66 FEBRUARY 2016http://www.stampandcoin.co.ukThe tropical South Atlantic island, St Helena, was first discovered in the early 1500s, but for the
collector the island’s intriguing story begins in the 17th century when it became a British concern
and later, in 1856, when the first St Helena stamps were issued. By Ed FletcherCollecting the Empire
soon afterwards received a Royal
Charter from Charles II granting the
company sole rights to fortify and
colonise St Helena. When the Dutch
returned in 1673 in an attempt to
regain possession, superior fire-power
drove them off. More English settlers
sailed to the island following the
Great Fire of London in 1666; and
St Helena has remained in British
hands ever since.
We needed its tricky anchorage as
a repairing and victualling station
on long voyages to the Indies via the
Cape of Good Hope. Visiting ships
had to anchor outside the narrow
harbour and use small boats to convey
passengers and cargo to the Jamestown
jetty where colonists sold fresh fruit,
vegetables, piglets and goats. You can
see Jamestown as it appeared in earlier
days on pictorial sets issued in 1934
and 1953. The island’s castle, once
an East India Company stronghold,
also features on one of those stamps.
Although early covers are almost
unknown, many letters must have
been left at Jamestown during St
Helena’s busiest pre-stamp years whenSecret of the South Atlantic
colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
In May 1659 the English found
St Helena unoccupied when
they arrived with a fleet carrying
permanent settlers and a number of
slaves from abandoned plantations
in the Cape Verde Islands. English
East India Company personnel
numbered among the arrivals. TheyA
s a North
Yorkshireman I
frequently boast of the
199 steps visitors to
Whitby must climb to
enjoy cliff-top harbour views from
the town’s abbey ruins. Now, as a
philatelic convert to St Helena, I
might also be overheard pointing out
that a visitor to the island’s capital,
Jamestown, seeking a bird’s eye view
of the harbour, must climb Jacob’s
Ladder, a flight of 699 steps! It’s
worth the effort because the heights
above are home to giant tortoises
(one reputedly the world’s oldest
living vertebrate) as well as to gum
trees, cabbage trees and ebony trees.
Getting to St Helena presents
more of a challenge than getting to
Whitby. It sits in the South Atlantic
Ocean 800 miles south of Ascension
Island, more than twice that distance
from Cape Town, and almost 2,500
miles from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Little wonder that the fifty-square-
mile volcanic outcrop had remained
uninhabited until the Portuguese
stumbled on it in 1502. The Dutch
laid claim in 1633, only to abandon
the island in favour of their new1870 envelope to London with 1868 1s with cork cancellation and ‘ST HELENA/JU 16/1870’ oval alongside 1d and ‘JULY 11
LONDON PAID’ arrival circular date stamp (CDS), all in red. This cover shows the fi rst period of the 1s rate to Great Britain (from
1863 to 1876). The cover sold for £320 in 20121887 offi cial embossed envelope to New York with 1876 3d, 1880 1d, 2d and 1884 ½d strip of
three, paying 7½d foreign rate, tied by cork cancellation with ‘ST HELENA/MR 22/87’ CDS below,
marked 1½, with London, New York and Syracuse datestamps on reverse. Sold for £620 in 2012p66-68 Empire.indd 66 21/12/2015 10:11