Page:Paine--Lost ships and lonely seas.djvu/109

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THE BLENDEN HALL

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In order to carry out his plan, Jonathan Lambert took with him to the island various implements of husbandry, seeds of the most useful plants, tropical trees for transplanting, etc. After he had been on his island for about two years it was apparent that his efforts would be crowned with success, but unfortunately he was drowned, with his one associate, while visiting one of the nearby islands.

Another adventurous seaman, Thomas Currie, succeeded to this lonely principality by right of occupation, and was joined by two others. They lived contentedly and raised wheat and oats and pigs until in the War of 1812 the American naval vessels began to use Tristan da Cunha as a base from which to harry British commerce in the South Atlantic. Then Great Britain formally annexed the group, and kept a garrison of a hundred men there for two years.

When the garrison was withdrawn, Corporal William Glass of the Royal Artillery was left behind at his own request, with his wife and children, and two privates decided to join him as the beginnings of a colony. A few other rovers or shipwrecked sailors drifted to Tristan da Cunha from time to time, and they found girls at St. Helena and Cape Town who were willing to marry them, so that there was created a peaceful, unworldly little community on this far-away island over which

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