Year 3 -Ist September 2026 -St Helena
It was a raining when we woke and a grey drizzly day. It had been quite a rolly night as the swell somehow found its way round the island. We had granola and yoghurt but had no fruit to put with it as we had not managed to find any on the island. I emailed Solomon’s. the company that seems to own a lot on the island about fuel and they agreed to deliver 300 lts at around 9.00am.
Julian went ashore early to do some work in the Mantis Hotel. I wrote the blog and Paul and John got out the fire pump and cleaned the cockpit floor and under it. Things fall through and I always say that you could eat for a week as to what is under that floor.
Mark and Dave went ashore to do more provisioning and shortly after the 12 25ltr Jerry Cans arrived. This is always a messy job and so I got out my 12v electric pump and attached the hoses to it and the fuel head end and put it in position. I also got out my special filter funnel which filters the fuel and allows no water through. Stormbird has 2 x 805ltr fuel tanks and everything is taken from the Starboard tank and I have a fuel transfer pump which pumps from the port to starboard tank.
The two fillers are on the deck. We therefore use the pump to transfer the diesel to the tank and through the filter funnel. We therefore set about transferring from the jerry cans and to the tank. I knew it would take at last 200 lts but was not sure how much. Paul held the funnel, I managed the pump and John was responsible for changing the jerry cans. We started the filling and continued going through 9 Jerry cans until the port tank was full and then we went on to the starboard tank which was also full but there is always some space in the pipes. We managed to put in 250lts and we were full to the brim. We therefore had 2 Jerry cans full to return.
We cleared the pump and put everything away and then started cleaning any spilt diesel on the deck. The best thing to use is washing up liquid and kitchen towel – no water and it cleans up a treat.
We all needed a shower after and got ourselves ready to go ashore where we met Dave, Mark and Julian returning with the shopping. I had to go to Solomons to pay and this meant getting an invoice and going to the bank where they took the money from my account and then they transferred it (with a 5% fee) to the Solomons account.
Once this was done Paul, John and I went to the Gift shop above the market and got a St Helena tee shirt as a souvenir. We then went to The Standard Pub and said hello to Sally Ann and had a beer – we had earnt it after all. Julian joined us. We thought we had not been to the other pub – The White Horse Tavern which was literally 40 yards away. We therefore went there – it was not particularly nice and it felt like you were sitting in a Doctor’s waiting room. Mark and Dave joined us and we had one drink and left.
We went to Anne’s Place for lunch which was off Main Street and had flags from boats all over the world. We mostly had spiced tuna with salad and coleslaw. It was a pleasant place and we had had a good morning of jobs put behind us.
After lunch we wanted to go to the Museum but unfortunately it closes on a Tuesday.
This was right by Jacobs Ladder which went up the slope at quite an angle.
Jacob’s Ladder is a run of 699 steps, up from Jamestown in the floor of the valley to the fort at Ladder Hill on the western valley slope. It is one of the 7 Wonders of St. Helena and one of the first things you see when arriving into James Bay. Incredible as it may seem, the first route from the valley floor direct to Signal House was a rope ladder, up and down which soldiers would climb travelling to and from the barracks at the top.
The rope ladder was replaced in the 1820s by an ‘inclined plane’ – a horse-powered machine for hauling goods to the top of the hill on rails using pulleys (see diagram opposite from Mechanics’ Magazine of March 1834 – if you still can’t envisage it, there’s a working model in the St. Helena Museum. The “Ladder Hill Railway” was in service from 1829 to 1871, and was particularly useful for carrying the large quantities of manure which accumulated in stables, stockyards, etc., out of Jamestown for the use of inland farmers. It was even suggested it could carry passengers but that was considered too dangerous. When the inclined plane was broken up the steps remained and today it is either a short way up or down the valley, an exhilarating climb, or 699 steps of torment, depending on your point of view and level of fitness. The steps are around 11 inches (30cm) high and the same wide, giving it a 1:1 slope. In March 2021, Lord Michael Ashcroft KCMG, PC, made a generous donation of £300,000 to the British Napoleonic Bicentenary Trust to support the preservation of the built heritage on St Helena. One of the projects being funded from this donation is Jacob’s Ladder Rehabilitation. It is lit up at night as a reminder that you need to climb this.
Paul and John climbed it the other day. Well it was something I had to do. I started and climbed about 40 steps at a time then paused to catch my breath and then on and upwards. The views as you went up were spectacular looking down toward the bay one way with Stormbird at anchor in the bay and the other Jamestown spread out going up the valley floor. I managed to get to the top- admired the views and then I decided to walk down which I was able to do pretty well non-stop. My legs told me I had done some work but I had done it.
We walked back to the wharf and Dave had already returned to Stormbird. Paul and John went for a walk round to Rupert’s Bay and I decided to return to Stormbird.
Mark returned later as did Paul and John and we all had some tea and some chocolate buns which Dave had bought.
I had looked at the weather this morning and it seems that Thursday may be a good day to leave for Cape Verde and I discussed this with everyone at lunch. They were all happy with this plan.
We had a sundowner and then some cheese and biscuits again – one was a cheddar with ginger and another with cranberry and stilton -both of which were excellent.
We will meet up with Derek and Linda tomorrow and see some more of the island and collect our washing with a view to leaving for Cape Verde on Thursday.
The picture of the day is of the view from the top of Jacobs Ladder down to the bay with Stormbird being the furthest out boat at anchor.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I am now on the way to St Helena, Cape Verde, Azores and back to the UK.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com