ABSTRACT
Saint Helena is a small, isolated volcanic island cooled by the south east trade winds, deep in the South Atlantic. Protected by towering cliffs that rise steeply from the sea, its appearance from a ship’s deck is awesome. In the interior majestic peaks, deep valleys and spectacular gorges unfold, and there is a great central crater. Mt. Actean, the highest point, reaches up 800 metres, and the island is frequently shrouded in cloud, mist or rain, enhancing a sense of grandeur and mystery. While Lopes’s account has no confirmation elsewhere, Barros’s version is repeated by a number of later chroniclers, including Damiáo de Goes, Estacio do Amaral, and Manuel de Faria e Sousa. During the three quarters of a century when Portugal enjoyed a monopoly on the use of Saint Helena – that is, from about 1513 to 1588 – returning naus da carreira da India regularly called in at the island.
