Henderson Island (formerly also San Juan Bautista and Elizabeth Island) is an uninhabited island in the south

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. It is part of the Pitcairn Island Group, together with

Pitcairn The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four i ...

, Oeno, and Ducie Islands. Measuring , it has an area of and is located northeast of

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff coastline. Unlike many other ...

. It has poor soil and little fresh water, and is unsuitable for agriculture. There are three beaches on the northern end and the remaining coast comprises steep (mostly undercut) cliffs up to in height. In 1902, it was annexed to the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four is ...

colony, which is now a

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Br ...

. Henderson is one of the last two

raised coral atoll A raised coral atoll or uplifted coral atoll is an atoll that has been lifted high enough above sea level by tectonic forces to protect it from scouring by storms and enable soils and diverse – often endemic – species of flora and fauna to de ...

s in the world whose ecosystems remain relatively unaffected by human contact, along with

Aldabra Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 ...

in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. In 1988, it was designated a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

by the United Nations. Ten of its 51 flowering plants, all four of its land birds and about a third of the identified insects and

gastropods The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. The ...

are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

– a remarkable diversity given the island's size.

History

The island was settled by

Polynesians Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sou ...

— possibly as early as 800 CE — but by the 1600s it had been abandoned. There is good evidence that the island was continuously occupied for a 600-year period sometime between those dates. The reasons for the inhabitants’ disappearance remain uncertain, but they may relate to an exhaustion of resources and to the disappearance around the same time of the Polynesians on

, on whom those on Henderson would have relied for many of the basics of life, especially for the stone needed to make tools. The Pitcairn Polynesians may in turn have disappeared because of the decline of nearby Mangareva; thus, Henderson was at the end of a chain of small, dependent colonies of Mangareva. On 29 January 1606, Portuguese captain Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, leading a Spanish expedition in search of the fabled great south land ( Terra Australis), was the first European to see the island, and named it ''San Juan Bautista''. More than 200 years later, on 17 January 1819, Captain Henderson of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

ship ''Hercules'' rediscovered the island. Six weeks later, on 2 March 1819, Captain Henry King, in the ''Elizabeth'', landed on the island to find the king's colours already flying. His crew scratched the name of their ship into a tree, and for a while the island was known as both Elizabeth and Henderson Island. Thomas Raine, master of the ship ''Surry'' of London, named it Henderson's Island because it appeared to him, from a conversation he had with James Henderson at

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, to have been Henderson's discovery. On 20 November 1820, a

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

rammed and sank the Nantucket whaleship ''Essex'' (a report of which inspired

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

to write '' Moby-Dick''), and the ship's 20 crewmen arrived at Henderson on 20 December in three small

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

s. They found the island's only known drinkable water source – a brackish spring on the north shore, exposed at half tide – and ate fish, birds, eggs, crabs and

peppergrass ''Lepidium'' is a genus of plants in the mustard/cabbage family, Brassicaceae. The genus is widely distributed in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. In 1902, Henderson Island, along with Oeno and Ducie islands, was formally annexed to the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

by Captain G. F. Jones, who visited the islands in a cutter with a crew of Pitcairn Islanders. In August 1937, HMS ''Leander'', on a journey from Europe to New Zealand, carried out an aerial survey of Henderson, Oeno and Ducie, and, on each island, a British flag was planted and an inscription was nailed up proclaiming: "This island belongs to H.B.M. King George VI".

In 1957, a 27-year-old American, Robert Tomarchin, lived the life of a castaway on the island for approximately two months, accompanied by a pet chimpanzee, apparently as a publicity stunt, until people from Pitcairn rescued him in two longboats. In the early 1980s, the American businessman Arthur "Smiley" Ratliff expressed interest in establishing a mansion for himself on the island, with an airstrip. The Pitcairn Island Council approved his plans but, after environmentalists lobbied to protect the natural ecology and environment of the island, the British

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

overrode the decision and vetoed the proposed development. Henderson Island was listed as a

in 1988. In 2019, a group of scientists, journalists, film makers, and artists took part in an expedition to Henderson Island to investigate

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

and marine litter on the island. Five members of the expedition became stranded on the island when their inflatable craft capsized. In 2021, Pitcairn Islanders participated in a scientific expedition to assess the effects of climate change. In March 2022 a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

survey by HMS ''Spey'', as part of an effort to update maritime charts regarding British Overseas Territories, found the island to be 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) south of its indicated position. The existing data dates to an aerial survey in 1937, indicating a calculation error when the chart was produced.

Natural resources

Since the introduction of aluminium-hulled long-boats in the 20th century, Pitcairners have made regular trips to Henderson to harvest the wood of ''miro'' and ''tou'' trees. Usually, they venture to Henderson once per year, but they may make up to three trips if the weather is favourable. Pitcairners carve the wood into curios for tourists, from which they derive much of their income.

Geography

Henderson Island is a

that, with

, Ducie and Oeno islands, forms the Pitcairn Island Group. The nearest major landmass is the continent of South America, more than away. This

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

island sits atop a

conical A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines c ...

(presumed volcanic) mound, rising from a depth of roughly . Its surface is mostly reef-rubble and dissected limestone – an extremely rugged mixture of steep, jagged pinnacles and shallow sinkholes – and, except for the north end, the island is encircled by steep limestone cliffs up to high. There are three main beaches, on the northwest, north, and northeast shores, and the north and northwest beaches are fringed by reefs. The depression at the island's center is thought to be a raised lagoon. There is only one known potable water source, a brackish spring on the north shore exposed at half tide, rising from a crevice in flat rock, large surfaces of which compose the face of the beach. The surrounding ocean tidal range is about one metre at

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tabl ...

Flora

Apart from five species bordering the beaches, including coconut palms, the vegetation is undisturbed. Henderson Island is covered by 5–10 m tall tangled scrub forest, more thinly covered in the central depression. It has 51 native species of flowering plants, ten of which are

to the island. Dominant tree species include coconut palms, '' Pandanus tectorius'','' Thespesia populnea'' (miro), '' Heliotropium foertherianum'', ''

Cordia subcordata ''Cordia subcordata'' is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that occurs in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii). The plant is known by a variety ...

'' (tou), '' Guettarda speciosa'', '' Pisonia grandis'', '' Geniostoma hendersonense'', '' Nesoluma st-johnianum'', '' Hernandia stokesii'', '' Myrsine hosakae'', and '' Celtis sp.''

Fauna

Birds

The island is home to four extant endemic land bird species – the Henderson fruit dove, Henderson lorikeet, Henderson reed warbler and the flightless

Henderson crake The Henderson crake or red-eyed crake (''Zapornia atra'') is a species of flightless bird in the family Rallidae. It is endemic to Henderson Island in the southeast Pacific Ocean. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland fore ...

. Three species of the family

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

– the Henderson ground dove, the Henderson imperial pigeon and the Henderson archaic pigeon – as well as the Henderson sandpiper, were formerly endemic to the island, but became extinct when the Polynesians arrived around 1000 AD. Of the fifteen non-endemic

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

species found, nine or more are believed to breed on the island. Breeding colonies of the globally endangered

Henderson petrel The Henderson petrel (''Pterodroma atrata'') is a ground-nesting species of gadfly petrel in the family Procellariidae. Adults measure on average 37 cm. It has a uniform grey-brown plumage. These birds are endangered. It is found in the Pi ...

formerly existed on Ducie but were wiped out by invasive rats by 1922. It is believed to now nest uniquely on Henderson island. Bones associated with prehistoric Polynesian settlement sites dating to somewhere between 500 and 800 years ago include those of the Polynesian storm petrel, Marquesan imperial pigeon, and Polynesian or Pacific imperial pigeon which are no longer found on the island, and two others – Christmas shearwater and

red-footed booby The red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are ...

– that still visit but no longer nest. It is hypothesized that the Polynesian settlers may have driven these bird species, along with six terrestrial snail species, to local extinction, and this loss of a ready and regular food supply may have contributed to the Polynesians' subsequent disappearance. The island has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

for its endemic landbirds and breeding seabirds.

Other animals

The invertebrate species are largely unknown but a third of the island's known non-marine gastropods and insects are endemic. There are no native mammals but the Pacific rat, introduced by Polynesians 800 years ago, abounds. A

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. ...

(''

Emoia cyanura ''Emoia cyanura'', the copper-tailed skink, is a species of skink. It is found in Borneo and South Pacific islands. Names It is known as kagisi in the Rennellese language Rennell-Bellona, or Rennellese, is a Polynesian language spoken in the ...

'') and the

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

have been identified, and an unidentified

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos a ...

has been reported. There are also crabs.

Biological risk

Land bird populations appear to be relatively stable but there is a high risk of introduction to the island of predators, disease vectors, and diseases by unauthorized landings of yachts. Introduction of the Eurasian

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is ...

or the

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...

would be likely to cause almost immediate extinction of the ground-dwelling

and possibly other species. The endemic birds may have no immunity to the fatal avian pox which is transmitted by biting flies such as Hippoboscidae. Between July and November 2011 a partnership of the Pitcairn Islands Government and the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment thro ...

implemented a poison baiting programme aimed at eradicating the Pacific rat. Mortality was massive but of the 50,000 to 100,000 population, 60 to 80 individuals survived and the population has now fully recovered.

Plastic debris

Research published in April 2017 looked at debris on several beaches, and reported "the highest density of plastic rubbish anywhere in the world" as a result of the

South Pacific Gyre __NOTOC__ The Southern Pacific Gyre is part of the Earth's system of rotating ocean currents, bounded by the Equator to the north, Australia to the west, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the south, and South America to the east. The center ...

. The beaches contain an estimated 37.7 million items of debris together weighing 17.6 tonnes. In a study

transect A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). There are several types of transect. Some are more effective than others. It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count ...

on North Beach, each day 17 to 268 new items washed up on a 10-meter section. The study noted that purple hermit crabs ('' Coenobita spinosus'') make their homes in plastic containers washed up on beaches, and the debris may reduce shoreline gastropod diversity, may contribute to a reduction in the number of sea turtle laying attempts and may increase the risk of entanglement for coastal-nesting seabirds.Remote South Pacific island has highest levels of plastic rubbish in the world
, Dani Cooper,

ABC News Online ABC News, or ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting within Australia and the rest of the world, the service covers both local and world affairs. The division of ...

, 16 May 2017 In June 2019, an expedition organised by the UK Government attempted to remove some of the plastic debris from the island's East beach. The team collected six tonnes of rubbish, but weather conditions hampered efforts to take the rubbish off the island. A further expedition, planned for April 2020, was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gallery

Henderson Island-110244.jpg, East beach Henderson Island-110240.jpg, Northwest beach Henderson Island-110250.jpg, Northwest beach Henderson Island-110248.jpg, North beach Henderson Island-110263.jpg, North beach

References

External links

The Henderson Island Website

Henderson Island – UNESCO

Isla Henderson
(Spanish)
Google Street View of the north and north-east beaches, May 2013
{{Authority control Islands of the Pitcairn Islands World Heritage Sites in the Pitcairn Islands Uninhabited islands of the Pitcairn Islands Important Bird Areas of the Pitcairn Islands Former populated places in Oceania 2nd-millennium establishments in the Pitcairn Islands 1902 establishments in the British Empire Atolls of the Pitcairn Islands