Lifuka
Encyclopedia
Lifuka is an island in the Kingdom of Tonga
. It is located within the Haapai Group in the centre of the country, to northeast of the national capital of Nukualofa
. The coordinates are 19°47′56"S 174°21′24"W
It is the administrative centre of the Haapai group of islands with Pangai
being the administrative capital village.
dubbed Tonga "The Friendly Islands". Tofua
is where the mutiny on the Bounty
occurred in 1789 and this active volcanic island lies approximately forty nautical miles West of Lifuka. The Cpt. Bligh voyage stands as the longest successful passage ever recorded in an open boat without modern navigational aids and it was successfully recreated in 2009 by the Talisker Bounty team. Lifuka Island was also the final anchorage of the ill fated Port au Prince, In 1809 the vessel, a tall ship of French origin, was attacked by the natives off the North West coast and almost all of the crew were slaughtered. One of the few survivors of the attack, William Mariner, was befriended by the King and spent the next four years in the Kingdom before being allowed to return to England. A chance meeting with the author John Martin upon his return resulted in a collaboration that eventually documented the experiences of Mariner in the book "An account of the natives of the Tongan Islands", a now highly respected anthropological study of early civilisation in the kingdom of Tonga. The anchor of the Port au Prince was rediscovered in 2009 by a local dive operator based on Lifuka.
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
. It is located within the Haapai Group in the centre of the country, to northeast of the national capital of Nukualofa
Nukuʻalofa
Nukualofa is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. It is located on the north coast of the island of Tongatapu, in the southern most island group of Tonga.-Mythological origins:...
. The coordinates are 19°47′56"S 174°21′24"W
It is the administrative centre of the Haapai group of islands with Pangai
Pangai
Pangai is the administrative capital village of the Haapai Group in Tonga.-The Town:The village is on the western shore of Lifuka and has about 2,000 inhabitants ....
being the administrative capital village.
History
Lifuka is the place where Captain James CookJames Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
dubbed Tonga "The Friendly Islands". Tofua
Tofua
Tofua Caldera, in Tonga, is the summit caldera of a steep-sided composite cone that forms Tofua Island. Tofua Island is in Tonga's Ha'apai island group. Pre-caldera activity is recorded by a sequence of pyroclastic deposits and lavas constituting the older cone, followed on the northern part of the...
is where the mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny that occurred aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, and has been commemorated by several books, films, and popular songs, many of which take considerable liberties with the facts. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the...
occurred in 1789 and this active volcanic island lies approximately forty nautical miles West of Lifuka. The Cpt. Bligh voyage stands as the longest successful passage ever recorded in an open boat without modern navigational aids and it was successfully recreated in 2009 by the Talisker Bounty team. Lifuka Island was also the final anchorage of the ill fated Port au Prince, In 1809 the vessel, a tall ship of French origin, was attacked by the natives off the North West coast and almost all of the crew were slaughtered. One of the few survivors of the attack, William Mariner, was befriended by the King and spent the next four years in the Kingdom before being allowed to return to England. A chance meeting with the author John Martin upon his return resulted in a collaboration that eventually documented the experiences of Mariner in the book "An account of the natives of the Tongan Islands", a now highly respected anthropological study of early civilisation in the kingdom of Tonga. The anchor of the Port au Prince was rediscovered in 2009 by a local dive operator based on Lifuka.