Tromelin Island – the most amazing survival story

We know many heroic stories of survival on uninhabited islands both in the southern latitudes and in the harsh north. But the story that happened in the 18th century on the island of Tromelin in the Indian Ocean is special. A piece of land consisting of coral and sand, with almost no vegetation and absolutely no water sources, has become a home for 70 people for many years.

Tromelin Island is located 450 km east of Madagascar and is completely uninhabitable. Even in the 18th century, when the French colonialists were actively engaged in the slave trade, this piece of land remained away from the sea routes. He could not offer the sailors anything interesting, because apart from sand and crabs, there was nothing on it.

But in 1761, a slaver ship l'utile ("Useful") appeared near the island. The captain did not want to meet the warships because he did not have a license for this shameful craft. Simply put, the scoundrel not only trafficked people, but also did not pay taxes for it.

An attempt to pass away from the busy sea routes past a deserted island ended in misfortune. At night, the ship ran into reefs in poorly studied waters and began to sink rapidly. On board were 160 Malagasy slaves from Madagascar and fifty French sailors.

Only 70 slaves and 20 sailors managed to escape. These people on boats and just swam to the sandy island, which became their home. The Malagasy could not get even with their abusers, despite the numerical superiority. The French had firearms with them.

Two camps appeared on the small island and neutrality was established. The French, having collected the wreckage of l'utile, managed to build a primitive longboat and soon left the island. Before leaving, they promised their dark-skinned brothers in misfortune to send help as soon as they reached civilization.

But the slavers did not fulfill their promise. The fact is that in the 18th century the cost of slaves was negligible and often people were cheaper than cattle. Therefore, no one began to equip a rescue expedition and the unfortunate Malagasy people were simply forgotten. There was no chance for people to be saved, because the place where they were in distress was almost not visited by ships.

15 years have passed and people still appeared near the island. A warship under the command of Captain Bernard de Tromelin was passing by and on a piece of land looking from the mast noticed human figures.

A boat was sent to the island, which later received the name of Captain de Tromelin. The sailors on the sandy shore were met by the last inhabitants of the inhospitable land – 7 women and one baby. All of them were taken to the ship and taken to the island of Mauritius, where the rescued were given freedom.

The story of the survival of people on the island of Tromelin for 15 long years was amazing and heroic. The unfortunate had to eat shellfish, crabs and turtles. But if there was scanty food on the island, then it was very bad with water. It had to be collected during infrequent rains in small copper containers salvaged from a sunken ship.

Surprisingly, the Malagasy people did not lose heart. They built coral houses on the island and built an oven in which they cooked simple seafood. In 2006, scientists went to the island, who for the first time studied the traces of 70 Robinsons on this piece of land.

Archaeologists were surprised by how people were able to squeeze everything out of Tromelin that he could give. Work on the exploration of the island has not yet been completed. Currently, the island is no longer considered uninhabited. There is a meteorological station on it that studies the movement of air masses over the Indian Ocean.

And the island of Tromelin, which no one needed for centuries, turned out to be a disputed territory! France and Mauritius have been arguing for the right to possess it in international courts for decades.