Michael Binyon in St. Helena, The Times, October 31, 2009
Two centuries ago more than a thousand ships a year called in at St. Helena, then one of the most vital maritime staging posts in the world. Today only one supply ship regularly sails into Jamestown, the capital of one of Britain’s oldest and most remote overseas territories.
Now, a recent decision by the Government not to go ahead with a long-promised airport leaves St. Helena isolated, demoralised and resentful of betrayal by a motherland to which the island owes historic and passionate allegiance.
When Napoleon arrived to begin his six-year exile amid the rugged cliffs and spectacular verdant ravines, thousands of troops were garrisoned on what was the gateway to southern Africa and India. It was a strategic asset that Britain defended at huge costs to assert naval control of the South Atlantic.
The troops have left, the towers, cliff batteries and Georgian houses are crumbling and the harbour is empty. Hundreds of "Saints" are emigrating each year to look for work. The island has lost a fifth of its population, especially the young, in ten years. Unless the downward spiral can be halted, St. Helena will rapidly become unviable - with no money, jobs, or future.
Fewer than 4,000 people live on what could be a subtropical paradise. Many are older people returning after years of work in Britain, Ascension Island or the Falklands. The result is a community with few young people, especially men, an ageing population and a growing labour shortage.
The economy in St. Helena is struggling. Many of the family farms have ceased production, small businesses are hampered by a dwindling domestic market and the geographic isolation. Wages are low, electricity and utilities expensive and a well-educated younger generation finds few suitable jobs at home.
Yet only a year ago there was optimism about the future. After more than a decade of lobbying, surveys and official reports, plans were agreed for an airport. It would ensure that the lonely location no longer cut St. Helena off from the world.
It was hoped that tourists would fly in to explore the valleys, unique flora, rich heritage and terrain. Patients could be flown to hospitals in London or Cape Town instead of having to wait for up to a month until the ship came in. Islanders could come and go as they pleased instead of having to book an expensive 14-day journey to Britain up to a year in advance. And niche businesses, capitalising on the flax, fish, award-winning coffee and sustainable products, would be able to reach markets abroad.
The project was massive. A mountain top had to be sliced off to give access to a runway on the only stretch of flattish barren land. A ravine had to be filled in with millions of tonnes of rock. An access road had to be gouged out of the cliffs and everything had to be brought in by sea. The total cost amounted to £300 million.
The Department for International Development, the lifeline for St. Helena’s economy, assured the islanders that all was well despite the looming recession. Contracts were due to be signed. St. Helenians were lured home with promises of building works, supply contracts and economic uplift. Investors bought hotels, promised capital inflow and proposed partnerships.
Then, in December last year, Whitehall postponed the airport plan.
Not for the first time, hopes had been dashed. Whitehall was accused of vacillation and loss of nerve.
All the plans to make the island more sustainable - as it had once been when ruled by the East India Company - melted away. Potential investors pulled out. Plans for a call centre went cold. Rarely, the angry Saints tell visitors, has morale been so low.
The decision has been costly for many people. Several Saints were encouraged to return by the prospect of a boom created by the airport. Many had emigrated, taking jobs on Ascension Island, in the Falklands, or in the large community of St. Helenians around Swindon in Wiltshire.
Attracted by the promise of large construction works and the influx of tourists, several quit well-paid jobs overseas, returned to the island and bought property and small businesses that would benefit from the promised airport access.
They feel let down. Some are in danger of losing thousands of pounds and are preparing to sell their property at a loss and leave the island for good. Three months ago, a handful of younger Saints booked a passage on the Royal Mail ship - still the only means to get on and off the island - to Ascension or Cape Town to seek a new life elsewhere.
Not everyone is eager for an airport. Among the older Saints there are fears that a tourist boom would overwhelm St. Helena, destroy its fragile environment and upset their tranquil way of life. They would prefer a new breakwater to allow more cruise ships to call and say that the present supply ship, at 20 years old, should be replaced by two larger ships dedicated to passengers or freight.
An island-wide consultation exercise in the summer found overwhelming opposition to the postponed airport plan. It found that: "They felt disillusioned, and a sense of disbelief, distrust or betrayal when the pause was announced."
It said that the effect of young people taking jobs abroad and leaving children to be brought up by relatives or grandparents was adversely affecting the social fabric. Some hope that a Conservative victory next year might help.
The airport cost is still less than the £320 million it has cost British taxpayers to sustain the island on minimum standards of income and services in the past 20 years. Private sector initiatives are still possible.
Islanders hope that a new government in London might be more determined to end the dependency culture, which many say is the result of a government employer which is more than twice the size of the private sector of the island.
St. Helenians, who are descended from British settlers, African slaves and labourers brought in by the Victorians from China, India and across the old Empire, are resilient, enterprising and outspoken. They boast a tolerant and integrated society. But there is little tolerance today for what they see as indifference in Britain.
Some ask whether the official policy is to drive the entire population off St. Helena and close it down.
From trading post to prison
Location: South Atlantic, halfway between South America and Africa
Land: Volcanic landscape, 122 square kilometres (47 square miles)
Climate: Tropical - has at least 40 unique species of plants
Population: 7,637
Government: British Overseas Territory, together with Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha islands
Industries: Fishing, livestock, handicrafts; depends on financial support from the UK; hopes to develop wine and tourism. In 19th century was whaling centre, clearing house for freed slaves, and port for trading and military vessels until the Suez Canal was opened in 1869
History: Discovered uninhabited by Portuguese explorers in 1502, it became a regular staging post. In 1659 the British East India Company took possession and built a fort at Jamestown. Apart from a brief Dutch invasion, the island was an established British colony; British Government officially took control in 1833
Prisoners: In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte was interned in the island after his defeat at Waterloo until his death in 1821 Later, Britain imprisoned thousands of South African Boers there in 1900-03 during the Boer War, and held three Bahraini princes on St. Helena from 1957-1960. The Zulu chief Dinizulu was exiled to the island from 1890 to 1897
Observatory: Edmund Halley, of Halley’s Comet fame, spent a year there in 1676 to map the stars of the southern hemisphere. In 1761 it became the site of an observatory from which Maskelyne and Waddington observed Venus
Residents: known as "Saints", they are mainly descendants of British settlers, East India Company employees, slaves from the Asian subcontinent, the East Indies, Madagascar, and Chinese indentured labourers. About 25 per cent have moved elsewhere for work
Highest point: Diana’s Peak, of volcanic origin, at 2,685ft
Local tipple: Tungi Spiri (pronounced Toon-jee), made from prickly pears. According to the family distillery that produces it, the spirit has "a fruity nose and a distinctive double ripple on the palate, several seconds apart"
Sources: CIA World Factbook, sthelena.se, St. Helena Star
Location: South Atlantic, halfway between South America and Africa
Land: Volcanic landscape, 122 square kilometres (47 square miles)
Climate: Tropical - has at least 40 unique species of plants
Population: 7,637
Government: British Overseas Territory, together with Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha islands
Industries: Fishing, livestock, handicrafts; depends on financial support from the UK; hopes to develop wine and tourism. In 19th century was whaling centre, clearing house for freed slaves, and port for trading and military vessels until the Suez Canal was opened in 1869
History: Discovered uninhabited by Portuguese explorers in 1502, it became a regular staging post. In 1659 the British East India Company took possession and built a fort at Jamestown. Apart from a brief Dutch invasion, the island was an established British colony; British Government officially took control in 1833
Prisoners: In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte was interned in the island after his defeat at Waterloo until his death in 1821 Later, Britain imprisoned thousands of South African Boers there in 1900-03 during the Boer War, and held three Bahraini princes on St. Helena from 1957-1960. The Zulu chief Dinizulu was exiled to the island from 1890 to 1897
Observatory: Edmund Halley, of Halley’s Comet fame, spent a year there in 1676 to map the stars of the southern hemisphere. In 1761 it became the site of an observatory from which Maskelyne and Waddington observed Venus
Residents: known as "Saints", they are mainly descendants of British settlers, East India Company employees, slaves from the Asian subcontinent, the East Indies, Madagascar, and Chinese indentured labourers. About 25 per cent have moved elsewhere for work
Highest point: Diana’s Peak, of volcanic origin, at 2,685ft
Local tipple: Tungi Spiri (pronounced Toon-jee), made from prickly pears. According to the family distillery that produces it, the spirit has "a fruity nose and a distinctive double ripple on the palate, several seconds apart"
Sources: CIA World Factbook, sthelena.se, St. Helena Star
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