FALCON ISLAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1939, Page 9

FALCON ISLAND

ITS WEIRD HISTORY. HOW IT COMES AND GOES. There is a curious island in the ‘Pacific Ocean that might easily, have come out of a fairy tale. Its name is Falcon Island and the curious thing about it is that sometimes it disappears. It was first heard of in 1877 when it was named and put on maps and sailors’ charts. At this time it was in the progress of growing and eight years later when ships passed it they found it had risen to a height of 250 feet. After that it began to shrink, however, becoming smaller and smaller until by 11)00 it was no more than a shoal. But it seems as though the island must have been bewitched for it reappeared a few years later, not as a peak it formerly was but as a mound just visible above the sea. Men examined it but they admitted they were puzzled. Then in 1913 it completely, vanished again so much so that a ship passed right over the spot where it had been. And even that was not the end < f this extraordinary island, for suddenly it rose once more. 'Phis was in October. 1927. And it was in the form of a peak this time, rising to a height of 365 feet. For a few years it remained like this without changing and people were able to examine it again, but now, as one might expect, it is once more beginning to shrink. Only time will tell what happens to this island in the end. but let us hope that, in the meantime no Robinson Crusoe will bo forced to make Falcon Island his home.