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| Step 694 of the 699 steps of Jacob's Ladder, St. Helena |
Located approximately 1200 miles west of Africa, St. Helena
is a very small volcanic island about 10 miles by 5 miles with a population of
about 4000. St. Helena was discovered by
Portuguese explorer Joao de Nova; the first permanent settlement, Jamestown,
was established in 1659 by the English East India Company. At that time it was
used by the English as a stopover for ships making the run from Europe to Asia
and South Africa.
Even though I taught American History to my fifth graders,
one of the things I would enjoy discussing with them was the impact of the
defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
They loved hearing the stories of life back then, and how, with
England’s supremacy of the seas, the English were able to colonize the east
coast of America. It even impacted the
history of the small island we visited in the South Atlantic. Once England was able to freely roam the
seas, their East India Company would frequently make the voyage between Europe
and India, as did the Dutch East India Company.
Like at Cape Town, there was need for another place where the ships
could stop, and Jamestown, St. Helena became a refueling station for these
English ships.
Named after Saint Helena of Constantinople, the island is
still owned by Britain, and along with Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Islands,
is the second oldest British “colony” (these colonies are now called British
Overseas Territories). The only colony
older than St. Helena is Bermuda.
Because of its very isolated location and quite possibly because of its
steep dramatic coastal cliffs, it has historically been used as a place of
exile for British prisoners, the most notable being Napoleon I, who arrived
there in 1815 and was a resident until his death in 1821. (I commented to Chuck as we toured the island
that it reminded me very much of Corsica, which we visited on April 14,
2012. How ironic that we were in Corsica
almost exactly a year ago, as Corsica was Napoleon’s birthplace!)
Today the island has been nominated as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, and the people are waiting to hear if it will become a part of
the growing list that includes many, many worldwide sites of historical or
natural significance.
Because of the military presence in the area, there are lots
of telecommunications. However, we were
very surprised to hear that despite this, and despite its remote location,
there is no airport! We were advised not to
miss the ship here because if we did, there was no guarantee when we could get
off the island. A perfect location for
exile prisoners! And those prisoners,
though far from home, certainly had stunning surroundings!
As we sailed in, we saw another large vessel (small by
comparison with the ms Amsterdam, but large by comparison with all the other
boats) anchored off the shores of the island.
Captain Jonathan announced that this was a mail boat that makes runs
regularly between Europe and Cape Town, with a stop at Jamestown. Apparently it stops once a month. Everyone hopes that this meant their post
cards mailed from there would go out that same day rather than a month
later!!!
We had opted for a tour called Scenic Saint Helena. Because
this was a tender port (the dock had trouble handling our tenders, let alone a
huge cruise ship), we were ready to go so we could be in the first tender after
they called for our excursion to go ashore.
We had been advised that there would be thirteen steps that we would
have to negotiate to get off the pier.
Ever since my experience back in 2009 at Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia, I
am always a little skeptical when I hear something like that. (Nothing happened at Nuku Hiva other than
that the stairs were small and concrete, very uneven, and covered with moss
resulting from the ebb and flow of tides.
Needless to say, they were very slippery.) Fortunately today the stairs were quite
manageable, though we did hear later in the day that one man, who apparently is
very physically fit, slipped and severely broke his ankle. All it takes is a wrong step, and this is not
a location one would want to be hospitalized, not because of its facilities,
but because one would be stuck there for who knows how long!!!
Buses on the island were very basic since there is little
tourism. We were among an unfortunate
two dozen people who got a regular bus with no air conditioning, very, very
cramped seats, and no microphones.
Others had small vans that held about a dozen people and were probably
air conditioned! Oh, well, you win some,
you lose some. The bus may not have been comfy, but the driver did provide us
with basic information on the locations we were visiting. (Because of the lack of tourism, we had been “warned”
that there would be very little guiding, but the people certainly greeted us
enthusiastically and did everything they could to provide us with the
information we needed.)
As soon as we had loaded the bus we were off up the
mountains of St. Helena! The roads were
very narrow with lots of switchbacks, which our excellent driver handled with
ease, fortunately! But the scenery as we
ascended was absolutely breathtaking! We
made a photo stop so we could see The Briars, Napoleon’s first residence, which
is where he lived with a local British family until his permanent exile home of
Longwood was available. Apparently he
got along well with this family but felt that he did not get the respect he
deserved from the authorities.
Our next stop was Napoleon’s Tomb. It was quite a walk down a grassy path to
this location, and our driver reminded us, “It’s an easy ½ kilometer walk
downhill, but remember that when you’ve visited the tomb you have to come back up the
hill!” I was determined to get down
there, as I heard one visitor comment, to see the place where Napoleon isn’t buried! According to his wishes, he
was eventually moved to Les Invalides in Paris.
And I was pleased to discover that the walk back up wasn’t as bad as I’d
feared and I wasn’t the last one back to the bus!
The visit to Longwood was very interesting! High up on a mountain overlooking the
Atlantic, it is certainly a magnificent location! Not a bad place to send one’s last years in
exile, though I suppose that if one were confined to that location they would
be unhappy! The gardens were beautiful
and the home itself was very nice.
Originally a barn, it had been reconstructed as a home for Lt. Governor
Hutchinson. They felt that Longwood
House was the only suitable place for a prisoner of Napoleon’s stature so it
was enlarged and remodeled for him. After
he died in 1821, the islanders didn’t use it because they’d grown to respect
Napoleon. Later it was taken over by the
French Consul and restored as an historic site.
While I was there I managed to purchase a post card and
stamp so I could get it in the mail on St. Helena. As many of you know, I’m trying to make sure
I send post cards for a class project for the granddaughter of our friends
Jeanette and Jim Maxim. Stamps from St.
Helena are very desirable collectibles so I wanted to mail it from there! Only problem is that with no airport they
depend on a mail ship that comes once a month.
With luck though, that post card, which I deposited in a post box on
site, will have been put on the mail ship that was in port that day! Otherwise it may be another month before it
even goes out and the school year will probably be over before it arrives at
its destination! At least I tried!
We stopped at Plantation House, the Governor’s home. Most famous resident, though, is not human,
but the island’s adopted mascot, Jonathon.
Jonathon is a giant tortoise and the oldest resident of the island at
178 years. We only had ten minutes there
so we didn’t have time to hunt him down.
I did see him from afar, but would have loved to see him up close. Better not to miss the bus, though! We had first heard of Jonathon when we had a
guest performer earlier on who was a flutist.
Her performance included video of her playing for animals around the
world, including Jonathon, the giant tortoise of St. Helena!
One of the most unusual sights that one would see was a
stairway built straight up the side of a cliff.
It was constructed in the 1820s in order to link a military installation
with a garrison atop Ladder Hill and is nicknamed Jacob’s Ladder. Wouldn’t you think that they would have added
one more stair so that they could say it was 700 steps? Nope!
It’s exactly 699 steps, and they are steep! The rises average 11 inches! We had the opportunity to see it from the
top, and as I stepped up to look down the stairs I discovered, Gina, one of our
Pinnacle wait staff posing for a picture that her husband was taking. I also got a picture of her before she and
her husband started back down the staircase.
Later when I was walking around town, I got a picture from the bottom, and
the following day at breakfast, I commented about her climb. She laughed and replied that her legs were
pretty achy! Our friends Bob & Nancy
met me at the foot of this daunting staircase and said that they had learned
that children use it to climb up to their school. When they get old enough and can prove that
they can reach both railings, they can slide down on their way home! That would be quite a fast – and I would
think dangerous – trip!
We were given the opportunity to get off in the middle of
Jamestown or return to the pier, and Chuck and I decided to take the
opportunity to visit the town. Our first
stop was the Post Office where I purchased a few stamps as well as a first-day
cover for William and Kate’s marriage back in 2011 with a St Helena
postmark. I can add that to the
first-day cover I bought when I was traveling in Scotland with my friend
Roberta back in 1986 on the very day that Prince Andrew and Fergie were
married.
We visited several stores hoping to find memorabilia, and I
did come away with a few things. I was
pleased to be able to pick up a few cans of ginger beer, a very tasty drink
somewhat similar to my favorite Vernor’s ginger ale at home, as well as the
t-shirt I mentioned earlier.
We strolled through the castle gardens and admired the
fascinating topiaries. Everyone we overheard
had their own take as to what the topiaries were supposed to be. Most people seemed to concur about the
rabbit, and the wrist wearing a watch was pretty obvious, but there were a lot
of differing opinions on the lady bug… Was it a bug? Or was it a tortoise? Or maybe a whale? Hmmm… Despite our differing opinions, we all agreed
that these were very unique designs.
While Chuck went back to search for a t-shirt with a
different design (he had no success and came away with the same design that I
had bought in a different color), I visited St. James’ Church, the oldest
Anglican church south of the Equator.
The ship had received word that there would be a special service there
at 3:00 PM, but our tour was ending at 3:00 and there was only so much one
could do while in town. In our case, shopping
took priority. When I arrived at the
church about 45 minutes later, I could see that there was still something going
on inside, but they invited me in anyway, and as I entered and picked up a
brochure, the vicar (I assume as he was robed) greeted me very warmly. He
stepped aside and gestured that I should come in as other people from the ship
were pouring out. I took a few moments
to look around this lovely little church and as I left, he shook my hand and
said he was glad I’d come. I commented that
we just didn’t have enough time to do everything that we’d wanted and we would
have loved another day to visit!
The church was established in 1659 when the East India Company
arrived and the first chaplain was assigned there in 1671. The first building was not built very well
because by 1678 it needed repair, and a new church was eventually constructed
in 1774. That church still stands, and
it is very evident that the people of Jamestown are very proud that the church
is recognized as such an historical landmark!
All too soon it was time to return to the pier to be
tendered back to the ship. This was a
more difficult task than one would think.
We couldn’t find where to pick up the shuttle. Chuck and I had split up, and I was standing
with a few other people from the ship, including Jack & Gloria, who are the
AAA representatives, as well as another friend, Carol, who had booked through AAA. We
finally decided that we’d better take a more pro-active approach and started to
walk through the city gates and down the road toward the tender pier. We soon discovered a long line awaiting the
shuttle. The location had apparently
moved because there was a hard hat area near the pier and people had to be
transported through it by vehicle. Later
I heard someone say that they were waiting up in town for the shuttle, and a
few people who heard their plight just volunteered to shuttle them back down to
the pier. This is just one more
testimony of the friendliness of the people of St. Helena!
So… where in the world is St. Helena? One could say it’s in the South Atlantic at 15°
S Latitude and 5° W Longitude, but one might better say it’s found in the warmth
of the citizens who welcomed us so readily!
We would definitely love to spend more time on this charming
island!
Our wonderful day was marred by the devastating news about
the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon.
We received word of this tragic event shortly after dinner. Our thoughts and prayers are with those
people whose lives have been shattered by this senseless act!
BT
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