Atlas Ascension

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Ascension Island was discovered by the Portuguese seafarer João da Nova in 1501, before being named Ascension by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1503 on Ascension Day. Dry and barren, the island had little appeal for passing ships except for collecting fresh meat, and was not claimed for the Portuguese Crown. Mariners could hunt for the numerous seabirds and the enormous female green turtles that laid their eggs on the sandy beaches. The Portuguese also introduced goats as a potential source of meat for future mariners. In February 1701, HMS Roebuck, commanded by William Dampier, sank in the common anchoring spot in Clarence Bay to the northwest of the island. Sixty men survived for two months until they were rescued. Almost certainly, after a few days they found the strong water spring in the high interior of the island, in what is now called Breakneck Valley. It is possible, but disputed, that the island was sometimes used as an open prison for criminal mariners, although there is only one documented case of such an exile, a Dutch ship's officer, Leendert Hasenbosch, set ashore at Clarence Bay as a punishment for sodomy in May 1725. British mariners found the Dutchman's tent, belongings and diary in January 1726; the man's remains were not found. His diary was published in translation in London later that same year, under the title Sodomy Punish'd.

In Their Own Story

Organised settlement of Ascension Island began in 1815, when the British garrisoned it as a precaution after imprisoning Napoleon on Saint Helena to the southeast. On 22 October, the Cruizer-class brig-sloops Zenobia and Peruvian claimed the island for King George III. The Royal Navy designated the island as a stone frigate, HMS Ascension, with the classification of 'Sloop of War of the smaller class'. The location of the island made it a useful stopping-point for ships and communications. The Royal Navy used the island as a victualling station for ships, particularly those of the West Africa Squadron working against the slave trade. A garrison of Royal Marines was based at Ascension from 1823 and Colonel Edward Nicolls became the first commandant. In 1836 the second Beagle voyage visited Ascension. Charles Darwin described it as an arid, treeless island, with nothing growing near the coast. Sparse vegetation inland supported 'about six hundred sheep, many goats, a few cows & horses,' large numbers of guineafowl imported from the Cape Verde islands, rats, mice, and land crabs; he agreed with the saying attributed to the people of St. Helena that 'We know we live on a rock, but the poor people at Ascension live on a cinder.' In 1843, botanist and explorer Joseph Hooker visited the island. Four years later, Hooker, with much encouragement from Darwin, advised the Royal Navy that with the help of Kew Gardens, they should institute a long-term plan of shipping trees to Ascension. So, from 1850 and years thereafter, ships came with an assortment of plants from botanical gardens in Argentina, Europe, and South Africa. By the late 1870s Norfolk pines, eucalyptus, bamboo, and banana trees grew in profusion at the highest point of the island, Green Mountain, creating a tropical cloud forest.

Reader's Guide

Beginning in July 1877, the astronomer Sir David Gill and his wife Isobel spent six months on Ascension Island to take advantage of the near approach of Mars occurring that year. Using a heliometer, Gill conceived he could accurately measure the position of Mars while in opposition. Although originally based in Georgetown, David and Isobel found the evenings to be too cloudy due to orographic clouds over Green Mountain. Isobel trekked several miles over lava fields to find a new location on the southwest of the island. They moved 20 tons of delicate observational equipment to a small, clear beach, later named Mars Bay, which has since been designated a Nature Reserve. The couple spent several months camped out at the bay making their observations, assisted by a Kru sailor and a marine. All of the effort produced a solar distance of 93.08 ± 0.16 million miles, a range from 92.92 – 93.24, since shown to be correct by the modern measurement of 92.9558 M·mi. As a result, David Gill went on to be appointed Royal Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope. Between 1872 and 1889, the population of the island was listed as HMS Flora (Tender), estimated to number just 150 in 1888. In 1899, as part of the British effort in the Second Boer War, the Eastern Telegraph Company installed the first submarine communications cable from the island. In 1922, letters patent made Ascension a dependency of Saint Helena, with control being officially handed over to the Eastern Telegraph Company from the Admiralty on 20 October 1922. The island was managed by the head of the Eastern Telegraph Company on the island until 1964 when the British Government appointed an administrator to represent the Governor of Saint Helena in Ascension. During World War II, the United States built an airbase on Ascension Island, known as 'Wideawake', after a nearby colony of sooty terns.

Did You Know?

• Ascension Island was discovered by the Portuguese seafarer João da Nova in 1501, then named Ascension by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1503 on Ascension Day.
• In February 1701, HMS Roebuck, commanded by William Dampier, sank in Clarence Bay; sixty men survived for two months until rescued.
• A Dutch ship's officer, Leendert Hasenbosch, was set ashore at Clarence Bay as punishment for sodomy in May 1725; his diary was published in London in 1726 as 'Sodomy Punish'd'.
• Charles Darwin visited in 1836 and described the island as 'a cinder', noting it supported about six hundred sheep, many goats, a few cows & horses.
• By the late 1870s, trees planted from 1850 onward—Norfolk pines, eucalyptus, bamboo, and banana trees—grew in profusion at Green Mountain, creating a tropical cloud forest.