It is well known that during the Cold War Britain was regarded as an unsinkable aircraft carrier; much less well known is the fact that this idea of the island as ship was first thought of by the British over a hundred years earlier when Ascension Island in the South Atlantic was officially regarded as a “Sloop of War of the smaller class.” The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies has recently acquired a logbook of this “ship” for 1835, which sheds a fascinating light on life on the island during this period of naval occupation.

Ascension Island was first discovered by the Portuguese in the early 16th century, but as it was so dry and barren (it was many years before a supply of fresh water was discovered on the island) it was neither settled nor much used as a source of supply for the East India fleets of Portugal, Holland or England.