Tristan da Cunha: Building the Most Remote Settlement on Earth 

I went there in 1994 with the Royal Navy, I got drunk in the bar and bough a Tristan tea mug , and yes, all the locals look the same , it was a great experience . Coincidentally I was drinking in a bar in Brighton and started a conversation with a guy who looked familiar and it turns out that he was from Tristan 😂😂, now that’s a small world

Jim Sim...thank you for an accurate video without dramatization.. I lived on tristan from 1957...to1961... when the volcano erupted .my father got the job of ...agricultural superintendent. Which should be translated as ...all round tradesman and food production advisor he got the village hall built he installed running water plus stand pipes to houses plus external flush toilets . Also started planting canary pine forestry at sand point .we as kids had a fantastic time .my father let us roam with strict instructions .. if we heard the big refineries whistle we stop what we are doing and come home PDQ .we could hear that whistle at most places on the settlement plateau .the other thing dad did was show us how to do things safely using ropes when climbing cliffs not going into stupid places ..waves ..scree slopes ..cliff edges ..etc etc .. we were the only outside children who were ollowed to roam we played with the island kids and had fun .we also went out lobster fishing with the Francis repetto crew in the cobbles plus the tristania crew. We caught five finger snook mackerel took them home and had good fresh fish dinners .this place taught me more than most schooling I have had .I am useless with writing average at math but I am good at 90 percent trade or mechanical subjects .if it broke on tristan you fixed it or you did not have one . Untill the order you sent by sea to Capetown which was cabled to England. Then purchased by a relative .packed mailed via the next antarctic research ship usually John Briscoe or Shackleton or if lucky navy ..linx puma protector ...4 ...6 ...months later you get replacement .if it was a fridge bad luck our fridge ran on paraffin and was brilliant all cooking was on an assortment of primus stoves I think about 5 oven stove top griddle even the iron was pump up paraffin mum spent a lot of time pumping primusesplus iron .when I came back to England it took me 2...3YRS to get back to English ideas learning. I was backward . Secondary school I flew threw 4 th to 1st stream in1 YR due to practical subjects .a place like tristan can teach you a lot without schooling . But you will never work in an office .I like freedom of .movement open air and scenery to much ...

Omg this sooo reminds me of living on Midway’s Sand Island. 150 permanent residents with approximately 75 Filipino’s , 42 Sri Lakans, 12 Thai, 12 Japanese, a couple of S Koreans and a couple of Aussie. We used to believe we were the second most remote island group in the world. It was a Fish & Wildlife Refuge. Great video, thanks! 😁

I lived here as a child and this video made me very nostalgic - great video!

I became interested in Tristan as a kid when a man who had worked as a schoolteacher there for a few years came and gave a talk at our school. Tbh, he made it sound more developed and pleasant than it looks. A man who was the only policeman on Tristan wrote a book about his experiences around 15 years ago. It’s a good read with a lot of information about the island.

The construction of St Helena's airport is worthy of a Megaprojects video of its own given the remoteness. Even in the limited time it's been open pre-COVID flight operations were constrained by the cross winds at the site (only discovered AFTER construction was nearly complete) and the lack of a suitable diversion airfield apart from Ascension Island.

What I believe is currently their sole supply ship, the MV Lance is currently berthed across the Quay from me in Cape Town Harbour. They are busy taking on supplies & cargo in preparation to depart later tonight for the Island.

I do remember the eruption in1961 as a 9 year old.I’ve been fascinated ever since.Thank you for the informative update.

I have visited the island twice, spending seven weeks there, and it is a dream of a vacation spot. The friendliest people you will ever meet who will feed you the best potatoes and crawfish (rock lobster) you have ever eaten. Circumnavigate the island and take a trip to Nightingale if you can. It's a weeklong trip by sea from Cape Town so the first encounters you will have with Tristanians will likely be on the boat going there.

Must admit, I've always wanted to visit Tristan da Cunha. That boat trip put me off a spur-of-the-moment visit, but a more considered, perhaps lengthier visit is on my bucket list.

Brought back memories of when I was Foreign Office desk officer for Tristan. Never got to visit the place, no money available. But spent hours in London dealing with lobsters and conservation. Also spent a surprising amount of time in correspondence with Garter King of Arms about getting it a coat of arms

I cannot resist the idea of coming up with a strange and wonderful story, with strange and wonderful characters, set many years ago on Tristan da Cunha. I find something irresistibly appealing in the idea of a story that no one in the outside world can ever know about, let alone believe. I do wonder what things might have happened in that tiny, extremely isolated community in the past, that no one will ever know about. Call me crazy.

My late grandfather took part in the evacuation of the island in 1961 due to the volcanic eruption, sailing there from Cape Town. I have a stack of old photos that he took back then. He sailed the world, but he found the people from Tristan to be the most fascinating as they were completely cut off from the rest of the world.

1:45 - Chapter 1 - Geography 3:45 - Chapter 2 - History 7:55 - Chapter 3 - Present Day 11:15 - Chapter 4 - New challenges

Thank you for this introduction to Tristan da Cunha. The stories of how human settlements of all kinds are born and evolve are fascinating. Every one is different in some way. I think we should look to places like Tristan as examples for future (hopefully!) interplanetary settlements. Of course, on Tristan we can breathe the air and there's plenty of water, God knows, but this remote settlement has a lot to teach us about people and how they can work together, adapting to apparently impossible conditions.

It is amazing a tiny, isolated place like that can keep a community viable and going all these years. Yet another excellent Simon Whistler presentation.

This certainly was different, but I really enjoyed it. I always wondered what life would be like on such an isolated place, and now I have a better idea. Thank you!

By coincidence I was thinking about the people of Tristan earlier today, then up pops Simon with a video about the place! Nothing spooky though as it was news reports about Tonga and the volcano there that triggered the memory of the Tristans and their volcanic problems 60-odd years ago.

Great video Simon as always, I feel very privileged to have visited the island during my time the the Royal Navy on a trip from the Falkland Islands to Simonstown in South Africa back in October 2011. A fantastic bunch of people were there to meet us and make us feel very welcome. The one memento I have is the fridge magnet I have from there, one that I know not many people will have the good fortune to get. and the Crawfish were great too. As the ships head chef I had the pleasure of serving these local delicacies to my crew.

Reminds me a lot of Pitcairn Island. Really cool to see how people live far from civilization.

Anyone else make up words and sing along to the intro music? "Mega-mega projects, mega projects, mega projects. They're really really really cool!" No, just me?

LOVE stories like this! isolated island communities like Tristan, Pitcairn, Rapa Nui etc. endlessly fascinate me, and ive more then once seriously considered emigrating to Pitcairn. More like this please!

That was fascinating. Never heard of this island before and now I really want to visit. Such a unique place. What a cool story, thanks Simon and team!

What an interesting place! Have you ever covered Pitcairn Island on any of your channels? It's also very remote and isolated and has a great story.

Been there. I did Ascension and At Helena too. All stunning places.

I thought the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific were the most remote, but hey ho.

You should take a look at the history of Citadel Laferriere -- a fortress built in Haiti by a rather brutal regime of the early 1800s. For its time it was most certainly a very impressive megaproject and its story is colorful to say the least. It cost many lives! And remains impressive to this day. I first read of it in a National Geographic Magazine dating from December of 1920 (I have a nearly complete collection).

At one point I was about to apply for a position as a mechanic there. Salary was faboulous! At last, I desisted. These postions are offered from time to time.

This was super interesting, I'd never heard of these people and their home.

Thank you for your Channel update God bless you

Great video! I've been fascinated with this place for about 2 years now. Don't remember how I heard about it but I remember marveling at its remoteness. Please, keep up the fantastic work.

Really enjoyed this. I have previously seen documentaries about these islands but this had a lot more detail and was easy to follow… thanks a bunch for making it. I continue to enjoy all your videos…

Thank you for creating this video!

I love this series on tiny nations and remote territories of the world. So fascinating how people live in situations that would be foreign to us in the western world.

Really cool! Thank you for sharing

Hi Simon, My Grandfather was stationed on Tristan as a radio operator for the British Navy in the 1940's. Hi wife joined him there. After a year she couldn't take the isolation and diet of potatoes. She said they would take the next ship to Cape Town and divorce! She went back to Britain, my grandfather stayed here and met my Grandmother. I think I should thank his ex wife for being alive 😅

You should do a series on one of your channels on the world’s remote islands!

I really liked this episode 👍 It's fun to learn about little know or little explored places like this. Thank you! 😊

Gotta love Simon's video narrations ! Thank you Simon.

Top little number well researched and delivered. Keep up the good work mate.

Thank you for this interesting piece.

Excellent video loved to here all of this. I hope that thos grows and Tristan da chuna keeps growing and facing the odds

Great episode, more like this please, like the cook islands etc. I heard of this island when I was in school in the sixties, but then I discovered motorbikes and as you said they only have one road so that was that.

This was really interesting. Thanks. Happy to see more like this in the channel

Thank you. This is truly interesting. Love this video. Talk about getting away from it all.

I really enjoyed this video, Thanks.

I always wondered what was the most remote place on Earth, thank you for the answer. Loved the video Simon.

Super interesting! Thank you 😊

Loved this one! What an interesting community/corner of the world!

Very interesting and thank you !

Cannot imagine living there. There is NO life guard at the Gene Pool. Thanks, Simon. As always.

I was just reading about Tristan da Cunha in Discover Magazine. Fascinating place. If I had the money, I'd definitely visit.

Never heard of this amazing little place before. Excellent video team 👏

Loved this video,! You definitely need to do one on Sealand now. :)

Very interesting. Thanks

Very much enjoyed.

loved it. more please

Thank you for this pocket overview of T da C. 👏 It’s a very unique place with delightful people - wish I could have stayed longer, but the ocean (as ever) was very rough and disembarking the ship onto a small boat was an adventure in itself! It was a long voyage there from St Helena via Cape Town.

More remote than I thought possible in this day and age. Weeks to get there. Impressive video bringing this to light Simon

I can't be the only one who thought of the 'B-52s' when Simon said 'rock lobster', can I? :P

I have always been a big Fan of the tristanian culture and it is really cool seeing you commenting about the island. Huge thumbs up for you!

Please more like this! I love The Faraway places with current pictures

Outstanding, yet again.

Keep those MegaProjects coming Simon. Somehow you find the intricates that a documentary can't find. I will keep watching. Your humor is outstanding AF

This one is fabulous. Please do more on isolated communities including ones in the Arctic.

Yes, more content like this please

Very interesting Nomis!!! Well don, another great video fella

Fascinating!

Interesting. Thanks, Stay Well.

Bita Bing Bita Bang, nice job. Concise, as much history as I'm interested in. Found this burg on Google Earth, now I know more about it then anyone else at any cocktail party I'll attend for my entire life. Thank you.

Every now and again a few Tristans would be at my local bar in CapeTown. They'd be staying at Tristan da Cunha House and getting supplies, etc.

That's the place of my dreams! Barely inhabited, isolated and surrounded by the ocean.

It seems that tourism would be the best thing. Mountain climbing, nature watching. If a small resort could be built with pool, observation decks, boat excursions, local cuisine, and local history would be a great experience.

Could you do an episode on the SU-27 Flanker? One of my favorite planes. Love watching your videos Simon 👍

Thanks Simon. Today I learnt something, so it is definitely not a wasted day.

Is this the right channel? I feel like this should be on Geographics lol. Great video! I've always been curious about Tristan da Cunha.

Good video.... Please do more.

"we just can't have nice things" 😂😂🤣🤣🤣 too true

This was a cool one. I dig it. More like this would be cool to see.

Fascinating

A bit different than the normal MegaProjects topics, but very interesting! I knew about St. Helena, but didn't know that it was part of a group of other extremely distant British islands. Well done Simon and team 😊❤

Good one

Well done Simon.

Was literally searching about this last night, only to wake up to a vid by one of my favorite channels on this exact topic 👏🏼

Reminds me of two years stationed on Diego Garcia British Indian Ocean Territory in the 70's. Saturday nite at the Brit Club listening to soccer games piped in over MRSAT. Lovely island.

Found this very interesting as an aquintance of mine is responsible for co-ordinating Catholic chaplaincies in the British posessions in the Atlantic, and regularly visits Tristan. Hoping to join him on one of those journeys when this covid thing eases up.

Thanks for the cover. I been seeing this Island everytime I do google search.

Good video 👍

Lovely video Simon 🔥 My fourth grade social sciences teacher told us about it and the eruption of the volcano which could be heard around the world 🌍 Core memory unlocked

fascinating!

I love your videos

Wonderful!

This was awesome

Didn't even realize that the channel was megaprojects at first, lol! Simon could probably show up and present info in basically any combination of video and channel that shows up in my recommendations and I wouldn't even bat an eye at this point, apparently 😅 Keep up the gr8 work!

Ascension Island would be interesting for a video too, the island was effectively terraformed by humans planting trees on the barren hills of the island over a hundred years ago.

Loved it...

A part of the world that I have long found fascinating. Looking at those choppy waves is a wake up call that just sailing in for a visit is a fantasy that I should abandon. However it would be somewhere that I would like to go if given the chance.

A Call of Cthulhu real play podcast I really like set a scenario here. It’s great to hear more information about it!

Wow! I would totally love to visit there!

Hey Simon can you do a topic one amazing feats of construction or the like by a single person. Or as few people as possible. I'd love to hear what insane things loaners built by themselves. Your loyal fan Tom.