Henderson Island really is a gem. Not in the sense of its beauty and lush golden sandy beaches, although it does have these, but because it is so remote and uninhabited that UNESCO considers it of ‘Outstanding Universal Value’.
It’s the largest of the four Pitcairn Islands (which include Pitcairn, Ducie and Oeno) and lies 125 miles northeast of Pitcairn. The dimensions are 6 miles long by 3.2 miles wide and its centre comprises a plateau up to 30 metres high (almost 100 feet), covered in dense bush and rough coral.
Henderson has very little fresh water, is not suitable for agriculture and has no major landmass. Why then is it a gem in UNESCO’s eyes?
Despite its unfavourable conditions for humans, this island is considered one of the best raised and forested coral atoll ecosystems in the world. Although it is small it has a wide biological diversity, including four endemic species of land birds, large breeding seabird colonies and endemic plants. Its limited amount of human disturbance has provided researchers ideal conditions to study island evolution and natural selection.
Not that it has always been uninhabited. This remarkable British Overseas Territory (as part of the Pitcairn group), is considered to have been discovered by Spanish captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros in 1606, naming it San Juan Bautista island. However, some sources consider there might have been occupation by the Polynesians as early as AD 800.
In 1819 it was the British East India Company ship, Hercules, that visited and named the island after its Captain Henderson. It was also known for a while as Elizabeth Island after a visit also in 1819 by Captain Henry King of the ship Elizabeth. Today, however, it is known as Henderson Island.
There have been reports of a cave on the island containing evidence of past life including a trough to catch running water, and a fan-shaped shell perhaps used as a utensil, plus ovens and charcoal nearby. Skeletons were also discovered, thought to be the remains of mariners shipwrecked in the area in the 1800s.
Although we disembarked our ship with extremely high hopes as we always did regarding our potential landing, on this occasion it was not to be. We had been warned that landing on the island is ‘extremely difficult’ and required guests to ‘have a good hold, good balance, and to get off the Zodiacs in a swift manner!’.
Despite our willingness, Mother Nature cast her spell. Rough sea around the island made it far too difficult to land. What’s more, the heavens opened leaving us all like drowned rats (a little more about rats later!).
Not to be disappointed, the Expedition Team took us for a Zodiac trip around the island for an hour or so in the pouring rain, during which time we managed to peer from under our jacket hoods at a few surfacing humpback whales.
Nobody complains about the weather on these trips. Those brave enough to venture out on the Zodiacs are keen to see every little bit possible of the planned itinerary!
So now for a little bit of what we might have seen. Apart from enjoying the sandy beaches and the clear seawater with its abundance of fish, crabs and other molluscs, to have ventured into the centre of the island would have been extremely tricky underfoot with its sharp, craggy, coral. But trees and plants have managed to grow, including the beautifully-coloured hardwoods Miro and Tou still used today by the Pitcairn Islanders to make their curios for the tourists. The vegetation from such trees provide good compost for other plants to survive. A survey in 2004 found 71 species of plants, some of which were endemic. Amongst these were ferns and lichen.
Different areas of this small island contained different plants, depending on whether they were inland or beside particular coastal areas. Although some non-endemics had been introduced by humans, many may have reached Henderson by floating on the sea, or perhaps via birdlife. Bear in mind also that some of these plants have adapted to survive seawater spray and strong winds.
According to the RSPB (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), this island has more than 55 species not found anywhere else on earth, including four species of land birds: (all pre-fixed Henderson) being the lorikeet, rail, reed-warbler and fruit dove (to have got to see another of these beautiful birds would have been a treat – oops, slipping into birding mode now).
In 2004 it was estimated there were up to 80,000 pairs of breeding seabirds on this small island. These include the Henderson, Murphy’s and Kermadec petrels, but also an abundance of other birds we have become familiar with – if not always by sight, certainly by name. These include the masked booby, great frigatebird, red-tailed tropicbird and the brown noddy. Butterflies, land snails and insects (how did they get there?), and crabs are also on the land, along with nesting habitats for endangered marine turtles.
The abundance of birds today has much to do with the eradication attempts of the birding community to kill off the rats which will eat each and every bird egg laid. Our bird expert Peter Harrison told us much about this. On some islands this expensive work had been a total success, but on Henderson it was not. Every rat has to be eradicated, otherwise an island will soon be back with large numbers.
Henderson was not easy for dropping bait. An airdrop could not succeed as bait can land on trees, get wet and then be ineffective. Instead, bait has to be hand dropped by individuals. At the time of our sailing, funds were being sought and it is hoped that another attempt can be carried out in the years to come. Such activities in this remote region cost millions of pounds to achieve.
Despite being absolutely drenched, and right through in John’s case as his new waterproof jacket proved not to be waterproof, we returned invigorated. At least we had tried to get onto Henderson, and like many others before us, did not succeed, but we did see a few whales in the murky distance.
Copyright: Words and photos (unless otherwise stated) Sue Barnard 2022
Goodness Sue – that looks quite rough!! Xx