Tristan Da Cunha, THE WORLD’S MOST REMOTE INHABITABLE ISLAND, B.O.T. (British Overseas Territory)

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 1 – the world’s most remote inhabitable island is more-or less in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean (between the South American and African continents), which was on our sailing route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Cape Town, South Africa

Our Atlantic Ocean crossing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Cape Town, South Africa, was planned for fourteen days, including a stop, nearly midway, at THE WORLD’S MOST REMOTE IMHABITABLE ISLAND, Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory.  How remote is remote, you ask?  The volcanic Island (and the 4 islands that make up the eponymous archipelago) is 2,816 kilometers (1,750 miles) from the nearest land in South Africa, to the east, and 3,360 kilometers (2,088 miles) from South America.  The only way to visit is by boat – fishing boats from Cape Town, South Africa, and around 10 small expedition cruise ships per year.  Note that there is NO airport on the island, so you can’t come and go quickly…

How many people live on the island?  The week before we arrived in mid-February, it was 237, and then there was a baby born on the island, so now it is 238.  The other three islands that make up the Tristan Da Cunha archipelago are uninhabited – the nearby island of Nightingale Island and the wildlife reserve of Inaccessible Island (both of which we sailed by), and two days further southeast by steamship, the wildlife reserve of Gough Island.  Gough and Inaccessible islands together constitute a wildlife reserve, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.  Everyone on Tristan Da Cunha lives in the only town, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, just up from the relatively new Calshot Harbor, which can only handle Zodiacs, tender boats, small fishing boats, and barges (which are used to bring in supplies from the occasional supply ships from Cape Town). 

Tristan da Cunha is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena and Ascension Islands (both of which we have visited on our ship on earlier Atlantic Ocean crossings), along with Tristan Da Cunha.  Saint Helena Island is 1,510 miles to the north (2,430 kilometers), and Ascension Island is even further north.

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 2 — everyone on Tristan Da Cunha lives in the only town, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, just up from the relatively new Calshot Harbor, which can only handle Zodiacs, tender boats, small fishing boats, and barges

You are probably also asking, why are the islands a British Overseas Territory, and why did England put people on an island so far from the British Isles?  Good question. Recall that after Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated (Waterloo, 1815) he was EXILED by the British to Saint Helena Island.  Someone in the British military quicky saw that there were two unclaimed islands, about 1,000 miles north and south of Saint Helena Island – islands the French could claim and build up a military presence to then “rescue” Napoleon from Saint Helena Island.  Voila, the British decided to take over both islands in 1816 — Ascension Island to the north and Tristan da Cunha to the south – to keep the French out of the South Atlantic Ocean.  They administered the British Overseas Territory from Cape Town, South Africa, another area the “Crown” controlled.  In 2009, Saint Helena and its two territories received equal status under a new constitution, and the British Overseas Territory was renamed Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan Da Cunha, administered now from Saint Helena Island

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 3 – three young girls in second grade had the day off from school and guided some of our friends around the island

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 4 – the 19th century stone residence of the island’s administrator, appointed by the British Overseas Territory governor on Saint Helena Island

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 5 – the local school

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 6 – one of three graveyards at the edge of town

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 7 — many of the private homes were originally built of stone in the 1800s, with more recent buildings constructed of metal siding and roofs

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 8 – cows grazing at the edge of town

Each family is allowed to have one cow (for fresh milk) and, each family also has a “potato patch”, about a 2.5-mile walk from the center of town — that each family takes care of.  Historically, given the island’s remote location and the infrequency of fresh food supplies arriving, potatoes were historically extremely important to the local diet.

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 9 — the Thatched House Museum was built in 2012; the cottage is a faithful replica of the original stone houses built here, from its locally quarried stone walls to its roof covered in New Zealand flax — there’s also an authentic privy (outhouse), a necessity before indoor plumbing became common in the 1950s

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 10 — a plaque inside the Thatched House Museum honoring those islanders who returned after spending 2 years in England, following the 1961 volcanic eruption on the island

In the previous couple of photographs, you may have noticed a background wall of volcanic rocks.  That is a new geologic feature on the island since 1961.  “On 10 October 1961, the eruption of a parasitic cone of Queen Mary’s Peak, very close to Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, forced evacuation of all 264 people.   The evacuees took to the water in open boats, taken by the local lobster-fishing boats Tristania and Frances Repetto to uninhabited Nightingale Island.

The next day, they were picked up by the diverted Dutch passenger ship Tjisadane that took them to Cape Town.  The islanders later arrived in the U.K. aboard the liner M.V. Stirling Castle to a big press reception and, after a short period at Pendell Army Camp in Merstham, Surrey, were settled in an old Royal Air Force camp, near Calshot, Hampshire.  The following year, a Royal Society expedition reported that Edinburgh of the Seven Seas had survived.  Most families returned in 1963.” – Wikipedia

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 11 – a private home in Edinburgh of the Seven Seas

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 12 — the Camogli Healthcare Centre, usually referred to as the hospital, was built and equipped in 2016-2017 to the latest U.K. National Health Service (NHS) standards and was officially opened on 7 June 2017; we had a thorough tour with some of the visiting Cape Town and local nurses and were very impressed with the level of care available in such a remote location

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 13 — uphill from the island’s sole grocery (and general merchandise) store is the “Post Office” and “tourist center” – note there are very few tourists who make the long distance to the island

The world’s remotest Post Office team offers a full philatelic service for collectors, with regular issues of interesting and attractive stamps.  Note that Tristan da Cunha did not have stamps until 1952, and the first ones were overprinted St Helena definitives.  Essays priced in potatoes were however prepared in the 1940s as part of the petition for stamps. Before then, islanders had to rely on the good will of visiting ships.  Tristan stamps have been popular with collectors ever since.  Today the island has stamp collectors around the world who buy up new commemorative stamp issues that generate a nice stream of income for the islanders.

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 14 – the world’s most remote pub – the Albatross Bar

The economy of Tristan da Cunha relies on the export of crawfish, also known as Tristan rock lobster, which can be found in hotels as far away as China and Las Vegas.  Said to be some of the most delicious lobster on earth according to lobster connoisseurs, this rare variety of crustacean boasts ultra-sweet, pearl white meat that is both delicate and firm in texture. We enjoyed this delicacy as a lobster salad (in a tart and on sandwiches and plain) at the café in the “post office” building, enjoying lunch on picnic tables outside.  On the ship, we had procured lots of lobsters and were fortunate to enjoy large, steamed freshly caught lobsters for dinner in one of our restaurants each of the two nights that we were there.

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 15 – while the pub focuses on drinks, it is possible to get some bar “bites”, including – occasionally – something made with the local rock lobster

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 16 – Calshot Harbor which has no docking pier – is limited to Zodiacs, tender boats, small fishing boats, and barges (which are used to bring in supplies from the occasional supply ships from Cape Town). 

Tristan Da Cunha, British Overseas Territory, photograph # 17 – distances to other “nearby” locales; interesting tidbit: according to reports, no one has ever been arrested for crime by the single policeman on the island

Legal Notices: All photographs copyright © 2024 by Richard C. Edwards.  All Rights Reserved Worldwide.  Permission to link to this blog post is granted for educational and non-commercial purposes only.

Georgetown, Ascension Island (part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cuhna)

Named and dedicated to King George III of Britain and Ireland, Georgetown is the capital and chief settlement of Ascension Island, in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, situated on the west coast of the island

 

Georgetown is the capital and chief settlement of Ascension Island, in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, situated on the west coast of the island.   The name Georgetown is dedicated to King George III, a Britain and Ireland king during eighteenth and nineteenth century.  The town was first inhabited in 1815, founded by Royal Navy. In the Fort Hayes museum, we learned a lot about the strategic importance of the island with respect to worldwide telecommunications in the early twentieth century.

“Positioned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, just south of the equator between Africa and America, Ascension Island has had (and still has) a very important role in telecommunications, working as a kind of “bridge” between African and American continents.  From 1899, the first underwater telegraph cable laid by Cable & Wireless between Africa, America and Europe, passed through Ascension Island, an ideal place to install repeaters and to coordinate maintenance, because of the half-way position in the ocean.” —  http://www.travel-tour-guide.com/ascension_island/01_georgetown.htm

 

A small park in the center of Georgetown, Ascension Island, marks the bicentennial of the founding of the city in 1815

 

Georgetown, Ascension Island is centered on St. Mary’s Church (an Anglican Church)

 

The vicarage is located on the small hill in the center of Georgetown, Ascension Island, directly across from St. Mary’s Church

 

St George’s Water Tank, which stores water channeled into Georgetown from the top of Green Mountain, dates to the period of early construction beginning in 1830; note our ship, on the far right, anchored just offshore, Ascension Island

 

The garrison, known as The Old Barracks, was built according to the standard British Army overseas barracks plan with the approved substitution of stone arches instead of metal pillars to support the roof (due to the lack of metal on the island and the rapid deterioration of metal given the weather on the island), Georgetown, Ascension Island

 

The British Post Office in the center of Georgetown, Ascension Island, across from the mini-market (where we found refreshing crushed ice smoothies)

 

The Ascension Island Government Building was originally built as a Petty Officer’s Mess between 1899 and 1903 and has served as the office of the British Administrator, Georgetown, Ascension Island

 

Ascension Island Magistrates Court, Georgetown, Ascension Island; we learned that because almost everyone knows everyone else on the island (population 800), there are more magistrates than normal so that a magistrate can be assigned to a case where he/she is not judging friends

 

The Eastern Telegraph Company, direct ancestor of Cable & Wireless, helped transform Georgetown and Ascension Island into a vital communications hub in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as can be vividly seen in this poster/map (courtesy the Ascension Island Heritage Society Museum)

 

Legal Notices: All photographs copyright © 2018 by Richard C. Edwards. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Permission to link to this blog post is granted for educational and non-commercial purposes only.

 

Boatswainbird Island, Ascension Island (part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cuhna)

Boatswainbird Island, just off the east coast of Ascension in the South Atlantic Ocean is a nature reserve and offers great opportunities for bird lovers

 

Our first activity at Ascension Island was snorkeling in the very clear waters around Boatswainbird Island.  Boatswainbird Island, just off the east coast of Ascension in the South Atlantic Ocean [see our previous post, “Ascension Island (part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cuhna)”], is a nature reserve and offers great opportunities for bird lovers.  Besides the endemic Ascension Frigate-bird (Fregata aquila) three species of boobies, two species of tropic birds, two noddy’s and the Fairy Tern breed on this rocky islet.  The area around the island is great for zodiac cruising and snorkeling, with an abundance of fish in the nutrient rich waters — the result of the large amounts of guano (the accumulated excrement of seabirds) dropped into the ocean from the thousands of birds on the island.  “The island is the home of the majority of Ascension’s birds due to rats (accidentally introduced by passing ships) and then cats (introduced to catch the rats, as well as pets) eating the birds and their eggs on Ascension.  Since the mid-1990s there has been a feral cat eradication program, alongside a rat eradication program, to encourage the birds back to the main island.“ — Wikipedia

 

Birds are nesting all over the rock surface of Boatswainbird Island, Ascension Island

 

As we motored around Boatswainbird Island, Ascension Island, in our Zodiac inflatable boat, we were surrounded by large numbers of birds flying onto and from the island

 

A close up of some of the birds on Boatswainbird Island, Ascension Island

 

Our ship was anchored just off Ascension Island, behind the arch on Boatswainbird Island

 

Hundreds of birds flying over Boatswainbird Island, Ascension Island

 

Rock formations serving as nesting grounds, Boatswainbird Island, Ascension Island

 

Legal Notices: All photographs copyright © 2018 by Richard C. Edwards. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Permission to link to this blog post is granted for educational and non-commercial purposes only.

 

Ascension Island (part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cuhna)

Ascension Island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean (between the coasts of Brazil and Africa) is a geologically young formation, the tip of an undersea volcano that rose above the waves only a million years ago

 

Ascension Island (part of the three island British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cunha) lies some 470 nautical miles south of the equator, halfway between the horn of South America and Africa (2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) from the coast of Brazil and 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the coast of Africa).  Ascension is a geologically young formation, the tip of an undersea volcano that rose above the waves only a million years ago.  The island is named after the day of its recorded discovery, Ascension Day.  First discovered by Portuguese sailors in 1501, the island was forgotten, then re-discovered in 1503 by the Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque.  Claimed shortly thereafter by the British, it was visited by Charles Darwin.  After the first underwater cable was installed in 1899 connecting to South Africa, Ascension Island became an Atlantic communications hub.  The population is presently around 800 people (mostly from St. Helena Island) and there has never been an indigenous population on the island.

 

A map, provided by our expedition team, showing our route sailing south from Dakar, Senegal, on the western tip of the African continent, to Ascension Island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean

 

The view of the island’s principal small town and capital, Georgetown (named after the British monarch) from the Zodiac landing site (also the spot where cargo ships unload their cargo by small boats), Ascension Island; the steeple of the Anglican Church is barely visible in front of one of the reddish volcano cones

 

During World War II, U.S. Army engineers built an airfield on the island to transport warplanes from the Americas to North African and European theaters of war.  After the war, it was enlarged and designated an emergency landing site for the American Space Shuttle.  During the Falklands War, the British Royal Air Force based a fleet of long-range Vulcan bombers at Ascension, briefly making it the busiest airfield in the world.  Ascension Island hosts one of four ground antennas (others are on Kwajalen Island, Diego Garcia and Cape Canaveral, Florida) that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system.

 

Turtles were very important in the early history and settlement of Ascension Island and are prominent in the island government’s coat-of-arms

 

This beach, just to the west of Georgetown on the western coast of Ascension Island, is the site of the annual return of thousands of Brazilian green turtles who come ashore and bury their eggs from December to May

 

Today, the island charms those with an adventurous spirit.  Outside of the military airstrip, anyone visiting the island arrives by sea.  There are no piers, so wet landings are made on the shore by small boat (we use 20-foot (6-meter) inflatable Zodiac boats).  Those hearty sailors making the long journey to the island can watch nesting sooty terns, black noddy, and the Ascension frigatebird on one of the Atlantic’s most important seabird breeding sites, Boatswainbird Island (just off the southeast coast of Ascension Island).  Visitors can also hike trails through prickly pear and acacia trees in Green Mountain National Park that open into sweeping views over the sea.  Indoors, visitors can peruse artifacts and photographs at the Heritage Society Museum in Georgetown (the capital city) and explore the preserved grounds of Fort Hayes.

 

The satellite tracking and communications infrastructure (the “golf ball”) visible on the summit of South Gannet Hill forms part of the United States Air Force Eastern Range instrumentation, Ascension Island

 

On our tour of the island by some of the local government employees (also the vehicle drivers for us), we stopped at the Mars Bay Nature Reserve, home to a large colony of noisy sooty tern and the endemic plant, the Ascension spurge, Ascension Island

 

The area we visited is named Mars Bay, not for the dark red earth above the site which resembles the red planet, but for a scientific expedition carried out on the site in 1877 to mark the planet Mars’ position in the night sky and then use that to measure the distance between the Earth and Sun, Ascension Island

 

One of the hundreds of sooty terns flying around water’s edge at Mars Bay Nature Reserve, Ascension Island

 

The USAF runway on Ascension Island that is a backup landing site for the US space shuttles with a large collection of USAF/NASA antennae on the plateau in the distance

 

Land crabs are Ascension Island’s only large, native land animal and are one of the island’s most iconic inhabitants; they only live on four, small South Atlantic islands and are omnivores, eating both plants and animals

 

“The largest native land animal is the land crab Johngarthia logostoma (formerly Gecarcinus lagostoma).  Offshore, there is a variety of open-ocean fish, including sharks, wahoo, tuna, bonito, barracuda, marlin, blackfish and sailfish.  The protected green turtle is perhaps the most notable of the endemic fauna, coming ashore to lay their eggs on the beaches from [December] to May.  Turtles were regularly harvested until 1930, when the practice was banned. By 1970 the turtle population had begun to rebound.  From the 1970s, when records began, to 2014, green turtle nesting increased by 500%, resulting in some 24,000 nests being laid on the island’s main beaches each year.” – Wikipedia

 

The top of the highest mountain, Green Mountain, was planted with over 300 non-native species of plants selected by gardeners from England’s Kew Gardens and Charles Darwin in order to induce rain clouds to form and bring much needed water to the mountaintop, Ascension Island; this home was the residence of the mountain farm’s supervisor

 

Several shade houses at the top of Green Mountain are managed by the Ascension Island Government’s Conservation Centre and serve as a treasury to save and preserve six of the island’s indigenous and critically endangered endemic species from extinction

 

Tucked behind some of Ascension Island’s volcano cones, visible from Green Mountain, is one of several residential neighborhoods that are separate from the main town and capital, Georgetown, Ascension Island

 

The military (both Britain’s RAF and the American USAF) have golf ball communications structures all around Ascension Island; this one is just beyond the green turtle nesting beach seen above

 

Fort Bedford, the newest of the three forts on Ascension Island, was created between 1903 and 1906; the 5.5 inch gun pictured (one of two) was placed there at the beginning of World War II, having been removed from Britain’s HMS Hood

 

This view of the terrain at the center of Ascension Island reminded some of us of the inside of the crater of Haleakala on Maui and others felt that it might be the surface of planet Mars

 

Legal Notices: All photographs copyright © 2018 by Richard C. Edwards. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Permission to link to this blog post is granted for educational and non-commercial purposes only.