Palmerston Island is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean about northwest of Rarotonga. James Cook landed there on 16 June 1774. Overview Palmerston Island is one of a number of sandy islets on a continuous ring of coral reef enclosing a lagoon. The only inhabited islet is Home. The total land area of the islets is approximately . The coral reef covers about . The lagoon is some across, covering an area of . There are several small passages through the reef for boats, though there is no safe entry for large ships. At a latitude of 18 degrees south, Palmerston enjoys a tropical climate but is exposed to severe tropical cyclones. A particularly destructive series of storms occurred during the 1920s and 1930s. The atoll rim consists of a series of motu or islets. Clockwise from Home, these include: Home North Island Tara i tokerau Marions bank Motu Ngangie Lee To Us Leicester Small Cooks Karakerake Primrose Toms Cooks All the islets are wooded with coconut palms, pandanus, and native trees. There is some natural ground water on Palmerston but water captured from rainfall is preferred for drinking. Shellfish inhabit the reef, and fish are abundant although there are concerns about overfishing. 57 people live in Palmerston, all but three descended from English sailor William Marsters. The economy is based on fishing, tourism, copra, and bird feathers, though Palmerston's extreme remoteness makes a cash market difficult to maintain; in fact it is more like the subsistence ways of life in the northern atolls. Electricity and other modern utilities are available on the island. A recently built telephone station provides the only permanent link to the outside world. The island has no airport or regular air service, but cargo ships visit a few times a year. History Palmerston was recorded by Captain Cook in 1774, but he did not land on the island until 13 April 1777. He found it uninhabited, though some ancient graves were discovered. Cook named the island after Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, then one of the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty. The ancient name of the island was supposedly Avarau, meaning "two hundred harbour entrances". In 1863 William Marsters, a ship's carpenter and barrel maker, arrived on Palmerston from Manuae with two Polynesian wives. He added a third wife and sired a large family of some 23 children, whose descendants