I apologize if this problem has already been brought to your attention or already been reported, but when a player spawns on their island, there is nothing in the chest. This prevents them from proceeding to do pretty much anything after you've chopped down the tree. Again, sorry if this is being resolved and/or already brought up to your attention.
Currently new islands are not generating the starting items in the chests, please be patient as they fix this crippling bug as soon a possible.