Palmerston Island
Palmerston Island is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean about 500 km northwest of Rarotonga. It was discovered by James Cook on 16 June 1774.
A true atoll, Palmerston Island consists of a number of sandy islets on a continuous ring of coral reef enclosing a lagoon. The largest of the islets include Palmerston, North Island, Lee To Us, Leicester, Primrose, Toms, and Cooks. The total land area of the islets is approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). The coral reef covers about 3,600 acres (15 km2). The lagoon is some 7 miles (11 km) across, covering an area of 56 square kilometres (22 sq mi). There are several small passages through the reef for boats, though there is no safe entry for large ships. At a latitude of 18 degrees south, Palmerston enjoys a tropical climate but is exposed to severe tropical cyclones. A particularly destructive series of storms occurred during the 1920s and 1930s.
All the islets are wooded with coconut palms, pandanus, and native trees. There is some natural ground water on Palmerston but water captured from rainfall is preferred for drinking. Shellfish inhabit the reef, and fish are abundant although there are concerns about overfishing. There are only 62 people living in Palmerston, all but three descended from an Englishman named William Marsters (see History, below).
The economy is based on fishing, tourism, copra, and bird feathers, though Palmerston’s extreme remoteness makes a cash market difficult to maintain; in fact it is more like the subsistence ways of life in the northern atolls. Electricity and other modern utilities are available on the island. A recently built telephone station provides the only permanent link to the outside world. The island has no airport or regular air service, but cargo ships visit a few times a year.
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