Ixxiv INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 



This account of the dangers of Table Bay, and the frequency 

 of long continued and violent tempestuous gales, must satisfy 

 every disinterested person, that St. Helena is, from its local cir- 

 cumstances, infinitely superior, in every respect, as a place of 

 rendezvous and refreshment. At the Cape, " the numl)er of 

 " vessels said to be lost is almost incredible." At St. Helena, 

 there is not, on record, a single instance (nor can there ever be) 

 of a vessel being lost by bad weather. How great then must have 

 been the value and importance of this small island to the commer- 

 cial interests of the East India Company ! If tlu.'ir ships, dur- 

 ing the last century and a half, had been compelled to resort to 

 the Cape instead of St. Helena, it may readily be imagineil that, 

 in such a climate, immense losses of ships, and property, and 

 lives, would have been sustained ; and that the Company, at 

 the present time, (as they never insure) must have been minus 

 several millions sterling ! 



It is said that False Bay and Saldanha Bay afford some degree 

 of security against storms : but admitting this to be fact, still 

 those bays are objectionable, because they are situated in a bois- 

 terous region ; consequently, neither of them could ever be made 

 so perfectly secure against the elements, (and I may add, against 

 an enemy) as the port of St. Helena is at the present moment. 



To erect fortifications and public buildings, in short, to make 

 new settlements at Saldanha, or False Bay, would necessarily be 

 attended with prodigious expenses ; after all, no public benefit 

 could possibly arise : at least in the refreshment of ships. Indeed 

 from all I have heard, I have great reason to believe, that tew 

 commanders, on their returning voyages, would optionally, for 

 the sake of refreshment, run the risk of their own property by 

 remaining in those latitudes a longer time than is necessary : 

 from which indeed they seem at all times glad to escape as soon 



