Georgetown

Georgetown exists because of Napoleon. Ascension had been an uninhabited, waterless rock since Portuguese ships sighted it in 1501, visited only for turtles and by the occasional marooned sailor, when the Royal Navy garrisoned it in 1815 to deny it to anyone planning to rescue the emperor from Saint Helena, 800 miles to the south-east. The landing place on the leeward coast became the settlement, named after King George III, and the island was run as a stone frigate, HMS Ascension, until 1922.

The garrison built in stone: barracks, a hospital, stores, a church, and a line of forts on the shore and the hills above it. Water was the constant problem, met by carefully managing the springs on the high ground inland, and it lay behind the planting scheme, proposed by the botanist Joseph Hooker after his 1843 visit, that created the cloud forest on Green Mountain from the 1850s.

Cable and radio changed the town's purpose. The Eastern Telegraph Company landed a submarine telegraph cable in 1899, and in 1942 the United States built Wideawake airfield inland, which was used again as a staging post during the 1982 Falklands War. The BBC opened an Atlantic Relay Station in 1966, and satellite tracking and signals facilities followed. Georgetown remained the administrative centre throughout, and since 1964 the seat of the Administrator who represents the Governor of Saint Helena, with an elected Island Council, while the working population lived wherever their employer housed them.

There is no indigenous culture on Ascension and nobody is from here: everyone present holds a contract, and there is no right of abode. About 800 people live on the island, most of them Saint Helenians working for the government, the airfield or the communications operators, alongside British and American staff. English is the only language, and the Saint Helenian accent is the one most often heard in Georgetown.

Social life is organised rather than spontaneous, because the population is small and turns over steadily. The clubs are the centre of it — bars, darts, quizzes, film nights, sports days — and St Mary's, the Anglican church, holds the other half of the calendar. Newcomers are absorbed quickly and departures are frequent, which gives the place a friendly, slightly transient character.

A strong conservation ethic has grown up around the island's wildlife. The turtle nesting season is watched closely and guided, the seabird colonies are protected, and the eradication of feral cats in the early 2000s allowed frigatebirds to return to the main island. Visitors are expected to take that seriously, along with the rules around the bases: large areas are restricted, and photographing them is not allowed. Fishing, walking on the mountain and the beach fill most free time.

Georgetown holds the island's institutions rather than most of its people: the Administrator's offices, the hospital, the supermarket, the post office famous for its stamps, the bank and St Mary's church stand within a few hundred metres of the pier. Two Boats village, three miles inland, has the island's only school, and further housing sits near the airfield and the bases.

The economy is the bases and government services, plus income from fishing licences in Ascension's waters. By law, accommodation, medical cover and food, or an allowance for it, come with the job. The supermarket's stock rises and falls with the arrival of the ship and the plane. The population itself rises and falls with the contracts.

Days are structured by work shifts and the heat: early starts, a quiet afternoon on the exposed plain, and evenings at the club or on the shore. The pier head is still where the island's fuel comes ashore, piped in by floating hose from a tanker at anchor. Anyone needing advanced medical care leaves the island by air, which is the single fact that shapes how people live here.

Almost everything eaten on Ascension arrives frozen or tinned by ship or plane, and the supermarket in Georgetown is where most of it is bought. Self-catering is the norm, and what is on the shelves depends on how long ago the last delivery came in, which islanders plan around.

The exception is fish. The waters off Ascension hold outstanding yellowfin tuna and wahoo, and shore and boat fishing are both a hobby and a supply: grilled tuna steaks, wahoo in curry, and fish cooked simply with lemon are the island's real local food. Turtle was historically taken here and harvested regularly until 1930, when the practice was banned; the animals are now protected and closely watched.

Saint Helenian home cooking shapes the rest, since most residents come from the neighbouring island: plo, the spiced pilau, tuna fishcakes, curries and Sunday roasts. The rest of the diet is heavily imported. Eating out means the island's few small eateries and the club bars, which serve straightforward hot food and are also where people drink.