English Bay
English Bay is a small bay on the north coast of Ascension Island (part of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha) providing a sheltered anchorage.
The bay is fringed with a beach, English Beach, which is the island's most popular beach for swimmers and divers. The waters here are rich in fish, with just about all of Ascension’s smaller tropical fish species to be found in the bay, including (as elsewhere the rapaciously hungry 'black fish'.[1]
English Bay is a 15 minute drive from Georgetown. The BBC's Atlantic Relay Station (an important source of revenue and employment) stands just above the bay.
History
The English Bay Company was founded in 1920 after Thomas Rowland Sales obtained a concession form the government to harvest guano on Ascension Island. The company, operating through English Bay, mined guano on Boatswain Bird Island and elsewhere for a number of years until profits declined: by early April 1931, there were only five labourers left at the English Bay site, and the operations soon ceased. The company took up a scheme to extract gold, which failed, and eventually sold its assests to Cable and Wireless in 1940.[2]
Outside links
- Location map: 7°53’36"S, 14°23’0"W
- Englsih Bay Road – SABRE Roads
References
- ↑ Ascension Island: What to See
- ↑ Notes from “The English Bay Company” - Drew Avery, The Ascension Heritage Society p32