Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:15:57 EDT From: Vern Klein Subject: Goerner message claim >The only other alleged (and it is VERY shaky) inflight message was reported by >Fred Goerner as having been heard by Nauru on 6210 Kcs (the frequency she said >she was changing to) at about noon Howland time when she should have had about >a half hour of fuel left and could have been coming up on Gardner. The >message supoosedly was "Land in sight ahead." Goerner claimed that he saw >this in a government file in 1965 that was later changed. Do we know who on Nauru is supposed to have heard this message? I'd really rather not have to dig into Goerner's book! *************************************************************** From Ric You'll find the reference on page 318 of Goerner's book. It is April 6, 1965. Goerner is at the Office of Naval Information at the Pentagon in Washington to look at the U.S. Navy's classified (at that time) file on Earhart. Goerner has seen the file previously but he wants to see it again. With him is Ross Game, whom he describes earlier in the book (page 220) as "editor of the Napa (California) Register and secertary of the Associated Press." Goerner says: "At first, the report appeared the same. ... Further down in the file, however, some interesting bits of information had been added since our first perusal the year before. ... Near the bottom of the thick folder another piece of evidence had been added. a terse, U.S. Navy message with no heading stated, "At 10:30, the morning of the disappearance, Nauru Island radio station picked up Earhart on 6210 kcs saying, 'Land in sight ahead.' I blinked my eyes. Nearly two hours after Amelia had supposedly run out of gas, a radio station in the British-controlled Gilbert Islands (sic) had received her voice. Why was this message not included as part of the 1937 search? what had she sighted? Was that the extent of the message?" Fred Goerner provided more information in a letter to a TIGHAR member dated April 18, 1989: "Ross Game and I found that message in the CLASSIFIED U.S. Navy file which we were shown in 1965. We were not permitted to make photocopies of any of the material in the file, but we were permitted to make notes which were later cleared by the Navy. When the Freedom of Information Act took effect, the file we had been shown in 1965 was released to the public, but the message 'Land in sight ahead' was no longer part of the file. In other files we found that Nauru had received a message 'Ship in sight ahead' at 10:30 P.M. the evening before the disappearance. Captain Lawrence Frye Safford, USN (Ret.), who did considerable Earhart research in the late 1960s (and was writing a book on the matter at the time of his death) told me he believed the message Game and I saw was pulled by the Navy before the file was released in the belief that it had been corrupted from the message 'ship in sight ahead' and/or because I had made a point of the morning message in THE SEARCH FOR AMELIA EARHART. At this writing, I am unsure whether the morning message was bonafide or not. I am sure the message existed in the classified file we were shown, because both Ross Game and i have exactly the same wording in our notes." There you have it. On the one hand it seems incredible that the file would have been tampered with prior to its release, especially since the Navy had nothing to hide. On the other hand, I know that the officials who had to deal with Goerner and his allegations considered him to be a royal pain in the butt, and the temptation to let one slip of paper - a probably-erroneous message that only seemed to add fuel to the conspiracy fires - accidentally fall out of the file would be great. Especially if Fred's allegation is true that Ross Game's notes were identical to his own, it's hard for me to believe that the piece of paper was not there. Whether or not it was a genuine transmission by Earhart is another question. If it was, it just happens to fit very nicely into the Nikumaroro hypothesis. Love to mother, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:23:23 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Re: Raiders of the Lost Lockheed Tom Robison writes: > What!!. Do you mean there AREN'T crates of historic stuff in musty old > warehouses in D.C., just waiting to be rediscovered? OK, it's a bit off-point, but: two stories. 1. A couple of years ago I was hired by a Naval research lab that was closing, to do a workshop for their people on the handling of historical documents. Why? Because they'd found piles and heaps of lab notebooks and similar stuff in old lockers, piled under lab benches, etc. Describing experimental weapons developments going back to WWII. And despite a COMNAVINST about the size of the D.C. yellow pages that directs Naval personnel in the handling of documents. 2. Last year, GSA was about to demolish an old building in downtown D.C. A demolition contractor's employee opened up a room and noticed pieces of paper sticking down through holes in the ceiling. He went up and looked, and found the crawl space full of papers and office supplies dating back to the Civil War, together with a sign that said "Missing Soldiers' Bureau: Miss Clara Barton. Enquire Room Six." When Clara moved her office at the end of the Unpleasantness, the government (or somebody) had just sealed up all her stuff in the attic and forgotten about it. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and Noonan's sextant were all cohabiting in a government warehouse somewhere. Tom King ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:38:02 EDT From: Vern Klein Subject: Wreck Photo-op It sounds like we have another possible source for a photo of 2-engine wreck. However, it would appear pretty far removed from the Phoenix Island group. The Marshall Island vicinity fits better with "Captured by Japanese!" Several people will probably have posted that Ailinglapalap and Kwa are both in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands (the western chain). I'm assuming that Kwa is short for "Kwajalein." John Bargerhuff posted: >Last fall Bob told us the story of witnessing a group of excited >servicemen returning from a boat "excursion" (Bob thought it was a day trip) >where they had seen twin engine plane wreckage on a "nearby island". So, what is the story here? Who is Bob Russell and who is "us?" And what the heck was Operation Sandstone? *************************************************************** From Ric Sandstone was one of the series of post-war nuclear tests in the Marshalls. Bob Russell was on Kwaj (Kwajelein) with the Army's Special Services (clubs, entertainment, etc.) unit. His story is purely anecdotal and very ephemeral, but it does describe some guys who come into a club all excited about the old wrecked airplane they saw on a deserted island. Russell's impression was that the wreck was seen somewhere in the Marshalls. We dithered around with it for a while but were never able to get any kind of handle on documenting the story. ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:41:22 EDT From: Vern Klein Subject: Cables & Loran Station area For Bob... Yeah, I've been sorta pushing the idea that the cable is more a shielded cable than a coaxial cable, as we generally think of co-ax. What appears to be rubber insulation over a stranded center conductor and open braiding of the shield make me think: Designed for flexibility. A patch cord. Your response leads me to believe you're an electronics type. You probably were well acquainted with the electronic gear. So, do you remember the kind of connectors used on the equiment? Do you see connectors that would mate with the Howard P. Jones Series 101 plugs on the cable? We've tried real hard to find a place for the cable on an airplane with no success. I think it probably came from the Loran Station. I'm assuming it was once one cable. Not that it matters much for our purposes. Regarding the real estate... looking at the photo in TIGHAR Tracks for September 30, 1996, page 34, it looks like the Loran Station was sort of on the ocean shore of that southeastern tip of the island. But it does appear that it extended very nearly to the lagoon shore. There was probably, at least, good access to the lagoon. Some bush can be seen but it's hard to say how much of the lagoon shore might have been undisturbed. Gallagher said the partial skeleton, campfire site, sextant box, etc. were found on the southeast corner of the island about 100 feet above high water springs. I had thought we had indication that it was on the lagoon side rather than the ocean side but I can't find any statement of that sort by Gallagher. He did say there would be planting in the area and that more searching would be done in connection with that. We do see that the planting was done on the lagoon shore and well to the northwest of the Loran Station location on the tip of the island. Because of that planting, we tend to take that to be where Gallagher's people found all the stuff, but I don't feel confident that we've correctly identified the location. So, I keep worrying that Gallagher's "corner" of the island may have been the "tip" of the island where the Loran Station was located, and that anything we might have found there is long gone. ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 15:57:44 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: Kanawa Point (long) Over this past weekend Tom King and I developed a new hypothesis about where Gallagher found the castaway campsite (bones, shoe sole, sextant box, campfire, etc.). It seems to explain a lot of things that have been troubling us and we're pretty excited about it. We also know that a researcher with a new hypothesis is like a teenage boy with a new girlfriend. You have to get out of the back seat, take her to the dance and find out what she's like in public. So here she is. This is going to be a long post. Bear with me. Ever since the discovery of the Tarawa File (aka Gallagher Papers) in the late spring of 1997, we have thought that the site described by Gallagher was most likley the same site where we found the shoe parts in 1991 and the campfire (with label fragment) earlier in 1997. This did not require a great leap of faith. Gallagher said that the site was near the lagoon shore on the "southeastern corner" of the island. Depending upon how loosely you define "corner", our site fit that description. Gallagher said that it was an area scheduled for clearing. We know that our site was cleared about that time. Gallagher described finding part of the sole of a woman's "stoutish walking shoe." We found the same thing. Gallagher said there was a fire there. We found a fire. But if this was, indeed, the castaway campsite, why have we not found more artifacts or bones despite intensive searching? And if the fire turns out to be modern rather than old, as we now suspect, how does that fit? And isn't it perhaps just too much of a coincidence that we should originally stumble upon the campsite in the course of an investigation of a feature (the baby grave) which turns out to have nothing to do with anything? And what if Gallagher was speaking specifically instead of generally when he said "southeastern corner?" On August 29, 1998 Tom dropped me an email which launched one of those back-and-forth brainstorming sessions which can produce revelation or compost.Here's how it went. ************************************************************** From Tom King 8/29/98 I had a sudden thought in the night (I do, from time to time). Niku is an atoll of sorts, but it's an unusual atoll in that the land around the lagoon is almost continuous. Most atolls are made up of multiple small islands separated by more or less submerged reef, around the fringe of a subsided mountain. If one were thinking of Niku overall as an atoll, rather than as a single unitary island, then one would think of it as made up of two islands -- one comprising Nutiran, Taraia, Aukaraime north and south, and Ameriki; the other comprising Ritiati, Noriti, and Tekebeia. The southeast end of the latter would be Tekebeia, east of Baureke Passage. I wonder how Gallagher would have thought of it. And just to add interest, it's the promontory at the west end of Tekibeia that we think was the site of the "Ghost Maneaba," where Nei Manganibuka was allegedly sighted early in the colony's days. John, Veryl, LeRoy and I took a fairly close look at this promontory in '89, but we are unlikely to have detected anything as ephemeral as a campfire or bone scatter. Farther to the east, as I recall (though I'll have to dig out the maps), it was wall-to-wall Scaevola and we didn't look at it too closely. Food for thought.... LTM TK *************************************************************** Here I need to insert a little explanation about Nei Manganibuka. She is the Gilbertese ancestor/spirit who is the guardian of Nikumaroro. At some time soon after the island was first settled, the wife of Teng (Mr.) Koata, the Native Magistrate, had an encounter with the goddess. Here is how the event was described by Paul B. Laxton, the post-war District Commissioner who spent several months on Niku in 1949: "The wife of Teng Koata, the first island leader, had been walking one afternoon and saw a great and perfect maneaba, and sitting under its high thatched roof, Nei Manganibuka, a tall fair woman with long dark hair falling to the ground about her, with two children: she conversed with three ancients, talking of her island of Nikumaroro, and its happy future when it would surely grow to support thousands of inhabitiants." (A maneaba is a communal meeting house and is the central feature of a Gilbertese village.) *************************************************************** Ric to Tom 8/29/98 Well, you did it again. You got me thinking and looking into things and I found something kind of interesting. See what you think. ... What really strikes me after reading your theory that the Ghost Maneaba promontory at "the southeastern corner of the island" may be the spot Gallagher is talking about is that this feature appears on the New Zealand survey map as "Kanawa Point." This rather clearly implies that there was a Kanawa tree or trees at that location in late '38/early '39. Kanawa is rare and valuable wood. Gallagher, on 27 December 1940, says that the coffin built to convey the bones to Fiji "is made from a local wood known as 'kanawa' and the tree was, until a year ago, growing on the edge of the lagoon, not very far from the spot where the deceased was found." December of '39 sounds a bit early for clearing operations to be underway down on Aukaraime, but if Kanawa trees are rare and highly prized, that could draw people to that place. I think we need to re-examine Gallagher's description of the site with the Ghost Maneaba promontory in mind. Love to mother, Ric **************************************************************** Tom to Ric 8/29/98 My, my, my. Remember, too, Laxton's note about the fish pond close to the Ghost Maneaba. Maybe a good place to camp.....? And didn't Laxton also say that Kanawa was used to build the furniture in the Rest House? Ergo, people might have been visiting Kanawa Point during the Rest House construction, which was prior to Gallagher's arrival, no? Or about the time the skull was found and buried? I knew there was SOME reason I had a print made of that site, and have had it hanging on my wall all these years. Not that you can see anything but Level 2 Scaevola, but it's the symbolism, don't y'know? But -- do we have anything that would suggest whether Gallagher and the Gilbertese thought of Niku as one island or two? And of course, if Kanawa Point is the bones site, what the hell is Aukaraime South? LTM TK **************************************************************** Ric to Tom 8/29/98 Check out Laxton's description of the peninsula where Mrs. Koata saw the Ghost Maneaba (page 150 of his journal article). On either side are big pools where fish are trapped at low tide and frigates (or Gilbertese) come to get them. If you were marooned and needed easy to catch food, where would YOU camp? The question is, which peninsula is he talking about? The skinny little one that runs parallel to the shore line or the larger one just beyond which goes out into the lagoon? Which one did you visit in '89? The skinny one was part of the area partitioned in Laxton's land allotments. The larger one wasn't. I also suspect that the location of the Ghost Maneaba may also be "Niurabo," the place on the island where Managanibuka was said to live (according to Risasi on Funafuti). LTM, Ric **************************************************************** Tom to Ric 8/29/98 Great minds..... We were never sure which peninsula Laxton was referring to, but we figured it was probably the fat one, because it's the one that has pools (coves, really) on either side. That's where we went in the tinny, poking about in the western cove thinking there might be a nice pile of bones there. It was one of the last things we did on the island in '89, and was very much a disconsolate walkabout, hoping for serendipity. I don't recall that we could even distinguish the skinny one from the lagoon side, and the landward side was about Level 9 Scaevola -- that's where Bill, Jessica and I almost bought the farm and achieved videographic fame, trying to cut in from the other side. TK **************************************************************** Ric to Tom 8/30/98 Okay, we agree that the feature marked on the Kiwi map as Kanawa Point is probably the place where Mrs. Koata met Manganibuka at the Ghost Maneaba. It may also be the place called "Niurabo." We agree that Kanawa Point, because it is on the "South East corner of island" (if Niku is two islands), could fit Gallagher's description of the bone site. We note that the flanking fish ponds would make Kanawa Point a good place to camp. There is an obvious Kanawa Konnection between the Kiwi name for the feature and Gallagher's statement that there was a Kanawa tree on the lagoon shore near the bone site. How significant this is depends upon how common Kanawa trees really are (or were) on Niku. Maybe we should find out just what the hell a Kanawa tree is. We seem to have adequate reason to suggest that Gallagher's bone site, Kanawa Point, and the Ghost Maneaba site (Niurabo?) are all the same place. What is the chronology of these three encounters with this site? The Kiwi naming certainly came first. They left before the first women arrived. It seems logical to suggest that the presence of a Kanawa tree on the shore was unique enough to prompt that name for that point of land. We don't know just when Teng Koata's wife showed up, but because he was the island honcho it seems likely that she was one of the first wives to come to the island. At any rate, it seems safe to say that she was there well before Irish took up residence in September of 1940. That raises the possibility (if not probability) that the Ghost Maneaba incident happened prior to Gallagher's arrival. If so, what are the chances that the harvesting of the Kanawa tree from which the bone coffin was eventually made (circa December 1939), the discovery and burial of the skull (about the same time), and Mrs. Koata's close encounter of the third kind (date unknown), are completely unrelated? Right. Now we have to look closely at some hardcore folklore - the Ghost Maneaba incident. Laxton - "The wife of Teng Koata, the first island leader, had been walking one afternoon and saw a great and perfect maneaba, and sitting under it's high thatched roof, Nei Manganibuka, a tall fair woman with long dark hair falling to the ground about her, with two children: she conversed with three ancients, talking of her island of Nikumaroro, and its happy future when it would surely grow to support thousands of inhabitiants." Let's start from the assumption that something happened - that this woman did not simply fabricate this story out of whole cloth. Note that Mrs. Koata does not speak or interact directly in any way with Manganibuka. She is strictly an observer. I get the feeling that she's peeking through the bushes. She is "walking one afternoon" and comes upon something that probably scares the bejesus out of her. Reduced to it's most basic elements, removing as much interpretation as possible, she sees a female human figure sitting on the ground under a shelter. This is not a fellow islander because the person looks dramatically different from a Gilbertese (a tall fair woman with long dark hair falling to the ground about her). With her are two figures which Mrs. Koata interprets to be children. She is alive because she is conversing with "three ancients" (whatever the hell that means). Confronted by such an apparition, Mrs. Koata quite naturally puts it into a context that makes it understandable. But what did she really see? I've avoided this as long as I can. Here goes. Of all the creatures that Mrs. Koata could have seen, she describes something that could be a completely 'round-the-bend Amelia Earhart. She is female, tall, fair-skinned, with long dark hair. She sits on the ground under a make-shift shelter in a good camping spot and babbles. There, I've said it and I'm glad. LTM, Ric **************************************************************** Tom to Ric 8/31/98 Well, OK, let's say Mrs. Koata does see Amelia alive. What happens then? How do we get from there to the bones and the shoes? It's a great story, but ... One thing I'm noticing reading I Kiribati oral traditions is that there's a lot of shape-shifting that goes on, particularly between bones and folks. Somebody's killed and burned and his bones stuck in a clamshell (these are little people) and they come back to life and climb out and zap people with lightning. Stuff like that. I wonder If Mrs. Koata doesn't have her vision after Koata and Co. find the skull, as some way of accounting for the thing and making everybody feel better about having come on the bod. Not as romantic, but it's got its charm. And what about the fact that it's Koata who has the Benedictine bottle? We definitely need to find out about Kanawa. We also probably ought to find Grimble's story about Koata, that Maude mentioned. LTM TK **************************************************************** Ric to Tom 8/31/98 Last night I reviewed the videotape Dirk made in the Solomons. An old woman named Erenite Kiron told him a story about a ghost. ... Ms. Kiron does not speak English. Her comments are paraphrased by a barely-audible off-camera interpreter who doesn't speak much English either. My interpretration of what she's saying is based partly on the translator's paraphrasing, the gestures she makes, and names I think can pick out of her testimony. She says that there is a place on the island called Niurabo. When people go there they see the ghost of a fair-skinned woman who is wearing a grass skirt that comes up over her breasts. When you get close to this ghost her face goes blank. Ms. Kiron never saw this ghost herself but she heard about it from a woman who did. Her name was Koata. (If I'm correct about the names, she pronounces Niurabo as niuRABo, very much swallowing the final o. Koata comes out koaTA.) No mention of Manganibuka or a ghost maneaba, etc. On the other hand, she doesn't seem very enthusiastic about answering questions from this I-Matang and the interpreter edits out the name Koata. I wonder what else he edits out. I'd like to have this tape looked at by someone who is really fluent in Gilbertese. Your idea that Mrs. Koata's encounter was more of a vision to help explain the disturbing discoveries at that site, rather than an actual encounter, would sure simplify things. The fact that Koata had the bottle may or may not be significant. He was head man on the island and might naturally be expected to have custody of an important object. What is interesting, come to think of it, is that the bottle was apparently seen as worth saving even before Gallagher arrives on the scene. I can imagine these guys working on clearing and exploring this neat new island that even has kanawa trees, and then they find this damn skull. This is not good. At the very least it means there is a ghost loose on the island. They bury the skull (as damage control) but they stay the hell away from the place where it was found. Koata does, however, keep the bottle that was found at the same time. Once the skull is buried, the bottle serves as proof of this amazing and disturbing event. I can also imagine that everyone is less than thrilled when Gallagher insists that they go back and look for more stuff, and then the idiot wants to dig up the skull. (I'd like to have a transcript of THAT conversation.) It just occurred to me that Koata is not there when the bone search/skull exhumation is going on. He's in Tarawa (for whatever reason). I keep coming back to the question of chronology. Where does Mrs. Koata's encounter fit into the sequence of events? ************************************************************** Tom to Ric 8/31/98 I'll bet Koata kept the bottle because it was a neat bottle. Reminds me of Pat's Chuukese "father," Katin -- a guy very much like Koata in rank, knowledge, etc. -- who came to us after we'd excavated six bodies of his quite direct ancestors, buried in the '30s when he was a young man, and asked if he could have the nice knife sharpener we'd found with one of them. Everybody had been highly respectful of the dead, and the whole village was on edge about ghosts, but here was old Katin, the most powerful traditional knowledge bearer in much of the Lagoon, wanting to ghoul the whetstone. Island logic ain't our logic. Your scenario makes a lot of sense. I wonder if Koata's departure for Tarawa with the bottle triggered the recovery of the skull. "Koata sure is attached to that bottle," Gallagher comments to someone as the Nei Manganibuka takes the last load out to the ship. "Yes," the other guy says; "that's the one he found with that skull." "That WHAT?" asks Gallagher, and the game is afoot. You know, maybe this is why whatsisname, Gallagher's erstwhile assistant and translator, didn't know anything about the bones. Maybe he was on the same trip to Tarawa, and when he got back, mum was the word. That's always troubled me. *************************************************************** Ric to Tom 8/31/98 Looking more closely at the map produced from the Kiwi survey, I note that patches of vegetation are annotated as to their make-up -" Puka (sic) trees", scattered patches of Mao and Ren scrub". etc. In only one location on the entire island is their a notation mentioning Kanawa. It is on the "Kanawa Point" peninsula and it says "Kanawa trees (valuable hard wood)." The notation at our Aukaraime site is "Puka trees." Gallagher makes a big deal of the Kanawa wood coffin in his 27 December letter and in his 11 February concilatory wire to Isaac he offers (and then apparently changes his mind and crosses out the offer) to make him "a little tea table - we have a little seasoned timber left." Kanawa wood seems to be very rare and highly prized. When the Kiwis are there in late '38/early '39 there appears to be a grove of Kanawa on that peninsula. By February of '41 "we have a little seasoned timber left." Sounds like the Gilbertese really went after the stuff. I think that Gallagher's mention of the Kanawa tree is the key to this thing. The settlers arrive in early '39. They soon discover that there's a grove of Kanawa on the island and they start harvesting it. As Kilt's says, "They were about through" when the skull was found in late 1939. How and when Mrs. Koata's encounter with Manganibuka (and the consequent sanctification of the place as Niurabo) fit in, I don't know. But I'm beginning to think that we're really on to something here. We still, of course, have a very interesting shoe and a maybe old/maybe new campfire down on Aukaraime - and little else despite some pretty intense coverage of the immediate area. We've already postulated an exploratory expedition 'round the atoll by Fred and AE. Bevington has told of seeing a place on Aukaraime where someone had bivouacked for the night, but he didn't see any bones or sextant boxes. Maybe they stopped there for the night, left their shoes to dry by the fire (if it turns out to be an old fire) and woke up to discover that they had left the shoes too close to the fire. Good thing they have a second pair with them (we know Amelia had another pair on the trip). They continue along and find Kanawa Point, probably a gorgeous spot in those days. A grove of shady hardwood trees wafted by lagoon breezes, and easy fishing in the bordering tidal pools. Spins my prop. LTM, Ric ************************************************************** Tom to Ric 9/1/98 Spins mine, too. And if I can just lay my hands on the '78 Kiribati biological survey, I'll bet it identifies Kanawa. **************************************************************** Ric to Tom 9/1/98 Don't bet on it. I have a sneaking suspicion that Kanawa was completely eradicated through exploitation. The 1964 biological survey written by Roger Clapp (Niku Source Book, Section 2, Item 14) catalogs lots of different types of trees and plants, but nothing that sounds at all like Kanawa. **************************************************************** That's where we are at this point. Your comments are welcome. Love to mother, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 16:06:56 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: San Diego Help Needed We need a researcher in the San Diego area who would be willing to try to track down and interview surviving family of Coast Guard veteran Floyd Kilts. His 1960 newspaper interview was the first published account of bones being found on Gardner island. ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 11:52:30 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: Major Ed Dames TIGHAR member Paul Verde 1447 reports FLASH - FLASH - FLASH - FLASH - FLASH - FLASH - FLASH - FLASH On my way home tonight, I was listening to AM radio on a local station here in Atlanta. It was a nationally syndicated show hosted by Art Bell. His guest was a man named Major Ed Dames. Mr. Dames specialty was "techno remote data viewing". (Whatever that is.) Mr. Dames and his company called Sci-Tek(sp?), are planning a trip to Micronesia this Oct-Nov '98. He claims the Lockheed engines, other wreckage pieces, and Amelia's remains lay in 60 feet of water and he knows the location. Further, he claims she went down in a furious storm near, not on, an atoll and survived the crash only to promptly drown. No mention of Fred. I s w e a r I'm not making this up. That, my friends is all I heard. Well, he also mentioned that the U.S. economy will fail shortly and there will be mass hysteria and much gnashing of teeth around the world. But that was trivial compared with the REALLY BIG NEWS! *************************************************************** Mr. Dames is actually a subscriber to this forum, although he has never submitted a posting. I guess that's not surprising. He already knows where Amelia is and what we're all thinking. Is this a great country or what? ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 11:55:10 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Have Trowel Will travel One thing it might be nice to add to the Saga of Kanawa Point is that it was a forum posting -- was it from Vern? -- worrying about the "SE corner" business that got me started thinking about it, leading to my "two-island" speculation, and so forth. It's a nice example, I think, of the catalytic effect of the Forum. On another topic: my teaching schedule for the rest of this year and first half of next is more or less firmed up. Can never be sure, of course; some classes don't fly (props don't spin) and others get developed more or less on spurs of moments, but the following is what my travel looks like right now. If you'd like to share this with the Forum in the event anybody wants to put on a fund raiser or something while I'm in town, or just get together to talk, I'd be happy to try to accommodate. Have slides, etc. etc.... Travel Schedule Sept. 19-21: Salt Lake City, UT Sept. 22-24: Idaho Falls, ID Sept. 29-30: Atlanta, GA Nov. 10-12: Seattle, WA Dec. 1-3: Madison, WI Jan. 5-8: Dallas, TX Jan. 11-12: Salt Lake City, UT Feb. 3-10: Atlanta, GA Mar. 14-17: Reno, NV Mar. 22-27: Chicago, IL Apr. 11-15: Honolulu, HI Apr. 19-20: Sacramento, CA Apr. 28-May 5: San Francisco, CA June 7-9: Phoenix, AZ LTM TK ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 11:58:30 EDT From: Natko Katicic Subject: Re: Kanawa Point Ric, this sounds very plausible. I can offer only 2 comments that come to mind in a spontaneous, brainstorming fashion: 1) >Reduced to its most basic elements, removing as much >interpretation as possible, she see's a female human figure sitting on the >ground under a shelter. This is not a fellow islander because the person >looks dramatically different from a Gilbertese (a tall fair woman with long >dark hair falling to the ground about her). With her are two figures which >Mrs. Koata interprets to be children. No idea what the children might be >She is alive because she is conversing >with "three ancients" (whatever the hell that means). Well, does it mean she is alive? Is it possible that "ancients" means forefathers and talking with them is just an euphemism for being dead??? >Confronted by such an >apparition, Mrs. Koata quite naturally puts it into a context that makes it >understandable. But what did she really see? maybe she saw a female skeleton??? 2) a bit off topic but answers quite a bit of dispute (no land club...) on the forum lately: >>> "Yes," the other guy says; "that's the one he found with that skull." >>> "That WHAT?" asks Gallagher, and the game is afoot. So much about the eagerness of the Gilbertese to report found objects to the western 'authorities'. If the didn't report a skull, why would they report a plane wreck if found. LTM, Natko. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 09:02:11 EDT From: Al Hall Subject: Kanawa kanoe? The discussion about the Kanawa trees on Gardner may have helped me identify the wood in my model outrigger canoe. I traded some cigarettes to one of the Gilbertese on Canton (1946) for a handcrafted outrigger canoe about 15 inches long complete with paddle. It is a very attractive wood but I have never been able to identify it. Now I wonder if it is Kanawa...... Al Hall #2143 *************************************************************** From Ric Hang on to that canoe Al. I have a hunch we'll be finding out all kinds of things about Kanawa wood. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 09:37:04 EDT From: Antonio Gomez Subject: Thanks from a new subscriber Hello, my name is Antonio (Tio) Gomez, I live in Veracruz, Mexico. I don't want to take much of your most valuable time, I only want to say that since I read the LIFE article, I was drawn to this very serious and most interesting topic. I have been on your list for two days, and my emotions have been going like a yo-yo. I have given myself the homework of following Ms. Earhart's steps while she was in Mexico in 1935. Thank you good people of TIGHAR, if I can be of any help, I modestly am at your service. My job is MIS manager in a Nuclear Plant for the National Utility in Mexico. Your friend and admirer... Antonio (Tio) Gomez ************************************************************** From Ric Thanks Tio. Welcome aboard. I hope you and other forum subscribers who find our work worthwhile will join TIGHAR. We need your support. You'll find a printable membership form on our website at www.tighar.org ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 12:19:47 EDT From: Ed Dames Subject: Re: Major Ed Dames Please refer to my original email letter to you. I plan upon meeting with both you and Tom King, in the near future. Respectfully, Ed Dames ************************************************************** From Ric Sorry, but I don't recall receiving an email letter from you. Perhaps you could re-send it. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 12:59:30 EDT From: Gene Dangelo Subject: Remote viewing "Remote Viewing" is apparently a process which the Air Force and Army actually had experts in, according to a "Sightings" episode which aired in the latter part of this summer on the Science Fiction Channel. There are actually several web sites available to investigate this psi-phenomenon, by simply doing a web search. Always interested in such thrilling topics as conspiracy theories, e.s.p, and u.f.o.s, I can't resist checking these kinds of things out. While some aspects of such phenomena defy explanation via conventional science at times, they are not excluded by it. If the sightings episode is accurate, there was (and is) a highly organized "Remote Viewing" project in operation using military personnel. If interested, check it out. The truth is out there. We now return control of your computer to you. Spinning at red line,--------Gene Dangelo :) *************************************************************** From Ric Yeah, the truth is out there. Due to the nature of TIGHAR's work (looking for lost stuff) it is hardly surprising that, over the years, we have attracted the proffered help of any number of psychics, astrologers, remote viewers, map dowsers, you name it. I have always tried to keep an open mind toward their claims and have, on numerous occasions, conducted tests in cooperation with these people to determine if there might be any semblance of merit to this whole field of alleged information access. My experience has been that, although interesting and sometimes even startling apparent correlations turn up, nothing of any real use exists which can be demonstrated in a controlled experiment. I am not in least bit impressed, although I am a bit miffed, that taxpayers' dollars have been spent on a supposed phenomenon that everything I have seen tells me is pure hogwash. I'm willing to be convinced but I'm a hard sell on this one. Love to mother, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 14:13:08 EDT From: Jack Subject: Photo of Gurr and AE Ref. Mike E's August 05, 1998 Radio Equip. Guys, I think I have found something Ric has not seen or read. Can that be possible? Is this a first? In the aforementioned message Ric's reply indicates Quote Joseph Gurr's name does not appear anywhere in any of the documentation or publicity I have seen concerning the aircraft or flight. I've never seen a photo that claims to show him with AE Unquote. I have a photo of Joe Gurr and AE at Burbank in 1937. AE signed the photo "To Joe Gurr with 500KCs of appreciation." Also have a picture of John Ray with pioneer aviator Bobbi Trout. Ray was the guy that took the trailing wire antenna out of AE's L10-E Along with the pictures is a very interesting article "Amelia didn't know Radio." by Al Gray former PAA FRO now deseased. OK Ric, do I have a scoop? Will mail copy to TIGHAR 1. LTM, Jack 2157 *************************************************************** From Ric That's a scoop. The photo appeared in the article you mention by Captain Almon Gray. "Amelia Didn't Know Radio" appeared in Naval History, Nov/Dec 1993. I had forgotten about it. Gray's article is full of conjecture stated as fact without documentation. Same old problem. Gray was a genuine authority on radio but he apparently didn't understand the first thing about historical investigation. He just takes everybody's word for everything. This John Ray business is a classic example. The photo of Ray with Bobbi Trout is clearly a recent photo (they're both old). John Ray telling an unsubstantiated story half-a-century after the vent does not make it so. I have photos taken May 20, 1937 which show that the trailing wire (or at least any external sign of it) was gone when the airplane came out of the repair shop in Burbank. That trumps any anecdote. But the Gurr photo is important. It seems to establish that Gurr did know AE during the time she had the Electra and that she was grateful to him in a radio context ("550 Kcs of appreciation"). Wiley Rollins 2090 has sent me Goerner's notes on Gurr from the Nimitiz Museum collection. Perhaps they will shed more light on Gurr's credibility. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 14:17:42 EDT From: Rob Williams Subject: Re: Major Ed Dames Here is the PSI Tech website, for those interested in a look: http://www.trv-psitech.com/about.htm There is nothing under the heading "Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E - Pinpoint Location" other than "investigation in progress". But a tour of the site might give you an indication of what to expect. I'll say no more. Rob Williams ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 14:31:12 EDT From: Vern Klein Subject: Rickenbacker Incident (long) A brief (relatively) account of the Rickenbacker flight and ditching. Without a lot of the details, this is the essence of what I've learned from two books, each written by one of the people on the plane and in the rafts. One was in the raft that made it to Nukufetau. The books are essentially in agreement as to what happened. "We Thought We Heard the Angels sing," Lieut. James C. Whittaker, 1943 "Eddie Rickenbacker," Col. Hans Christian Adamson, 1946 Interestingly, this is another case of radio DF failure -- and of how hard it is to find a speck of dry land in the South Pacific. The flight started from Hickam Field, Honolulu. The first B-17 experienced a one-wheel brake lock-up and groundlooped at about 50 MPH. The navigator's octant slid across the table and slammed into the side of the aircraft. Upon examining it, he concluded that it did not appear to be damaged. Another B-17 was brought out and the same people took off in it. The destination was Canton Island. It was usual to stop at either Christmas or Johnston on this flight but Rickenbacker was under such pressure to get into MacArthur's realm that they topped off the fuel tanks and headed directly for Canton. Several hours into the flight, the navigator reported that he had made several good sightings and they were right on course. But when the ETA for Canton had passed, they realized that the octant had been knocked out of adjustment and they had passed Canton on one side or the other and had no idea where they were. They had also concluded somewhere along the way that the compass was not right. There was still the radio DF and they were able to raise Canton Radio. But bad luck had not let up. They couldn't rotate the loop to find a null. Try as they would, the handle could be turned only a few degrees -- mechanically bound up. The loop had been used to hear the tower at Hickam Field, and judged to be in operating condition. But there is no indication that the loop was ever rotated at that time. It may have been bound up from the start. They were still not greatly disturbed. They would set up the "lost plane" procedure. The ground station takes two bearings 15 minutes apart and figures out a course for the plane to fly to the station. But Canton reported that it was not yet equipped to do the "lost plane" procedure. **** There is some question whether it was Canton but, if not, it was an island near Canton. The radioman found another station that could do the "lost plane" thing, but it was about 1,000 miles away. They had enough fuel to get about three quarters of the way there. This radio contact tried to figure something to do but all the ideas were unworkable because the crew didn't know the direction of the station from wherever they were. It appears that all these radio contacts were by code. There is no reference to voice communication. And no indication of frequencies used. It was concluded that the only thing left to do was to try the "box procedure." A lost plane flys a course that describes a square. This enables the crew to scan a vast area lying inside and outside the box. They would fly 45 minutes on each leg of the box and have about an hour's fuel when finished. Canton was asked to begin firing anti-aircraft shells timed to explode at 8,000 feet. They would fly at 10,000 feet. Canton responded that firing would begin at once and planes would be sent out to look for them and lead them in. They saw nothing but ocean and scattered clouds. No shell bursts, no planes, and no islands. They would have to put it down in the water while there was still a little fuel left. They landed cross wind and lined up with a wave trough. It was probably the first time a 4-engine aircraft was landed in water without it being total disaster. Everyone was alive although there were some injuries. None were life threatening. They got three rafts in the water with some food and water. One person did die later from, thirst, starvation, and exposure. He was simply put over the side. The rafts were tied together for about two weeks. At about the beginning of the third week, they separated. The thinking of some was that if any raft was sighted, then they would know approximately where to search for the others. One of the rafts drifted in sight of what turned out to be Nukufetau, about 40 miles from Funafuti that had been taken by the Japanese only two weeks before. There was a native population and a radio facility let nearby American forces know they were there. It appears the other two rafts had already been found by Navy search planes. We have no answer to how far they drifted because we don't know where they went down. Somewhere near the Phoenix Islands? Maybe. Their course wouldn't have to be off very much to have got them into the open area between the Phoenix islands and Funafuti in the Tuvalu group. They would have sighted an island almost anywhere else! Vern's two-cents worth... Early in the game, they were in contact with Canton and pretty close. An estimate based on signal strength put them about 25 miles away. I think they could have DFed their way to Canton (or wherever the station was). It required some thinking "outside the box." They couldn't rotate the loop but they could turn the plane. Whatever the position of the loop, and with a compass known to be in error, I think it could be done. If they could get a null, they could resolve the 180 degree ambiguity and end up with a bearing on Canton with less flying around than they did in that search pattern. ************************************************************* From Ric I'm confused about what island the Japanese had taken just two weeks before. Surely not Funafuti, but if the Japanese held Nukufetau why weren;'t they captured? Also, can you post the dates they went down and when they were found? I'd like to see how that corresponds with Swan's wanderings. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 14:32:52 EDT From: Vern Klein Subject: Re: Kanawa Point I'm glad to see a theory that tends to reconcile the coconut planting with Gallagher's southeast corner! And gets the campfire site away from where the Loran Station was. I was sure having a hard time seeing a "corner" anywhere along the southwest side of the island! It may be significant that it is the one of the two islands on which they elected to establish the village. Now if we could just find indication that Gallagher, or any of the others acquainted with Niku, thought of it as being two islands. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 14:43:17 EDT From: Ric and Tom Subject: Nei Manganibuka Just to give everyone an idea of who we're dealing with on this Nei Manganibuka business: From Tom King "One morning when her brothers and sisters were out, Nei Manganibuka sat alone -- thinking. She decided that she had learned all she could from her father and mother and that she should kill them before her brothers and sisters could acquire the same knowledge." "Nei Manganibuka the Mariner," in TRADITIONAL STORIES FROM THE NORTHERN GILBERTS, by Ten Tiroba of Baurike, Tarawa, translated by Reid Cowell. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1989, pp. 15-16. Love to -- er -- Mother TK ************************************************************* From Ric Yup. That's our gal. What a sweetie. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 15:10:25 EDT From: Mike Everette Subject: Re: Kanawa Point Wow... When I read this yesterday it made my hair stand on end... for more than one reason. The most obvious reason, of course, is -- could AE have actually survived this long? And if she did, how long did she live after the "encounter"? The second is, the behavior described is eerily similar to that shown by some Alzheimer's Disease sufferers. I have seen such people take objects out of a garage -- for instance, a bale of yellow insulation -- and put them down outside; then, later, introduce visitors to "this lady in a yellow dress" or "this blonde lady, I'm sorry but I don't know her name, but I want you to meet my friend..." Perhaps, if this "ghost" was AE, she was suffering in a like manner. She may have even made crude statues of children, just to have someone to talk to! Yes, 42 years of age is way young to be afflicted with Alzheimer's, under normal circumstances... but this was hardly normal. Of course it may not have been Alzheimer's but a form of dementia... some of the symptoms are similar. Is there a history in AE's family of either disease? Might be interesting to know this. Oh, wow. Think on this. It may be less far fetched than one might first believe. 73 Mike E. the Radio Historian #2194 *************************************************************** From Ric This kind of thing is so tough to assess realistically. We're trying to interpret the accuracy of a tale arising out of a culture we know very little about that has already been interpreted by an outsider (Laxton). I've been re-reading Sir Arthur Grimble's papers, edited by Harry Maude and entitled "Tungaru Traditions." A couple points are worth noting. In the old days, it was not at all unusual for the Gilbertese to keep the skull of a dead relative around the house and talk to it as casually as they would to any other member of the family. On the other hand, Nei Koata is not reported to have had any direct discourse with this particular "anti" (pronounced "ahns") or ghost. Also, by the time of the settlement of the Phoenix Group, the London Missionary Society had done a rather thorough job of stamping out traditional Gilbertese customs and beliefs among the people of the southern Gilberts (where the first settlers on Gardner were from). This was somewhat less true in the northern Gilberts which were primarily Catholic, but at any rate - the reaction of the people who lived on Gardner in 1939/1940 to a heavy-duty spiritual event is not something we are equipped to say much about. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 15:41:25 EDT From: Chester Baird Subject: Re: remote viewing Ric wrote: >I am not in least bit impressed, although I am a bit miffed that taxpayers' >dollars have been spent on a supposed phenomenon that everything I have seen >tells me is pure hogwash. > >I'm willing to be convinced but I'm a hard sell on this one. Ric, you and I are in complete agreement on that point. LTM Chester ************************************************************* From Dave Bush Ric I, too, am usually pretty skeptical about esp type claims. however, I do believe that some incidents occur. I can name one that I personally experienced and even today have a hard time understanding it. I was driving home my usual route from work one afternoon and began to get a strong urgency, almost like a voice, telling me that when I reached a certain intersection, to look at the car that would be sitting there. I came to the intersection, a car was parked behind a construction barricade and I had to fight an overwhelming urge to go pop the trunk. Instead, I went home and called the police anonymously. The next night, on the news, I learned that the police had gone to the car and found a body in the trunk! Sometimes, I wonder if the person would still be alive if I had acted on my impulse. Also, I have experienced other direct phenomena for which there was no answer and would take to long to explain here. I don't claim to be psychic (psycho maybe) but based on my own experience, I cannot rule out that others might experience such phenomenon on a more intense scale. The problem comes in the interpretation of such things. The Bible is replete with such stories. Remember the handwriting on the wall? I wonder if the wife of the island bigwig experienced such a thing when she came upon AE's skeleton. Purely conjecture, but have heard of such things. She would actually have seen a "ghost", not some spirit of the island. Primitive people explain such "visions" away by making up spirits to explain them, since they don't know any other way. Well, so much for this subject. It makes a nice story, but as you said, doesn't add anything we can put our hands on. LTM, Dave Bush #2200 **************************************************************** From Ric >Primitive people explain such "visions" away by making up spirits to explain >them, since they don't know any other way.>> I'll go along with that if you strike out the word "primitive." The routine sightings of angels and Our Lady of Whatever are common occurrences in the first world as much as the third. We all want desperately for there to be such a thing as magic. Maybe there is. I'm a skeptic - but I've learned not to mess with Manginbuka. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 10:24:13 EDT From: Dennis McGee Subject: Re: Nei Manganibuka Is Nei Managanibuka the Gilbertese word for Lizzie Borden? SPM Dennis 0149 *************************************************************** From Ric Not exactly, although they seem to share an attitude. According to Gilbertese tradition, Nei (Ms.) Manganibuka (literally "branches of the buka tree") came to the Gilbert Islands long ago from a beautiful island covered with buka trees which lay far to the southeast and was called Nikumaroro. She taught the people the secrets of ocean navigation and expresses her displeasure (which is apparently rather easy to incur) by causing storms. When a delegation of Gilbertese elders first visited the Phoenix Islands in October of 1937 with Lands Commissioner Harry Maude and Cadet Officer Eric Bevington, the first island they evaluated for future settlement was Gardner. The elders took one look at this beautiful island to the southeast covered with buka trees and knew where they were and who lived here. Our own experiences merely confirm that those wise men were absolutely correct. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 10:27:57 EDT From: Ed Dames Subject: Re: remote viewing Got the message loud and clear, Ric. Best of luck to you and TIGHAR. Edward A. Dames President PSI TECH, Inc. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 10:43:27 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Re: Kanawa Point Re. Vern's -- "Now if we could just find indication that Gallagher, or any of the others acquainted with Niku, thought of it as being two islands." Right, and thus far, I can't. I've been going through all of Maude's writings, figuring he'd be as likely as anyone to share Gallagher's idiom, and usually each whole atoll (Beru, Tarawa, etc. ) seems to be referred to as an island. Occasionally there will be references to "XXX in Tarawa," meaning an island in the Tarawa atoll, but I've yet to see such a thing referred to routinely as an island. "Islet" is the more frequently used term. But there's lots of reading to be done. Tom King ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 11:03:19 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Visions To Mike of the Radios -- I think there are a lot of better ways to account for what Koata's wife saw than to assume she saw Amelia. Native American medicine people of my acquaintance see little people and ghosts and all manner of supernatural things in places where, to my limited eye, there's nothing whatever to see. They're not making it up; they see something. What are they seeing? I have no idea, but I know that there doesn't necessarily have to be a visual cue that's recognizable to the jaundiced western eye to trigger such seeing. There's also a very liberal use of metaphor in traditional island discourse, and an easy sliding back and forth between the descriptive and the metaphoric. Nei Manganibuka talking with the ancients (communing with ancient and reputable spirit-sources of knowledge?) and taking care of the children while talking about how good things were going to be on the island may have been a metaphorical way of saying with authority and kindness that everything was really going to be all right, at a time when things weren't going particularly well for the colonists. Or, of course, it may have been something completely different; I don't think speculation is going to take us very far -- or rather, it can take us a long way, but we won't be anywhere when we get there. But it DOES rather raise the hairs on the back of the neck, doesn't it? LTM Tom King ************************************************************* From Ric A standing joke among the team members has been that one of these days we'll be met at the landing by an old hag who will say (hands on hips), "Well it's about goddamn time! (and shouting back over her shoulder) Fred! Put on your shoes. They're here." ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 11:38:08 EDT From: Roberta Woods Subject: dementia There is a condition that can seem like Alzheimer's in persons too young to actually be afflicted with the condition. A friend of mine related an astonishing story to me yesterday about her soon-to-be daughter-in-law who had to have brain surgery due to a pocket that had developed in her brain into which blood had pooled. Her symptoms were the same as Alzheimers patients report. Only her age--20s--convinced the doctors to look for something else. I didn't ask if this gal had had a head trauma that might have caused the condition, but if AE actually did survive the crash, perhaps this could explain such behavior. That is, if one goes so far as believing it to be literally true. All I'm saying is that it is possible to explain Alzheimer-type behavior with another, entirely plausible, condition. I think I'll contact my friend and ask if any head injury/trauma was in the gal's history. Roberta Woods **************************************************************** From Ric Believe me, you don't need to have suffered head trauma to be a bit barmy after a few weeks on Niku. It's not the implied dementia that makes the AE-alive-and -living-on-Niku scenario hard to swallow. I also don't have a problem with the notion of a reclusive, paranoid hermit avoiding human contact on the island. I think I could do it easily. The site Gallagher describes has clearly been abandoned for some time. There is no feeling in his reports that this is evidence of recent habitation. So if we're going to pursue a literal interpretation of Mrs. Koata's tale we'd have to say that she came upon AE very early on and, as a consequence, Amelia abandoned that campsite and moved deeper into the bush where she eventually died undiscovered. What really makes the Amelia-alive scenario hard to accept is not any practical problem that I can think of, but rather the very outrageousness of the notion. A gut feeling of, "Naw." The documented story is already better than any Hollywood screenwriter would dare suggest. The very idea of Amelia Earhart living out her days as some kind of female Ben Gunn is just too much. That, of course, is not a good reason to reject the possibility out of hand. The real problem is, as Tom says, that it's hard to see how we'd ever know. As a research topic it's a dead end. There's another reason not to get too wrapped up in this speculation. Can you imagine what would happen if the Weekly World News got hold of this? I don't think it would do much for our credibility. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 12:06:13 EDT From: Jim Tierney Subject: Swan/Rickenbacker time line According to Robert Serling's -From the Captain to the Colonel... EVR left SFO on 17 October 1942 and went to Hawaii for a brief visit to some local air bases then took off in the B-17 for Canton. Assume they left on 19 October. They were rescued on Nov 12 after having floated across the Date Line... That was my quickest reference available... Jim Tierney *************************************************************** From Ric Okay, Rickenbacker disappears around October 19, so by the time Swan leaves Hawaii for Canton on October 31, they've been missing for 12 days and we can assume that the search, such as it is, is in full swing. By the time Swan gets to Canton on November 7 and stops at Gardneron the 8th the flight is still missing but hope is probably fading. Swan arrives in Suva, Fiji on the 13th - the day after the survivors are found. All we can say with certainty at this point is that: A. Swan's stops at Gardner on the 8th (enroute to Suva) and on the 23rd (enroute back to Canton) are not explained by any order that was recorded in its deck log. B. The visit on the 8th occurred during a time when a VIP flight was missing in the region. If the story we heard on Funafuti about a government ship visiting Gardner to take pictures of airplane parts is true (whether or not the Wreck Photo is one of those pictures), the visits by Swan are is the best candidates I know of so far. To learn more we'll probably have to find someone who was aboard Swan at that time. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 12:11:06 EDT From: Ron Dawson Subject: FBI answer I was surprised to get a letter so soon from the FBI, although negative in content. It's basically a form letter with Subject: Noonan, Frederick J Request No. 437895. Reads as follows: "Based on the information furnished, a search of the indices to our central records system files at FBI Headquarters, both automated and manual, located no records responsive to your FOIPA request to indicate you or the subject(s) have ever been of investigatory interest to the FBI. In order to respond to our many requests in a timely manner, our focus is to identify responsive records that are indexed as main files. A main index record carries the names of subjects of FBI investigations. Although no main file records responsive to your FOIPA request were located in our indices, we are required to inform you that you are entitled to file an administrative appeal if you so desire" Then it goes on to describe the appeals process. Signed J. Kevin O'Brien, Chief, Freedom of Information- Privacy Acts Section, Office of Public and Congressional Affairs. Smooth Sailing, Ron Dawson 2126 *************************************************************** From Ric Good. I think we can consider that base covered. If Fred and his buddy Gene Pallette were Abwehr agents, the FBI wasn't on to them. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 12:13:32 EDT From: Walt Holm Subject: Re: Tom's travel schedule Tom: Given the number of TIGHARs in the San Francisco area, I'm sure we can put together some kind of shindig while you're in town. Just post a little reminder on the forum beforehand, or you can E-mail me if you like.... -Walt Holm ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 12:20:34 EDT From: Tom Robison Subject: Rickenbacker Retired crew chief recalls ordeal at sea by Capt. Andy Brunetto 514th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. (AFNS) -- Private John Bartek had been floating on a life raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for six days. The sun was searing his skin, and all he could taste was the ocean's salt. Bartek and his seven crewmates from the ditched B-17C bomber were also starving. Caught between life and death, Bartek, a crew chief with the U.S. Army Air Force, opened his water-soaked New Testament Bible and found hope: "Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed?... for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." That Scripture, from Matthew 6:31-34, Bartek believes, was God's assurance that they would survive. "Immediately after I whispered those words from my Testament," Bartek said, "our first meal in six days landed on Eddie's (Rickenbacker, former World War 1 ace) head." The crewmen killed the unlucky seagull, plucked and discarded the feathers, then divided it up between them, saving the intestines for fish bait. Bartek, now in his mid-70s, relived those harrowing three weeks in October 1942 when he received the Peter J. McCullough Memorial Award from the 732nd Airlift Squadron. The award is named in honor of a 732nd AS pilot who was killed in 1975 when the Eastern Airlines jet he was flying crashed at John F. Kennedy International Airport. An occasional award, the trophy is presented to individuals who create a positive impact on their community. "It was John's tremendous strength of spirit that attracted me to his story," says Lt. Col. Jim Nanfeldt, 732nd AS, flight examiner, who presented the award to Bartek. "He pulled them (the crew) together through the entire ordeal because of his faith in God." Bartek and the crew were eventually spotted by a U.S. Navy patrol plane and were picked up by Navy sailors. Though more than 40 years have passed, Bartek remembers the sun, the salt and the hunger like it was yesterday. With members of the 732nd as his audience, Bartek shared the detail of his struggle at sea. A day before the plane went down, Bartek, a flight engineer, was assigned to help transfer four B-17s to the United States from Hawaii so the aircraft could be used for training. Just before they were to leave, the aircraft pilot Capt. Bill Cherry told Bartek the mission had changed from a transfer to a secret one. "Capt. Cherry told me, 'You'll be happy to be on this mission,'" Bartek said. In the dim light of an October evening in Hawaii, Bartek saw a jeep pull up next to his B-17 and discharge two passengers -- one an Army colonel, the other a civilian using a cane and wearing a fedora -- who climbed into the bomber. The man with the cane was the renowned Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker. The colonel was Rickenbacker's old friend and aide, Col. Hans Adamson. The secret mission was to transport the two men to Port Moresby, New Guinea, to give a classified message to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the Pacific Forces. "The mission started poorly when the plane ground-looped at takeoff," Bartek said. "No one was injured and a spare aircraft was made available, finally taking off at 1:30 a.m." Because of low cloud cover, Cherry brought the bomber down low well before the scheduled arrival time. The crew kept an eye out for New Guinea, yet by the time they were supposed to land, no islands were sighted. When Cherry called the island's airfield to request assistance they announced the equipment needed to do this was not yet assembled. "With one hour of fuel left, Capt. Cherry decided to put the plane down into the trough of a wave," Bartek said. Making a quick choice between his personal photographs and his New Testament, Bartek remembered what his Mom once told him: "Someday you will have to depend on God for help and not man." Taking the book, Bartek climbed out of the plane and into a life raft. With all six crewmembers and the two passengers off the plane, three life rafts were lashed together. Adamson's back was injured in the landing and he lay in the bottom of the raft with Rickenbacker and Bartek. No fresh water was available and the only food salvaged from the B-17 was four oranges. By the time Bartek whispered the prophetic Scripture six days later, all the oranges were gone. After eating the uncooked flesh of the bird, Adamson, still in pain, asked Bartek for his Testament and again read the passage, this time, so all eight could hear it. A short time later, a rain shower suddenly passed over the survivors. Quickly, the men found anything they could use -- including their underwear -- to soak up the fresh water. They passed the soaked clothes to Rickenbacker who squeezed the water into two buckets. One week later another seagull landed on Rickenbacker. "Holding the bird in his hand, Eddie asked if we really needed to kill this one because we still had plenty of bait to fish with," Bartek said. In an act of incredible faith, eight men floating in the middle of the ocean with no guarantee of future meals, released the gull. On Day 12, the only fatality of the mission occurred. Sgt. Alexander Kaczmarczyk, a flight engineer who had been sick for several days prior to the mission and was recovering when the crash occurred, died. "The navigator said a prayer, and we slipped Kaczmarczyk's body overboard," Bartek said. "I kept the engineer's jacket to keep warm at night." While the days were scorching, at night the temperatures plummeted. At one point during their trial, Bartek was alone in the one small raft at the end of the line of three. He noticed the small one seemed to act like an anchor, pulling the whole caravan back as they passed over the waves. During the night, he cut himself loose from the rest, hoping they would make better time. "I can last at least five days," Bartek said he thought to himself. "By morning, though, I heard someone calling 'John!' and saw the other rafts only two city blocks away. Rickenbacker asked me to come back and join them, so I rowed back to the group and got in the raft with Eddie." The group untied the rafts and split up to increase their chances of rescue. "Eddie, I hear a plane," Bartek said with barely enough strength to lift his head and see two planes flying toward the raft he shared with Rickenbacker and the colonel. The planes flew directly over them, circled back and rocked their wings, telling the castaways they had been seen. Unfortunately, a rainstorm was coming and the planes couldn't land. The next day, a Navy patrol boat arrived. Cherry and the other three had already been picked up and taken to the closest island, Funa Futi. As Bartek and Rickenbacker got off the boat at Funa Futi, Rickenbacker handed Bartek his Bible that he had recovered from the raft when they were rescued. (Courtesy of Air Mobility Command News Service) Tom Robison ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 12:23:34 EDT From: Vern Klein Subject: Re: Rickenbacker Incident >I'm confused about what island the Japanese had taken just two weeks before. >Surely not Funafuti, but if the Japanese held Nukufetau why weren;'t they >captured? > >Also, can you post the dates they went down and when they were found? I'd >like to see how that corresponds with Swan's wanderings. This is from the Adamson book. It's a little hard to sort out the accounts of what happened to the people in each of the three rafts. It's actually the pilot of the Navy Kingfisher that picked up Rickenbacker, Bartek, and Adamson himself who told them they were, (quoting the book) "some forty miles from Funafuti, which had been taken by the Japs only two weeks before." Now that you point it out, it seems unlikely that this is true. I don't think the Japs got further south than the Gilbert Islands. In essence they didn't get south of the equator. So much for what we read in books! And a book written by a guy who was in the plane with the Lieutenant Commander William F. Eadie who picked them up and is supposed to have said it! I guess Adamson would have said the Japs were on Funafuti but not on Nukufetau even though it was very near. But I don't think they were in either place. According to Adamson's book, they went down in the afternoon on Oct. 21, 1942. They were picked up on Nov. 13, 1942. Those dates seem right. The newspaper article saying thay had been found was dated Nov. 14th and it stated that they had gone down on Oct. 21st. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 12:28:13 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Re: dementia >Can you imagine what would happen if the Weekly World News got hold of >this? That's the lord's truth. I've already been averting my eyes in the supermarket check-out lines. LTM TK ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 15:18:12 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: Financial Report as of 9/1/98 Back on July 19th we launched a campaign to raise $50,000 by August 31 "to get us out of the woods and on track towards Niku IIII." As incentives for contributions we offered: A "sale" on new memberships - two years for $70 (regularly $80). A "sale" on renewals - same deal New T-shirts - the forum Love to Mother shirt and the Noonan Project shirt New highly-detailed models of Earhart's Lockheed 10E Special. We also, of course, encourage outright charitable giving. TIGHAR is a recognized 501 (c)(3) Public Charity and contributions are tax deductible within the limits of the law. We did not reach our $50,000 goal. We did, however, raise $17,221.30 which at least alleviated the funding crisis we were facing earlier in the summer. Here's how the contributions broke down: We sold $4,396.25 in merchandise, the most significant item (dollarwise) being the Electra model. At present we have eleven orders which gives us the horsepower with the manufacturer to produce a really accurate airplane. I'll be putting out a separate posting on this exciting project. The membership and renewal sale was a big success. Twenty-six new memberships brought in $1,455 and renewals brought in another $5,215 for a total of $6,670. TIGHAR's total active membership as of September 1st was 710, up 25 from July 1st. In addition to the merchandise sales and membership revenue, TIGHAR received $6,085.05 in outright charitable contributions. These were not corporate of foundation grants. These were ordinary TIGHAR members making tax-deductible donations to a non-profit organization they believe is doing important work. The remaining $70 in the $17,221.30 total came from media fees (in this case, the use of TIGHAR photos in a chidren's TV show) Although the numbers are not as high as we want and need for them to be, the breakdown does provide some interesting information about where and why TIGHAR is funded. Our most important source of money is from membership, both new and renewal. It is the essence of the organization and must continue to grow if we are to realize our potential. If you enjoy this free forum and recognize that good, important work is being done here, you should join TIGHAR. We need you. It is also apparent that the TIGHAR membership does not see the organization as merely a place to buy neat stuff (although the sale of well-written and thoroughly-researched historical publications, commemorative collectables and unique wearables will always be an important aspect of servicing the membership). The level of charitable giving as compared to sales tells us that the members understand that their organization is not just researching history, but also making it. We must be doing something right. But we weren't kidding when we said we needed $50,000 to stay on track toward Niku IIII, the big 40-day expedition to Nikumaroro scheduled for the spring of 2000. Just today I received the quote for our ship charter for that trip. The cost will be $168,000 plus food and fuel. To hold our dates (April 29 to June 8, 2000) we need to put up a deposit of $8,400 as soon as possible. The deposit will be fully-refundable up until one year prior to departure, which should give us time to get our grant applications in and reviewed for the Voyage of Discovery educational program. But our first priority right now is to get that deposit covered. Fortunately, one of our Board members has come up with a very generous offer which, with your help, could make that possible. I'll tell you all about it in a separate posting very soon. Now, let's get back to work...... Love to mother, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 15:36:53 EDT From: Chester Baird Subject: Re: FBI I am to believe that an endeavor as covered as the AE FN flight was with two American citizens aboard, that disappears with a trace and the FBI did not do an investigation. This is a bit hard to accept, but could be true. I am not a conspiracy buff, but the FBI at that time was fighting for an excuse to increase power, if my memory serves me correctly. The only reason in my mind that the FBI would not do an investigation is because they were told to keep hands off, or if another government investigative body were doing the investigation. I truly hope I am wrong. LTM Chester *************************************************************** From Ric Let me try to reassure you that you are wrong. Another government body was indeed doing the investigation. The United States Navy, assisted by the Coast Guard, devoted a remarkable amount of energy and assets (and ultimately took a lot of flak about the cost) to finding the missing flyers. The occurrence was never considered to be anything but an accident involving private citizens on a purely civilian, commercial venture. The country was not at war, nor was war considered to be imminent. Earhart disappeared in a region of the Pacific dominated by the U.S. and Great Britain. Even today, the FBI does not get involved in aircraft accidents unless there is some reason to suspect foul play. There wasn't and they didn't. No mystery. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 16:05:29 EDT From: Dave Bush Subject: 2-2-V-1, etc. You were having a problem with the identification of the repairs to AE's plane vis Lockheed's written instructions vs photos. I learned to do sheetrock repairs from the pros. They will take a damaged piece of sheetrock and rather than replace a large segment (going from stud to stud) they will add a piece of wood behind a damaged section, attaching it to the existing sheetrock with screws. Then they will put a patch in the hole, attaching it to the wood with screws, then finish out the wall. It occurred to me that this might explain the inconsistencies between the photos and the plans. If I owned a nice plane like that, I would not want it to look patched. So let's say that they put the additional stringers and patch in according to plans, but recessed it just enough to accept a cover plate that would match the original skin in detail and hole pattern. This would account for the thinner metal used and the difference between the photos and the plans, at least in theory if not in actuality. Also, the unknown structure shown in the photo looks vaguely like a handle. Could they have make this some type o hatch? If so, what would be its purpose? I had another question, too. It seems to me that I read that AE's plane was originally a 10-A, but after the Hawaii crash, they upgraded it to the P&W Wasp Senior engines, thus making it a 10-E. If that is the case, are we sure that the cowlings were the correct 10-E cowlings? As to the trek to Niku. Considering the cost to transport so many folk to that part of the world, why not take a smaller team and hire the locals, transporting them from Kanton to Niku at a smaller cost. You would get a group of people more acclimated to the rigors of the island life and perhaps better equipped for some of the physical requirements. That is how most archeological digs that I am familiar with work. Also, for the water and gasoline supplies - couldn't you arrange with one of the charters in the area to drop off supplies over a period of time when other work takes them in the vicinity thus saving space on the last trip for items that have to be carried in then? They could drop off drums of water and gasoline, storing them inland in a relatively safe area where they would be available to the search team. Regarding the island guru's wife's remark about the "spirit" she saw conversing with "ancients". I jokingly remarked once that we wouldn't find AE because she had been taken aboard an alien "mother ship" along with Fred and the Lockheed. Now we have two things that tie this in. The "Love to Mother (ship)" and now "ancients". Many believe that the American Indians call "Anastazi" called a group of what was believed to be space aliens the "ancients". So we have AE conversing with space aliens "ancients" on the island several years after her initial disappearance. Wait til the tabloids get this one. NOT! But there are some crazies out there that would try to take this and run with it. Good laugh for those of us with a smidgeon of sanity left. Love to Mother, Dave Bush #2200 *************************************************************** From Ric About 2-2-V-1: I think that our licensed airplane mechanics on the forum will tell you that the sort of cosmetic repair techniques common in the sheetrock business are not used in aviation. About the cowlings: Earhart's plane was never a 10A. It was built as a 10E. You may be thinking of Linda Finch's Electra which was a converted 10A (despite her claims). About the trek to Niku: There are no ships already out there so you have to charter a ship big enough to safely travel across 1,000 miles of open ocean. A ship big enough to do that is big enough to take the team we need. The expertise we need is aviation and archaeology-oriented. The local folks don't have that. Other charters can not drop off supplies for us at Niku because, generally speaking, there are no other charters. Nobody goes to or even near Niku but us and an occasional Kiribati government survey (none scheduled that I know of). Our charter vessel of choice, Nai'a, is capable of carrying what we need. Aliens: Now that you mention it, 2-2-V-1 does exhibit damage typical of that caused by a photon torpedo. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 13:48:55 EDT From: Ted Subject: AE SURVIVAL - ABSURD We've already established the fact that drinkable water was not and is not available on Niku and survival without water is impossible. Coconuts provide the water needs of native populations on desert islands until rain supplements can be collected. They know how and are equipped to meet their needs. How can anyone even consider that the 'poor little rich girl' AE would have enough survival skill knowledge to last 30 days, much less 2 years, on such an equatorial island? *************************************************************** From Ric I argued both sides of this one. The great, and still not late, Harry Maude finds the notion of AE's demise on Nikumaroro incredible specifically because he can not imagine why anyone would have difficulty thriving on such a lovely island. It was Harry who, as Lands Commissioner for the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony, conceived and executed the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme in the late 1930s. He went on to become the pre-eminent authority on Micronesian culture. In my view it all comes down to rainfall and not getting hurt. There's plenty to eat and if it rains often enough, you should be okay unless you fall on the coral, get bitten by a shark, fall out of coconut tree, or eat a toxic fish. We do know that 1938 was a year of record-setting drought in the area. On the whole, I'd bet against anyone lasting two years marooned on Niku at that time, but I can't say it would be impossible. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 13:32:36 EDT From: Dave Bush Subject: Re: 2-2-V-1, etc Ric: Concerning the repairs to AE's plane, I didn't mean that they would use the exact methods used in sheetrock, only that if they had to add the stringers and a piece of new skin, why not do a little cosmetic work at the same time. The artifact is thinner than the rest of the aluminum used in the aircraft, but two sheets would actually be thicker. You are right about the experts being able to shed more light on it and I would like to hear their opinions. As to AE's plane being a 10-E, one of the conspiracy books that I read years ago had mentioned that her engines prior to the crash on Hawaii were Wasp Jr's and were replaced with Wasp Sr's. Ostensibly this was to increase the range and speed so she could over fly the Solomons for spy work. I had at least figured they would get the info correct about that, even if the rest was all off base. So much for expecting the truth from the conspiracy folks. I knew Finch's had been upgraded from the info on the forum. Its probably been mentioned that AE's was an original 10-E, but preconceived notions can drive out the facts. That is why I'm glad the forum is working so hard to disseminate the truth and use the empirical data of the scientific method. The truth is much more fun than fiction. It is always consistent. Love to Mother, Dave Bush #2200 ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 14:20:05 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: Goerner's friend Game With the help of a forum subscriber I was able to phone Fred Goerner's former associate Ross Game. You may recall that Game was with Goener in 1965 when they reviewed then-classified Navy files which, according to Goerner, included a message from Earhart allegedly heard by Nauru at 10:30 a.m. on the morning of July 2nd saying, "Land in sight ahead." Goerner later said that when the file was declassified the message mysteriously disappeared. He said he was sure that the message was originally there because his notes and Games completely agreed about its content. My primary interest in talking to Ross Game was to confirm that these two contemporaneous written accounts of what was in the Navy file in 1965 indeed exist. I regret to report that Ross Game, who seems to be a very nice guy, is in poor health and was scheduled to go into the hospital for a biopsy on a brain tumor the day after I talked to him. He told me that he has been working on the Amelia Earhart mystery for 30 years and is convinced that she was held prisoner by the Japanese on Saipan and died there of dysentery. He is also certain that the government is holding back information. He says that he is sure that, while working with Goerner, he saw a great many documents relating to Earhart that have never been made public. I asked him if he ever saw any document which established a covert relationship between Earhart and the government. He said no, but there are just too many people on Saipan who remember seeing a woman who could only have been Amelia Earhart. I asked him whether he remembers seeing the "land in sight ahead" message and he said, "I could say yes but to tell you the honest truth I've talked about that so often with so many people that now I don't know whether I'm remembering the message or the story about seeing it." I asked if he had the notes that Goerner referred to. He said no. So "land in sight ahead", at this point, lives only in the realm of anecdote. Maybe Wiley Rollins can find Fred's notes from that visit at the Nimitz Museum. That would be something anyway. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 12:43:27 EDT From: Forest Blair Subject: Amelia's comment on Gurr's photo Amelia's "To Joe Gurr with 500KC's of appreciation" comment just before her fatal flight seems almost prophetic. Will need our resident radio historian's assist on this, but here goes. As a radio tech in the USCG at tailend of WW2, am almost certain our radio operators were required to constantly guard (listen to) the emergency (SOS, Mayday) frequency of 500KC's. If our radio expert confirms that use for that frequency, Amelia in effect said to Gurr something like, "thanks for saving my life" when she autographed that photo. A bit spooky! It also indicates she knew enough about radio to call for help if she could. Forest #2149 *************************************************************** From Ric As I understand it, at that time 500 Kc was the international distress frequency and was monitored by ships. Now that you mention it, the notation does seem to make sense in the context of Gurr's description of what he did for AE. He says he moved the dorsal mast forward, thus lengthening the V antenna enough to permit her to use it for 500 Kc transmissions and allowing her to dispense with the heavy and awkward trailing wire. My guess would be that her appreciation is for saving weight by letting get rid of that darn trailing wire. ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 13:23:52 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Re: Nei Manganibuka You know, in reading what I have of the traditional literature, I have yet to find the actual story of NM coming from Niku, etc. etc.. Is it in Grimble? I know Laxton quotes it, but I don't know where it actually comes from. One story I have run onto has the ancestral Gilbertese, on Samoa, going out to Nikumaroro and making war, catching folks, and eating them. In this story Nikumaroro is apparently a biggish island with lots of edible people. Not that it matters, just sort of interesting. **************************************************************** From Ric So far, I haven't found any mention of Nei Manganibuka in Grimble's "Tungaru Traditions." She's not in the lists of big league ancestors, but Grimble did most of his work in the northern Gilberts and the Niku gang were from the southern islands. I did find one reference to the term "mangan-i-buka" as describing a ritualistic object used in a ceremony. It means literally "branches of the buka tree." I also came across a mention of kanawa in a discussion of traditions associated with pregnancy. "When a woman was known to be pregnant her condition was kept secret, for fear of those who by sorcery might contrive the death of mother and child. The remains of all her food were retained, as was everything that touched her body. When it was visible to all that she was pregnant a piece of land was prepared for her on the ocean beach. To this she was taken for the ceremony called "eremao" (cutting of the mao scrub), with the incantations called eremao and marainai. She was given to wear a girdle made of the bark of the kanawa tree twisted into strands. This was when she was in her sixth month." The association of kanawa with women, pregnancy, and protection is interesting. It could be that Mrs. Koata's visit to the kanawa grove was occasioned by the need to cut some bark for her own or a friend's pregnancy. Kanawa is clearly not just a "valuable hardwood." It's powerful stuff. Here's another interesting tidbit from Grimble. As those of us who have spent time with the Gilbertese (now known as the I-Kiribati) know, we Europeans (bet you Americans didn't know that you are Europeans) are known as I-Matang. I just found out why. According to Gilbertese tradition, there is a land far to the west called Matang and the beautiful people who live there have red skin. Virtually every one of the Gilbert Islands has a district called Matang in honor of this legendary place. It's a big deal. When the first whites showed up they were assumed to be I-Matang because of their red skin (hey, when I'm out there I'm sure more red than white) and the name stuck. Ain't that neat? LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 13:28:32 EDT From: Randy Jacobson Subject: Re: Rickenbacker Incident Given average current speeds (0.5 knots) and direction (to the NW) in the region south of the Equator, one can guesstimate where the plane went down relative to the island where the raft was sighted and how long they were in the water. It is not a great guesstimate, but better than pure speculation. ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 12:34:49 EDT From: Jack Subject: Re: Photo of Gurr and AE Well, I almost had a scoop. Since you had seen the Al Gray article, you gave me a break but I'm not done with you yet. I am getting a bit gun shy with regard to info I come across and may want to convey to the Forum. Lets use the Al Gray article as an example. You indicated Gray's article is full of conjecture stated as fact without documentation. Taking into consideration that were dealing with "historical investigation," I still have to come to Gray's defense. My reason, Al Gray knew these people personally and WAS PART OF THAT ERA and not some third person doing a research paper for an article some 60 yrs. hence. I think this fact alone should give the article and its contents some worth. Sure the John Ray photo is recent but that does not make the information he supplied invalid. Why should John Ray give his friend invalid info? These guys all knew each other even though they worked for different companies. I don't understand why you call the info anecdotal when it was person-to person. If I was Al Gray talking to John Ray, I would accept his statement as fact and that's what Al did. I consider that competent evidence. I could see you asking me for documentation if I had written the article but these guys were there in 37. I think one has to know the character/integrity of the person they are dealing with and a special trust or bond is developed. Then, information that is communicated within that bond is accepted as fact. I sense this with you and certain people you talk to on the Forum. It's interesting to note the month the trailing antenna and associated gear was removed in the Al Gray article (May) is the same as the month you have on your "trump" photo. Is it not possible the body work was done at the repair facility in Burbank and the trailing antenna was removed when AE arrived in MIA (remove the antenna end weight and push the wire into the body in Burbank)? John Ray, a radio tech comes along and does the interior work...removes the trailing wire reel, antenna connection to the WE radio equipment and control at the cockpit. Now that's conjecture but the photo you have cannot disprove it. You left the door open when you said " or at least any sign of it. He he he. Ric, I hope you can see what I am trying to convey. I know in your position you must as the good book says separate the wheat from the chaff and at times that's difficult. Anyway, I think the article is technically accurate and should have a higher acceptance value because of the authors direct contact with people from the era. Until I see something better, that's my position. By the way, I never met Al Gray. Now I'm done. Hope I'm not out of line. LTM, Jack #2157 *************************************************************** From Ric You're not at all out of line. You've provided me with an excuse to explain our approach to evidence, which is of course the entire foundation of our investigation. >I think one has to know the character/integrity of the person they are >dealing with and a special trust or bond is developed. Then, information >that is communicated within that bond is accepted as fact. I sense this >with you and certain people you talk to on the Forum. No. That is not the way it works. If I appear to accept one person's facts more than another's it is because I have learned which forum subscribers understand scientific method and can (and do) back up their statements with documentation. Of course that cuts the other way too. I hope that nobody on this forum takes my word for anything. If I can't back it up with hard evidence it's just my opinion, which is every bit as subject to error as anyone else's. We start with the assumption that people can remember things wrong. Even intelligent, well-intentioned paragons of integrity like you and me are often unable to accurately reconstruct the events of last week, let alone years ago. Maybe we remember things correctly, maybe we don't - there's just no way to tell. The only way to beat this gremlin is to write down what happened as soon as possible after the event. If somebody recognizes the importance of an event and writes down what happened in a timely fashion, we have a "contemporaneous written account." We consider that to be good evidence. Photographs are also pretty good. The camera doesn't lie, but of course, we must be careful that we don't put our own interpretations on the photo and make it something that it isn't. The Wreck Photo is a classic example of how tricky it can be to interpret a photo, and that is also why I qualified my comments about the Burbank photo not showing external signs of a trailing wire. Sometimes we're fortunate enough to have more than one contemporaneous written account. If they agree about what happened, that's pretty darned good. An example of this is the question of how much fuel was aboard NR16020 when it left Lae. Two independent authorities - James Collopy, the District Superintendent of Civil Aviation; and Eric Chater. the General Manager of Guinea Airways - each wrote letters soon after the event saying that there were 1,100 U.S. gallons of gas aboard that airplane. That doesn't mean that there were 1,100 U.S. gallons aboard, but it does mean that two guys who were there both thought that AT THE TIME. For an historical investigator, that's about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, most of the time we don't have contemporaneous written accounts and we're stuck with the notoriously fallible human memory. If you want to make it sound good you call it "oral history" or "first-person historical testimony." But "old stories" and "folklore" are equally valid terms. We use the handle "anecdotal evidence" as a neutral description. Any time anybody tells us something about an event in the past which they can not back up with a contemporaneous written account, it's anecdotal and highly suspect unless and until we can find better evidence to corroborate it. Classic example: In 1960 Floyd Kilts tells a San Diego newspaper that in 1946 a "native" on Gardner told him that bones had been found on the island. We found former residents of the island who also said that bones had been found. But we did not accept the discovery of bones as fact until Gallagher's contemporaneous written account turned up. It is apparent from his article in Naval History that Almon Gray did not understand this crucial distinction. His expertise in radio and familiarity with the procedures of the time were beyond question, but his assessment of the Lae/Howland flight was based upon assumptions gathered from anecdotes. For the radio set-up aboard the Electra he took what Joe Gurr told Fred Goerner in 1982, then put his own interpretation on it, and stated categorically that a "new receiver" was installed aboard the airplane by Lockheed. It was "an experimental model incorporating the latest improvements. Only three experimental units were built, although Bendix later marketed an almost identical design as the Type RA-1 Aircraft Radio Receiver." He then goes to describe in some detail the capabilities of this new receiver. Not once does he offer a shred of credible evidence that this device even existed. In describing the rest of the airplane's radio system he states flatly that the loop was a Bendix Type MN-20. But the August 1937 issue of Aero Digest magazine contains an article on the "Newest Developments in the Field of Aircraft Radio." I describes the "Bendix D-Fs" and notes the features of the MN-1, MN-3, MN-5, and MN-7. The MN-5 sounds most like Earhart's. There is no mention of an MN-20. He says that when the plane left the Lockheed plant it had a "250-foot trailing wire antenna on an electrically operated, remote-controlled reel at the rear of the plane. The wire exited the lower fuselage through an insulated bushing and had a lead weight, or "fish", at the end to keep it from whipping when deployed." It did not. The truth is that it had a set up similar to what Gray describes at the time of the Luke Field crash. When it came out of repair, all external evidence of trailing wire was gone. If you want to speculate that the heavy mechanism was left aboard with no way to deploy it, and carried all the way to Miami before being removed by John Ray, I have nothing to dispute that, but there is nothing but unsubstantiated anecdote to suggest that such an odd thing happened. Not to beat a dead horse, but Gray states that Earhart maintained two-way communication with the Lae radio operator, Harry Balfour, for first seven hours of the flight. This comes from a letter Balfour wrote in 1969. The available contemporaneous written accounts suggest quite the reverse. Lae sent messages to Earhart, and Lae heard some messages from Earhart, but there appears to be no evidence that Earhart ever heard anything that Lae sent. Because Gray didn't understand and follow the rules of the game he - like so many others before and since (including, on occasion, me) - applied his genuine expertise to an invalid picture and, inevitably, drew invalid conclusions. This is a tough, tough business. We'll only find the incontrovertible physical evidence we're looking for if we're correct in the conclusions we draw about where to look. No need to be gun shy about passing along information. Just ask yourself what kind of information it really is. Love to mother, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 09:59:44 EDT From: Jim W. Subject: Electra 10E or 10A What is the difference between an Electra 10E and 10A? The model 10 Linda Finch flew had been grounded at a small grass strip near my home for several years as a result of engine failure, and was quite a mess. It had been used for skydiving and, when local interest built up, the local papers, the owners, and the registration all called it a model 10E. Its history was, in part, as a member of the Brazilian national airline, Varig, where speculation has it that it was they who outfitted it with the 550 hp P & W engines. Jim W. *************************************************************** From Ric The only difference between the 10A and the 10E are the engines. Earhart's was a 10E Special, the "Special" signifying the addition of long-range fuel tanks. Finch's airplane (c/n 1015), accurately described, is a 10A modified to 10E standard. ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 10:06:45 EDT From: David Kelly Subject: Re: Major Ed Dames >Well, he also mentioned that the U.S. economy will fail shortly and >there will be mass hysteria and much gnashing of teeth around the >world. But that was trivial compared with the REALLY BIG NEWS! The big question is....will he find the Electra before the US economy collapses or after? **************************************************************** From Ric The way I see it, the discovery of the Electra will trigger the collapse of the U.S. economy when Wall Street suddenly realizes that the underpinning of the market for all these years has actually been the sale of what-really-happened-to-Earhart books. ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 10:11:53 EDT From: Dick Strippel Subject: Re: FBI answer I guess whomever this is originally from isn't aware that the entire Earhart FBI file can be downloaded from their webste. I've done it-------Dick ************************************************************* From Ric We know that. The point was to see if they had any separate file on Noonan. ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 10:14:24 EDT From: Tom King Subject: Re: Nei Manganibuka "See, on the skyline far away, In layers the clouds are piling up. For, as I scatter wide the wake, It shimmers, glimmers, and it bursts Into a halo where the lands Of Matang from Tamoa lie" Verse 12, "The Master Mariner's Voyage," in An Anthology of Gilbertese Oral Tradition, compiled by Honor C. and Harry E. Maude, University of the South Pacific 1994. The traditions of Gilbertese origins given in the Anthology and elsewhere tend to have people coming from two places -- Banaba (Ocean Island) and Samoa, the latter -- and perhaps other lands to the west -- associated with Matang. Love to Manganibuka, but I still can't find much reference to her. Tom King ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 11:46:10 EDT From: Ted Whitmore Subject: Vegetation on Niku In Ric's message of Sept 1: Subj. Kanawa Point (long) he refers to a some trees: 1, The kanawa tree, described as a valuable hardwood tree. Several of us who were on Atafu Island have boxes as well as model canoes made of a fine grained medium to dark brown and sometimes dark and light brown mottled hardwood to which we attach the name kanava. Can you say anything about these names except that they may be dialect variations? 2, The Buka tree - any further identification or definition of these trees? In the Tokelau dialect of Samoan language the coconut tree was named "mokomoko" (pardon my phonetic spelling of a foreign word). Is the Buka tree the coconut? The coconut tree is indispensable to the island inhabitants of the tropical Pacific island. In the New Zealand Territory island the population capacity of a given island used to be based on the number of coconut trees on the island. 3. What is Scaevola? you refer to level 2, level 9, etc. 4. What is Puka? and what is the reference (sic)? Pardon my ignorance. Ted Whitmore #2169 *************************************************************** From Ric I'll pardon yours if you'll pardon mine. 1. I share your suspicion that kanava and kanawa are the same thing. I've seen wooden boxes from Atafu, some with inlaid aluminum. Johm Mims, the PBY pilot who saw an airplane control cable being used as a heavy-duty fishing line leader on Gardner in 1944/5, has similar boxes with inlaid aluminum which he says came from Gardner. I recently received a letter from a Coast Guard vet named Vermont Johnson who has a carved model canoe with metal trim which he got at Gardner. Tom King just came up with the Latin name for kanawa. It's Cordia subcordata. We should know more soon. 2. The Buka tree is Pisonia grandis. It's a large softwood tree that would remind you of a cork tree. The trunk is light colored, in some cases almost white. They can be 60 feet or more in height and, at least on Niku, tend to occur as a forest rather than just isolated trees. At one time much of the island was covered in Buka forest but large areas were cleared to make way for the village and coconut plantings. 3. Scaevola is a pernicious form of scrub vegetation known to the Gilbertese as "mao." It has long snakey, interwoven stalks topped with bright green leaves. At the ends near the leaves the stalks are soft and easily cut, but they become hard and very resilient within a few feet. Found most typically along the ocean beach, but also in large inland patches, Scaevola can form a virtually impenetrable wall of tangled, iron-hard stalks about the diameter of a broomstick. A bush knife or machete tends to just bounce off. It's too dense to crawl under and if you try to climb over the top you soon find that it won't quite support your weight and you find yourself hung up like a fly in a spider's web. The business about Level 2 or Level 9 Scaevola is a system that Tom King devised in 1989 during Niku I. The following is taken directly from his field notes for that trip: SCAEVOLA SCALE Tenth Degree: Legendary, not yet confirmed by observation. Impenetrable by bulldozers, M-1 tanks,and the mercy of God. Ninth Degree: Penetrable by bulldozers and extremely enthusiastic bushwhackers with sharp knives. Example: Southeast windward (northern) side of island. Eighth Degree: Penetrable by whackers but very slow going, very poor visibility. Examples: SE leeward side, fringes of Nutiran mudflat/sandbar complex. Seventh Degree: Like eighth and ninth but having occasional clearings and runs. Example: SE Aukaraime side. Sixth Degree: Dense fringe ca 5m wide along beach, occasional heavy patches, otherwise relatively light with many clearings and runs. Example: Central Aukaraime lee side. Fifth Degree: Dense fringe along beach, then patchy, generally open 20-30m visibility. Example: Western Aukaraime lee side. Fourth Degree: Patchy fringe along beach, widely scattered patches behind. Unlimited visibility. Example: Theoretical Third Degree: Patchy fringe along beach, no scaevola behind. Example: Lagoon shore beach behind village. Second Degree: A bush here and there. Example: Theoretical First Degree: No Scaevola. Example: The Mall, Washington, D.C. 4. Puka is the same as Buka. Some of the island languages have a B but no P and vice versa. ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 12:10:05 EDT From: Jack Subject: Re: Photo of Gurr and AE That was a very fair review and I accept your comments. The person that sent me the article was a personal friend of Al Gray. He is Robert Gleason who was the chap I mentioned awhile back that flew in a Lockheed L-10B in search of Wiley Post and Will Rogers. His A/c was also outfitted with special fuel tanks for the trip to Point Barrow in 1935. He is 92 years old and resides in Annapolis Md. I chat with him on the 20 meter ham band on the ARINC net. He is retired from Aeronautical Radio (ARINC) and can still send/receive CW at 35 WPM. I may ask him if Capt. Gray's wife or relative is alive and if they have any documents I could look at. As I mentioned in my note, these guys all knew each other just like I know many radio people from from all the world in my era in aviation ( 1950 - 1985 ) through AEEC and IATA meetings. By the way, my long term memory is much more accurate than my short term memory. My wife says she will verify that, ha ha ha. Tnx & LTM, Jack, #2157 *************************************************************** From Ric I wonder if we have another example of just the same thing we were talking about. As far as I know, there was no "search" for Post and Rogers. They crashed on takeoff and that was known almost immediately. And none of the 19 Model 10Bs built are shown as going to Alaska. It may be that the airplane Gleason is referring is the other Lockheed 10E Special (the only one built besides Earhart's). Originally delivered to Harold Vanderbilt in August of 1936 as the "Daily Express", c/n 1065 made the first round-trip transatlantic crossing piloted by Dick Merrill and Charles Lambie in May 1937. It then went to Alaska to help with the search for the vanished Russian transpolar flier Sigismund Levanevsky and was purchased by the Soviets. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 12:28:00 EDT From: Mike Subject: Exhaustion It has crossed my mind, and probably those of others, that Amelia must have been dog-tired when she put that aircraft down. Besides being exhausted, she must have been more than anxious at having missed Howland, at being unable to establish proper radio contact, and being unable to get an RDF fix on Itasca, so her frame of mind must have been one bordering on despair. By some accounts, she wasn't the greatest pilot ever born anyway, so it is more than likely that she would have made a rough landing. She probably hurt the aircraft, herself and Fred in the effort. If this is anywhere near correct, it may account for a lack of evidence found on Gardner, beyond what is tantalizing us all. How I wish I were a millionaire, Ric, I would be with you, boots and all. Cheers. Mike *************************************************************** From Ric Tired? Sure. Anxious at not having found Howland? No doubt. Delighted and tremendously relieved at having found a nice looking island to land on? Seems reasonable. Able to summon the skill and adrenalin to make a competent off- airport landing? She had done it before (Ireland in '32, Mexico in '35). I don't see a botched landing as a certainty or even a likelihood. As for the amount of evidence on Gardner, I'm amazed at how much there appears to be and I have a hunch there's a whole lot more once we look in the right place. For what it's worth, I wish you were a millionaire too. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 12:47:20 EDT From: Bill Leary Subject: Electra Models > New highly-detailed models of Earhart's Lockheed 10E Special. I must have missed where the price on this was stated. I'm very interested in this item. What would it cost? - Bill **************************************************************** From Ric Below is the original posting about the Electra models. To date we have seven orders for the Limited Edition and three orders for the Collector's Edition. I have received the prototype and, as we expected, there are several errors that need fixing. To really get it right will mean starting over with a new mold, but fortunately the volume of orders we already have makes that feasible. This week I'll be preparing a detailed set of specifications for the manufacturer, complete with drawings and photos. I see no reason not to mount these on the web site for all to see. This is going to be, without a doubt, the best model of NR16020 ever produced, and the support of the forum has made it possible. Thank you to everyone who has placed an order. LTM, Ric ************************************************************** (original post about the model) TIGHAR has made arrangements with a company that produces molded-resin scale models of classic aircraft for the creation of a 1/48th scale model of the Lockheed Model 10E Special in which Earhart disappeared. (A 1/48th scale rendition of the Electra results in an airplane with a roughly 14 inch wingspan.) The company has sent me photos of the model of Earhart's plane they have been selling and there are some inaccuracies which they have promised to correct for the TIGHAR limited edition of this model. We want this model to be as correct as possible to NR16020 as it was at the time it disappeared. The company has agreed to produce a prototype for us to inspect and spec out corrections. They'll then be ready to produce the limited edition TIGHAR model which, of course, be available only through TIGHAR. The only other models of Earhart's Electra that we're aware of are carved mahogany versions produced in the Philippines (again 1/48th scale) which we speced out several years ago. We had 50 made and we have three left. We sold about a dozen numbered examples on stands with individualized polished aluminum plaques for $1,000 as part of the fundraising for Niku II (1991). The rest were unnumbered and came with generic stands for $250. They are very attractive and more accurate than any other available model, but the molded- resin process permits better detailing and more consistency. They're also produced here in the States which makes for faster and more reliable production (it took a year to get the Philippine models in hand). The new limited edition TIGHAR models of Earhart's Electra will come with a specially-inscribed polished black acrylic stand which will include the Earhart Project logo. The price will be $395. Realistically, it could be a couple of months before these are ready for delivery (by the time a prototype is produced, we spec out the corrections, and the production run begins). We'll start accepting deposits of $100 now to reserve places in the production run - first come, first served. Balance due immediately prior to delivery. We'll also offer a special Collector's Edition in appreciation of a $1,000 contribution toward Niku IIII. Each Collector's Edition aircraft will carry a constructors number (c/n) modelled on Lockheed's original system. Earhart's airplane was c/n 1055 (the 55th Model 10 built). Collector's Edition Electras will begin with c/n 1055-1. Each aircraft will come on an individualized stand which will include the Earhart Project logo, the contributor's name and the model's c/n. We'll start accepting deposits of $250 now Collector's Edition aircraft with c/ns allocated first come first served. ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 12:49:52 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: Noonan Maritime info Jerry Hamilton's detailed summary of Fred Noonan's seafaring career is now available on the TIGHAR website at www.tighar.org as the most recent Earhart Project Research Bulletin. Enjoy (and thanks Jerry). LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 13:22:26 EDT From: Ric Gillespie Subject: Coast Guard Reunion Apologies, but I seem to have misplaced the particulars of the Coast Guard Loran reunion in this October in Kentucky. Could one of our stalwart CG veterans please post that info? I'm trying to arrange my schedule so that I can come and bother you myself. ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 10:24:38 EDT From: Bob Brown Subject: Re: Vegetation on Niku Just an interesting aside in that Scaveola frutescens, or Beach Berry, is used widely as an ornamental in the S. Florida area and particularly along the beaches where salt resistance is important. There seems to be a native variety and an "exotic" variety. When pruned and controlled it is quite attractive but from Ric's description it sounds like it becomes a horrendous tangle when growing wild. I have some very nice jpeg images of some of the natural stands in this area if anyone is interested. I would be happy to email them to anyone desiring to know what this stuff looks like Just email me if you want to see it. Bob ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 11:11:37 EDT From: Ted Whitmore Subject: Re: Vegetation on Niku Thanks for this very interesting info. I'm now a horticulturist and it probably means more to me than most - - except possibly the Coasties that were down there. ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 11:27:25 EDT From: Gene Dangelo Subject: Re: Nei Manganibuka I totally admire the poetic verses which Dr. Tom King has posted, and imagine how well the would also flow if set to music, which I may soon attempt. I was (speaking of islands, poems, and lost people,) totally shocked, yet amused, when I discovered this little tidbit: while researching liturgical music sources for my position of Director of Music at Saint Pius X Church in Mount Pleasant, Pa., I found an article, written somewhat tongue-in-cheek, which asserted that the words to the hymn "Amazing Grace" could be sung to the theme song from the TV show "Gilligan's Island." I tried it, and it works. It cheapens both sources of derivation, but it works. Of course, I must remember that much humor is based upon moving something old to new surroundings. Try it, just for fun! We now return you to our regularly scheduled topics. Thanks for your patience!--Dr. Gene Dangelo :) **************************************************************** From Ric Dammit Gene! Talk about off-topic... Let's see... it works either way, (to the tune of Gilligan's Island) Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind but now I see. (to the tune of Amazing Grace) Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful trip, That started from a tropic isle Aboard this tiny ship. I really like Amazing Grace to the tune of Gilligan's Island. There has been so much nonsense spread about that hymn.... But we digress. LTM, Ric ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 15:11:10 EDT From: Dick Evans Subject: The South East corner (long) Ric and Tom: Question? Where is "the end of the island?" I don't know where the native was when he spoke of the end. The only thing I can help you with is to say that Gardner had the shape of a tear drop. The Loran station was located on the extreme tip of the drop, which was the extreme southern end. That was the only flat place with enough room for the 600 foot ground system. Can I give you anymore fascinating information - like how exciting it was. Dick Evans ************************************************************** From Ric (I started out to answer Dick's question and it sort of got away from me, but I think I ended up someplace interesting. Read on, MacDuff.) Trying to figure out where the bones were found from the descriptions available is a real semantic carnival. Kilts (San Diego Tribune, 21 July 1960) says, "..the native was walking along one end of the island..." Gallagher (telegram of 17 October 1940) says, "Bones were found on South East corner of island about 100 feet above ordinary high water springs." Bauro Tikana, Gallagher's clerk/interpreter (fax to TIGHAR dated 12 August 1991) says, "The laborers... (in 1940) ...told me they found bones at the other end of the atoll (see map)." On a map of Niku which I had provided, Bauro circled the area he meant. It encompasses the entire southeastern quarter of the atoll (draw a line across the lagoon from a point roughly a quarter mile below -east - of the shoe site). Are all these guys talking about the southeastern tip where the Loran station was later built? Of these three descriptions, Gallagher's is clearly the most reliable. He was actually there. Let's see what other requirements the place has to fulfill to fit his description. (telegram of 17 October 1940) "Body has obviously been lying under a 'ren' tree..." So there must be a ren tree in that location. The 1939 New Zealand survey map says that the vegetation at the tip is "Puka" (Buka) and "low scrub" and "dense high scrub." No mention of ren, which is specifically mentioned in notations about other parts of the island. An aerial photo of the Loran station taken upon its completion shows that no bulldozing was done along the lagoon shore and vegetation visible there looks much like it does today - mostly scrub. No significant trees of any description. (telegram of 17 October 1940) "All small bones have been removed by giant coconut crabs which have also damaged larger ones." Unless the area has changed dramatically, which does not appear to be the case (see above), the southeast tip is not a place where coconut crabs hang out. They don't like scrub and open, hot coral rubble. They want trees to climb and dirt they can borrow into. Birgus latro, from what I have seen, is a forest dweller. (telegram of 17 October 1940) "...this part of island is not yet cleared." Not much help. The only part that had been cleared by this time was where the village was. (letter dated 27 December 1940) "..unidentified individual found on South Eastern shore of Gardner Island..." This at least tells us that the site is associated with the shoreline rather than the interior. This is consistent with "about 100 feet above ordinary high water springs." (telegram of 17 October 1940) (letter dated 27 December 1940) "...skull has been buried in damp ground for nearly a year.." Again, this sounds like a forest area and not the like the southeast tip. (letter dated 27 December 1940) "...it is possible that something may come to hand during the course of the next few months when the area in question will again be thoroughly examined during the course of planting operations, which will involve a certain amount of digging in the vicinity." I can find no indication that coconut planting was ever contemplated on the southeast tip. It's a worthless place. That's why they later let the Yanks have it. (letter dated 27 December 1940) "...the (kanawa) tree was, until a year ago, growing on the edge of the lagoon, not very far from the spot where the deceased was found." I just can't imagine a kanawa tree growing down there. Of further interest is the following from Gallagher's official Progress Report for the Third Quarter of 1940 (July-September). The report is dated 18 November 1940, so by the time he writes this he has already found the bones but has not yet shipped them to Suva. "The labourers stationed on the island have worked well and planted a large number of coconut trees but the island has not been developed in any other way. ...(A) start was also made on the construction of the Rest House which, it is hoped, will be completed before the end of November. ... It is hoped to furnish the main living room of the Rest House with furniture constructed entirely from locally grown 'kanawa' - a beautifully marked wood which abounds on the island and is being cut to waste as planting proceeds." This suggests to me that kanawa is sufficiently available as a byproduct of clearing operations that it would not be necessary to range far and wide in search of trees to cut for furniture or other uses. Wherever the kanawa tree was cut near where the bones were found is most likely to be a place where clearing operations were underway in late 1939. That is almost certainly not the southeastern tip. Aerial photography taken in late April 1939 shows only the village area cleared and planted. Kanawa Point, Aukaraime (and of course the southeastern tip) are untouched. Gallagher's Progress report for the Fourth Quarter of 1940 (October-December) states that, "Due to the very heavy rain during this period, properly organized work at any distance from the village was impossible..." Gallagher's Progress Report for the first quarter of 1941 (January - March) is the last one he filed. He reports that, "Work was also commenced on the demarcation and plotting of landholdings on the South-West side of the island..." This passage gives us a clue as to where the clearing work was being done. You can't do demarcation and plotting of landholdings until the land is cleared. Kanawa Point is within the area which could be described as the "South-West side." The next photography we have is from June 1941. The village area doesn't look much expanded from the way it looked in April of '39. We can't see the South West area, but by this time Aukaraime (South East area?) has been largely cleared and apparently demarcated (we can see what appear to be straight survey lines) but apparently not planted. So what are we to make of the apparently conflicting description Gallagher gives us: 1."South East corner" 2. a ren tree 3. giant coconut crabs 4. "...this part of island is not yet cleared." in October 1940. 5. "South Easter