While scanning the horizon with his binoculars, as he did quite often, Mr. Richard saw in the distance a boat, which looked like a warship, heading straight for the island. When it was a few hundred yards from the Rock, the ship dropped anchor, and a speedboat was launched into the sea with five or six passengers on board.
Our keeper hastened to go down the staircase which leads to the small landing stage in order to welcome the visitors whoever they were. To his surprise, he recognized the President of the United States who asked him point blank: “Do you know me?” “Yes, you are President Roosevelt.” As you might expect, the astonishment was great on both sides. After exchanging a few words, the president expressed the desire to be photographed with his host and, for the occasion, they were accompanied by a bird which allowed itself to be picked by the keeper without any opposition.
This bird, according to Mr. Richard, a beautiful little white full like a dove was unfortunately not a herald of peace, as barely 10 days later the terrible world conflict that we experienced from 1939 to 1945 broke out.
So I went and looked it up and surprise! Tons of the keepers all died in horrific accidents.
On the upside, no murders! And there's some interesting footage of the island's keeper in action from the 50s.