Howland Island, Its Birds and Rats, As Observed by a Certain Mr. Stetson in 1854
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Howland Island, Its Birds and Rats, as Observed by a Certain Mr. Stetson in 1854 LLEWELLYN HowLAi,m1 THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT of a visit to How captain involved, and even in this item I have land Island in 1854 is an abridged fragment checked the available shipping records and of a communication from a Mr. Stetson ad am of the opinion that "Rousseau" and Cap dressed to my grandfather and his halfbrother, tain Pope are the means whereby the survey partners in the firm of George and Mathew was made. Howland of New Bedford. Unfortunately all To my knowledge the report never has information concerning Mr. Stetson, even his been published. I referred to it briefly in my initials, is lost to us. Indeed the original of book Sou' West and West of Cape Cod (1947), .his manuscript has disappeared, in all like as did G. E. Hutchinson in his Biogeochemistry lihood having been destroyed with other of Vertebrate Excretion (1950). records of the United States Guano Company I have only a short note to add to the when my grandfather's counting house in the island's history. My ownership of the island "Candle Works," Hillman Street, was cleaned consisted of my having bought out all right, out between 1884 and 1886, soon after his title, and interest of those of the family who death. My uncle, the late Mathew Morris might, through inheritance ofthe U. S. Guano Howland of Jacksonville, Florida, made a Company, have a legal claim. When I pre copy of the part of Stetson's report which I sented my case to the United States Govern assume he, in going over his father's papers ment in 1926 my friend, Assistant Secretary in the counting house, thought he would like of State William Phillips, gave me his opin- to preserve for future reference, and that copy . ion, quoting chapter and verse from docu is reproduced in part here. ments in Government files, that British Such is the history of the Stetson report so subjects had established squatters rights and far as I know it. I will add that my uncle ifI was prepared to guarantee costs of$50,000 Morris Howland and I were for many years the State Department would be glad to pre after my grandfather's death affectionate rel sent my case to the British Government. Not atives and good companions, with added choosing to so obligate myself at the time bonds ofsympathy, a love ofthe sea, retentive and learning later that the British Government memories, and a deep interest in the history and the United States had come to an under of the Howland family. The Stetson report, standing that while the United States should and the man himself, were frequently the take title to the island, Great Britain, under subjects of conversation when we were on a contract, would have equal rights to use it outdoor expeditions or otherwise together; as a flying field, I abandoned all thought of so that I am willin'g to bet my head against my claim to this remote property. a football that the report is authentic except Mr.). C. Greenway, Jr. has kindly assisted ing the detail of the. name of the ship and in arranging for publication of this paper and has written the natural history notes and ob 1 Hope's Garden, Sourh Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Manuscript received July 7, 1954. servations which follow the Stetson letter. 95 96 PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IX, April, 1955 TO: George and Matthew Howland New Bedford, Mass. Dear Friends: At thy request I submit herewith a report of my activities while engaged in the investigations of thy property known as "Howland Island" in the Pacific Ocean [about 1600 miles south of Honolulu]. Agreeable to thy arrangements and instructions I joined thy bark "ROUSSEAU" at New Bedford on the 10th month [October] 15th day of 1853 ... At 5 bells in the forenoon watch on the 28th, [April, 1854] we raised land which proved to be Baker Island and in a short time after had Howland Island in sight ... I spent this day checking up and preparing the supplies and gear that I proposed to take ashore with me. At Captain Pope's suggestion, I had several weeks before made arrangements with two members of the crew, Obed Handy, a young man of superior intelligence, and Cotton Bole Snow, a colored boy who could cook to some extent, whereby they agreed to act as my assistant and servant respectively during my sojourn on the Island ... I prepared two large tents and spare canvas and poles for extra coverage in case of loss or damage to the tents. As there was no indication of sweet drinking water from the discovery report, a sufficient supply in bbls. fo~ 3 months was prepared ... Lines and hooks, firearms and powder, medicines, clothing and my instruments and specimen viols, etc. were all looked to, so that when on the early morning of the 29th, we backed the main yard when within, I should judge, two miles of the S. W. aspect of the Island in 60 fathoms of water, it required but a short time to embark our party and the gear in two boats and put out for the shore. The weather was ofvariable nature, scorching sun at short intervals between squally cloudiness, but no severe rain and but little wind. Captain Pope was in charge of the leading boat and a boat steerer the other. The Island appeared to be of coral formation and not over 20 feet above sea level at any point ... [I] place the centre ofthy property known as Howland Island in Lat. 00 49' 00" North, and Long. 1760 43' 23" W. The extreme length on the centre axis from S. E. to N. W. is 1.4 miles. 0.5 miles is the width atthe widest point situated in the southerly part and 0.2 miles from the extreme South shore line. The coral reefs run completely around the Island without a break except for several narrow leads where there is a passage for a light draught boat to approach the shore without being too much endangered by the breakers ... This was much smaller than had been anticipated and gave me food for thought as to the need of a long stay to complete my investigations. As we approached the fringe ofreefs the multitude ofbirds hovering over the Island became more and more astounding in its number and whenever a puff of wind came off shore the noise and stench were most noticeable. The nearer we approached the land the more difficult it appeared to be to find a passage through the coral that might afford us a landing place free from the surf ... By this time it had been forcibly impressed on me that thy property as a possible place of residence was out of the question unless fresh water and soil of some sort capable of producing vegetation should be discovered ... No man would willingly undertake to reside there for long except from sheer necessity, as the smell, while probably of no serious moment so far as health is concerned, is of so constant and over-powering a pungency that it has Howland Is. Birds and Rats - HOWLAND 97 a gagging effect when first encountered and even after long exposure to it, seems to permeate to one's vitals. Were it not for the rapid oxidation due to the savage and direct rays of the tropical sun, I doubt if life could be supported even with all things necessary, as we had, for more than a few days so ever present is the flavor arising from these huge deposits of bird droppings. Shortly after noon, a suitable landing place had been found and Captain Pope and I took council as to my future plans. Telling the boats' crews to leave the supplies in the boats and stand by them, we started to walk in an easterly direction to discover the size and character of the Island. The walk was most exhausting and filthy and the extraordinary tameness of the birds made it necessary to scuffle through them at times as one would if walking through windrows of dead leaves in the autumn at home. We succeeded, after more than an hour's picking our way through nests and filth and very broken ground, in relChing the eastern shore of the Island ... The surface of the land, what little we could see of it, seemed to be made up of rocks of a loose lime stone sort, very much· honeycomed by erosion, with considerable patches of low dry bushes and coarse dry grass in the low parts. Next to the birds and living in close and constant proximity to them, the only fauna we observed were armies of rats. They appeared to be of the gray Scandinavian variety and to be subsisting and thriving on the eggs and fledglings it was only too easy for them to obtain. Occasionally the birds would make a raid on a band of rats engaged in these depredations and succeed in seizing some of the younger robbers. They would, we observed, kill the rats by tearing them to pieces with their beaks and talons, or more often where the rat was of a small size, fly off to a point at a considerable height above the reefs and drop their prey into the pounding surf where it would seem the rat would perish ... I am ofthe opinion [that] originally there was some condition ofthe rock formation that allowed the rain water to collect and stand on the surface and by slow degrees give the sand and chance blown and dropped seeds opportunity to gradually develop into a sort of soil in which has grown the short tough grass and low bush which forms the only vegetation on the Island.