Islands of Refreshment
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| Islands of Refreshment | ||
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| Date of foundation | February 4, 1811 | |
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| Leadership | Jonathan Lambert | |
| Purported organisational structure | Monarchy | |
| Language | English | |
| Purported currency | Spanish dollar | |
| Capital | Reception | |
Islands of Refreshment was the name given to Tristan da Cunha by its self-proclaimed ruler Jonathan Lambert in 1811.
At this time American whalers frequented the neighboring waters and, on December 27, 1810, the Boston ship the Baltic put ashore an American named Jonathan Lambert "late of Salem, mariner and citizen thereof" along with one Thomas Currie or Tomasso Corri in his employ, and a man named Williams. These three were the first permanent inhabitants of Tristan, and they were soon joined by one Andrew Millet.
Lambert declared himself sovereign and sole possessor of the island group (which he renamed Islands of Refreshment) "grounding my right and claim on the rational and sure ground of absolute occupancy."[1] Lambert's sovereignty was short lived, as he, Williams, and Millet were drowned while out fishing on May 17, 1812. Currie was joined, however, by two other men and they busied themselves in growing vegetables, wheat and oats, and in breeding pigs.[2]
War having broken out in 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the islands were largely used as a base by American cruisers sent to prey on British merchant ships. This and other considerations urged by Lord Charles Henry Somerset, then governor of Cape Colony in South Africa, led the British government to authorize the islands being taken possession of as dependencies of the Cape. The formal proclamation of annexation was made on August 14, 1816. This is reported to have primarily been a measure to ensure that the French would not be able to use the islands as a base for a rescue operation to free the deposed Napoleon I of France from his prison on Saint Helena.
