First Across the Atlantic

This is our third crossing of the Atlantic and each time we've crossed, we wondered how the sailors who did it for the first time managed. They didn't have any GPS or chartplotters ... or charts for that matter. Heck, they didn't even have longitude and latitude figured out, yet they set out into the unknown and sailed across a vast ocean not knowing what they'd find on the other side. Not that we always know where we're going, but at least we have a vague idea of what to expect.

In school, we pretty much gave Christopher Columbus and his crew, all the credit for “discovering” America, as if the indigenous folks didn't know it was there. What's more, we learned at the Dias Museum that Chris and his brothers, devious as they were, had actually stolen the Martellus map of 1490 and altered it in order to get funding for their voyage of discovery. Pesky scamps, huh?

History tells us that the Vikings were probably the first Europeans to touch foot in North America. Icelander Leif Eriksson, famous son of the Norseman Erik the Red, explored in the late 10th century, five centuries before Christopher Columbus was stealing maps. My research indicates that Leif actually had knowledge of a Norse explorer, Bjarni Herjolsson who had discovered the mainland of the Americas c.986. The Vikings really got around.

Now here's the surprising one ... 

The great Muslim historian and geographer, Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi wrote in 956 of a voyage in 889 from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). The passage westward lasted for several months and they eventually found a large landmass across the ocean where they traded with the natives, and then returned to Europe. Al-Masudi records this land across the ocean in his famous map and refers to it as “the unknown land”. Sorry, but Muslim history never made into our classrooms.

Okay … enough history. How about some Atlantic crossing trivia?

On 14–15 June 1919, British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Shortly thereafter, Major George Herbert Scott of the RAF flew the rigid Airship R34, with crew and passengers, from East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, New York in 1919.

Charles Lindberg in the "Spirit of St. Louis" departed Roosevelt Field, New York, on May 20, 1927 on his successful attempt to fly nonstop from New York City to France, completing the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 33.5 hours.

The first successful transatlantic flight in a balloon was the Double Eagle II from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France in 1978.

Nine of Cups will break no records crossing the Atlantic, but we're hoping we manage to get to the other side.

Venturing into Jamestown, St. Helena

After a rolly, but somewhat restful night on our St. Helena mooring, we received a radio hail from Port Control at around 0830. The ferry was on its way with the Customs, Immigration and Harbourmaster officials to check us in. How convenient … they were coming to us and at a most civilzed hour! Paperwork was completed in record time and we were legal to head ashore. We headed back on the ferry with the friendly officials.

Portugese explorer, Joao da Nova commanding four caravels on his return from India sighted St. Helena for the first time and landed on 21 May 1502. It was Emperor Constantine's mother's (Helena) birthday, and thus, the island was named St. Helena. The Portugese lost interest and the Dutch and English vied for the island. In 1659, the English East India Company annexed the island, a castle was built and Captain Dutton was commissioned “to settle, fortify and plant”. I found an old engraved map of the “Sancta Helena” from Petrus Bertius' Tabularum Geographicarum dated Amsterdam 1616. Luckily, we had better charts for our passage, but considering it was drawn in 1616, this wasn't bad.

It's a step back in time when you land on St. Helena Island. The ferry lands at the 19th century waterfront. Passengers are required to leap off the ferry to the cement wharf with the aid of a Tarzan-like rope. It's a trip unto itself.

We walked along the vintage wharf. Historic blue and white-washed limestone buildings are built into the side of massive cliffs and still used today. We saw pics of the wharf in 1902 and other than more advanced equipment, the physical aspects of the wharf and buildings had changed little. The wharf was bustling with men loading and unloading containers. The island's only supply ship, the RMS St. Helena, was due the next day and there was much to do to prepare for her arrival, according to Steve, the harbourmaster.

The cliffs provide the backdrop for the island's capital and only town, Jamestown. One enters Jamestown from the waterfront along a single road, across a narrow bridge and via an archway through a 25' thick, fortified wall built in 1832.

You can see Jamestown's main street rising before you as soon as you pass through the archway. It's a most pleasant scene with 18th and 19th century buildings lining the wide boulevard. For a small island, there are lots of cars which were parked along the streets and in a designated parking island in the middle of the street that separates the one way traffic flow on each side. It's British … people drive on the left. We love the architecture and feel of the place and decided we needed an entire day for just wandering along side streets and into alleys to see what we could see.

Our main objectives of the day were to get local cash (St. Helena Pounds - £), find our friends Gilbert and Joan to let them know we'd arrived, figure out communication options and pay our landing fees. We found Joan at work and received a warm welcome, but there was little time to tarry. The bank was closing at Noon. There are no ATMs on the island and credit cards are not usually accepted. The line at the bank was long … queuing out the door and down the street. After nearly an hour, it was our turn. We were successful in withdrawing funds and, feeling flush, immediately headed to the local markets, Thorpes and The Star, to see what was available. Fresh bread and some locally grown broccoli topped the list of purchases, but the stores were actually quite well stocked. Things are available, but quite understandably expensive. It was a mighty change from a 12:1 exchange rate in Namibia to a .69:1 exchange rate here. Ouch!

We stopped at the friendly Tourist Info Office and met Val. We picked up brochures and island maps and asked Val abour hire cars. They were more reasonable than we expected so we booked one for a couple of days allowing us to roam around the island independently over the next few days. Val also explained our limited options for internet communications. There are several wifi hotspots around town at £6.60/hour (~US$10). We could also buy a phone card from the local phone company for international calls at £1/minute. We spotted several “phone booths” around town … talk about a step back in time.

We settled on paying for internet by the hour at Anne's Place, a well-known yachtie and local hangout, where we had lunch and picked up email. In the future. this meant hauling our laptop into town on the days we wanted to do internet in order to send pics and do any amount of internet research. The iPads just don't cut it for that. It wasn't particularly convenient, but better than nothing. We're definitely spoiled.

We paid our Immigration fees (£17/pp) and then our port fees (£40). There would also be £2/pp/per day for the ferry and £2/day for the mooring fees due before leaving. The cost of visiting St. Helena has gone up significantly since our last visit, but no complaints. The pleasure of being here far outweighs the cost.

We walked through the Castle Gardens and then checked out the hours for the island museum across the street. We got a good look at Jacob's Ladder. Yikes … 699 steps! David's intent on climbing it. I don't mind watching … we'll see how that goes.

It was mid-afternoon when we caught the hourly ferry back to Cups. It was a pleasure sitting in the cockpit in shirt sleeves (yes, it's finally warm) and sipping our afternoon cuppas.

With lots to see and do here, the evening was spent reading brochures and making our island plans. We're all going to enjoy this adventure … guaranteed!

Arrival in St. Helena

Day 13

Arrival at St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean

Passage stats:

• Total miles sailed - 1,396
• Total days: 12.25 days (294 hrs)
• Average speed: 4.75 knots
• Hours motored during passage:  4

A mild enough night livened up with several showers which had the watch crew scampering to get everything down below and out of the rain and then hauling it back up again once the brief shower finished...only to repeat the same exercise three more times during a three hour watch.

The 0600 change of watch had us 50 miles from the anchorage off Jamestown under a thick, grey sky. Cups quickened her pace like a horse heading for the barn. About 45 nm out, the shadowy silhouette of St. Helena Island came into view on the horizon. Literally a mountaintop, its craggy peaks are quite impressive poking out from its submarine depths towards the sky. It was certainly a welcome sight for sailors who've just spent nearly two weeks at sea. I remember the first time we arrived at St. Helena. Jelly cat was aboard then, and she paced the deck continuously. She could smell land long before we sighted it and when we finally did have the island in view, she was totally enthralled. It's one of our favorite pics of Jelly.

About 20 nm out, we radioed ahead to let them know we were approaching. They welcomed us and as we neared the mooring field a few hours later, Port Control radioed us with instructions to pick up any available yellow mooring. There were a couple small yachts tied up, but none appeared to have anyone aboard. I had my lasso ready with a huge bowline in the end to pick up the mooring. We did a drive-by and after one failed attempt determined my bowline, though huge, was plainly not huge enough. I tied a new one and we cruised by, but I missed again (Annie Oakley I'm not). David tried his hand and missed as well. These were not your round mooring balls, but rather huge,wide, flat mooring discs with rings on top. The bowline couldn't slip easily down its sides as it would with a ball. On the fourth attempt, I altered my strategy a bit and voila...we were attached.

Cups has a lot of freeboard and therefore we're pretty high off the water. Maneuvering the mooring close enough to put lines through the ring was a challenge. We could, of course, have launched the dinghy, but the wind was up, plus we're lazy. With much finagling, David managed to get our mooring lines through the ring by hanging off the side of the boat. No photos...we were too busy...but they would have been interesting. He lost his hat in the process...this has been a two-hat passage unfortunately.

Once settled on the mooring, we confirmed with Port Control that we could check in in the morning and then went about tidying up Cups. We finally sat in the saloon with a glass of wine and relaxed. A long day after a long passage and here we were...all moored on a mountaintop in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Welcome to St. Helena!