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If you're really feeling adventurous, try gaining permission to visit
Swains Island, 220mi (350km) north-north-west of Tutuila. The privately
owned island is a 1.25 sq mi (3.25 sq km) ring of land surrounding a
brackish lagoon. Culturally and geographically it belongs to the Tokelau
Islands, but politically it's a far more vexed issue. Without going into
all the details, sovereignty of the island has bounced from Britain to
New Zealand to the USA in the past 75 years. The atoll of Swains
Island consists of a low-lying ring of coral surrounding a shallow and
hypersaline central lagoon that has no connection to the open ocean. The
outer perimeter of the atoll (around 13 km in circumference) consists of
flat coral reefs that are awash at low tide (tan coloured areas in the
above image). A single island (Swains Island) of 2.5 km˛ forms a
ring-shaped, continuous, landmass between the lagoon and the outer
reefs. Most of the original vegetation of the island has been replaced
with coconut palm.
The first European
discoverer of the island was Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, who landed there
in 1606, naming it de Quiros’ Island. It was unvisited by Europeans
until 1840 when Captain W.C. Swains of New Bedford, Massachusetts
visited the island thinking he was the first to land on the island and
named it Swain’s Island. However, a British captain, Capt. Turnbull, who
also claimed to have discovered the island, sold Swains Island to an
American, Eli Hutchinson Jennings Sr. In 1956 he and his Samoan wife
moved to the island, claiming it with an American Flag.
In the early 1990s, the
Toklauan government threatened to 'declare war on the US' and launch a
canoe invasion of the island - home to one family, hired labourers and a
copra plantation - but nothing has happened as yet. Visiting the island
requires the permission of the Jennings family, favours from the Marine
and Wildlife Resources Officer in Fagatogo, and negotiations with charter
boat companies.The island is a ring of
sand and coral, a mile and a half east and west, a mile wide, and
nowhere more than 20 feet high, surrounding a shallow lagoon, which is
only slightly brackish, with no surface connection with the sea. Most of
the land, from the crest of the narrow ocean beach to the very edge of
the lagoon, is thickly covered with vegetation, about 800 acres of
coconut palms and various trees and shrubs found widespread in the
Pacific.
Besides the present official name of
Swains Island, the island is also known by its native Tokelau name of
Olosenga (or Olohega), and as Quiros Island, Gente Hermosa, and Jennings
Island. These names outline its long and varied history.
A belt road circles the island, about
half way between sea and lagoon. Along this ran an ancient Ford truck,
collecting coconuts and carrying workmen and supplies. The Jennings
family lived in a frame house about 3/4 mile down the road from the
village, on the south side. The spot was called "Etena" (Eden), but it
was more generally referred to as "The Residency." A power-driven
generator supplied electricity for lights and radio. Swimming in the
lagoon was available from a short pier. The edge of the lagoon is
shallow, but parts of it reach a depth of 8 fathoms (48 feet).
Periodic visits are paid by the station
ship from Pago Pago; and of recent years U.S. coast guard and naval
vessels have stopped on their routine trips south. The lagoon may be too
small for seaplanes; but the island is certainly one of the most
beautiful and picturesque under the American flag. Were it not for the
mosquitoes and small flies, it would be quite an island paradise.
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