| About Ascension Island |
Ascension Island is a dependency of St. Helena which lies some 800 miles to the southeast. Ascension lies in the South Atlantic (7 56'S, 14 22'W) some 750 miles Northwest of the Island of Saint Helena and covers an area of 35 square miles.
It was discovered by the Portuguese seafarer Joao da Nova Castelia in 1501, (although this visit apparently went unrecorded) and "found again" two years later on Ascension Day by Alphonse d'Albuquerque, who gave the island its name. Being dry and barren it was of little use to the East Indies fleets.
So it remained uninhabited until Emperor Napoleon I was incarcerated on St Helena in 1815 when a small British naval garrison was stationed on Ascension to deny it to the French. The island was designated "HMS Ascension", a "Stone sloop of War of the smaller class".
By Napoleon's death in 1821 Ascension had become a victualling station and sanatorium for ships engaged in the suppression of the slave trade around the West African coast.
In 1823 the island was taken over by the Royal Marines. It remained under the supervision of the British Board of Admiralty until 1922, when it was made a Dependency of St Helena by Royal Letters Patent.
From 1922 until 1964 the island was managed by the Eastern Telegraph Company (renamed Cable and Wireless in 1934). In 1964, in view of plans to establish BBC and Composite Signal Organisation (CSO) stations, an Administrator was appointed. |
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Ascension Island - Click to enlarge |
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| Flag description |
The flag of the United Kingdon, the Union Flag. Blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland).
Properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces. |
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| Geography |
Ascension Island is not quite as remote as St. Helena, being almost exactly in the middle of the South Atlantic, though it is a smaller island, 98 sq. km (34 sq. miles).
Ascension is volcanic in origin, however, it has superb white sand beaches (the sand is shell and coral sand). It is a rugged, dry, barren, and inhospitable island. Most of the surface of Ascension is covered by basalt lava flows and cinder cones.
The forming of Ascension dates back to millions of years ago. It is linked to a complete string of volcanic islands, starting from Gough Island in the south proceeding to Tristan da Cunha, St-Helena and Ascension and following upwards till Cape Verde, the Azores and Iceland.
The separation of the American and African plates resulted in the existence of these islands.
This ‘tearing’ of the two continents is still associated to a volcanic activity and this is mainly how islands like Ascension have been created. 44 volcanoes are constituent of the landscape; there are some perfect examples of volcanic cones and craters. The grounds are vast fields of basalt lava, volcanic ash and stones.
The island can be termed as being relatively ‘young’; for soil erosion and the continuous flow of seawater have had little impact on its scenery. |
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Presently, the volcanoes are only of a dormant nature, the most recent eruption occurred at "Sisters Peak" approximately 700 years ago.
The highest point on the island is Green Mountain, 859 metres in height, with lush green vegetation. Green Mountain rarely attracts the rays of the sun as clouds cover the peak. Foggy atmosphere and a high level of humidity create a microclimate. The surrounding temperature is 6°C less than that which prevails at sea level while the degree of humidity can easily reach the 100%. |
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| Climate |
| Dry tropical mean 709 mm rainfall, 10-32C, temperatures at sea level are 68-88F and about 10F less on Green Mountain. Showers occur throughout the year with slightly heavier rains in the January-April period. |
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| Flora and Fauna |
The protected Green turtle is perhaps the most notable of the wildlife, coming ashore to lay their eggs on the beaches from January to May. Sooty tern or "Wideawake Bird" nests in great seashore lava "fairs," along with boobies, petrels, noddies, Ascension frigate birds, and boatswain birds.
On land are found canaries, francolins, mynahs, sparrows, and waxbills. A variety of mammals have been introduced: donkey, sheep, cats and rats among others.
Reptiles consist of two species of lizards. In summer flies are problematic.
Crowning Green Mountain is a lush halo of bamboo, while on one flank is a large stand of tall pine trees.
A few wild flowers narrowly abound periwinkle, cactus is present with land crabs in several large colonies near the sea and mountains.
Offshore, there is a variety of open-ocean fish, including sharks, wahoo, tuna, bonita, barracuda, marlin, blackfish and sailfish.
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| Boatswainbird Island |
| Boatswainbird Island is home to thousands of Brown Boobies, Black Nodys, Frigate Birds and Tropical Birds. The island is a barren, steep-sided trachytic rock, about 340 m by 220 m in size, rising to 104 m, with a relatively flat basaltic top nearly 3 ha in extent, located 305 m north of the eastern part of Ascension Island. Included also is a small, isolated rock 670 m east of the southern end. The island is heavily overlaid with guano, and there are traces of a guano industry that operated in the 1920s. |
| For more information, see Boatswain Bird Island. |
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| History of Ascension Island |
| Early History |
| Ascension Island was first discovered, in 1501, by the Portuguese nobleman Juan da Nova on an expedition to India via the Cape of Good Hope. He gave it the name of Conception. However the discovery was not publicised and it was Alfonso de Albuquerque, in charge of four vessels on their way to India, who rediscovered the island in 1503 and named it Ascension, after Ascension Day, the day on which it was sighted. From then until its annexation by Great Britain the island was uninhabited except for the occasional shipwrecked sailors. |
| British Annexation |
In 1815 Napoleon, following defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, was sent into exile on St. Helena and to prevent anyone using Ascension as a base to rescue him, Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, who escorted Napoleon to St. Helena, decided it was necessary to annex the island.
He gave orders to Captain James White, Commander of HM Sloop Peruvian, to sail with Captain William Dobree, Commander of HM Sloop Zenobia, to carry out the task.
The two vessels left St. Helena on 18 October 1815,arriving at Ascension on the 22nd. Peruvian's log records. "5.30 pm Captain White in company with Captain Dobree went on shore and took a formal possession of the Island in the name of His Britannic Majesty." The island eventually became known as HMS Ascension and was on the Admiralty books as a "Sloop of War".
The death of Napoleon in 1821 did not affect the situation on Ascension as it was by now used as a supply depot for ships of the West Africa Squadron engaged in the suppression of the slave trade.
At the same time the Marines took over from the Royal Navy.
In 1823 HMS Bann arrived at Ascension with fever on board. Sick sailors were sent ashore with terrible consequences for the garrison. By the time the disease had run its course 26 officers and men from the ship had died as well as 24 of the Garrison. |
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Government Office - Georgetown |
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From then on all vessels with sickness on board were sent into quarantine at Comfortless Cove.
When the island was first occupied this was known as Sydney Cove. Its name was changed to Comfort Cove when it became the quarantine station for vessels, arriving at Ascension, having fever or other contagious diseases aboard. For obvious reasons the name changed to Comfortless Cove. The sick were sent ashore and were nursed by their shipmates. The island garrison supplied food and water leaving it at a suitable spot, then firing a rifle to signal to the unfortunate sailors that it was ready for collection.
The Marines gradually built defences, accommodation and developed a garden on Green Mountain to supply fresh vegetables to the garrison.
This grew into a farm with cattle sheep and pigs.
A number of those posted to Ascension were skilled tradesmen who spent their time pursuing their trade rather than military duties. One of the major achievements was the system of piping water from Green Mountain to Georgetown the main settlement.
This was devised by Lieutenant (later Captain) H. R. Brandreth of the Royal Engineers. So successful was the system that it operated for the best part of a hundred years.
The barracks were built in 1836, a second storey being added in 1848. When the Navy left in 1922 the Eastern Telegraph Company acquired the building and it became known as the Exiles Club. |
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Exiles Club (Garrison) - Georgetown |
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| US Military & Airstrip |
| During the Second World War the United States Government, by arrangement with Her Majesty's Government, built an airstrip "Wideawake Field". From 1943-45 over 25,000 US planes transited Ascension Island destined for the North African, Middle East and European theatres of war. In 1957 a US presence was re-established and the airhead was enlarged and is now also the Southeast tracking station of the USAF Eastern Test Proving Ground. In 1967 a NASA tracking station was built but has since closed down. |
| The Falklands Conflict 1982 |
Ascension was the main base for RAF operations in support of the Task Force heading south to the Falkland Islands. Usually refuelled in the air by a great number of Victor tanker sorties, air attacks on Stanley, reconnaissance, airdrops, and SAR were carried out by the resident Vulcans, Nimrods and Hercules.
Added to all the helicopter and transport movements, these made Wideawake one of the busiest airfields in the world with up to 400 movements of all types each day.Responsible for this array of activities was the British Forces Support Unit Ascension Island commanded by Capt R. McQueen (awarded CBE) RN.
Involving all three services, some 1000 men, occasionally rising to 1500 did everything needed to support the Task Force, work the airfield in cooperation with the resident Americans and defend the island against possible attack by Argentine forces.
In general the RAF was responsible for airfield operations and both air and ground defence, the Army built and manned the necessary additional facilities, and the Navy [NP 1222, Cmdr G A C Woods (OBE) RN] operated a forward logistical base for the Task Force ships.
So important to the morale of the men taking part as well as the operation of the Task Force was the efficient handling of the vast amounts of private and official mail passing through the island. Although involving all services, the Royal Engineers Postal and Courier Service [WO1 R G Randall (MBE) RE] handled up to 2 tons of airmail daily and 1000 bags of parcels each week. |
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| Cable Station |
The Cable Station was constructed between 1899 and 1903 and was intended for use as the Petty Officers/Sergeants Mess, but it was given to the Eastern Telegraph Company for use as a cable station. The equipment and manager's office was on the ground floor and the upper floor was used as living accomodation. The building was then put to a variety of uses during which period it was known as Top Flat and Bottom Flat.
At the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 the only way to get a telegraph message from the UK to Cape Town was either via the west coast or the east coast of Africa, a slow and tedious journey.
A quicker and more direct route was urgently required. The Eastern Telegraph Company contracted the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company to manufacture and lay the necessary cables, which were to link Cape Town - St. Helena - Ascension - St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands.
Messages were then routed over the Western Telegraph Company cables, St Vincent - Madeira - Carcavelos, Portugal, from there to Porthcurno they again travelled over the Eastern network.
CS Anglia laid the 2065 nm first stage from Cape Town to St Helena, completing it by 26 November 1899, and while CS Anglia returned to the UK for more cable CS Seine laid the section from St Helena to Ascension, a distance of 844 nm, completing it by 15 December 1899.
CS Anglia then laid 1975 nm of cable from Ascension to St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands, completing the task by 21 February 1900.
In 1901 the Eastern Telegraph Company contracted the same company to manufacture and lay cables from St Vincent to Madeira, 1130 nm, and from there a 1375 nm cable to Porthcurno. |
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Cable Hut 1902, Comfortless Cove |
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| CS Anglia and CS Britannia (2) carried out the work. Another cable laid by CS Anglia in the same year was that from Ascension to Freetown, Sierra Leone, a distance of 1125 nm. This was to provide an alternative route in case of cable failure. |
| Further cables were laid this time for the Western Telegraph Company in 1910 when CS Colonia laid 3145 nm of cable from St. Vincent - Ascension - Buenos Aires, Argentina, with CS Cambria assisting and CS Cormorant laying the cable up the River Plate. This cable was the second longest telegraph cable to be laid. In 1919 CS Colonia laid a 2103 nm cable from Ascension to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| SAT 1 (South Atlantic Telephone Cable 1) |
The only other cable to land on Ascension was SAT 1 (South Atlantic Telephone 1), a co-axial telephone cable carrying 360 circuits, which came ashore at Mitchell Cove, to the south of Long Beach. From there a landline connected it to the company office in Georgetown.
This was brought about by South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth, and the South Atlantic Cable Company was formed in South Africa to fill the gap.
Standard Telephone and Cables Ltd. manufactured the cable, which was laid over the following route: South Africa - Ascension - Cape Verde Islands - Tenerife - Portugal. CS Mercury laid the section South Africa - Ascension and HMTS Monarch laid the remaining sections. CS John W. Mackay laid all the shore ends. The GPO, using CS Alert, laid a cable from England - Portugal in 1969. This cable was also manufactured by Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd., Greenwich.
When SAT 1 was replaced in 1993, by SAT 2, the long association between Ascension and submarine cables ceased. Cable & Wireless Ltd. operate a Satellite Earth Station on the island, and they also operate the ARIANE station for the European Space Agency. |
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| Economy |
The main economic activity on the island is centered around the military bases at Wideawake Airfield. SERCO Ltd manages the airport with ESS Ltd providing catering and domestic facilities.
A former feature of Ascension was the permanently moored 70,000 tonne tanker offshore run by Maersk, which served as a bulk fuel facility but in December 2002 this was replaced by an on-shore Petroleum Supply Depot under military management.
The Island also hosts many communications and relay stations, exploiting the Island's strategic position in the middle of Atlantic Ocean.
Both the BBC and Cable and Wireless have communications posts there.
The main export item is Ascension Island postage stamps, first issued in 1922. Typically 5 to 6 sets of stamps are issued each year. Very limited tourism exists, mostly for sportfishing.
Further restricting access is the inaccessability of the island to transport, and restrictive permissions required for entry. |
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