Away From Worldly

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Three New Zealanders Seek Isolation on Sunday Is.

EARLY in June the N.Z. yacht “Ngataki” hove to off a thickly wooded cove on uninhabited Sunday Island, in the Ker madec Group, 600 miles north-east of Auckland and 600 miles south from Tonga. A boat manned by three young men and loaded with supplies, corrugated iron, and a pair of Alsatians, put off from the vessel and slowly headed for the beach.

As the small boat grounded on the shingle, the “Ngataki’s” pennant dipped twice and the white yacht gracefully spread her wings and turned into the wake of the sun. Shading their eyes, Alfred Bacon and his two companions followed her until the sea-rim claimed the “Ngataki” as its own.

These three men intend to spend the rest of their lives in complete isolation on the 72,000 acres island. After build ing a house with the iron, they will clear

plantations and cultivate foodstuffs and fruit in the rich volcanic soil. Their Alsatian dogs will help to exterminate the myriads of rats which abound on the island.

Bacon was one of three New Zealanders concerned in the last tragic attempt to settle on the island in 1926. On that occasion, one of his companions, as a result of a minor cut on the hand, de veloped tetanus, and died. The others returned to New Zealand on the Govern ment steamer.

Ever since his return, Bacon has cherished a wish to go back to the island to end his days there.

The triangular island was discovered in 1793 by D’Entrecasteaux and named Raoul. Three years later Captain Raw son, of the Britannia, named it Sunday Island. Since then many attempts have been made to colonise this lonely speck in the Pacific.

Baker and Reid, with their families, arrived in 1837 and lived there for six years. Henry Cook and an American, Halstead, were there for two years before being driven away by an eruption of the island’s volcano. In 1878, Mr. Bell and a party of Niue natives sailed from Samoa to grow vegetables on the island. The Bell family remained for many years, eventually withdrawing to New Zealand in 1914, leaving Sunday Island uninhabited save for a colony of wild goats.

The island itself is the top of an extinct volcano, the crater of which is about a mile in diameter. It is the only inhabit able island in the Kermadec Group, and is covered with dense bush, palms, and tree ferns. It is an attractive place, but is handicapped by lack of a sheltered anchorage.