Three Years in Tristan da Cunha, by K. M. Barrow (1906)
What’s it like to live in the most remote, inhabited island in the world for 3 years, I was wondering? And in 1906 – how would you cope?
Katherine Barrow’s book is a funny, often touching account of how she and her husband lived their day-to-day lives on the island in a time when there was little modern technology.
The most exciting moments amongst the routine of their daily lives are when they spot a passing ship and the shouts go up of “Sail,ho!”. The men immediately scramble into the boats and race to the ship, often with live animals to barter for tea, coffee, soap etc. but are often thwarted by the waves in reaching the ship or it passes on without stopping. When a passing ship occasionally delivers mail they are overjoyed.
Tristan da Cunha is a small volcanic island in a small archipelago in the middle of the South Atlantic about half way between South Africa and South America. The nearest habitation is the small island of St. Helena which is 1,500 miles away. In a sailing boat, in the 19th century, that’s around 10 days away assuming ideal conditions.
Katherine Barrow lived on the remote island for three years between 1906 and 1909 with her husband Graham who was a Christian missionary. The previous clergyman, Mr. Dodgson, a brother of the author Lewis Carrol, stayed there for three years but was forced to leave due to ill health in 1889.
After deciding to take up the vacant clergyman’s position they were faced with the problem of how to get there from England. In the end it took them nearly five months going via St. Helena and Cape Town, South Africa. Barrow describes their departure,-
“Formerly a man-of-war from the Cape station visited it once a year, but since the South African War this annual visit has been discontinued. Mr. Dodgson advised us to go to St. Helena and there await a whaler. He had found this the best plan. So accordingly we set off from Southampton on November 18, 1905—my husband, our maid and myself, taking with us a year’s food supply and a very limited amount of furniture. St. Helena was reached in seventeen days.”
However, once arrived they discovered there were no whalers were expected so they traveled on to Cape Town reaching the city in January, 1906 – they had already been traveling for over two months. Here they were told that there was no ship heading for Tristan until 1st, April, so they waited and eventually embarked on that day on the steamer “Surrey” finally arriving on the 8th April, 1906,-
“On the early morning of the eighth day—it was Palm Sunday—the mountainous cliffs of Tristan could dimly be discerned. My husband had gone up on deck two or three times while it was yet dusk to see if land was visible; while I kept looking out of the porthole, although it was not a very large outlook.”
After landing in rough seas with their possessions they were welcomed by the curious people who took them into their homes. At this point Barrow describes the history of the island and its current inhabitants before the book reverts to the form of a diary and letters which she wrote her sister in England.
Borrow states that the current settlement dates from 1816 when a British garrison was stationed there to safeguard Napoleon’s exile on St. Helena. Most of the soldiers soon left except three who decided to stay and they were later joined by two survivors of a nearby shipwreck,-
“These five men, who were bachelors, asked the captain of a whaler to bring them each a wife from St. Helena. He did his best and brought five coloured women—one a widow with four children. Of these marriages only one, I believe, turned out happily. A daughter of this marriage was Betty Cotton, our landlady.”
After that came further settlers including a Dutch sailor who married one of the earlier child settlers, two Americans and two Italians who had been shipwrecked. On their arrival the population was 71.
When they arrived there were only 16 houses and these were made of wood from wrecked ships and the local stone which was highly porous.
“The houses when I first went into them struck me as most dreary; no fire, hardly any furniture, just a bare table, a wooden sofa which is nearly always used as a bed, a bench, and perhaps a chair, with a seaman’s chest against the wall, a chimney-piece covered with a pinked newspaper hanging, on which stood pieces of crockery, on the walls a few pictures and ancient photographs. There are large open fire-places, but no grates or stoves, the cooking being done on two iron bars supported by fixed stones.”
Considering that the nearest settlement was 1,500 miles away on St. Helena they obtained many of their daily necessities from passing ships. However over time a large animal population had been nurtured so they were self-reliant to a degree as far as basic foodstuffs were concerned.
For food, the animals on the island were cattle, sheep, donkeys, pigs, geese, fowls, dogs and cats. Mostly the meat was mutton with beef occasionally in the winter. Eggs were readily obtained from penguins, eaglets and mollyhawks. Fish could be obtained all year round. Potatoes were grown and took the place of bread. Borrow laments the frequent shortages of other foodstuffs due to the absence of passing ships; “Sometimes months go by without tea, coffee, sugar, flour, salt and soap being seen.” The rats were a problem which are frequently mentioned in her diary and letters,-
“The rats came from the Henry B. Paul which was wrecked on Tristan in 1882. Only about half-a-dozen got ashore, which Mr. Dodgson urged the men to kill, pointing out what trouble they would cause if not destroyed, but the men thought a few rats wouldn’t hurt, and did nothing.”
The supply of clothing was a continuing concern for the inhabitants as they rarely had any materials to make any. Borrow says that the women suffered from lack of clothing much more than the men as they were able to obtain men’s clothing from passing ships by barter but women’s clothing there was none.
Borrow’s account of her time on Tristan is, as she mentions: ” a simple and true description of daily life among a very small community cut off from the rest of the world.”
There are often touching and funny incidents as she tries to establish a Christian school from scratch for the local children. Her husband Graham too, as the local rector and unofficial policeman has to try and keep order, contending with fighting amongst the men over petty issues.
After three years they leave Tristan and return to Cape Town which they reach on 10th April, 1909 and they go to the cathedral to thank God for protecting them during their ordeal,-
“We embarked on one of the launches, and I must say it was delightful to step ashore and to enter what seemed to us almost a new world. That evening we found our way to the cathedral, and I think we could from our hearts give thanks for all God’s goodness to us. When we started forth four years ago I rather dreaded facing the world, but all along our path we have met with the greatest kindness and have made many new friends. In all we see God’s guiding Hand; and very especially did the arrival of the steamer at the very time we would have chosen make us feel conscious of God’s loving kindness and tender care.”
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[I’m taking a posting break from 23rd July,2018 to work on my blog about Thailand where I currently reside. Thanks for all your support.]
The constant traveller 