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Dawn: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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The Emperor Napoleon, born on a small island in the Mediterranean, Corsica, died on a tiny island lost in the middle of the South Atlantic, Saint Helena. He lived five years and five months in Longwood House, exactly the same amount of time he spent at the French military school of Brienne. At Brienne, he created his personality, at Longwood he created his legend. And it is in search of this legend that all those fascinated by Napoleon come to Saint Helena.

Port: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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Remarkably enough, it is almost more difficult to visit Saint Helena to-day than it was in the 19th century! There is no airport, and the port of Jamestown has no pier. It is served by a lone ship, the R.[oyal] M.[ail] S.[ervice] St. Helena, which calls in every 8 to 32 days, depending on its sailing schedule (in addition to Saint Helena the vessel serves the UK, Tenerife, Ascension, Cape Town, and Tristan da Cunha). Each year, 15 to 20 cruise liners stop at Jamestown. If the sea is calm, they drop off  600 to 800 passengers for one day. The visitors go up to Longwood in groups of 20 and have 12 carefully timed minutes in which to visit Napoleon's apartments, before going to the gift shop to buy a cap or a T-shirt sporting Napoleon's signature. Next day, Longwood licks its wounds and recovers its calm and its mystery.

Nevertheless, it is possible to visit the historical site of Longwood in a more dignified manner. During the fine-weather season, from February to April, you can fly to Cape Town, take a six-day voyage on the RMS St Helena, spend one week in the island while the ship does the shuttle to Ascension Island, and return to Cape Town on the St Helena. All in all, a three-week tour for a European!

In April 2003, this trip was undertaken by 27 members of the Friends of Malmaison, Les Amis de Malmaison. Malmaison is a very fine château near Paris, where Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine spent much time, especially during the Consulate period (1799-1804). In fact, when we were in Jamestown, we stayed at the hotel The Consulate. For some reason, we preferred it to The Wellington! The visit had been carefully prepared by Michel Martineau, French Consul in Saint Helena, and thanks to him we spent an unforgettable week on the island, from 10 - 17 April, 2003.

RMS St Helena: cabin (c) Jacques Macé

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One day for embarking and departure, four days at sea and, at dawn the sixth day, we arrived at Jamestown. Time had passed very quickly. On board, several members of the association, specialists in Napoleonic history, gave lectures - which even interested some of the other passengers - and we all enjoyed the on-board activities, not to mention the jokes of the Chief Purser, Geoff, and his team. Thanks also go to Captain M. L. M. Smith who got us safely to Saint Helena in the best of conditions, both from a sea and a passenger-comfort point of view!

At 5am on 10 April, we saw the dark and sinister mass of the island looming out of the night, and we all thought that this was the view that the "Greatest Captain of the World" must have had on 15 October, 1815: "It's not a pleasant place to stay", Napoleon declared. One of his entourage, Fanny Bertrand, the wife of the Grand Maréchal Bertrand, exclaimed : "The devil crapped ... on this island as he flew over it!". After a week in the island, however, this was not our opinion.

Entrance to the town: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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We disembarked in rowing boats, just as in 1815, although it must be said that the wharf has been improved a little since then. In order to avoid the stares of the curious, Napoleon did not pass through the central gate of the town but took the small flight of stairs which leads directly to the castle garden and Porteous House, where he spent his first night alone in Jamestown. We were aware that a fire had destroyed Porteous House in the 1900s, so we were very surprised to see it had recently been rebuilt.

Main Street: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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Main Street, from the church to the Tourist Office, is very short but it is the centre of life on the island. There are even traffic jams, and parking is limited! Many of the 'Saints' (as the islanders are called) go to work in Ascension Island or in the Falklands and, when they return to Saint Helena, they build new houses everywhere, transforming the landscape and importing new cars.

The Castle: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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In the Castle, we visited the Council Chamber, the Governor's Office, and the Archives where my friend Lacosta is Custodian of the Records; here the death of "Napoleon Bonaparte, late Emperor of France", was registered on 5 May, 1821. Many of the meals we had on Saint Helena were taken in Ann's. We greatly appreciated the cooking and atmosphere there and have accordingly added it to our list of the world's fine restaurants!

Longwood House: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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When he arrived in St-Helena, "at the invitation of" the British Government, Napoleon thought he would be lodging in the best residence of the island, i.e. Plantation House, but Admiral Cockburn had decided to keep that residence for himself. He thus installed "General Bonaparte" in Longwood House, which was much easier to keep an eye on.
 
However, Longwood House was not ready to welcome Napoleon and his companions. Consequently, he spent seven weeks in the small residence of 'The Briars', with the Balcombe family. This was where the Emperor was form a friendship with the young daughter, Betsy, often playing with her, and in many ways becoming a sort of surrogate grandfather. When we visited 'The Briars', we were very much struck by the fact that this was the last place where Napoleon had been happy.

Napoleon's bath, Longwood House: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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Then came the august Longwood House. We entered the six rooms of Napoleon's apartment with great emotion. With the memory of the narratives of the Emperor's companions fresh in our minds, it was almost like we had been there before. We found all the, very familiar, memorabilia of his life there, including his difficult discussions with Sir Hudson Lowe. We leaned over the bathtub where the Emperor spent many many hours, remembering the extraordinary destiny that had led him to that place. Furthermore, we shared an especially moving experience in the house on 11 April, when Father Joe Whelan celebrated a Catholic mass in the memory of Emperor Napoleon, in exactly the same conditions as the funeral on 9 May, 1821, in the presence of the Anglican Bishop of Saint Helena. Not only the first mass at Longwood since 1821; it was also a beautiful ceremony of reconciliation and ecumenism.

Garden, Longwood House: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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But Longwood is not simply a building. There are in addition the surrounding grounds. Michel Martineau, the French Consul and curator of Longwood, has undertaken the huge task of restoring the gardens of Longwood exactly as Napoleon designed and fashioned them from 1819 to 1821. We were delighted by the splendour of these gardens, despite the fact that the rain and clouds were a continual reminder that Longwood House is located at the worst place of the island for weather!

In addition to repair work at Longwood, the houses of Napoleon's companions (Generals Montholon and Gourgaud, Drs O'Meara and Antommarchi, priests Buonavita and Vignali) have also been restored and transformed into as many 'drawing-rooms'. As a result, the Honorary French Consul can now receive his guests at the "Domaine français de Sainte-Hélène" with dignity. These rooms were inaugurated on 15 April, 2003 in the presence of numerous personalities of the island: the Acting Governor, Kurt Defreitas, Bishop John, Mrs Pamela Young, director of the Tourism Office, and others.

Napoleon's tomb: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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In my preparation for this trip I had been reading the St. Helena Herald on the Internet every week for several months. It is the perfect introduction to the island, in all respects, whether social, political or economic. However, on the subject of the Napoleonic pilgrims coming to the island it was often satirical, and I feared that our visit would suffer the same fate. I was therefore very pleased to see that the Herald consecrated the first page of its 17 April edition to a report of the inauguration with the title: "Longwood House: Magnificent !". Indeed the house is now considered to be an important part of Saint Helena's heritage, and the moment may not be far off where Napoleon will be made Honourable Citizen of Saint Helena Island.
 
Despite the fact that the vault is empty, the most emotionally charged site on the island for us was, of course, Napoleon's tomb, set in the romantic Sane Valley. In 1840 Napoleon was re-united with the French nation on the left bank of the Seine in Paris, but a very strong link remains between Saint-Helena and the Invalides.

Bertrand's House: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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Under the leadership of Michel Martineau, we spent seven days visiting the island from east to west - to Prosperous Bay, for the sunrise, and to Southwest Point, for the sunset. We were naturally particularly drawn by the sites related to Napoleon's captivity. I would especially like to thank the residents of Maison Bertrand at Longwood, those of Maldivia House near Jamestown, and those of Mount Pleasant near Sandy Bay, who welcomed us for picnics in front of their houses. We remembered that Napoleon's last outing from Longwood took place on 4 October, 1820, when he went to picnic at Mount Pleasant, home of Sir William Doveton.  

Farm Lodge: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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We were now familiar with Fisher's Valley, where we saw the ruins of the house of Miss Robinson, a fine 'Saint' known locally as the 'Nymph of the Valley', who tickled the fancy of the French bachelor members of Napoleon's team; Teutonic Hall, residence of a Miss Mason, who rode around on an ox and was very friendly with the French people; Rosemary Plain, and Farm Lodge which would have been a more pleasant residence for Napoleon if Hudson Lowe and British Government had agreed to transfer him there.
 

Saint Paul's Cathedral Cemetery: Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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We also visited Plantation House. Sir David Hollamby, present Governor of the Island, was however away on business in the UK. However, we were welcomed by Jonathan, the famous tortoise, now 170 years old. We went to St Paul's Cathedral (Saint Helena!) and its cemetery, where Cipriani, Napoleon's Corsican steward who died in february 1818 is buried. The tomb has been completely neglected.  

And to prove that we were not chauvinist, we also visited Prince's Lodge, the marvellous house of Robin Castell, who publishes very beautiful albums of photographs illustrating the history, geography and sociology of Saint Helena. Unfortunately, the texts he publishes are not as level: Napoleon is systematically referred as "the tyrant" or the "infamous prisoner", in sentences like: " The end of Bonaparte's lust for world domination signalled the reinstatement of peace and freedom for all nations. It was just a pity that it took the incarceration of such a notorious criminal to popularise the island". As for such a grotesque and ridiculous attitude, all I can say is that I hope that Robin Castell never took Napoleon  Street to drive out of Jamestown!  

Departure from Saint Helena (c) Jacques Macé

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The week sped by all too quickly, and when the RMS Saint Helena suddenly appeared in the bay again we realised that we were going to have to get ready to leave Saint Helena and its people, so calm, so smiling, so hospitable, so far removed from the stress of city lives. But the 'Saints' are looking after the historical sites of Napoleon's captivity, and the Longwood Estate is an important part of their heritage. France and Saint Helena are indissolubly linked for eternity. This is why we are sure we will come again to the island in the future. Maybe by plane... But that, as Rudyard Kipling once said, is another story.