Jonathan Lambert (February 11, 1772 - May 27, 1812) was an American

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

. He was the first settler, and the self-proclaimed ruler of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago.

Biography

Lambert was born in Salem,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. After a tumultuous career as a pirate, of which however, there are no surviving records, he landed on the archipelago of

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena a ...

as a crew member of the US

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

Grand Turk in December 1810 (according to other versions, January 5, 1811). Lambert claimed possession of the island of Tristan de Cunha, and two neighboring islands, "The Inaccessible Island," and the "Island of Nightingales," and declared himself Lord and Prince of the islands. He later renamed the archipelago

micronation A micronation is a political entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by world governments or major international organizations. Micronations are classified ...

as the

Islands of Refreshment Islands of Refreshment was the name given to Tristan da Cunha by its self-proclaimed ruler, Jonathan Lambert, in 1811. History In the early 19th century American whalers frequented the neighboring waters and, on December 27, 1810, the Bosto ...

. The American sailor Andrew Millet and the Livorno-born Tommaso Corri also landed there with him. His activity on the islands consisted mainly in hunting earless seals and

elephant seals Elephant seals are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil ...

, whose oil he sold to passing ships. Lambert's micronation was short-lived: he died in an accident at sea only two years later, together with Millet, drowning near

Inaccessible Island Inaccessible Island is a volcanic island located in the South Atlantic Ocean, south-west of Tristan da Cunha. Its highest point, Cairn Peak, reaches , and the island is in area. The volcano was last active six million years ago and is curren ...

, without leaving any information about the supposed treasure he had amassed during his commercial activity. The circumstances of his disappearance were never clarified by Corri, when he was questioned in 1816 by the English garrison, which had annexed the islands in the name of His Britannic Majesty. Corri remained on the island as a colonist, working as a farmer.

References

American sailors People from Salem, Massachusetts Date of birth unknown 1812 deaths Deaths by drowning Tristan da Cunha Micronational leaders {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Jonathan