Suwarrow

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Suwarrow (also called Suvorov or Suvarov) is a low coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is about 1,300 km south of the equator and 825 km northwest of Rarotonga, from which it is administered.

It was uninhabited when discovered by the Russian ship "Suvorov", which reportedly followed clouds of birds to the island on September 17, 1814. (The ship was named after Russian general Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, who appears as "Suwarrow" in Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan.) It has been only intermittently inhabited since. The Island name has also been spelled variously as "Souvorow", "Souwaroff" and "Souworoff". "Suwarrow" is the official spelling adopted by New Zealand.

Suwarrow was described by Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson as "the most romantic island in the world", but it was not the model for her husband's famous book, Treasure Island. It can lay claim to being a real treasure island though. In the mid 19th century (records dispute whether it was 1855 or 1848), a ship from Tahiti was carrying out salvage work when a box containing NZ$15,000 worth of coins was dug up.^{[citation needed]} Some years later, New Zealander Henry Mair found pieces of eight in a turtle nest. Mair became involved in a row, the find was covered up and it has never been rediscovered. ^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, Robert Dean Frisbie and several coast watchers lived on the largest islet, Anchorage. Frisbie wrote about his experiences in The Island of Desire. In 1942, a hurricane washed away 16 of the 22 islets in the atol. The coastwatchers left a hut with water tanks behind, and left wild pigs and chickens on the islet.

New Zealander Tom Neale lived alone on Suvorov for a total of 16 years in three periods between 1952 and 1977. He described his experience in the first two of those periods in An Island to Oneself (1966 ISBN 0-918024-76-5).

In 1978 the island was declared a National Park of the Cook Islands due to the unique marine and bird wild life it supports. Officially it is designated Crown Land which means it is owned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Nowadays a caretaker resides on Anchorage Island. The only way to visit the island is with a private yacht or by chartered expedition from Rarotonga.

[edit] See also

• Suwarrow National Park

[edit] External links

• Suwarrow National Park
• Suwarrow - A Real Treasure Island
• Suwarrow - Island of Mystery
• An Island to Oneself: The story of Tom Neale
• Welcome to Suvorov
• Suwarrow and Palmerston Photo Gallery
• Expeditions to Suwarrow - Operator's Web Site

[edit] References

• Robert Dean Frisbie. The Island of Desire. (Text online).
• Tom Neale. An Island to Oneself. 1966. ISBN 0-918024-76-5.
• J. Y. Waterworth. "Siege of Suwarrow". Published in the magazine Walkabout March 1, 1954, pp 34 & 35.