S.S. Norwich City aground November 30, 1929

True North

Nutiran

Taraia Tatiman Passage

Village Aukaraime (north) Ritiati 1938–1963

Noriti Lagoon channel blasted through reef, 1963 Tekibeia Aukaraime (south) Reef flat

Bauareke Passage

One nautical mile

Ameriki

USCG Loran station July 1944 December 1945

TIGHAR Tracks p. 28 Finding Amelia Paradise Lost

to explain than the B-24 parts, the apparent n archaeology, as in much of life, Earhart-related artifacts must be held to a higher standard of scrutiny because the contextI is everything. Underwear on implications of their presence on the atoll the bedroom floor can be a housekeep- are historically significant. ing chore or a legal issue depending is a jigsaw puzzle, now largely complete, with some crucial pieces upon whose underwear is on whose still missing. Attempting to explain, or floor. A fossilized microbe in a rock explain away, the presence of objects for which there is no documented explanation becomes much more interesting if the requires speculation, but the trick to intel- rock happens to come from Mars. To ligent guessing is to guess as little as pos- know for certain whether pieces of sible. That’s why a thorough knowledge of context is so important. To stand the best aircraft aluminum found on a Pacific chance of finding the hard evidence that will atoll are routine or startling requires fill in the missing pieces of the Nikumaroro puzzle we must understand the picture we more information about both the alu- have so far. minum and the island. Although there is some evidence of pre- Years of research have enabled us to historic human contact with the atoll, the assemble a fairly detailed chronicle of recorded history of the jungled ring of coral events on Nikumaroro, and yet the his- which lies at 4°40´ south latitude, 174°32´ torical record does not account for the most west longitude begins with an American interesting of the objects discovered there. whaling ship plying the waters of what was Somehow, the people who once lived on this known as the island acquired, and put to their own use, South Seas debris from at least two aircraft. One was Whale Fishery. an early example of the Consolidated B-24 It was in this re- Liberator. While the particulars are not yet gion, noted for documented, a plausible explanation for the its abundance of presence of this material is suggested in the sperm whales, island’s history. The other airplane seems that Melville to be ’s Lockheed Model 10E would place the Special. Also found, but on a different part of final confron- the island, were the remains of a shoe which tation between appears to match the type and size of those Ahab and Moby worn by Earhart. Although no more difficult Dick.

Vol. 12 No. 2/3 p. 29 1825 1929 Capt. Joshua Coffin of Late on the stormy night of November 29, the Nantucket whaler S.S. Norwich City, a 5,587 ton British freighter Ganges charts the bound from Melbourne to Vancouver in ballast, position of an unin- runs hard aground on the reef at the island’s habited coral atoll northwest end. An SOS is immediately sent out known variously as but the ship’s oil tanks have been ruptured and Kemin’s Island and Mary fire forces the crew over the side into the teeth Letitia’s Island. of the storm. Eleven of the ship’s thirty-five men Although sadly inaccurate, this was Coffin names drown trying to reach shore. The survivors are the only map of Gardner Island publicly available at the time of the the island after rescued five days later. The wreck becomes a Earhart flight. the ship’s owner prominent landmark which slowly deteriorates (and apparently over the years. Its massive triple-expansion his father-in-law), U.S. Congressman Gideon steam engine is still visible today. Gardner.

The wreck of the S.S. Norwich City 1840 as she appeared in October, 1937. On August 19 the U.S.S. Vincennes of the U.S. Navy Exploring Expedition confirms the island’s position and name.

In the first, but by no means E. R. Bevington the last, erroneous assumption about the island by the U.S. Navy, Commander Wilkes noted, “Believing this to be the The wreck of the S.S. island discovered by Captain Norwich City as she appeared Gardner, I have retained his in October, 1991. name.” TIGHAR photo by P. Thrasher 1856 1935 The island is claimed by C.A. Williams & Co. On August 18 H.M.S. Wellington calls at the of New London, Connecticut under the American island and collects information from which the Guano Act but no worthwhile guano deposits are first (somewhat) accurate map of the shoreline found. All claims are relinquished in 1882. is made. 1892 On May 28 H.M.S. Curacao calls at Gardner Island to claim the island formally for Great Britain. Twenty Niue islanders are there planting coconuts under a British license granted (somewhat prematurely) to entrepeneur John T. Arundel. Drought forces the abandonment of the project sometime before 1894.

Based on a 1935 survey, this map was not publicly available until 1939.

TIGHAR Tracks p. 30 1937 July 9, 1937. “Here, signs of recent habitation were On February 15, in response to new American clearly evident…” Photo courtesy claims of ownership to islands of the Phoenix Nat’l Archive of New Zealand. Group, H.M.S. Leith calls at the atoll for just long enough to send a party ashore to erect 1892.) The earliest a flagpole and placard proclaiming British known aerial photo ownership. This renewed interest in Central of the island is taken Pacific atolls is prompted by the emerging from one of the Navy prospect of trans-Pacific commercial air travel search planes. and the need for suitable refueling locations. On October 13- On July 2, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan 15, a party of 19 disappear aboard Lockheed NR16020. When Gilbertese delegates last heard, they are near (but unable to find) led by Gilbert & Howland Island 350 nm to the northwest. Ellice Islands Colony Earhart says she is proceeding along a 157°/337° Lands Commissioner navigational line, but does not specify in which Henry E. (Harry) Maude, assisted by Cadet direction. Gardner Island lies very close to the Officer Eric R. Bevington, perform a cursory 157° line and is within the aircraft’s hypothetical inspection of the atoll to evaluate it for future fuel range. colonization by settlers from the overcrowded . Prominent among the Gilbertese During the nights of July 3 and 4, bearings are taken by Pan American stations at Oahu, October 14, 1937. “In the afternoon Midway and Wake, on radio calls suspected of we got a canoe originating from the lost airplane. The majority and Maude came in it. …We found of the bearings cross in the vicinity of Gardner many interesting Island. Experts at Lockheed assert that the things including signs of previous signals indicate that the airplane must be habitation.” Diary on land and able to operate its right-hand, of British Colonial Service Officer Eric Bevington. generator-equipped engine. The battleship Photo by E.R. Bevington U.S.S. Colorado is dispatched to search the islands of the region. delegates are Tem (Mr.) Mautake Maeke, On July 9, three Vought O3U-3 floatplanes Permanent Head of Delegates; Teng Koata, launched from the Colorado fly over Gardner Magistrate of Onotoa; and Assistant Native Island searching for the lost Lockheed. No Medical Practioner Tutu. Severe back pain airplane is seen but the Senior Aviator later limits Maude’s activities but Bevington makes a reports that “signs difficult all-day trek around the atoll with some of recent of the Gilbertese. His diary describes coming habitation were upon “signs of previous habitation” which he clearly visible but later described as “looking like someone had repeated circling bivouacked for the night.” Although only 111 of and zooming failed Arundel’s coconut trees had survived, the island’s to elicit any ans- lush environment was judged suitable for future wering wave from One of the three aircraft which colonization. Because of the atoll’s unusual flew over Gardner Island on the possible inhabi- morning of July 9, 1937 searching abundance of Buka trees (Pisonia grandis) the tants and it was for the Earhart plane. Courtesy U.S. Gilbertese name the island Nikumaroro after finally taken for National Archives. the legendary home of the goddess/ancestor Nei granted that none were there.” (The last (Miss) Manganibuka who was said to have come documented habitation of the island was the from a beautiful island covered with Buka trees brief stay by Arundel’s coconut planters in which lay southeast of the Gilberts.

Vol. 12 No. 2/3 p. 31 1938 1939 On December 1 a party of six New Zealanders On January 2, Maude and Gallagher return to arrives to begin an evaluation of the island as part Gardner to find the work party greatly distressed of the British Pacific Islands Survey Expedition. because well-digging attempts have failed Their purpose is to determine whether the to find drinkable lagoon is suitable for seaplane landings and to water and one of the assess the practicality of constructing an airfield condensing units has on the atoll. At least two aerial photographs burned out. Maude of Gardner Island puts Mautake, Koata are taken from a and Tutu ashore to Supermarine Walrus help with the search aircraft launched for water. from the cruiser H.M.S Leander. The survey team focuses on taking soundings January 2, 1939. “…I in the lagoon and decided to land all the mapping the island’s headquarters staff, including Native Medical Practioner Tutu, to assist in northwestern tip, the search for water.” Report by Native Lands Commissioner Maude. Left the only land area to right, NMP Tutu, Head of Delegates Mautake Maeke, Native Magistrate Koata. December 1, 1938. Photo taken Photo by E.R. Bevington. from Supermarine Walrus big enough for a launched from HMS Leander. runway. Photo courtesy Nat’l Archive of New Zealand. On January 4, with no water yet found at On December 20 Gardner, Maude and Gallagher once again Lands Commissioner Harry Maude returns depart to check on progress at the other islands, aboard the Royal Colony Ship (RCS) Nimanoa, leaving the Gilbertese officials behind to help this time assisted by Cadet Officer Gerald the ten-man work party in the desperate and Gallagher, to drop off the first colonists of the wide-ranging search. Their trek later becomes Phoenix Island Settlement Scheme (with the part of the island’s folklore, as does another unfortunate acronym P.I.S.S.). Although the story. Sometime in these early days (possibly New Zealand survey party is on the island at during the great search for water) the workers this time, their presence is unrelated to the are said to have come upon the bones of a woman arrival of the first settlers. The Gilbertese work and a man. They could tell that they were white party, made up of six men from Onotoa and people from the remnants of their clothing and four from Arorae (both islands in the southern from their shoes. No one knows what became Gilberts), is put ashore to begin clearing land of the bones but the area where tradition holds for the establishment of a village and coconut that they were found is the same region where plantation. Maude is disappointed to see that Bevington noted “signs of previous habitiation” a severe drought has turned the lush paradise a year and a half earlier he had seen in 1937 into a parched and hostile The week following Maude’s departure is landscape. marked by unusually high westerly ocean On December 22 Maude and Gallagher depart swells. Water levels measuring four feet above to deposit other settlers on Hull and Sydney the already high spring tides pummel the Islands to the east. Jack Kima Pedro, a half- island’s west-facing shorelines and may have Portugese/half-Tokelau construction foreman, overwashed some portions of the atoll. is left with the work party to operate two Late in the month (the exact date is not certain) condensing plants for the distillation of drinking Maude checks in at Gardner on his way back to water. in the Gilberts. “A fair supply of well water” has at last been found and the Gilbertese officials rejoin RCSNimanoa for the trip home. The original ten-man work party, however, is

TIGHAR Tracks p. 32 not happy. Five of the men consider the newly During this period the island’s government is found well-water undrinkable and all are ready headed by Teng Koata who acts as supervisor to abandon the project. Maude only succeeds and magistrate. Around this time, according in convincing them to stay on by promising to to legend, his wife has an encounter with the return soon with their wives. goddess Manganibuka on a remote part of the island. On February 5 the New Zealand survey party departs having determined that the atoll is not On November 28 the U.S.S. Bushnell arrives a desirable base for aircraft operations. to begin an American survey of the atoll. The island’s shoreline is established by sighting On April 28 Maude returns with twelve new from eight “primary stations” (which include settlers for Gardner including the wives of three eighty-foot steel towers erected along the workers. He also brings materials for the the northern shore) and fourteen “secondary construction of a 10,000 gallon cistern (which stations.” Extensive soundings are taken in the still stands). By this time rains have returned lagoon and surrounding ocean. Magnetic and the island to its former bountiful appearance. tidal observations are also made. A population of eighty colonists is reported as living in “about twenty grass houses.” On December 5 the Bushnell’s survey is completed and the ship departs. 1940 In late September, Gerald Gallagher, promoted to Acting Officer In Charge of the Phoenix Island Settlement Scheme, April 30, 1939. Photo looking north to south taken by a U.S. moves his headquarters from Navy aircraft from U.S.S. Pelican. Absence of vegetation just east of the southern lagoon passage may indicate recent Sydney Island to Gardner. overwash. Tradition holds that bones were found near this Gallagher, known to the area. Courtesy U.S. National Archives. Gilbertese as “Karaka” and

to his fellow officers as Photo by E R. Bevington On April 30 a floatplane (probably a Grumman “Irish,” is the island’s first J2F Duck) is launched from the seaplane tender and only resident European “Irish.” U.S.S. Pelican magistrate. to take a mosaic In December, Gallagher reports “severe of aerial map- and almost continuous north-westerly gales” ping photos as which cause considerable damage to the village part of a U.S. and alter the course of the southern lagoon Navy survey passage. of the . On June November 18, 1940. “[The Government 17 additional Rest House], settlers arrive although smaller, is modelled after bringing the the Native Lands new colony’s Commissioner’s house on Beru population to (Gilbert Islands).” a total of 58 Report by Gerald B. Gallagher, Officer- (16 men, 16 in-Charge, P.I.S.S. women, 11 boys TIGHAR Collection and 15 girls). Village as of April 30, 1939.

Vol. 12 No. 2/3 p. 33 1941 1943 In May, Gallagher goes to Fiji (headquaters of On April 23 the British Western Pacific High Commission) District Officer on leave. R. M. Major visits the island and On June 20 at least four PBY flying boats of finds the trees U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 22 visit the island healthy and the as part of a “Reconnaissance of Pacific Islands population “not of the Phoenix discontented.” November 17, 1943. U.S. Coast Islands.” Nine Guard PBY 189 is met by canoes from the village. Photo by Jack Shea aerial photo- On November graphs are 17 the District Officer returns aboard a U.S. Coast taken and at Guard flying boat with a survey party to select a least one of site for the construction of a Loran navigation the aircraft station. The island’s southeastern tip is chosen. lands in the The population at this time is officially listed lagoon and as 57. calls at the village which 1944 is reported to On July 24 U.S. Coast Guard Construction be “inhabited Detachment D (Unit 211) arrive aboard USCG by 30 natives Balsam to begin construction of the Loran presided over facility. by a native magistrate On August 17-18 a British officer, Lt. Col. Village as of June 20, 1941 and policed by Huggins, finds that little progress has been a member of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony made by the colony since Gallagher’s death. Constabulary.” On September 29 the Gardner Loran goes On September 24 Galla- on the air. The station is staffed by 25 men gher returns from Fiji aboard as USCG Unit 92. The commanding officer, the S.S. Viti but has become Ensign Charles Sopko, restricts his men to the seriously ill enroute. He immediate area around the station and limits dies three days later and is their contact with the colonists to prevent buried in the center of the “fraternization.” Government Station area of Sometime in late 1944 or early 1945, PBY pilot the settlement. No replace- Lt. (jg) John Mims sees the Gilbertese settlers ment officer is appointed. using an aircraft control cable as a heavy-duty Teng Koata retires and Gallagher’s grave, fishing line leader. Asked about its origin, returns to Tarawa. His February 4, 1996. one of the Gilbertese replies that, “When our position as head man is TIGHAR photo by John Clauss. people first arrived a few years ago there was taken by Teng Iokina. an airplane here.” 1942 September On November 30 Colonial Service Officer D.C.I. 24, 1944. Wernham visits the island and finds the coconut The U.S. Coast Guard plantings healthy, with one tree approaching Loran bearing age. The island is outside the active station at the island’s war zone and no contact with Japanese forces southeastern is known to have occurred. tip. Photo courtesy Charles Sopko.

TIGHAR Tracks p. 34 1945 1949 On January 25 Lt. Col. Huggins returns and On January 2 Lands Commissioner Paul instructs the settlers to devote more time to B. Laxton arrives to give the settlers a choice planting and less to village maintenance. between repatriation to the Gilbert Islands or committing to further development of the atoll Sometime in “the late war years” a large four- under a system of land grants and leaseholdings. engined aircraft is reported to have crashed Six families elect to leave, three of whom were on Sydney Island two hundred miles to the among the first colonists, but the remainder stay east. Details are not clear,but supposedly the on. The village is moved to the site “originally bodies of the crew were recovered and the wreck selected by Mr. Gallagher, freeing the main abandoned to be salvaged for useful metal by area of developed trees for a leasehold party the local settlers. This is probably the source selected from (Sydney Island).” These of a few B-24 parts which later turned up on Sydney residents may have brought with them Gardner. During the time that the USCG Loran a few useful pieces of aluminum salvaged from station was at Gardner, PBYs delivered mail the wartime crash on that island. and perishable supplies. Records still exist for all of those flights. On no occasion was an aircraft reported lost or even damaged at Gardner 1953 Island. A new aerial photo survey of the island shows the enlarged settlement. During this period In December the Loran station is de-activated the island reached its maximum population of and abandoned. nearly 100 people. 1946 In March a Coast Guard work crew disassembles and secures the station’s Loran gear in the quonset huts formerly used as living quarters. Floyd Kilts, a Chief Carpenter’s Mate Village as of involved in this work, later (in 1960) tells a April 2, 1953 San Diego newspaper reporter that one of the Gilbertese told him of “the skeleton of a woman with American shoes and the skull of a man” found by the island’s first settlers in 1938. 1947 In June a new supervisor-magistrate, Aram Tamia, is appointed to try to speed up 1963 development of the colony which is deemed to Yet another severe drought damages the have stagnated during the war years. As a youth coconut plantations and prompts a British Aram Tamia had served as Gallagher’s personal decision to abandon the colony. A channel is assistant. A visit by Chief Lands Commissioner blasted through the reef at the island’s west B.C. Cartland and District Oficer McKenzie end to facilitate the evacuation and the process finds the situation “even less satisfactory than of resettling the island’s residents 2,000 miles had been thought.” to the island of Vaghena in the Solomons is begun. 1948 Further official visits during the year confirmed 1964 a need for a re-organization of the colony. A scientific party from the Smithsonian Institution visits the atoll to study the bird and plant life. Only a few residents remain to be moved.

Vol. 12 No. 2/3 p. 35 October 28, 1963. This is the last known photo of the village before the island was abandoned. Photo courtesy R. B. Clapp.

1975 itself with whatever scraps the abandoned vil- Smithsonian naturalists return, this time lage might offer. Of the nineteen village artifacts aboard a U.S. Air Force helicopter. It is believed deemed worthy of collection, only one—Artifact that the now completely abandoned island was 2-18, the dado (see page 13)—ultimately emerg- under consideration as a possible test site for es from the analytical process as a probable relic biological weapons. Fortunately, that never of the Lockheed. happened. 1978 On October 24-27 a party of geologists employed by Geomarex Corp. surveys the lagoon for exploitable minerals. None are found. 1979 Gardner Island becomes part of the new Republic of and is officially renamed Nikumaroro. 1989 From September 17 to October 6, TIGHAR’s Niku I expedition ranges far and wide over the 1991 island hoping to find the Earhart aircraft in the underbrush. Scuba divers scout the edge of the From October 10 to 19 TIGHAR’s Niku II fringing reef on the chance that the Electra rests expedition team targets specific areas on the somewhere on the first shallow shelves of coral. island while the ship conducts a side-scan sonar In the last days of the expedition, exhausted, search of the deep water off the reef. As in 1989, disappointed and empty-handed, the team puts the underwater search is fruitless while, on- aside dreams of dramatic success and contents shore, the search for a possible campsite seen on

TIGHAR Tracks p. 36 the atoll’s remote northeastern arm 1995 by Coast Guards- Interviews with former residents of Nikumaroro men in 1944 is now living in the Solomon Islands corroborate also negative. the story that bones were found by the first work The excavation of party in 1938/39. No one knew a story about an a suspicious grave airplane having been on the island. near Bauareke Passage on the 1996 south coast pro- From February 2 to 5 TIGHAR’s Niku III duces the bones Preliminary expedition tries again to locate the of an infant, not campsite on the northeastern shore, this time Amelia Earhart, guided by early aerial photos which have been but coincidently digitized and enhanced to reveal the presence of encounters shoe metal debris. Hopes that the campsite is that of fragments and Earhart and Noonan are dashed when the debris other interesting objects nearby. Again, in the is at last located but proves to be comprised of last days of the expedition, an inspection of objects from the Gilbertese settlement two miles the abandoned village turns up aircraft debris, away. For a third time, the apparently defeated including a torn section of aluminum skin. Re- expedition ends with a walk through the aban- search would eventually show that the artifact doned village, and once again, aircraft parts could be part of a unique repair patch known are found. This time the recovered artifacts in- to have been installed on the Earhart aircraft clude a fragment of Plexiglas which subsequent in May 1937. analysis shows is probably from Lockheed Part Number 40552, the cabin window of an Electra (see page 21).

Vol. 12 No. 2/3 p. 37