ABOUT FALCON ISLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 246, 18 October 1927, Page 6

ABOUT FALCON ISLAND.

*i. IX 2T ell ever y warshi P that finds itself in the South Pacifi* has a look in some time or other at Falcon Island, that curious submarine volcano that comes up every now and again for a long breather in the restless shallows of the Tonga Sea. Just now, as reported by one of our cruisers at Fiji, the volcano's mile-long summit is well above water. As likely as not the next gunboat that investigates those sulphurous seas will find that it has bobbed down bMftw again, like a sounding

It was H.M.s. Egeria, one of the old-time barque-rigged Navy vessels on this station that first made a survey of Falcon Island, which had appeared from below in 1885. With the Egeria's visit, too, began a series of annexations, which were apparently regarded by the volcano god as a huge joke. The survey vessel's commander landed on the black island in 1889 and took possession of it for the British Government, disregarding the fact that it was really in the Friendly Archipelago. The island was then 150 ft high, and small coconut trees, no doubt germinated from driftaway nuts, were already growing there. A year later a vessel which visited the place found nothing but a low reef against which the surf beat high. The 150 ft cliff and the Egeria's flagstaff which had been planted on it had both disappeared.

Then the French took a hand in 1892, when Falcon Island had pushed itself up a trifle higher. It was now 27ft above sea level, with a growth of green bushes. The French cruiser, the Duchaffault, hoisted the tricolour, and when 6he was well out of sight the volcano sounded again. Two or three years later, the Government of Tonga decided that it would try its luck at flaghoisting; it sent a schonoer up from Nukualofa and caught Mr. Falcon on the hop. The Tongan flag was hoisted, some coconut trees were planted, and a hut was built on the south end of the islet, which was a mass of rocks, shell and red clay. It was named Kehekehe-fefine, but this obviously was_ not appreciated—perhaps because it was a feminine name—and down went the island and stayed down for several years. For some time it was marked as a "dangerous reef." The German gunboat Cormoran passed that way in 1913, and possibly would have annexed it, but it had vanished altogether. Now it is some 300 ft high, but clearly you can't tell how high it will be twenty-four hours hence. This is the kind of thing that makes navigation so delightful a job in the Tonga Seas. We New Zealanders certainly should take some interest in the goingson of Falcon volcano, for it is just alongside the direct route from Auckland to Samoa. —TALOFA.