Hunter Island and Matthew Island are two small and uninhabited high islands in the South Pacific, located east of New Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu archipelago. Hunter Island and Matthew Island, apart, are claimed by Vanuatu as part of Tafea Province, and considered by the people of Aneityum part of their custom ownership, and were claimed by France as part of New Caledonia. Small, arid, without fresh water and not easily accessible, the islands had no interest for Britain or France during their colonisation of the Pacific in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. France officially annexed both islands in 1929. In 1965, the United Kingdom also claimed the two islands, as part of the New Hebrides. France conducted a symbolic occupation in 1975. In 1980, on its independence, Vanuatu claimed sovereignty, but made no occupation of the islands. In 1979, Météo-France set up an automatic weather station on one of the islands, and the French Navy regularly visits both of them. Hunter Island Hunter Island () is also known as Fern or Fearn Island. The first recorded sighting of the island was by Captain Thomas Fearn from his trading ship Hunter in 1798. It lies east of Matthew Island at . About in area, the island has a domed shape, and is high. It is composed of andesite – dactic lavas and numerous explosion craters dot the volcano. A cone makes up the south part of the island, with its central crater filled by a lava dome. A -deep crater is located on the north-west side of the island. Fumarolic and solfataric activity continues in the north of the island, as well as on the northeast and southeast coasts. Two small eruptions took place in the mid-1800s. In 1835, a lava flow erupted and on 15 March 1841, an explosive eruption took place. In 1895, lava was seen flowing from two craters on the east side of the island. A small (VEI 0) fissure eruption took place in 1903, on the northern side of the island, and produced lava. Hunter Island is symbolically claimed by a micronation, the Federal Republic of Lostisland. Seismicity The islands are prone to earthquakes, as they are situated near the southern arc of the South New Hebrides Trench, where the minor New Hebrides Plate is subducted by the Indo-Australian Plate. In February 2021, a 7.7 quake was centered in the vicinity of