Boys explore lonely island

Press, 4 March 1983, Page 9

Boys explore lonely island

NZPA London Six schoolboys who spent four months exploring an uninhabited island in the South Atlantic flew home yesterday, saying that they had discovered four new species of snail and the wreck of an old East Indies trade ship. The pupils of Denstone College, a private school in the village of Denstone, about 190 km north-east of London, mapped and conducted biological surveys of Inaccessible Island, in the Tristan da Cunha group, about 1600 km west of Africa’s southern tip. Their expedition, led by a science teacher, Michael Swales, included three other teachers. The adventurers lived in a prefabricated hut they took with them.

Mr Swales said that the

group had discovered timbers and brass fittings from the wreck of the East Indian trading ship Blenden Hall, which ran aground in 1821.

“It is incredible to think that we were about the only people to visit the island. It’s in the loneliest group in the world. The only way we could land was in a rowboat. There was one small beach with a sheer 500-metre cliff.”

He said that the group had lived on a diet of potatoes they took with them, fish and birds.

The group was in radio contact with inhabited Tristan da Cunha island 35km away, but had never needed to call for help. “It was a great adventure,” said David Gilfillan. “There was no question of swimming — the sea was filled with sharks — so we brought our own shower.”