The Men Who Would Be King by Jon Tonks & Christopher Lord
Issue 165
Why do men dream of being worshipped by people on the other side of the world? It is an old fantasy, going back to the early explorers when imperial powers were casting their eyes hungrily about the world. From Hernan Cortes to Captain Cook, they all came back with a peculiar tale that they were received as a god by the people they encountered in distant lands.
In Vanuatu, an archipelago nation in the South Pacific, the dream is still very much alive. This book by Jon Tonks and Christopher Lord tells the stories of men from Europe and America who go to Vanuatu claiming or believing they are the fulfilment of a prophecy on the islands that says a divine man will one day come from overseas. These are tales as wily as any fiction; the claimant to a tropical throne living in exile in Nice, the American filmmaker wandering between villages handing out necklaces with his own face on them. Sometimes they turn violent: the ageing gunmaker who led an armed insurgency in the jungle, the Las Vegas millionaires who fashioned their own messiah in a bid to carve out a libertarian paradise in the South Seas.
The Men Who Would Be King is a series of encounters between 2014 and 2018 with the complex firmament of mythos and oral traditions that criss-cross Vanuatu, and the myriad foreigners who get lost in them. The book asks why this old explorers’ dream about deified white men has endured in the Western imagination, through our films and literature, and examines the long shadow it casts into our own time.
Jon Tonks (he/him) lives and works in Bath, UK.
jontonks.com | @jon_tonks
Christopher Lord (he/him) is a British writer and editor based in Los Angeles, California.
christopherlord.co.uk
Sulphur Bay, Tanna, Vanuatu - the road to the volcano, Mount Yasur.
Godfrey Felix, Bauerfield International Airport, Efate. Godfrey works at the main airport for international flights to Vanuatu.
The road to Green Point, Tanna, Vanuatu. The road infrastrucure on Tanna has seen huge investment from the Chinese Government in recent years.
Francisca, Eva and Lyn, Million Dollar Point, Espiritu Santo
This beach earned its name following the end of WW2 and the departure of American troops from Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu - much of the waste and machinery was ditched into the ocean with people saying there were millions of dollars worth under the sea, including vehicles and a sunken ship (SS President Coolidge) that serves as a dive site now.
John Frum Day celebrations, Sulphur Bay, Tanna (2014). Cevin can be seen at the front of the celebrations, with a film crew in tow and villagers with bamboo rifles following in ranks behind.
The prophecy of John Frum says a divine man will one day come from overseas and liberate islanders from missionaries and imperial powers and reinstall a traditional way of life. It was believed that John Frum was in fact an American GI.
Chief Isaac and Cevin Soling during the John Frum Day celebrations, Sulphur Bay, Tanna (2014). The pair are seated watching the celebrations unfold, with one of the villagers in military fatigues speaking quietly to Cevin.
Cevin is an American filmmaker who took a documentary crew to Vanuatu to film him fulfilling the John Frum prophecy and handing necklaces with his face on to children in the local villages.
The John Frum Headquarters, Sulphur Bay, Tanna
Necklaces handed out to villagers by Cevin Soling following his arrival to Tanna, during John Frum Day celebrations stating “John Frum He Will Come”.
A goat. There’s always a goat. Tanna, Vanuatu.
The wreck of a pilot boat, stranded in the wake of Cyclone Pam, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. This natural deep water harbour was once filled with US naval ships during WW2.
Claude-Philippe Berger of Maison Royale de Tanna, photographed in the garden of his hotel in Port Vila, Efate. Claude was unable to travel to the nearby island of Tanna where we had anticipated him to be received by villagers during a Forcona Day celebration.
Sulphur Bay, Tanna - Vanuatu
Mangrove trees damaged by Cyclone Pam in 2015 lie twisted and broken.
Cattle roaming amongst palm trees, Espiritu Santo
Coca-Cola bottles and other washed up items from the 1940s. Following the end of WW2 and the departure of American troops from Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, much of the waste and machinery was ditched into the ocean.
Cevin Soling at a tiki bar in Boston, Massachusetts
