20th Century
P C Keytel from South Africa arrived aboard the Greyhound in 1908 to start some sort of local industry: however, his efforts were not successful, as the sheep he farmed became infested with scab and were condemned. Attempts at fish drying fared no better, as the fish would not dry properly and became contaminated by blueflies. The Greyhound also brought with her 17 returning islanders, some of who had converted to Catholicism: thus began the Catholic Church on Tristan.
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| The Tristan Island Council in the 1930's |
World War One brought 10 years of isolation, during which basic commodities ran very short: in 1922 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in London sent the Reverend Martin and Mrs. Rogers to minister to their needs. A school was started in one of the island homes and Andrew Hagen donated part of his house to become the island church. It was obviously far too small, however, and the island men constructed St. Mary's Church which opened in July 1923. From 1927 there was usually a resident clergyman on the island.
Notable visits in the 1920's included the RYS Quest of the Shackleton - Rowett Expedition in 1922, the RRS Discovery in 1926, and a string of cruise ships such as the Asturias and Carinthia. Passengers were seldom allowed to land owing to the difficulties of landing women and children. HMS Carlisle visited several times in the 1930's, carrying out medical surveys amongst the islanders. Their teeth were found to be amongst the healthiest in the world.
The following is an extract from "The Lonely Island," a book written by Rose A. Rogers. Rose was the wife of the Minister at the time of the visit of the RYS Quest in 1922
"The Quest officers and men were from all parts of the Empire, and we enjoyed chatting with the representatives of New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. Commander Wild was photographed with me standing outside our house, the tiniest parsonage in the world, less than 20 feet long."
The great events on the second and third days of the Quest visit were the presentation of the Troop flag specially given for the Tristan da Cunha Troop by the Chief Scout and the erection of the wireless pole. The Scouts were paraded outside the school house with my husband in Scout kit at their head, with Commander Wild present and myself as A.S.M. Scout Marr presented the flag, which was received by the Patrol Leader, Donald Glass, on behalf of scouting, and after the boys had given the salute and been dismissed, he came up with us to the parsonage and had a meal of damper bread and tea. We had a pleasant talk on Scouting and other matters. He was in Highland dress as a Scottish Scout Patrol Leader, and the Tristan folk, who had never seen the kilt, were much impressed. Scout Marr is a big, hefty fellow, and hsi fine manly style was a great help to our lads, and he must have been a valuable asset to the Quest crew."
HMS Milford visited on March 29th, 1938: Tristan and Gough Island (230 miles south east of Tristan) were proclaimed dependencies of St Helena by Orders in Council of the British Government.
World War II
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| Islanders and Seamen during WW II |
The Danish Training ship Copenhagen was lost with all hands in the South Atlantic in 1930, and was last seen in the vicinity of Tristan da Cunha on January 21st 1930, proceeding in a south westerly direction close to the Settlement in a strong wind.
On May 31st 1940, an Islander found a figure-head which had been washed up on the rocks near Cove Point, on the west side of the island, and also a piece of wood painted white: these are believed to be from the Copenhagen.
Following the outbreak of war HMS Queen of Bermuda (a Furness Withy Liner converted to troop ship duties) arrived from Durban in late August, 1940 with supplies for the island and orders from the SPG to take off the Minister, Mr. Harold Wilde. Wilde was unpopular with some of the islanders due to his views on the virtue of work.
You can read more about the visit of HMS Queen of Bermuda in an Adobe PDF file which can be downloaded here. It also contains fascinating photographs of the figurehead from the Copenhagen and detailed inventories of stores brought to the island.
The vital need for up to date weather information during modern warfare meant that plans were made to create a Radio and Weather Station on Tristan. The island was given the title HMS Atlantic Isle, and Dunottar Castle, carrying the servicemen to man the station arrived on April 5th, 1942. Construction of the station began shortly afterwards, with island labourers paid in supplies such as wood, paint and tea (there was no currency on the island). Money was introduced in December 1942, and island workers were paid 2 shillings a day.
By the end of April, weather observations began and were radioed twice a day to South Africa. A local militia (The Tristan Defence Volunteers) was created in 1943 and the island's first newspaper (The Tristan Times) published. A further weather station was planned for Gough Island, but these never came to fruition. On the cessation of hostilities the weather station on Tristan was handed over to civilian meteorologists from South Africa
1945 to 1961
Tristan's links with South Africa became ever stronger following the war, and a number of South African Naval vessels called there, a notable visit taking place between the 5th and 7th of April, 1947 by HMSAS (His Majesties South African Ship) Natal. The Natal brought with her the Archbishop of Capetown.
After the war it was considered that the island was overpopulated, and plans were drawn up in South Africa to evacuate the population. Fortunately this never happened, and the islands entered a new era of prosperity following the visit of the M V Pequena in 1948 to investigate the possibility of establishing a Crawfish industry on the islands. It was considered viable to establish the industry, which persists to this day.
An Administrator (Hugh Elliot) was appointed by the Colonial Office in 1950. He was instrumental in introducing postage stamps for the islands, and these now form the island's principal source of revenue. By the mid-1950's, the island had a resident Doctor, teacher, factory manager, agriculturalist and Public Works Department Official. The health of the islanders was vastly improved, as was the quality of their livestock and crops.
The next major event in the island's history was the visit of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh aboard the R Y Britannia. The Duke had been making an extensive tour of the Southern Ocean and had already visited the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The following year, Governor Alford arrived from St Helena aboard HMS Lynx, the first time that the Governor had visited since Tristan was proclaimed a Dependency of St Helena in 1938.
Royal Navy ships (including HMS Protector and the RRS Shackleton) became frequent visitors, and in early 1961 the Royal Air Force visited, with the flights of Vulcan aircraft based at D F Malan Airport (near Cape Town) to conduct an aerial survey.
In early 1961, the currency of Tristan was changed to the South African Rand , which was felt to be more convenient for local use. This was bitterly opposed by many of the older people, who were content to exist without money at all. It was a short lived currency on Tristan, as South Africa left the Commonwealth on May 31st, 1961
1961 - the year of the Volcano
Earth tremors and rock falls began to disturb islanders from the 6th August, 1961, and by October a large fissure had opened up behind the lighthouse. The Administrator, Peter Wheeler evacuated the islanders to the Potato Patches, whilst HMS Leopard was dispatched from the Cape on Tuesday, 10th October, 1961. The Administrator then decided to evacuate the islanders to Nightingale Island as by now a large mound had formed in the danger area, and a smell of sulphur was pervasive.
The night of the 11th October was spent on Nightingale, in some discomfort: fortunately they were able to be evacuated from there by the MV Tjisadane and all 290 islanders were taken from there to the Cape. By the time HMS Leopard arrived at Tristan on October 13th, the mound had grown to 250 ft (80 m) high, emitting smoke and red-hot lava. Valuables from the island were salvaged by Leopard and Tristania: Leopard returned to South Africa on October 18th. All the domestic and farm animals had to be left behind.
Because of South Africa's strict apartheid laws, the Islanders decided to go onwards to England, and embarked aboard the Mail Ship Stirling Castle on October 20th. After a short time near Reigate in Surrey, they were housed at Calshot Camp, near Southampton. Unable to resist the British weather and diseases, several of the older islanders died: the volcano was still belching smoke and lava, and the outlook looked bleak for the islanders .......
In 1962, the Royal Society mounted an expedition to investigate the eruption: it assembled in Simonstown (South Africa), sailed on the 22nd of January and arrived on January 29th of that year. Although volcanic activity was still in evidence, only one house had been destroyed by cinders landing on the roof. It appeared that some of the houses had been looted and the door of the safe in the Post Office had been prized open. Many of the domestic animals had fared well, but the dogs and cats had reverted to the wild, and the dogs in particular had devastated the island's sheep population.
The Royal Society Expedition stayed until 20th March, when HMS Protector arrived to evacuate the members to the UK. Although it was not the purpose of the expedition to assess the island's suitability for resettlement, the consensus was that the volcanic activity had diminished sufficiently to allow the islanders to return.
Resettlement
England was having one of it's worst winters for many years, and the islanders, unused to such weather, were suffering terribly. To compound their distress, journalists and medical research teams were continually pestering them. Almost to a man the islanders wanted to return to Tristan, and the Tristan Development Company in Capetown was anxious to re-establish its profitable Crawfish cannery on the island, despite the factory having been completely destroyed by a lava flow.
The Colonial Office decided in Mid-1962 not to repatriate the islanders, on the grounds that it was advisable to wait until after the winter storms to examine the beaches. Fortunately, this was not enforced, and a resettlement party sailed for Tristan aboard the Tristania on 31st August, 1962. They spent their time on the island preparing for the return on the remainder of the islanders, and eventually on 28th November 1962 the Colonial Office relented and agreed to repatriate those islanders who wished to return. An advance party left London for Rio de Janeiro, arriving on 1st April, 1963: there they transferred to the MV Boissevain, and arrived off Tristan on April 9th. The remainder of the islanders left London on the MV Bornholm on 24th October, 1963, and arrived on the island in November.
268 people had been evacuated from Tristan in 1961: 14 elected to stay behind in England, 5 elderly islanders had died, but eight babies had been born. Ten island couples had married, and four Tristan girls had married English boys.
1963 to the present day
Life slowly returned to normal on Tristan, though memories of the outside world were uppermost in many people's minds. A period of relative prosperity arrived, and the harbour was rebuilt in 1965 and named after Calshot Camp in England. Sales of postage stamps rocketed and the Crawfish industry thrived.
In early 1966, 35 islanders decided to return to the UK, as they were disenchanted with island life: they left on the same ship which had brought the resettlement party back, the MV Boissevain. By now, Tristan was well known to people, and tourist ships frequently called at the island, including the QE II in 1979. Unfortunately, landing is so difficult that a tourist industry will be difficult if not impossible to establish on Tristan. Perhaps this is for the best, as sudden influxes of visitors would be likely to wreck the island's unusual social structure.
Tristan has moved with the times: it now has a grocery store, a radio station, a cafe, a video shop and a swimming pool. Tristan now has a connection to the outside world by satellite telephone and fax machine in the Administrator's office. A mail ship, the RMS St. Helena calls once a year, bringing mail, canned food, videos, books, magazines, medical items, and occasionally a visitor.
Government
Tristan has a semi-autonomous government made up of the Administrator and 12 islanders, who participate in a general election every three years.
The island has a police officer, a factory boss, and a chief islander. The police station contains a single cell, but is almost always empty and used to store firearms.
Work, Health & Education
Unemployment on Tristan is almost unknown: both girls and boys are guaranteed jobs when they leave school. The society is still patriarchal, and most boys start work at 15 as fishermen.
Recently, many girls have elected to continue their education. They usually go to St. Helena, where they study at Price Andrew School for A (Advanced) Levels in many subjects. Thankfully, many return to the island after their studies.
Tristan is entirely self-supporting and, except for the Administrator's salary, receives no money from Britain. Earnings are made from Postage stamps, handicrafts and crawfish, which has enabled them to retain their relative independence from the rest of the world. Apart from imported food, the islanders eat home grown potatoes, beef and lamb.
Social life is very limited on Tristan,and like many islands, alcohol consumptions is high - an average of 1 litre of whisky per person per week, taking up a large proportion of islanders earnings. Life expectancy is equivalent to the UK, and medical care is given at Capetown, South Africa.
Island Families
The island possessed only 7 surnames until 1986, when it increased to 8 by the addition of the name Patterson from a Tristan woman who married a Scot and the family returned to reside on Tristan. Interbreeding among the small population has not caused serious problems.
Other families are:
- Glass: decended from from the original Scottish settler, William Glass in 1814;
- Swain: decended from from Thomas Swain , an Englishman who settled on Tristan in 1821;
- Rogers: decended from from an American Settler in 1836;
- Green: decended from Peter Green, a Dutchman from Katwijk, Netherlands, wrecked on Tristan in September 1836;
- Hagan: decended from Andrew Hagan, an American Whalerman who settled on Tristan in February 1849;
- Repetto: decended from Andrea Repetto, an Italian sailor from Camogli (nr. Genoa) in Italy, wrecked on Tristan in March 1893; and
- Lavarello: decended from another Italian sailor, Gaetano Lavarello. also from Camogli (nr. Genoa) in Italy, wrecked on Tristan in March 1893.
There are currently around 80 families on the island.
