Talo Wao Bay sits on the east coast of Ko Tarutao, about 22 km south of the headquarters. This is where the Thai government built a prison camp in the late 1930s, eventually holding around three thousand inmates including political prisoners exiled after the 1932 revolution. When wartime supply lines failed and rations ran out, the guards and prisoners turned to piracy, raiding shipping in the Strait of Malacca until British naval action shut the operation down in the late 1940s.
The camp itself was abandoned in 1948 and the jungle has reclaimed most of it. What remains is partly cleared and signposted: foundations of the barracks, the small graveyard for prisoners who died of malaria, and the outline of a kiln. It is a long way to come for a small set of ruins, but if you are staying on Tarutao the bay is worth the boat trip — both for the history and for the empty beach, which is one of the best on the island.