The 'Sailor Prince' in the Age of Empire by Miriam Magdalena Schneider

Author:Miriam Magdalena Schneider
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Imperial Webs

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas on the island of Tristan da Cunha in many ways exemplifies what ‘Sailor Princes’ could and did achieve in the context of national and imperial integration. It was Prince Alfred’s oddest ever landing at a coastal contact zone that gave this tiny settlement its name. The Duke of Edinburgh, as he was then officially known, had left London in February 1867 to circumnavigate the world as the captain of HMS Galatea. On its journey from Rio de Janeiro to the Cape, the ship drifted off course and came so close to the island group in the South Atlantic Ocean that he decided to land on the morning of 5 August. Tristan da Cunha was the most remote part of the British Empire and, in fact, the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying 3000 miles from Cape Horn and 1500 miles from the Cape of Good Hope. A mere volcanic speck in the ocean, it had been occupied by British forces in 1815 and although it had long ceased to be a military post, there was still, in 1867, a tiny settlement of Scottish origin and Creole influence. The 53 inhabitants remained remarkably composed when they discovered Galatea’s ensign to be the royal standard. They sent a delegation that helped to pilot a small boat to the coast. Drenched by a wave, the visitors hastily leapt out and some were even carried on the backs of their welcoming committee. Then Prince Alfred, in a more dignified manner, inspected the curious settlement, distributing gifts of tobacco, tea and sugar before returning to his ship.

Inconspicuous as it seemed, the surprise visit had a deeper meaning. On the one hand, an account penned by Galatea’s chaplain caused great excitement in the English press, as it provided the first update on the situation in Tristan da Cunha in 16 years. It reminded the metropolis that even this lonely Robinson Island belonged to their globe-spanning network of colonies. On the other hand, the event also strengthened the islanders’ own sense of national identity. They spoke English, formed part of the commercial orbit of the Cape and occasionally a British ship-of-the-line passed their island. But the visit of a British prince on his royal tour demonstrated like nothing else that, isolated as they were, they belonged to the British Empire. The Tristonians named their main settlement ‘Edinburgh of the Seven Seas’ in memory of the occasion and in honour of their Caledonian roots which the Duke epitomised so well. 12 As late as 1967, a set of stamps was issued to mark the centenary of his landing.

Visits such as these, though usually less improvised, were the everyday business of ‘Sailor Princes’. They all undertook land and sea voyages designed to integrate remote provinces, disparate colonial possessions or diaspora settlements into (virtual) national and imperial systems. The reason they could have such a cohesive effect was that as a result of both their royal and professional identities they embodied two overlapping ‘imagined communities ’ 13 : the homeland and the empire.

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