We were moored away from land when we arrived at St Helena on Saturday 30 November. It was exciting to watch the lifeboats being lowered so that we could be transported ashore. The sea was choppy and it was quite a mission to step safely onto the wharf. 

Jamestown is the capital city of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena. It was founded when colonists from the English East India Company settled on the island in 1659 and named the town after James, Duke of York, the future King James II of England. Many of the buildings built by the East India company in the 18th century survive and give the town its distinctive Georgian flavour. In fact, Main Street has been described as ‘one of the best examples of unspoilt Georgian architecture anywhere in the world’.

Our bus travelled on very narrow roads cut into the cliffs from the port to the more affluent area in the hills. It was fascinating to look down on some of the settlements below us as we rose higher and higher, and wonder how people transported themselves from one part of the island to another. It was also noticeable that the land appeared drier and more barren on the hills but became lush and green as we ascended.

Before we reached the top, we visited Napoleon’s grave which is apparently empty. The French government of Louis Philippe 1 requested that Napoleon’s remains be repatriated to France and in 1840 his body was exhumed and later reburied at Les Invalides in Paris. Further up into the hills, we also visited the house where he was incarcerated during his exile in 1815 until his death in May 1821. Apparently, he was a very difficult ‘prisoner’ although he was afforded every luxury with his French Retinue, Officers, Generals and servants. 

Our next stop was at Plantation House, the official residence of the Governor of Saint Helena. We weren’t able to go inside but viewed the impressive residence, and the impressive vegetable garden, from afar. We also enjoyed a fairly long-distance sight of Jonathan, the world’s oldest living tortoise, who resides in the grounds and belongs to the government of Saint Helena. There are at least five giant tortoises in the grounds and we saw two of these, but none is as ancient as Jonathan, who holds two Guinness World Records and is purported to be about 192 years old and therefore the oldest known living land animal. 

It was soon time to wend our way down the very steep roads to the town of Jamestown itself. The population is shrinking and is only purported to have about 600 residents, no longer the largest settlement on the island. We walked down the main street and took in some of the buildings, marvelling at Jacob’s ladder which we had already viewed from the top. The Ladder has 699 steps and was embedded into the steep cliff face in 1829 as an incline to haul manure up and send goods down. It rises 600 feet from the bottom of the valley floor to the top of the hill. There were some hardy athletes running up and down but that exercise didn’t appeal to either of us. 

We walked back to the waiting lifeboat past some of the sights like the Arch which was built into the wall by Governor Dallas in 1832, forming part of the fortification. We saw a beautiful jacaranda tree and a shop selling authentic pure ararba coffee.  Safely back on board, we settled in for several more days at sea, leaving St Helena at 6.00 pm.