
Enslaved and then marooned on Tromelin Island for fifteen years (2014) - curtis
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/145-1409/features/2361-tromelin-island-castaways
======
dyukqu
Here is a HN thread from 2015 with 131 comments for those who are interested:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10802088](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10802088)

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lostlogin
It is well worth reading the comments - it contains a discussion about how
long you can run a fire burning only wood from your boat. Out pops the guy
with boat burning experience.

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emmelaich
Another fascinating but gruesome shipwreck story:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(ship)#Shipwreck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_\(ship\)#Shipwreck)

> _With a dedicated band of murderous young men, Cornelisz began to
> systematically kill anyone he believed would be a problem to his reign of
> terror, or a burden on their limited resources. The mutineers became
> intoxicated with killing, and no one could stop them. They needed only the
> smallest of excuses to drown, bash, strangle or stab to death any of their
> victims, including women and children_

More:
[http://members.iinet.com.au/~bill/batavia.html](http://members.iinet.com.au/~bill/batavia.html)

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commandlinefan
Earlier today the headline read “illegally enslaved”, like in the linked
article. I almost pointed out that that was redundant, but I figured there was
no point. Apparently it did bother somebody.

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toomanybeersies
It's not redundant. Slavey was legal at the time, but these people in
particular were illegally enslaved.

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txsh
No. They were not. They were illegally purchased.

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joering2
Amazing story. Was I the only one who was disappointed that I cannot click the
images to see a larger photos?? Surprisingly the internet doesn't seem to have
a better resolution as well... :(

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205guy
Much of the world has been explored and photographed, but not necessarily
since the advent of high resolution digital photography and drones. I have a
dream of sailing to remote places like this and documenting them for
Wikipedia.

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205guy
What a coincidence, just a few hours ago, I found similar stories:

Blackbirding in the Pacific:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding)

All able-bodied men kidnapped from the 3 islands of Tokelau:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau)

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hammock
There is a great movie called Paradise Lagoon that is similar- a family and
their domestic servants are stranded on an island. Spoiler: the butler is the
only guy fit to lead everyone to survival.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Admirable_Crichton_(1957_f...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Admirable_Crichton_\(1957_film\))

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kizer
I wonder which life would have been better for them. Would you trade
everything for freedom?

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kizer
I should say “freedom”. Three square miles of freedom that is.

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busterarm
Freedom and near-certain death!

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kapauldo
What a neat story. I read the whole article, thanks for sharing.

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AnimalMuppet
"Illegally enslaved" isn't accurate. The slave trade was legal at the time.
What wasn't legal was the ship (and/or captain), and the destination.

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eberkund
How is that not accurate? Renting out a room for someone to live in is legal
but in some places it isn't illegal to do so without the proper zoning and/or
permits. Therefore you would call someone doing that "illegally renting".

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AnimalMuppet
Because "enslaving" refers to the action of making someone a slave, not to the
action of shipping someone who was already a slave to a new location. That's
"illegally shipped", not "illegally enslaved".

~~~
solsticedev
Agreed on this point, although I also find the terminology of "legally
enslaved" to be poor as I'm sure the enslaved people themselves did not give
credence to that law.

