In 1981 a cargo ship, the MV Primrose, ran aground just off the coast of North Sentinel island. The crew, mostly Hong-Kongers, did not expect conflict - but they soon saw men arming themselves and their canoes on the nearest beach.
The crew urgently requested an airdrop of firearms, feeling desperately vulnerable that the tribesmen would soon board their ship.
The monsoon winds and the primitiveness of the Sentinelese weaponry worked in the crew's favour, but the situation could change quickly. They armed themselves with whatever they could find - pipes, flare guns, axes - and prepared for the worst.
Captain Robert Fore, flying a civilian helicopter to help the Indian navy, was able to organise the evacuation of the crew, the sound of the blades forcing the Sentinelese back into the forest.
To encounter such a violent, xenophobic tribe must have been a surreal experience, more akin to several hundred years prior as Cook explored the Pacific.
The Sentinelese have always been preoccupied with gathering scrap metal for arrowheads, and the Primrose provided rich pickings. Govt contractors salvaging the wreck had to placate the relentless canoes of men with fruit and metal.
There are many accounts of interactions with the Sentinelese, most usually ending in a hail of arrows. My favourite might be the tour of the exiled king of Belgium, who was immensely happy to be threatened by a tribal archer.
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