Map of Tromelin island
French slave ship with 142 crew and 160 men, women, and children taken
from Madagascar wrecked on the reef. The entire crew and 60 of the
‘passengers’ made it to the island. A well was dug and two camps
established. A few months later the surviving crew were rescued, and
promised to send another ship to rescue the others right away. Surprise,
they didn’t. Fifteen years later a rescue ship finally arrived, and
seven women and a baby were all that was left. They had built a few
stone structures and kept a fire burning for fifteen years despite there
being no wood on the island – it was all recovered from the shipwreck.