{"id":9462,"date":"2022-05-11T04:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9462"},"modified":"2022-05-11T16:46:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T23:46:01","slug":"tristan-da-cunha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/tristan-da-cunha\/","title":{"rendered":"Tristan da Cunha"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Tristan da Cunha, colloquially\u00a0Tristan, is a remote group of\u00a0volcanic<\/a>\u00a0islands<\/a>\u00a0in the south\u00a0Atlantic Ocean<\/a>. It is the\u00a0most remote<\/a>\u00a0inhabited\u00a0archipelago<\/a>\u00a0in the world, lying approximately 1,732 miles (2,787\u00a0km) off the coast of\u00a0Cape Town<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0South Africa<\/a>, 1,514 miles (2,437\u00a0km) from\u00a0Saint Helena<\/a>\u00a0and 2,487 miles (4,002\u00a0km) off the coast of the\u00a0Falkland Islands<\/a>. These distances equate respectively to 1,505, 1,316 and 2,161\u00a0nautical miles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Map of Tristan da Cunha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The territory consists of the inhabited island, Tristan da Cunha, which has a diameter of roughly 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) and an area of 98 square kilometers (38 sq mi); the wildlife reserves of Gough Island<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Inaccessible Island<\/a>; and the smaller, uninhabited\u00a0Nightingale Islands<\/a>. As of October 2018, the main island has 250\u00a0permanent inhabitants, who all carry\u00a0British Overseas Territories citizenship<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The other islands are uninhabited, except for the\u00a0South African<\/a>\u00a0personnel of a weather station on Gough Island.<\/p>\n

Tristan da Cunha is a\u00a0British Overseas Territory<\/a>\u00a0with its own constitution.<\/sup>\u00a0There is no\u00a0airstrip<\/a>\u00a0on the main island; the only way of travelling in and out of Tristan is by boat, a six-day trip from\u00a0South Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Discovery:<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
The islands were first recorded as sighted in 1506 by\u00a0<\/span>Portuguese<\/a>\u00a0explorer\u00a0<\/span>Trist\u00e3o da Cunha<\/a>, though rough seas prevented a landing. He named the main island after himself,\u00a0<\/span>Ilha de Trist\u00e3o da Cunha.<\/i> It was later anglicized from its earliest mention on British <\/span>Admiralty charts<\/a>\u00a0to Tristan da Cunha Island. Some sources state that the Portuguese made the first landing in 1520, when the\u00a0<\/span>L\u00e1s Rafael<\/i>\u00a0captained by Ruy Vaz Pereira called at Tristan for water.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The first undisputed landing was made on 7\u00a0February 1643 by the crew of the\u00a0Dutch East India Company<\/a>\u00a0ship\u00a0Heemstede,<\/i>\u00a0captained by Claes Gerritsz Bierenbroodspot. The Dutch stopped at the island four more times in the next 25\u00a0years, and in 1656 created the first rough charts of the archipelago.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The first full\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0of the archipelago was made by crew of the French\u00a0corvette<\/a>\u00a0Heure du Berger<\/i>\u00a0in 1767. The first scientific exploration was conducted by French naturalist\u00a0Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars<\/a>, who stayed on the island for three days in January 1793, during a French mercantile expedition from\u00a0Brest, France<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Mauritius<\/a>. Thouars made botanical collections and reported traces of human habitation, including\u00a0fireplaces<\/a>\u00a0and overgrown\u00a0gardens<\/a>, probably left by Dutch explorers in the 17th\u00a0century.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Portuguese\u00a0explorer and\u00a0conquistador\u00a0Trist\u00e3o da Cunha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On his voyage out from Europe to East Africa and India in command of the\u00a0Imperial Asiatic Company of Trieste and Antwerp<\/a>\u00a0ship,\u00a0Joseph et Therese<\/i>,\u00a0William Bolts<\/a>\u00a0sighted Tristan da Cunha, put a landing party ashore on 2\u00a0February 1777 and hoisted the Imperial flag, naming it and its neighboring islets the Isles de Brabant.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0In fact, no settlement or facilities were ever set up there by the company.<\/p>\n

After the outbreak of the\u00a0American Revolutionary War<\/a>\u00a0halted\u00a0penal transportation<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0Thirteen Colonies<\/a>, British prisons started to\u00a0overcrowd<\/a>. Since several stopgap measures proved themselves ineffective, the British Government announced in December\u00a01785 that it would proceed with the settlement of\u00a0New South Wales<\/a>. In September\u00a01786\u00a0Alexander Dalrymple<\/a>, presumably goaded by Bolts’s actions, published a pamphlet<\/sup>\u00a0with an alternative proposal of his own for settlements on Tristan da Cunha,\u00a0St.\u00a0Paul<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Amsterdam<\/a>\u00a0islands in the Southern Ocean.<\/p>\n

Captain\u00a0John Blankett<\/a>, R.N., also suggested independently to his superiors in August\u00a01786 that convicts be used to establish a British settlement on Tristan.<\/sup>\u00a0In consequence, the Admiralty received orders from the government in October 1789 to examine the island as part of a general survey of the South Atlantic and the coasts of southern Africa.<\/sup>\u00a0That did not happen, but an investigation of Tristan, Amsterdam and St. Paul was undertaken in December\u00a01792 and January\u00a01793 by\u00a0George Macartney<\/a>, Britain’s first ambassador to China. During his voyage to China, he established that none of the islands were suitable for settlement.<\/sup><\/p>\n

19th Century:<\/span><\/h3>\n

The first permanent settler was\u00a0Jonathan Lambert<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Salem, Massachusetts<\/a>, United States, who moved to the island in December 1810 with two other men, to be joined later by a third.<\/sup>\u00a0Lambert publicly declared the islands his property and named them the\u00a0Islands of Refreshment<\/a>. Three of the four men died in 1812 and\u00a0Thomas Currie<\/a> (or Tommaso Corri), one of the original three, remained as a farmer on the island.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Captain Jonathan Lambert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 14\u00a0August 1816, the United Kingdom\u00a0annexed<\/a>\u00a0the islands, making them a dependency of the\u00a0Cape Colony<\/a>\u00a0in South Africa. This was explained as a measure to prevent the islands’ use as a base for any attempt to free\u00a0Napoleon Bonaparte<\/a>\u00a0from his prison on\u00a0Saint Helena<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The occupation also prevented the United States from using Tristan da Cunha as a base for naval\u00a0cruisers<\/a>, as it had during the\u00a0War of 1812<\/a>.<\/sup> Possession was abandoned\u00a0in November\u00a01817, although some members of the garrison, notably\u00a0William Glass<\/a>, stayed and formed the nucleus of a permanent population.<\/p>\n

The islands were occupied by a garrison of\u00a0British Marines<\/a>, and a civilian population gradually grew.\u00a0Berwick<\/i><\/a>\u00a0stopped there on 25\u00a0March 1824 and reported that it had a population of twenty-two men and three women. The barque\u00a0South Australia<\/i> stayed there on 18\u201320\u00a0February 1836 when a certain Glass was Governor, as reported in a chapter on the island by W. H. Leigh.<\/p>\n

Whalers set up bases on the islands for operations in the Southern Atlantic. However, the opening of the\u00a0Suez Canal<\/a>\u00a0in 1869, together with the gradual transition from sailing ships to coal-fired steam ships, increased the isolation of the islands, which were no longer needed as a stopping port for lengthy sail voyages, or for shelter for journeys from Europe to East Asia.<\/sup> A parson arrived in February 1851, the Bishop of Cape Town visited in March 1856 and the island was included within the diocese of Cape Town.\u200a<\/sup><\/p>\n

In 1867,\u00a0Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh<\/a>\u00a0and second son of\u00a0Queen Victoria<\/a>, visited the islands. The main settlement,\u00a0Edinburgh of the Seven Seas<\/a>, was named in honor of his visit.<\/sup>\u00a0On 15\u00a0October 1873, the Royal Navy scientific survey vessel\u00a0HMS\u00a0Challenger<\/i><\/a>\u00a0docked at Tristan to conduct geographic and zoological surveys on Tristan,\u00a0Inaccessible Island<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Nightingale Islands<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0In his log, Captain\u00a0George Nares<\/a>\u00a0recorded a total of fifteen families and eighty-six individuals living on the island.<\/sup>\u00a0Tristan became a dependency of the British Crown in October 1875.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Prince Alfred in 1881<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On November 27, 1885, the island suffered one of its worst tragedies after an iron\u00a0barque<\/a>\u00a0named\u00a0West Riding<\/i>\u00a0approached the island, whilst en route to\u00a0Sydney<\/a>, Australia from\u00a0Bristol<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Due to the loss of regular trading opportunities, almost all of the island’s able-bodied men approached the ship in a\u00a0lifeboat<\/a> attempting to exchange with the passing vessel. The boat, recently donated by the British government, sailed despite rough waters and, although the lifeboat was spotted sailing alongside the ship for some time, it never returned. Various reports were given following the event, with rumors ranging from the men drowning,<\/sup>\u00a0to reports of them being taken to Australia and sold as slaves.<\/sup>\u00a0In total, 15 men were lost, leaving behind an island of widows. A plaque at\u00a0St. Mary\u2019s Church<\/a>\u00a0commemorates the lost men.<\/p>\n

<\/sup>20th Century:<\/span><\/p>\n

After years of hardship since the 1880s and an especially difficult winter in 1906, the British government offered to evacuate the island in 1907. The Tristanians held a meeting and decided to refuse, despite the crown’s warning that it could not promise further help in the future.\u00a0No ships called at the islands from 1909 until 1919, when\u00a0HMS\u00a0Yarmouth<\/i><\/a>\u00a0finally stopped to inform the islanders of the outcome of\u00a0World War I<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0Shackleton\u2013Rowett Expedition<\/a>\u00a0stopped in Tristan for five days in May\u00a01922, collecting geological and botanical samples before returning to\u00a0Cape Town<\/a>.\u00a0Among the few ships that visited in the coming years were the\u00a0RMS\u00a0Asturias<\/i><\/a>, a\u00a0Royal Mail Steam Packet Company<\/a>\u00a0passenger liner, in 1927, and the ocean liners\u00a0RMS\u00a0Empress of France<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in 1928,<\/sup>\u00a0RMS\u00a0Duchess of Atholl<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in 1929,<\/sup>\u00a0and\u00a0RMS\u00a0Empress of Australia<\/i><\/a> in 1935.\u00a0In 1936,\u00a0The Daily Telegraph<\/a><\/i> of London reported the population of the island was 167\u00a0people, with 185\u00a0cattle and 42\u00a0horses.<\/p>\n

From December\u00a01937 to March\u00a01938, a\u00a0Norwegian<\/a>\u00a0party made\u00a0a dedicated scientific expedition<\/a>\u00a0to Tristan da Cunha, and sociologist\u00a0Peter A. Munch<\/a>\u00a0extensively documented island culture \u2014 he would later revisit the island in 1964\u20131965.<\/sup>\u00a0The island was also visited in 1938 by\u00a0W. Robert Foran<\/a>, reporting for the\u00a0National Geographic Society<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Foran’s<\/a>\u00a0account was published that same year.<\/sup>\u00a0On 12\u00a0January 1938 by\u00a0letters patent<\/a>, Britain declared the islands a dependency of\u00a0Saint Helena<\/a>, creating the\u00a0British Crown Colony<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Saint Helena and Dependencies<\/a>, which also included\u00a0Ascension Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Gough and Inaccessible Islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

During the\u00a0Second World War<\/a>, Tristan was commissioned by the\u00a0Royal Navy<\/a>\u00a0as the\u00a0stone frigate<\/a>\u00a0HMS\u00a0Atlantic Isle<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and used as a secret\u00a0signals intelligence<\/a>\u00a0station to monitor\u00a0Nazi<\/a>\u00a0U-boats<\/a>\u00a0(which were required to maintain radio contact) and shipping movements in the South\u00a0Atlantic Ocean<\/a>. This weather and radio station led to extensive new infrastructure being built on the island, including a school, a hospital, and a cash-based general store. The first colonial official sent to rule the island was\u00a0Sir Hugh Elliott<\/a>\u00a0in the rank of Administrator (because the settlement was too small to merit a Governor) 1950\u201353. Development continued as the island’s first canning factory expanded paid employment in 1949.<\/sup>\u00a0Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh<\/a>,\u00a0the Queen’s<\/a>\u00a0consort<\/a>, visited the islands in 1957 as part of a world tour on board the royal yacht\u00a0HMY\u00a0Britannia<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

On 2 January 1954, Tristan da Cunha was visited by the Dutch ship\u00a0Ruys<\/i>, a\u00a0passenger-cargo liner<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0carrying science fiction writer\u00a0Robert A Heinlein<\/a>, his wife Ginny and other passengers. The\u00a0Ruys<\/i>\u00a0was travelling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Cape Town, South Africa. The visit is described in Heinlein’s book “Tramp Royale<\/a><\/i>“. The captain told Heinlein the island was the most isolated inhabited spot on Earth and ships rarely visited. Heinlein mailed a letter there to\u00a0L. Ron Hubbard<\/a>, a friend who also liked to travel, “for the curiosity value of the postmark.” Biographer William H Patterson, Jr. in his two volume “Robert A Heinlein In Dialogue with his Century<\/i>,” wrote that lack of “cultural context” made it “nearly impossible to converse” with the islanders, “a stark contrast with the way they had managed to chat with strangers” while travelling in South America. Members of the crew bought penguins during their brief visit to the island.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
On 10 October 1961, the eruption of\u00a0<\/span>Queen Mary’s Peak<\/a>\u00a0forced the evacuation of the entire population of 264 individuals.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The evacuees took to the water in open boats and were taken by the local lobster-fishing boats\u00a0<\/span>Tristania<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Frances Repetto<\/i>\u00a0to uninhabited\u00a0<\/span>Nightingale Island<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0The following day they were picked up by the diverted Dutch passenger ship\u00a0<\/span>Tjisadane<\/i>\u00a0that took them to\u00a0<\/span>Cape Town<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0The islanders later arrived in the UK aboard the liner\u00a0<\/span>Stirling Castle<\/i><\/a>\u00a0to a big press reception and, after a short period at Pendell Army Camp in\u00a0<\/span>Merstham<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Surrey<\/a>, were settled in an old\u00a0<\/span>Royal Air Force<\/a>\u00a0camp near\u00a0<\/span>Calshot<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Hampshire<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The following year a\u00a0<\/span>Royal Society<\/a> expedition reported that Edinburgh of the Seven Seas had survived the eruption. Most families returned in 1963.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Gough Island<\/a>\u00a0was inscribed as a\u00a0UNESCO<\/a>\u00a0World Heritage Site<\/a>\u00a0in 1995, then named “Gough Island Wildlife Reserve”.<\/sup> The site was extended in 2004 to include the neighboring\u00a0Inaccessible Island<\/a>\u00a0and renamed\u00a0Gough and Inaccessible Islands<\/a>, with its marine zone extended from 3 to 12\u00a0nautical miles. The Gough and Inaccessible Islands were declared as separate\u00a0Ramsar sites<\/a> \u2014 wetland sites designated to be of international importance \u2014 on 20 November 2008.<\/sup><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cleaning oil off penguins after the spillage from the MS Oliva, Tristan da Cunha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

21st Century:<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Tristan da Cunha in 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On 23\u00a0May 2001, the islands were hit by an\u00a0extratropical cyclone<\/a> that generated winds up to 190 kilometers per hour (120\u00a0mph). A number of structures were severely damaged, and numerous cattle were killed, prompting emergency aid provided by the British government.<\/sup>\u00a0In 2005, the islands were given a United Kingdom\u00a0post code<\/a> (TDCU 1ZZ), to make it easier for the residents to order goods online.<\/p>\n

On 13\u00a0February 2008, a fire destroyed the island’s four power generators and fish canning factory, severely disrupting the economy. On 14\u00a0March 2008, new generators were installed and power restored, and a new factory opened in July\u00a02009. While the replacement factory was built,\u00a0M\/V\u00a0Kelso<\/i><\/a>\u00a0came to the island as a\u00a0factory ship<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The St.\u00a0Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 reorganized Tristan da Cunha as a constituent of the new British Overseas Territory of\u00a0Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha<\/a>, giving Tristan and Ascension equal status with Saint Helena.<\/p>\n

On 16\u00a0March 2011, the freighter\u00a0MS\u00a0Oliva<\/i><\/a>\u00a0ran aground on\u00a0Nightingale Island<\/a>, spilling tons of heavy fuel oil into the ocean. The resulting oil slick threatened the island’s population of\u00a0rockhopper penguins<\/a>.<\/sup> Nightingale Island has no fresh water, so the penguins were transported to Tristan da Cunha for cleaning.<\/p>\n

A total\u00a0solar eclipse<\/a>\u00a0will pass over the island\u00a0on 5\u00a0December 2048<\/a>. The island is calculated to be on the center line of the umbra’s path for nearly three and a half minutes of totality.<\/p>\n

On 13 November 2020 it was announced that the 687,247 square kilometers (265,348 sq mi) of the waters surrounding the islands will become a\u00a0Marine Protection Zone<\/a>. The move will make the zone the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet. The move follows 20 years of conservation work by the\u00a0RSPB<\/a> and the island government and five years of the UK government’s Blue Belt program support.<\/sup><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Edinburgh of The Seven Seas, the only settlement on the island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Geography:<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tristan da Cunha is thought to have been formed by a long-lived center of upwelling mantle called the Tristan hotspot<\/a>. Tristan da Cunha is the main island of the Tristan da Cunha\u00a0archipelago<\/a>, which consists of the following islands:<\/p>\n