Norwell Durant

They say “No man is an island.” Then again, they probably never met Norwell Durant. The famous passage, made popular by the English metaphysical poet, John Donne, speaks of the belief  that human beings cannot thrive when isolated from others. 
 
Norwell Durant felt otherwise.
 
As the sole inhabitant of Salt Island, a tiny spit of land in the British Virgin Islands, Norwell lived alone for many years until his late seventies. In plain view, just over five miles away, he could see Tortola, the capital and hub of the British Virgin Islands, from his humble dwelling along the beachfront.
 
His island is simple compared to the string of nearby islands that stretch from west to east facing Tortola’s southern coast. There are luxury resorts on nearby islands and tales of treasures on Norman Island, the  home to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. The Caribbean sun and placid waters, however, were enough for Norwell.
 
Many travel agents and books for tourists would have you believe that the island’s only claim to fame is the “RMS Rhone,” a 310-foot royal mail steamer that was split by the rocks off the coast of Salt Island in the hurricane of October 29, 1867.
 
The Salt Islanders at the time not only helped the handful of surviving passengers from their noble vessel, but also packed up and returned all of the valuables to the Queen of England.
 
Over a century later, Norwell, who tended to the passengers’ unmarked graves, saw his home as more than just the site of the famous shipwreck.
 
He was a sea salt harvester—the last of his kind.
 
Norwell, alone, spent his days harvesting salt just as his ancestors did when the island’s population reached its high of one hundred residents or so in the early 1900s. He and his family were proud of the two large evaporating salt ponds, fed by the Caribbean’s Sir Frances Drake Passage, and Norwell was quick to show off the granular prize from which the island took its name.
 
Mostly harvesting during the dry season, Norwell, who was small in stature but with large hands and soulful brown eyes, would wade the ponds looking for depressions in the submerged salt, tediously breaking pieces from the edge. Some years had good harvests (once a thousand pounds were harvested), and others were not worth mentioning. No matter the outcome, Norwell was content.
 
Carrying on a tradition made popular by Queen Victoria in 1867, Norwell would leave his island once a year to offer a symbolic payment of one pound of salt on the queen’s birthday, an event he very much enjoyed. Aside from that, Norwell Durant spent his time watching expensive yachts from his shack with binoculars and decorating the small cemeteries on the island with shells.
 
Often, Norwell’s cousin would take a dingy over from Tortola to keep him company and bring supplies. Though a welcomed site by the sea salt harvester, he didn’t worry much about living alone.
 
An occasional visitor or two would happen by, sometimes a reporter or curious tourists that had heard his tale. Even celebrities, such as Morgan Freeman and Bill O’Riley, were known to spend time under a palm tree with Norwell on visits to the island. The eight member staff of nearby Cooper Island Beach Club became friends as well and were known to drop in on Norwell from time to time. His dog, Rex, was said to enjoy these types of visits most.
 
Eventually, Norwell gave in to prompting from his family members who feared for the aging islander’s health: he moved back to Tortola. In February of 2004, the British Virgin Islands experienced treacherous rain, mudslides, and rough waters.
 
Norwell Durant passed away later that month.
 
Today, the British Virgin Islands National Park Service has preserved the old sea salt harvester’s island,keeping it intact for those select few that seek out this small speck of Earth—one that has yet to be tamed, a village of shacks forgotten by civilization.
 
On the island, which is home to a wide range of birds and marine species—some of which are endangered or threatened in other parts of the BVI—life continues to thrive. Divers frequent the wreck of the Rhone off the coast and visitors still stop by, some wishing to sit and meditate under the palm tree where Norwell once sat. Norwell’s palm tree, and the island as a whole, serves as a sanctuary that invites others to relax and leave their thoughts.
 
The lucky few that take a dingy over to the island are asked to heed a few simple rules. Norwell told James Anderson in an interview for the Associated Press in 2001 that everyone was welcomed. He was quoted as saying, “Behave yourself in my yard. I’m not a preacher, but have respect. Be quiet.… be happy.… that’s my way.”
 

Salt Island is 6 mi/9.7 km E of Tortola, between Peter Island (W) and Cooper Island (E), 18° 22’N 64° 30’W.