Page 4 - Bulletin 16 2012

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THE ST. HELENA – CAPE CONNECTION

Barrie Gasson

This paper extends the talk presented to the Kalk Bay Historical Association

on 31 May 2011 by Robin Castell

Introduction

The St. Helena – Cape Connection was formed around three strands: the Island’s

economic dependence on the Cape, the Cape’s role as a destination for Island emigrants,
and the Island’s role as a place of exile for South African prisoners of war.

As a backdrop to these topics a brief sketch will be given of the Island’s geography and

peopling.

The geography and peopling of the Island (Kitching, 1937; Royle, 2007.)

St. Helena is one of many, apparently extinct, volcanoes located along the mid-Atlantic

Ridge. It has a total height of 5,105 m measured from the sea bed, but only 826 m of this
is exposed above sea level and culminates in Diana’s Peak. Its roughly rectangular shape,

16.9 km long and 7.2 km wide, gives it an area of 122 sq km. It is girdled by a

precipitously steep and barren coastal zone that gives way, above the 400 m contour, to a
hilly interior plateau, measuring approximately 5 km by 3 km, containing the arable land.

There are no mineral resources of any note. (Fig. 1.1.)

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The Island is situated in the tropics at latitude 15 55 S and 5 43 W and lies in the direct
path of the South East Trade winds. Its climate is mild, equable and healthy; violent
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storms are rare, as are extreme temperatures. Coastal temperatures range from 15 – 32
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C but interior temperatures are about 5 C lower. Rainfall varies markedly with altitude: