Other-waters

Uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, who named it for Helena of Constantinople, the island now known as Saint Helena was garrisoned by the British during the 17th century. It became famous as the place of Napoleon Bonaparte's exile, from 1815 until his death in 1821.

Hold me now, oh hold me now
’til this hour has gone around
And I’m gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen’s land

Van Diemen’s Land is an island near Australia, later renamed Tasmania after the first European who set foot ashore, Dutch sea-farer Abel Tasman. At the time Tasman’s discoveries were thought of little value, but later (1700s) the British moved in and started using both Australia and Van Diemen’s Land as penal colonies … which is exactly what this U2 song is about, an Irishman being sent away.

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand and is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, discoverer of New Zealand and Tasmania. The British explorer Captain James Cook later extensively explored the Tasman Sea in the 1770s as part of his first voyage of discovery.

Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 - 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, born in Lutjegast, a village in the province of Groningen, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644, in the service of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). His was the first European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand. He also mapped substantial portions of Australia.

The Polar Bear (Thalarctos maritimus or Ursus maritimus) is a large mammal of the order Carnivora, family Ursidae. It is a circumpolar species found in and around the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's largest land carnivore. Adult males weigh from 400 to 600 kilograms and occasionally exceed 800 kilograms.