Page 20 - KBHA Bulletin 16

17

Cape Monthly Magazine, v. 1, April 1857: 258.

“The immigrants from St. Helena, 70 in number, have also arrived, and found ready
employment.”

The final blow came in 1869 with the opening of the Suez Canal which provided a

shorter alternative route to India. On top of that, the transition from sail to steam and to

larger ships enabled vessels still using the Atlantic route to carry their own water and
stores in bulk and make quicker passages. This rendered St. Helena redundant as a

refreshment station. The numbers of ships calling dropped dramatically from a peak of
over 1,100 annually during 1856-58 to 736 in 1868 and to 207 in 1900. (Kitching, 1937,

Appendix 2.) The failure of the first attempt to grow flax as a cash crop in 1874 added to
local economic woes and the Island’s downward slide from prosperity continued.

Meanwhile in South Africa the discovery of copper at O’Kiep (1855), diamonds at
Kimberley (1869), and gold on the Reef (1886), exerted “pull” forces that impelled

continuing emigration. By 1889 assisted passages to South Africa were on offer and
th
extended to wives and families of immigrants, and the closing decades of the 19 century
were a time of mass emigration from the Island. (Teale, pers. comm.) Hundreds of

Islanders signed up for jobs on the mines. In 1891 “through the kindness of the
Admiralty, 75 persons were removed to the Cape by troopship.” Between January 1893 –

June 1894 “no less than 493 persons […] left the island … the larger portion of whom
went to South Africa seeking employment, and were assisted by the Cape Government

under their aided system of passages.” (Saint Helena Guardian quoted in Loos, 1998: 6.)

By 1905 the population had declined to 3,781.

The Island as a destination for South African exiles

The Island was twice used as a place of exile for South Africans. In February 1890, at the
conclusion of the Zulu Wars, Prince Dinuzulu and his retinue of 10 persons arrived to

spend the remaining years of a 10-year sentence for treason. (Fig. 1.6.) After seven years