Limits Of Endurance–The Lone Woman Of San Nicholas Island: The LA Times and writer Joe Robinson dig into the story a 19th century woman who survived for 18 years on a rocky island off the California coast…completely alone. It’s an incredible tale, of good intentions gone bad, and the adaptability and tenaciousness of the human spirit. The woman was an indian indigenous to the island who was left behind by accident when missionaries came to “save” her people by taking them to the mainland (where, surprise, indians were put to work in the missions).

“It’s loneliness that makes the loudest noise,” wrote philosopher Eric Hoffer. For a deserted Nicoleño woman, it no doubt thundered up the arroyos and over the thrashing surf, drowning out all with the echo of what was no longer there. Humans are adaptable creatures, but how do you begin to adjust to a life without a single other human in it?

When she was finally found, she was wearing cormorant feathers all over her body, jabbering away in a language no one could understand, and skinning a dead seal. She was taken back to the mainland, immediately came down with dysentery, and died two weeks later…



“Hmmm. Life on San Nicolas sure is boring. But what if you added other people and brought in television cameras…?”