A Penryn sailor has been trying to help the malnourished population of a Pacific island after finding them desperate and starving.

Alex Bond, aged 46, docked the 33 foot yacht Mary Powell at Kanton Island, a tiny sliver of land surrounding a large lagoon in-between Hawaii and Fiji.

Alex, who was delivering the 33 foot yacht from Hawaii, arrived on May 5 and found the island's population of 14 adults and ten children in desperate need after a supply ship had failed to turn up for months.

Mr Bond said that they stopped at the island as it looked like a beautiful place to moor but that the islanders starving, with the children in a “really bad” way.

While the islanders had been surviving on a diet of fish and coconuts, they had been running very low on other essentials including fruit, vegetables rice sugar, flour and even water.

Alex, who says he will not leave until he knows the islanders will be ok, contacted Falmouth Coastguard, and they called their American counterparts and the authorities on Honolulu in Hawaii to arrange assistance.

Speaking from his yacht Alex said: ”We had no idea of the trouble they were in when we arrived. The adults were in a poor state and the children were suffering serious malnutrition.

“It is a beautiful island in the middle of nowhere but their regular delivery of food had failed to show up and was at least five weeks away.

“They haven’t got a proper airstrip so all the supplies come in by boat which was stuck hundreds of miles away. They were in real trouble.

“We gave them what we could from the yacht and radioed home to try and get them more help. I’ve been on round the world delivery boats three times but I’ve never experience anything like this before.

“They were extremely glad to see us and we’ve stayed on to help co-ordinate the food delivery. We’re not leaving until I know they are okay. They are wonderful people.”

His wife Sonya, 44, at home in Cornwall said: ”What he’s done is amazing. I am exceptionally proud of him.”

Falmouth Coastguard watch assistant Richard Williams, said: “When he arrived, he was met by the desperate and starving islanders who had not been delivered any supplies for months.

“The supply ship which should have brought them provisions was stuck at a nearby island and they had been living off just coconuts and any fish that they could catch.

“We are now working with the Americans to drop supplies or land on the island. As the island was used by the Americans and the British during the war it does have a run way.

“We don’t normally get requests like these from British sailors, but hopefully we will be able to help the islanders to get the supplies that they need. So far, we have been given a shopping list of provisions such as cooking fat, rice, sugar and flour which we have passed on to the Americans.”

“Alex gave the islanders all the supplies he could spare from his 33ft yacht.

Mark Thomas, watch manager at Falmouth coastguards, added: “Mr Bond called us to say the islanders were starving. They had not had any food for a number of months and had been living off coconuts and fish.

“He had given them as much food as he could spare, but the situation was quite dire. We liased with our colleagues in the States to get supplies dropped off as soon as possible.”

The Americans have since contacted the Kiribati government but according to a Falmouth Coastguard spokesman as yet no help has been forthcoming.

The spokesman said that they had also contacted the Commonwealth and Foreign Office to see if they could get something done. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979 and is a member of the Commonwealth.

The remote Pacific outpost is part of Kirrabatti group of islands, with its nearest large neighbour Samoa over 60 miles away.