The story of Tin Can Mail

Abstract

On the remote country of Tonga in the South Pacific, there is a very special island. Its name is Niuafo'ou but is most commonly known as Tin Can Island. The story begins back in 1882 when William Travers, a plantation manager working for the firm Osternman Dervy & Company in Sydney, Australia, found himself 'marooned' on this tiny doughnut-shaped island half way between Fiji and Samoa. It is nothing more than the tip of a volcano jutting out of the vast blue waters of the Pacific. Just a couple of miles out, he could see the passenger liners steaming past, but none ever called because the island had no harbour and no beaches. In fact the steep sides plunge six miles down to the bottom of the Tong an Trench making it impossible to anchor and hard to land even a rowing boat. [excerpt]