Amazing! Tristan’s entire website is a treasure. It’s a throwback to when the web was great.
brendoelfrendo•May 15, 2026
Agreed. The story is great, too. A really interesting logistical challenge that arose from unusual circumstances.
There's probably something to be said for the fact that TDC is a small, remote community, so it shouldn't be surprising that its website is reminiscent of a smaller, more communal web... but I'm not going to try to read too much into it and let the story stand on its own.
argsnd•May 15, 2026
Until recently TDC had a very slow FCDO satellite link that required their website to be quite basic in order to actually be viewable on computers on the island.
They now have a fast Starlink connection, but I’m glad they’ve kept the website as it is.
imdsm•May 15, 2026
If they hosted locally, it shouldn't have been an issue, they could have had a mirror system, but that's by the by, I love the website
connorgurney•May 15, 2026
I think this is one of the few things as late that makes me feel genuinely proud to be British, because, beneath the hostility that feels so rife across our country recently, we’ve so many good people making things like this happen. Bravo.
tomjen3•May 15, 2026
It certainly involved a lot of skill and expense, but how many more lives could be saved if the same money had been spent on improved traffic safety or NHS in general?
argsnd•May 15, 2026
Probably not that many. You underestimate how expensive either of those things are.
We have obligations to provide services like this to the people living in our overseas territories, and you won’t find many people who’ll oppose that.
benj111•May 15, 2026
True, but this is military expenditure. So would you rather they spend this on an exercise or on actually saving people?
fiftyacorn•May 15, 2026
Yeah and helps demonstrate thst Tristan is strategically important
bcjdjsndon•May 15, 2026
I think it's rich the English dont like foreigners given how many countries they think they're entitled to posses
shermantanktop•May 15, 2026
People respond to inspiring stories that show what is possible. Inevitably that means choices that might not match what a perfect allocation looks like.
Quiet, bland execution in government will get you voted out. Technocrats tend to come in after corruption, but they don’t usually last.
ninalanyon•May 15, 2026
You'd rather we ignored our overseas compatriots?
bcjdjsndon•May 15, 2026
Colonists you mean.
Arnt•May 15, 2026
This is a classic. It occurs in two forms:
Wow, logistics to <remote place> are very expensive! We could spend that money better in the cities!
Wow, logistics in <city> is expensive! We could spend that money better in rural areas!
I read about a new road tunnel in London last year, a ten-digit price tag for about 1km of road IIRC. I'm 100% sure some people suggested that that money could have been better spent in rural areas.
bcjdjsndon•May 15, 2026
We shouldn't be wasting a penny on colonies, this isn't the age of Napoleon anymore, get the English out of any country that isn't England.
petterroea•May 15, 2026
It's a small price to pay to keep political control. Probably not the entire motivation here, but generally countries like keeping their remote islands and settlements lived in because it represents a claim of the land by proxy.
walthamstow•May 15, 2026
The hostility is rife across social media. I don't see much of it day to day.
andrepd•May 15, 2026
Unfortunately, for a few years now, social media is real life...
qsera•May 15, 2026
As the persons said, they are not observing it in real life.
This is what I also have observed in various contexts as well. Social media is not a representation of what real people think. Most people in real life does not comment in social media, or they comment on inconsequential or trivial things....
SuddsMcDuff•May 15, 2026
I know exactly what you mean. But for me there's an even greater emotion here... relief. At a time when everything feels so utterly divided, it's such a relief to see a positive story that everyone can celebrate and feel proud of, regardless of their stance. Better, it's a story that can't be politicised one way or the other, it has a purity about it. I think if we had more positive stories like this, our political & idealogical differences wouldn't seem so all consuming.
qingcharles•May 15, 2026
Literally one of the worst places to fall seriously ill due to the fact you are absolutely and totally stuck in the actual middle-of-nowhere.
repelsteeltje•May 15, 2026
Free (but admittedly useless) advice when you plan to fall seriously ill:
- do not get on a cruise ship
- do not get off at a remote island
m4rtink•May 15, 2026
Polar stations are even more inaccessible during polar winter with months of total darkness and it is just too dangerous to reach them. The winter-over crews need to be completely self-sufficient until the sun rises again.
dmos62•May 15, 2026
What a heartwarming article.
musikele•May 15, 2026
The only reason military should exist is to perform such life-saving, not life-ending, missions...
pasc1878•May 15, 2026
What if you were Ukrainian?
hambes•May 15, 2026
then the military would also act life-saving, since they are defending the attacked country
corford•May 15, 2026
Seems consistent. Ukrainian soldiers are performing life saving missions i.e. defending their citizens from an unprovoked attack.
stavros•May 15, 2026
> The plane flew between Inaccessible and Tristan
My god there actually is an island called Inaccessible Island! That's fantastic.
wmanley•May 15, 2026
Wonderful. I love the poem at the end too.
echoangle•May 15, 2026
Very nice story.
One thing I often ask myself in these situations:
What do the inhabitants on these islands actually do?
There are 259 of them in this case.
Are they self-sustaining? How do they pay for stuff the want to import? Do they live off the cruise ships they supply? And do people generally stay there or do young people generally move to mainland?
Edit: For economy, it looks like they live off exporting langustas.
forinti•May 15, 2026
The UK built a crayfish processing facility so that they could have income. They also sell stamps and a few handmade crafts such as knitted socks. There are a few government jobs and they must make some money from tourism. And they all grow potatoes for their own consumption.
I'm no expert but that looks like an impressive feat of skill, coming blind through the clouds and picking out a relatively small patch to land on. Remember also it is late autumn there, pretty windy (according to TFA) and the wind would probably be doing weird things off the sea around those cliffs. All in all, very cool.
fnands•May 15, 2026
That jump video is wild. Can't see the island until the last few minutes.
Neil44•May 15, 2026
In case you're as interested as I was, they have google street view.
rimeice•May 15, 2026
Tremendous stuff. Made better by the throwback web styling. Almost broke out in to the national anthem halfway through the article.
fnands•May 15, 2026
Visiting Tristan Da Cunha is on my bucket list. Just a shame it takes so long to get there, but maybe that's part of the appeal.
markb139•May 15, 2026
I think this was also a “look what we can do at short notice” kind of exercise. Just in case a country was thinking of maybe trying to take over another set of islands in the south Atlantic
13 Comments
There's probably something to be said for the fact that TDC is a small, remote community, so it shouldn't be surprising that its website is reminiscent of a smaller, more communal web... but I'm not going to try to read too much into it and let the story stand on its own.
They now have a fast Starlink connection, but I’m glad they’ve kept the website as it is.
We have obligations to provide services like this to the people living in our overseas territories, and you won’t find many people who’ll oppose that.
Quiet, bland execution in government will get you voted out. Technocrats tend to come in after corruption, but they don’t usually last.
Wow, logistics to <remote place> are very expensive! We could spend that money better in the cities!
Wow, logistics in <city> is expensive! We could spend that money better in rural areas!
I read about a new road tunnel in London last year, a ten-digit price tag for about 1km of road IIRC. I'm 100% sure some people suggested that that money could have been better spent in rural areas.
This is what I also have observed in various contexts as well. Social media is not a representation of what real people think. Most people in real life does not comment in social media, or they comment on inconsequential or trivial things....
- do not get on a cruise ship
- do not get off at a remote island
My god there actually is an island called Inaccessible Island! That's fantastic.
One thing I often ask myself in these situations: What do the inhabitants on these islands actually do?
There are 259 of them in this case.
Are they self-sustaining? How do they pay for stuff the want to import? Do they live off the cruise ships they supply? And do people generally stay there or do young people generally move to mainland?
Edit: For economy, it looks like they live off exporting langustas.