound passages stopped here. At times the  island saw 20 ships a month. They would pickup water, repair their ships and purchase fresh goods from the farmers before sailing onward.

Napoleon's House - Longwood

Napoleon's view out the back yard

His first grave site, before being exhumed and transported back to France.

The island has also made a good place to exile and imprison the enemies of the Crown over the years. Napoleon being the most famous resident in the 1815-1821 times. Boer War prisoners captured by the British in South Africa were imprisoned on tent sites in the late 1890s.

Site of the Boer's tents

Now it makes a good location for the endemic Wire Bird

There were slaves kept here, from Africa and Asia. However when Britain outlawed the slave trade, St. Helena became a focus for the British Navy's anti-slave ships. Dozens of captured ships with thousands of slaves were landed on St. Helena. The ships were broken up and slaves then lived near Ruperts Bay, just around the point from where we are moored. It is estimated that 8,000 Africans died on the island, mostly from disease.

The island has a fairly new airport, completed around 2015. Prior to this $300+ million project the only way on or off the island was via ship. Before covid there were two regular commercial flights per month to the island.  Right now, an expensive charter flight lands once or twice a month.

Jacobs Ladder built in 1829 to remove the large quantities of horse and mule manure out of Jamestown onto to the islands farmers.

Here's me doing the last 10 steps of Jacob's Ladder - I skipped all the ones below.

Johnathan

Jonathan's house

Jonathan arrived on the island in 1882 as a mature, Seychelles Giant Tortoise of at least 50 years old --- making him the oldest known land vertebrate at about 190 years old - that is even older than Queen Elizabeth. He lives in the Plantation House that was built in 1792, sharing it with the islands governor who is appointed by the Queen.

Downtown Jamestown

Annes cruiser hangout spot, Wifi and good lunches

The Bell stone -- hit it with another rock and it sounds like medium frequency tower bell

(If you looking for a good tour around St Helena, Derek from Island Tours is a good choice)

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St. H is pretty friendly to cruisers, being a historic stop over for sailors. The anchorage has high quality moorings for cruisers use at £2 (usd$2.60) a day. The landing spot can be pretty dicey at times. There is a small ferry that you call on VHF channel 16 to get a ride in from your boat (£2 roundtrip on a tab) or you can take your own dinghy in. Today we decided to stay on the boat as the seas are still up and yesterday it felt like we were taking our life in our hands getting on and off the ferry because of the increased swell. On exit you wait for the ferry to ride up 4-6 feet on an incoming surge. Near the peak you grab a two inch thick rope that is mounted overhead on the dock and yank yourself onto the pier. Getting back on the ferry we risked getting swept away as the pier was awash. The tiller man is a real pro. Most days are mellow enough that the locals come down to  the pier to swim, but not with this big north swell. 

Once a month the supply ship from Cape Town, MV St. Helena, stops  in. She's now anchored outside the yachts, as they were unwilling to come in to tie up to the container this morning to unload due to the seas. The ship was already 4 days delayed, so the islanders, called Saints, are anxiously looking forward to new supplies. No Amazon Prime deliveries here.

Plans for our next set of passages seem to change every few days. We had originally planned on coming to St. Helena and then sailing directly to Antigua in the Caribbean. After being reminded how long a 9 day passage could feel on our fairly benign Namibia to St. H passage, we decided to breakup the 28 day passage to the Caribbean. A natural stop on the way is Fernando de Noronha, a set of Brazillian owned islands and national park 200 miles off the Brazilian coast. They are located very near the direct route to the Caribbean,  and about 1,700 miles from St H. They are unfortunately an expensive stop for cruisers, with harbour, park and entry fees.  So far they have allowed cruisers to enter without extra Covid testing, accepting the 2 week passage time as adequate quarantine.

After Fernando we are not sure about our

next stop as we are hearing that more Caribbean islands are opening to fully vaccinated yachts. So for now we'll stick to Plan A: leave Monday or Tuesday for Fernando de Naranho for a 12-15 day passage in light Tradewinds, then a 14-18 day passage on to Antigua.

Paul