Reported by Sail-World Cruising

Some British cruising sailors who stopped off at a remote island “because they liked the look of it” instead found the islanders in a state of stress because of the lack of food supplies.

The island, Kanton, is part of the Kiribati group of islands in the South Pacific.

Skipper Alex Bond is now helping co-ordinate an international rescue for the inhabitants.

Bond and three crew members had anchored off Kanton Island on their way from Hawaii to Australia when they discovered that the 14 adults and 10 children who live there were surviving on just fish and coconuts in their village of Tebaronga. They were most concerned for the diet of the children on the island.

So the cruising sailors acted immediately. Bond, 46, from Penryn, Cornwall, contacted coastguards in Britain who relayed the message to the US coastguard and authorities in Honolulu.

“We were greeted by the islanders who were in a right state. It was the kids who were really bad. They have trouble growing what they need because of problems with the soil and were in desperate need of fruit, veg, rice, sugar and flour.”

The islanders told the crew that their delivery of supplies was three months late and that a boat would not arrive for another five weeks.

Bond said: “We gave them what we could from the yacht and radioed home to get them more help. They were extremely glad to see us and we’ve stayed on to help co-ordinate the food delivery. We’re not leaving until I know they are OK. They are wonderful people.”

Richard Williams, of Falmouth coastguard, said the crew’s action had saved lives and supplies were now on their way. “So far, we have been given a shopping list of provisions such as cooking fat, rice, sugar and flour which we have passed on to the Americans,” said Williams.

Kanton Atoll, which is part of Kiribati, is a narrow ribbon of land with just one village, located in the Phoenix Islands, just about as remote as they can be. The enclosed lagoon has an area of 40 square kilometres. Kanton’s closest neighbor is the uninhabited island of Enderbury, about 30Nm to the south. The capital of Kiribati, South Tarawa, lies about 800Nm to the west.

Many remote islands in the South Pacific benefit greatly by the visits of cruising yachties, who are almost the only foreigners they ever see, and they trade fish and home-made jewelery or carvings for jam, nails, flour, rice, fishing hooks, pens, Tshirts, notebooks etc. Cargo ships often ply these remote communities on an irregular basis, bringing staples such as rice and flour, but as money is often not used on the islands, they have difficulty purchasing these.

By Sail-World Cruising