As you probably know Sunday 21st May was St Helena Day. As part of their History project Year 5/6 listened with their eyes closed as I set the scene. They had to imagine they were on Joao da Nova Castella’s ship when he discovered St Helena. They then wrote a short diary piece about their thoughts as a sailor on 21st May 1502. Here are some of their diary entries and a very early map.
Soo Matthews
21st May 1502
I couldn’t believe it! Could it be true? I rubbed my eyes. It must be!
“Land ahoy!”
Joao shouted to me, “Are you sure?”
“Definitely!”
Everyone danced around. Two hours later the strange land began to take shape.
There were cliffs towering up and it was about 15 nautical miles away.
We had found land! But was it safe? Was it inhabited? Would Joao’s dream
finally come true? Would we discover uninhabited land? The sea was rough and
kept knocking us off course.
By Jack Howell
Diary 21st May 1502
12:00 Out on the calm sea I felt quite bored up in the crow’s nest. It was too hot
for me to stand up so I sat down waiting for my lunch.
12:16 16 minutes later my lunch was delivered up. I didn’t really like the food on the ship and a couple of days later we ran out of food.
12:30 The other men on board the ship (because there were no women) caught fish from the sea.
3:30 It was a really hot evening and some of the sailors were ill and some of them died from the heat and lack of water.
4:00 It was quite silent up in the crow’s nest, and then suddenly I saw something in the distance. It looked like an island and it was. “Land ahoy!” I shouted happily to the crew. Joao da Nova Castella came rushing out of his cabin and he saw the island become visible.
5:00 We headed towards the island in some small boats. The island was covered in trees and very hilly.
5:15 It was getting colder and we looked for food and water. We found some fruit and a stream of fresh water. We could hear lots of birds flying around the island and we continued our search inland.
By Kieran Yon
Diary 21st May 1502
5:00am Up at the crack of dawn. Climbed up real high and kept look out for 21 hours. No distractions.
5:00pm Looked out and saw a dot in the horizon. I shouted “Land ahoy!”
5:30pm We were getting closer by the minute. To celebrate they all cheered for me – ‘Hip hip hooray’ Ha ha!
6:00pm Half a mile to go. I got to name the island so I called it St Helena.
7:30pm We were there. We ran and kissed the ground.
22nd May 1502
5:00am We wrote down the direction and set off for England and told millions of people – somehow the word got let out.
1 Week later
Sorry I never wrote in you diary. I am going back to St Helena so bye, bye!
By Nicola Hart
May 21st 1502
6:00am I was up in the crow’s nest on watch out. The sun was beaming down on me and I had 5 mouthfuls of water left. Just as I was going to sleep a tiny dark shadow appeared in the distance.
As we got closer I saw it was land so I shouted “Land ahoy!!!!!!!!”
Everyone on deck was excited. As we got even closer I noticed it had cliffs at least 300ft or higher. I stopped and asked myself a few questions. I asked myself if it was safe or if it was and inhabited island.
By Jamie Thomas
21st May 1502
We have been travelling for days and days and we have not got much food left.
All we have to eat is some fish. Because the sea is getting rougher all we can see is the dark of it.
I am feeling really sick and all I want to do is go down onto the bottom deck to get some drink and water but I can’t. I need to keep looking for land. I am really dizzy.
I thin..…, I think…. “Land ahoy!!!”
I spring up in joy. “Land! Land! Land!” I shouted. Lots and lots of things went through my head. Like are there people there? Are there horses and food and water and …
BANG – a canon ball just splashed right beside me. Here was a gigantic hole in the ship. We went down slowly. I managed to swim to shore without anyone seeing me.
By Georgia Merrell
21st May 1502
6:00am Got up, had breakfast, went outside to do my duty.
6:15am I start climbing to the crow’s nest. I was on look out.
7:00am The other crew started to get up and have breakfast.
7:30am Start to head to France.
8:15am Others have started to clean the deck.
9:00am The sun started to come up over the horizon.
9:30am I was about to fall asleep when the captain called for me. He asked me if there was any sign of land.
10:00am By now the crew were all tired.
10:15am I was looking around for land when I saw a dot in the distance. I rubbed my eyes just to make sure. It was an island. I took a look through my scope.
Yes it was an island. Land Ahoy!
10:18am The captain shouted, “Where?”
“Straight ahead!” I shouted back.
12:15pm Finally we could see it – a big hilly island right in front of us.
By Michael Yon
21st May 1502
Dear Diary
8:30 Woke up at the break of dawn floating I the middle of the ocean.
8:50 Catching fish to eat. Fishing with Napollin and Ravena de Casta. Fishing from the plank.
8:57 Caught an eel. Fried it up then ate my breakfast.
9:00 Swapped places with old Saddlebags Brovno. Up at the crow’s nest.
9:30 Nothing so far just the glassy sea.
10:20 Feeling a bit dizzy and eyes starting to sting.
10:25 Seeing a dot. Start to rub my eyes in case I am seeing things.
11:20 Start to notice land ahead and shout “Ahoy! Land is ahead!” All my shipmates started to appear.
And that was the trip when I and the crew found land at last.
By Gemma Yon
