The tiny Pacific island has no airport, and is visited by a supply ship only twice a year.
Cook named the island after Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, then Lord of the Admiralty.
Today, Palmerston has 62 inhabitants, all but three are descended from William Marsters.
This arrangement still stands.
Today the Island has its own Council, representing the local government, and members of the three family.
Marriage within a family group is prohibited.
Life on Palmerston is simple.
There are no shop, just two toilets, and rainwater is collected for drinking water.
Money is only used to buy supplies from the outside world not from each other.
Electricity runs from 6am 12pm each day and again at night.
A recently built telephone station provides the only permanent link to the outside world.
Fish is the islanders' staple food and their only export.
Aside from the cargo ships, the island sees about a dozen visiting boats a year bringing tourists.
