Ascension: The Story of a South Atlantic Island
5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The bleak, volcanic island of Ascension, 800 miles from its nearest neighbour St Helena, was described by a Victorian naval officer as ‘one of the strangest places on the face of the earth’.
It is still exceedingly odd. Uninhabited when it was taken over by the British in 1815, it was an almost perfect natural vacuum – a triangular heap of lava and ash. When the Royal Marines brought in plants and animals, some flourished, others died. Tropical forest now clothes the peak of Green Mountain, and feral donkeys haunt the plains. As sea birds swarm around the coast, radar stations monitor space from the tops of rust-red cinder cones, and primeval, giant green turtles lumber up the beaches to nest. The island’s history is short but extraordinary.
Duff Hart-Davis
Duff Hart-Davis joined the Sunday Telegraph on its inception in 1961 and later travelled extensively as a feature reporter in India, Nepal, Turkey, Caribbean, Norway, South Africa, Ascension Island. Shooting trips took him to Siberia, Poland and Hungary. Duff wrote the Country Matters column in the Independent 1986-2001. A distinguished biographer, naturalist and journalist, he is author of 17 non-fiction books on subjects ranging from Hitler's Olympics, the adventurer Peter Fleming, to a history of the mid-Atlantic island of Ascension. He has also had eight novels published. Duff was brought up on a farm in Oxfordshire. He did his National Service in Germany and read Classics at Oxford. He is married with two children and now lives on a farm in the Cotswolds.
Read more from Duff Hart Davis
Honorary Tiger: The Life of Billy Arjan Singh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHero of Kumaon: The Life of Jim Corbett Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAscension: The Story of a South Atlantic Island Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Ascension
Related ebooks
The Voyage of the Beagle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadly Storms of the Delmarva Coast Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5England & Wales Island Bagging: A guide to adventures on the islands of England, Wales, the Channel Islands & the Isle of Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAngry Island: The Story of Tristan da Cunha (1506-1963) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScience In Arcady Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of the Ocean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeeps at Many Lands: Corsica Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Coral Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Canadian History, Two Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouth Georgia - Mountaineering in Antarctica: Travel Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelkirk's Island: The True and Strange Adventures of the Real Robinson Crusoe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Roseland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoyages In Search of the North-West Passage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe High Seas: Greed, Power and the Battle for the Unclaimed Ocean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventurers of the Far North: A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The First Landing on Wrangel Island: With Some Remarks on the Northern Inhabitants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the South Seas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTALES OF THE ENCHANTED ISLANDS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC - 20 Tales of Enchanted Islands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDampier, the Dutch and the Great South Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPacific Voyages: The Story of Sail in the Great Ocean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLand of Tempest: Travels in Patagonia: 1958-1962 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurfmen and Shipwrecks: Spirits of Cape Hatteras Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGibraltar: The History of a Fortress Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Northern Mists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Islands at the Edge of Time: A Journey To America's Barrier Islands Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
European History For You
The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen: The Complete Novels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Six Wives of Henry VIII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Charted Designs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Greek Mythology: Captivating Stories of the Ancient Olympians and Titans: Heroes and Gods, Ancient Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swingtime for Hitler: Goebbels’s Jazzmen, Tokyo Rose, and Propaganda That Carries a Tune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Discovery of Pasta: A History in Ten Dishes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Ascension
1 rating0 reviews