Rockhopper Copper

Conrad Glass MBE is the Inspector of Police with the most lonely beat in the world: he patrols the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, a UK Overseas Territory in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. No aircraft fly overhead and none can land. Few ships pass this way. Just 267 people live here, earning their living from farming, fishing, conservation, handicrafts and the sale of coins and colourful postage stamps. Much of his work is involved in the conservation of some of the world’s rarest species in this fragile and remote environment. It’s as much about penguins as people. This is the story of the Tristan islanders, told through the policeman’s notebook and the anecdotes of Conrad Glass, a former Chief Islander and Conservation Officer, who is a direct descendant of the first settler and governor, William Glass, one of a garrison landed to prevent any rescue of Napoleon from St Helena. It is the first book to be written by a Tristan islander: stories of rescue from wild Atlantic islands; volcanic eruptions; the protection of penguins, seals and albatross; of chase by a whale; escape from violent hurricanes and the keeping of the peace in this most remote of British Territories. There’s a glimpse of the island’s past too - hidden pirate treasure, a shipwrecked lion, ghostly apparitions, of slave ships and abduction.