Tuanaki or Tuanahe is the name of an anecdotal vanished group of islets, once part of the Cook Islands. It was located south of Rarotonga[1] and within two days sail of Mangaia.[2]

In 1916, the Polynesian Society of Honolulu reprinted an account by a sailor who had visited there in 1842, spending six days among the natives. However this account added that two years later in 1844, a schooner of English missionaries had found nothing.[3] Some Tuanakians who had emigrated to Rarotonga allegedly survived.

The 1916 publication re-ignited interest in the flyaway islands, and explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, when planning the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922, proclaimed as one of his goals the rediscovery of Tuanaki. The explorer died in Antarctic waters before he was able to mount a serious search for the vanished archipelago.[4]

It was suggested in 1952 that the Haymet Rocks were a remnant of Tuanaki.[5] However, the existence of the Haymet Rocks at some point is unconfirmed as well.

References

  1. ^ Best, Elsdon (1923). Polynesian Voyagers. the Maori as a Deep-Sea Navigator, Explorer, and Colonizer. Wellington: Dominion Museum. New Zealand Texts Collection.
  2. ^ Ramsay, Raymond (1972). No Longer on the Map. New York: Viking Press. p. 213. ISBN 0-670-51433-0.
  3. ^ Gill, William Wyatt; Stephenson Percy Smith (1916). Rarotonga Records: Being Extracts from the Papers of the Late Rev. W. Wyatt Gill. The Polynesian Society. pp. 29–31.
  4. ^ "Shackleton, Antarctic Explorer, is Dead". The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review. February 3, 1922. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  5. ^ "THE MYSTERY OF TUANAKI ISLAND", Pacific Islands Monthly, xxii (7): 104, 1952-02-01, ISSN 0030-8722


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