BEagle, unless they mixed up the figures for Ascension. The ditch passed Travellers was about a foot or so wide and the same deep.
When it rained it became a little larger, say 4 feet wide and 8 deep. The foundation of one hut was left suspended in thin air.
The new ditch was about 35 feet or more wide, feet deep and lined with a levee. The annual rainfall figure was fine, except it usually arrived in 4 hours
They also refused to install solar water heaters on the officers' huts as there was insufficient sun that far south.