The Atlantic islands postal history

St Helena

The remote island of St Helena lies in the South Atlantic Ocean between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn.  The island covers an area of approximately 47 square miles and was discovered by the Portuguese in May 1502.  In 1659 the East India Company decided to settle this uninhabited island, and on 5th May 1659 Captain John Dutton landed on the island.  Charles II in 1661 after the restoration of the monarchy granted the India Company a charter to formally settle and fortify the island.

The East India Company held the island until 1834 when the island was ceded to the Crown and thus became a Crown Colony.  A post office was opened on the island in 1815 providing a Packet Mail service, but closed in 1819 probably due to the very high Packet rate of 3/6d plus UK inland postage.  During the closed post office period mail was sent at half the India Letter Rate plus UK inland charges. St Helena’s post office reopened on 1st April 1839, but it was not until 1st January 1856 that it had its first postage stamp issue, a single 6d value for postage to the UK.

Until 2016 the only method of getting to this remote island was by sea, but with the opening of the islands airport it is possible to fly from Johannesburg or Cape Town.  St Helena is no longer classed as a Crown Colony, but is a BOT (British Overseas Territory).  This change took place in 2002.

For further information on St Helena stamps and postal history, including further reading, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Saint_Helena

Here is the link to Cameo no 69 which contains John Knight's article on ships calling at St Helena in 1826.

Ascension

Ascension is a tiny island - but over the years, postal services keep changing, providing many study opportunities.

First occupied by the British after Napoleon’s exile to St Helena from 1815, its location led to its reputation as the “Sailor’s Post Box”, with mail left here to be found and carried on by other ships calling by.  Early mail was carried under “Ship Letter” rules until Packet Mails began sporadically in the 1840s. Early letters are scarce, usually sent by Royal Marines stationed on the island, or by sailors serving with the West Africa Squadron to suppress the Slave Trade.

In 1857, mail delivery greatly improved when a Packet Contract with the Union Steamship Company commenced, the Union Line and later the Castle Line (once they merged, the Union Castle Line) provided regular services into the 1970s.

The first Ascension postmark was sent to the island in 1858, followed in 1867 by British stamps for sale by the Royal Marine Purser - especially for use on mail sent by Marines and Royal Navy Sailors entitled to the 1d “Privilege” rate.  Until the 1880s, the Ascension postmark was not intended to cancel the stamp (postmarked on arrival in England), only to identify where the letter entered the postal system, thus Gibbons lists early “Great Britain Used on Ascension” as covers with an Ascension postmark away from the stamp - the only GB Used Abroad listed in this way.

The number of British stamps found with Ascension postmarks greatly increased after 1900 - many of these are of philatelic origin, especially just before World War One, when it was first rumoured that Ascension might get its own stamps. The War produced a range of Censor handstamps - these were collected at the time, and a couple of dealers provided quite a range of different GB stamps on Censored covers from Ascension.

Inflation during and after the War meant more values can be found commercially used on letters and parcels, but the more unusual values (highly priced in Gibbons, going all the way up to £1) are philatelic - definitely of great interest, just not from commercial mail.

In 1922, Ascension became a Dependency of St.Helena, and a whole new era began. Ascension got its own stamps - first overprints in 1922, then altered St. Helena stamps in 1924, and finally Ascension’s own designs from 1934.  Most of the early definitives have been well studied, especially the 1924 Badge and the George VI issues, which have a number of good varieties, thus stamps from particular printings can be identified.  Much less research has yet been done on the 1934 definitives, though these were reprinted several times.

World War Two transformed the island - the Americans arrived and built an Airfield in 1942.  Thus there are a large number of American Censor markings - each unit had its own number - as well as British ones, and Airmail covers add new philatelic possibilities.  The Americans left in 1947, but they returned in numbers in the 1960s as Ascension became an important Tracking Station in the Space Programme.  The Falklands War led to a return of British defence personnel - since 1982, this tiny island harboured three separate postal services - alongside Ascension Post Office, a BFPO service, and a USAF service, all with different philatelic possibilities.

Ascension’s early commemoratives were all omnibus issues, starting with the Silver Jubilee in 1935 - with two different printings for all values, this is much the most studied commemorative issue.  The reprints of the 1937 Coronation issue have never received the same attention.  From 1966, Ascension has had its own commemorative designs, a number of the earlier issues, such as the 1968-1970 Fish issues, can be found accompanied by the artists original designs, photographs etc, which add considerably to the interest of these issues.  Issues after the mid 1970s remain largely unstudied. 

For an illustrated survey of Ascension stamps, do visit the South African Collectors' Society site pages devoted to the island.

WASC has published several studies on Ascension - copies are available from the WASC bookseller - see our publications page

John Attwood - Mail from Ascension 1817-1901
John Attwood - Mail from Ascension 1897-1976
Philip Beale - Ascension Island’s Post Office in the Second Half of the 19th Century
Philip Beale - Ascension Island’s Post Office 1922-24 - Control Transferred to St Helena

Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island

Tristan da Cunha's postal history is defined by extreme isolation. Tristan da Cunha was first settled in 1810. Great Britain annexed it in 1816 to prevent a possible attempt to rescue Napoleon from his exile on St. Helena. Mail was carried irregularly by whalers, traders, and Royal Navy ships. Early covers (pre-1952) are rare and highly sought after, often featuring "no stamps available" markings or relying on crew members of visiting vessels to post letters at next port of call. Mail was occasionally processed by passing expeditions, such as the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition in 1922.

Though the island used St Helena stamps up to 1952, Tristan cancels and cachets were in use on GB and St Helena stamps from much earlier. The first stamps of Tristan da Cunha were issued on 1 January 1952 consisting of twelve stamps of Saint Helena overprinted TRISTAN DA CUNHA. In 1954 a definitive set was issued depicting island themes. In 1961 a volcanic eruption forced the evacuation of the entire population—about three hundred people—back to the U.K. They returned in 1963.

George Crabb (1980): "The History and Postal History of Tristan da Cunha" is a comprehensive study of the island's mail.