Islands, Voyaging and Empires in the Age of Sail

• Main Author: Royle, Stephen A.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2021
• Subjects: Endeavour; St. Helena; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198847229.003.0002

Successful transoceanic voyages relied on networks of islands. Some provided places where crew and passengers could rest; where ships could replenish their supplies of fresh food and water; and where dockyards allowed vessels to be repaired. Islands were thus often employed as way stations in this world of maritime endeavour. St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean, was one of the first islands to be put to such use in the burgeoning English overseas empire of the seventeenth century. Other islands were of value for what they could produce. They were not acquired to facilitate or protect British operations elsewhere; they themselves were the prizes. The contribution of islands to the geography of the British Empire in the age of sail was significant, and certainly of more importance than their mere physical size would suggest.