Survivor: Vanuatu — Islands of Fire

I remember watching Survivor when it was hosted on the island of Vanuatu.

Old maps of the island gave it a different name. Espiritu Santo, Spanish for: Holy Spirit!



Modern Google Maps view of island:



In the older maps, you can see the bay is called:

St. Philip & St. James Bay

Those are two of the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stories say they personally visited the island. That would be a long boat ride, you might think. But they did not need boats. The Spirit could move them. Remember when Philip preached to an Ethiopian man and baptized him.... and then vanished?

Acts 8:26-40 KJV | And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Champagne Beach, North Santo in Vanuatu
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Champagne_Beach.jpg

I would like to know the truth about why the bay was named after two disciples of Jesus and why the island was originally called "Holy Spirit" in Spanish.



Most of the Survivor seasons are hosted now at Fuji, which is about 700 miles to the east of Vanuatu.

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For older history, it may be helpful to search for Vanuatu's other names. Another previous name: New Hebrides, its name until about 1980.

Only after independence in 1980 did the country adopt the indigenous name Vanuatu, which means "our land" in the local Bislama language.

(1909) MEN MURDERED BY CANNIBALS

OTTAWA, Sept. 9 - The murder of 11 men by cannibals is announced in a cable from Sydney N.S.W. It says:

A dreadful tragedy is reported from the New Hebrides. Captain Lindsay, master of the ketch Babau, was first spared then clubbed to death by a horde of cannibals, the crew numbering 10 was massacred and the vessel seized by savages and burned at Mayi-callo (sp?), New Hebrides, where cannibalism still exists.

Some of the crew of the French ketch Guadaloupe were captured by natives and have since been unheard of.

Natives of German New Britain have rebelled against the government and many fresh tragedies are feared.

Source: The Spokesman-Review 10-Sep-1909 20 full page

More Details: The killed were part of a merchant ship hunting for laborers. The people of the island were black. Was this crew coming to the island in peace or were they "blackbirding" for cheap labor?


source: newspaper / The Evening World / 18-Oct-1892



Source: The Sentinel-Record 20-Oct-1909 full page

The second, later source (above) tells a slightly different story. It says the blacks burned his body, and not that they ate his body. There is no mention of cannibalism in the second story. Also, the second source says the killing happened in New Britain (an island about 1,300 miles away)

TRADING VESSEL IS BURNED - CAPTAIN WAS COAXED ASHORE, WHERE HE WAS KILLED AND BURNED.

Crew Was Killed and Vessel Burned by the Natives - is Reported That Vessels Were Burned. Victoria, B. C., Oct. 19. - 

Further details of the massacres in New Britain last night were received by the steamer Marama today and are to the effect that Captain Lindsay of the Ketch Rabaul and ten of his crew were murdered and burned. The trading vessel was looted and burned. Captain Lindsay, prominent in the New Britain trade, was off the coast of New Britain about 200 miles from Herberts Hone, recuiting laborers. When he anchored his ship for the night a swarm of native canoes came off and the blacks asked that he come ashore as plenty of men were ready to sign as laborers.

Captain Lindsay went ashore and was escorted to a big native house, where about a hundred blacks were gathered.

As he stepped in he was struck down from behind with a spear and the blacks sprang upon him with knives. He fell bleeding from score of wounds and was hacked to death.

The body was then dragged out to the beach and burned. The flotilla of canoes then went off to the Rabaul. The ten men of the crew were slaughtered.

While they lay on the deck, some morally wounded, a raid was made on the stores and kerosene poured over the deck and into the hold, making the ship a funeral pyre.

Natives reported the occurrence to the captain of the steamer Ganaecog. He at once steamed for Herberts Hone and reported it.

A German punitive expedition was being prepared when the Geneacog left the islands.

A report was also brought from the islands that the French recrulting Ketch Guadaloupe of forty tons was attacked and wrecked by blacks in the New Hebrides at the same time and the French captain and the native crew of eight massacred, but no congfirmation has been received.

That second source says another crew with a French captain was killed in New Hebrides, which is today called Vanuatu. I do not know which version of the story is true. But it does appear that ships have been visiting islands in search of cheap labor, even in the 1900s.