|
TIGHAR Tracks Volume 13, #1/2,
September 1997, page 18. |
The Tarawa File |
The recent discovery
of an obscure, formerly secret file in the Kiribati National Archives
has come as a thunderbolt to TIGHAR’s investigation of the Earhart disappearance.
Labeled “Discovery of Human Remains on Gardner Island,” the
folder (List KNI 11/I, File 13/9/1) contains fifteen official telegrams
and one letter which establish that, in 1940, bones and objects suspected
at the time as being from the lost Earhart flight were found on Gardner
Island. Knowledge of this event went all the way up to Sir Harry Luke,
the senior British government official in the Pacific region. Incredibly,
the matter was dropped on the basis of a dismissive and apparently casual
identification of the remains as being those of an elderly Polynesian
male. American authorities were apparently never notified.
For TIGHAR, the story
begins with Floyd Kilts, a 68 year old retired Coast Guardsman who told
an outrageous tale to a San Diego Tribune reporter in 1960. At the height
of new allegations that Earhart had been a spy, Kilts came forward to
say that the conspiracy buffs had it all wrong. He had been part of a
work party sent to Gardner Island in 1946 to dismantle the wartime Loran
radio station. While there he was told a story, through an interpreter,
about an incident which had supposedly occurred when the atoll was first
settled in 1938.
[A] native was
walking along one end of the island. There in the brush about five feet
from the shoreline he saw a skeleton. What attracted him to it were
the shoes. Women’s shoes, American kind. No native wears shoes. Couldn’t
if they wanted to – feet too spread out and flat. The shoes were size
nine narrow. Beside the body was a cognac bottle with fresh water in
it for drinking. The island doctor said the skeleton was that of a woman,
and there were no native women on the island then. Farther down the
beach he found a man’s skull, but nothing else. The magistrate was a
young Irishman who got excited when he saw the bones. He thought of
Amelia Earhart right away. He put the bones in a gunnysack and with
the native doctor and three other natives in a 22 foot four-oared boat
started for Suva 887 nautical miles away. The magistrate was anxious
to get the news to the world. But on the way the Irishman came down
with pneumonia. When only 24 hours out of Suva he died. The natives
are superstitious as the devil and the next night after the young fellow
died they threw the gunnysack full of bones overboard scared of the
spirits. And that was that.
By the time we first
heard the story in 1989, Kilts was long dead. Could there be any truth
to it? A few parts tracked well with the island’s known history-first
settled in 1938, no women, a magistrate with an Irish name (Gallagher) –
but other parts were clearly nonsense. Gallagher never tried to go to Fiji
in a small boat and he made no mention of any bones in his detailed quarterly
progress reports. He did die, but not at sea and not of pneumonia. And
just where on the island were these bones supposedly found? Kilts says
only “along one end of the island.” Gallagher’s clerk Bauro
Tikana, now living in Tarawa, remembered something about bones being found
on “the other end of the island,” meaning not near the village.
Dr. Teinamati Mereki, a former resident of Nikumaroro now living in the
Solomon Islands, remembered hearing about the bones. He placed their discovery
just east of the southern lagoon passage. This was the same area where
we found pieces of a woman’s shoe in 1991 and where we excavated and collected
the remains of a very old campfire in March of this year. Was the shoe
we found the mate to the one in Kilts’ story? Had we found the place where
the bones were found? Or was it all, as many warned, a fantasy built around
unremarkable objects and wishful thinking? |
|
File
13/9/1:
Discovery of Human Remains on Gardner Island |
Reproduced here,
for the first time anywhere, are what may turn out to be the most important
historical documents ever uncovered in the sixty-year search for the truth
about what really happened to Amelia Earhart. Each piece of correspondence
has been carefully duplicated in facsimile format in the interest of legibility.
Misspellings and cross-outs are exactly as they appear in the original.
TIGHAR is indebted to author Peter McQuarrie (TIGHAR #1987) who discovered
the file while doing World War II research, and to Joseph Russell of Tarawa
who helped us obtain photocopies of the actual documents. |
Document #1
TELEGRAM.
From
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.,
To
The Ag. Administrative Officer, C.G.I.D., Tarawa.
No.
....................................
(Date) 23rd Sept., 1940.
Please obtain from Koata
(Native Magistrate Gardner on way to Central Hospital) a certain
bottle alleged to have been found near skull discovered on Gardner
Island. Grateful you retain bottle in safe place for present and
ask Koata not to talk about skull which is just possibly that of
Amelia Earhardt.
Gallagher. |
Gerald B. Gallagher
is the twenty-nine year old Colonial Service cadet who has recently been
made Officer-In-Charge of the new Phoenix Island Settlement Scheme. Known
to his fellow officers as “Irish” and to the Gilbertese islanders
as “Karaka,” Gallagher is a remarkable character. He is well
over six feet tall, a Roman Catholic (unusual in the Colonial Service),
and utterly dedicated to the impoverished islanders who are trying to
carve out a life on the previously uninhabited islands of Sydney, Hull
and Gardner in the Phoenix Group. Colonial officer Eric R. Bevington describes
Gallagher as “the most Christ-like man I’ve ever known.” Gallagher
and Bevington had come out from England as Cadet Officers together in
the spring of 1937. They were aware that Amelia Earhart had gone missing
near Howland Island that summer and that her husband had put up a $2,000
reward for information about her fate. The addressee of this message
is The Ag. [Acting] Adminstrative Officer of the C. (?) Gilbert Islands
District in Tarawa. The chain of command goes this way: The Phoenix Island
Settlement Scheme is part of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony
whose Resident Commissioner lives on Ocean Island. This and other British
colonies throughout the region answer to the Western Pacific High Commission
headquartered in Suva, Fiji.
Koata is the Native
Magistrate and senior Gilbertese official on Gardner Island. Apparently
he is returning to Tarawa for medical treatment. |
|
Document #2
TELEGRAM.
From
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.,
To
The Resident Comissioner, Ocean Island.
No.
71..........................................
(Date)
23rd Sept., 1940.
Some months ago working
party on Gardner discovered human skull - this was buried and I
only recently heard about it. Thorough search has now produced more
bones ( including lower jaw ) part of a shoe a bottle and a sextant
box. It would appear that
(a) Skeleton is possibly
that of a woman,
(b) Shoe was a womans and probably size 10,
(c) Sextant box has two numbers on it 3500 (stencilled) and 1542
- sextant being old fashioned and probably painted over with black
enamel.
Bones look more than four
years old to me but there seems to be very slight chance that this
may be remains of Amelia Earhardt. If United States authorities
find that above evidence fits into general description, perhaps
they could supply some dental information as many teeth are intact.
Am holding latest finds for present but have not exhumed skull.
There is no local indication
that this discovery is related to wreck of the "Norwich City".
Gallagher. |
This message is sent
the same day as the first message – September 23, 1940 – but goes to Gallagher’s
immediate superior, the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert & Ellice
Islands Colony at Ocean Island. Gallagher has only recently arrived on
Gardner, having previously run the Phoenix Scheme from Sydney Island. |
|
Document #3
TELEGRAM.
From
The Administrative Officer, C.G.I.D., Tarawa Is.
To The
Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
No.
........................
(Date)
30th Sept., 1940.
Your telegram 23rd September.
Koata has handed to me one benedictine bottle.
A.O.C.G.I.D. |
A week later the
Administrative Officer in Tarawa says that Koata has handed over the bottle
which he describes as a “benedictine” bottle. Benedictine is
a specific product – a liqueur produced in Fecamp, France since 1510.
Today, Benedictine bottles have the name molded into the glass. If that
was also the case in the past, it would explain the specific identification
of the bottle. According to Eric Bevington, a Benedictine bottle was highly
unusual in the Central Pacific of 1940. |
|
Document
#4
TELEGRAM.
From
The Resident Commissioner, G & E.I.C., Ocean Island.
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
No
66..........................................
(Date)
1st October, 1940.
Your telegram No. 71. Information
has been passed on to the High Commissioner particularly with a
view to identifying number of sextant box.
Information on following
points, where possible, would be of interest:
(a) How deep was skeleton
buried when found,
(b) How far from shore,
(c) In your opinion does burial appear deliberat or could it be
accounted for by encroachments of sand, etc.,
(d) Is site of an exposed one (i.e. if the body of Mrs. Putnam
had lain there is it likely that it would have been spotted by
aerial searchers)?
(e) In what state of preservation is shoe,
(f) If well preserved does it appears to be of modern style or
old fashioned,
(g) Is there any indication as to contents of bottle.
Do you know anything of
wreck of "Norwich City" - e.g. when did it takes place,
where any lives lost and how long were survivors marooned at Gardner
Island?
Resident. |
The next day, the
Resident Commissioner replies to Gallagher. He has passed the word up
to his boss, Sir Harry Luke in Fiji, but his questions indicate some skepticism
of Gallagher’s suspicion that this might be Earhart. |
|
Document #5
TELEGRAM.
From
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
To
The Resident Commissioner, Ocean Island
No
72.............................
(Date) 6th October, 1940.
Your telegram
No. 66.
(a) Skeleton was not
buried - skull was buried after discovery by natives( coconut
crabs had scattered many bones),
(b) l00 feet from high water ordinary springs,
(c) Improbable,
(d) Only part of sole remains,
(f) Appears to have been stoutish walking shoe or heavy sandal,
(g) "Benedictine" bottle but no indication of contents,
There are indications that
person was alive when cast ashore - fire, birds killed, etc., "Norwich
City" wrecked and caught fire 1930 or 1932. Number of crew
sailed to Fiji in lifeboat, remainder picked up later at Gardner
by "Ralum". Think Board of Enquiry held Suva - loss of
life not known. This information derived from gossip only.
Gallagher.
|
Five days later Gallagher
replies. His information about the wreck of the Norwich City “derived
from gossip only,” is not very good. The freighter went aground on
the reef November 30, 1929 off the island’s northwest end with the loss
of eleven lives-five British seamen and six Arab stokers. Three bodies
washed ashore and were buried. The twenty-four survivors were all rescued
five days later by S.S. Trongate out of Samoa. No one was left
on the island. |
|
Document #6
TELEGRAM.
From The
Secretary, Western Pacific Hifh Commission, Suva.
To The
Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
No 1..................(Date) 15th October, 1940.
Confidential.
Please telegraph to me
particulars of finding of skeleton in Gardner Island, including
where found and state reason for believing it to be that of a woman
and whether this belief based on anatomical characteristics. State
dental condition and whether any evidence of dental work on jaw,
length of skeleton from vertex of skull to arch of foot, approximate
age and condition of bones and whether any hair found in the vicinity
of skeleton.
What have you done with
skeleton? It should be carefully cared for and placed in a suitable
coffin and kept in secure custody pending further instructions.
Keep matter strictly secret
for the present.
Secretary,
Western Pacific High Commission
|
By the 15th of October
the higher ups in Suva are very interested. This message comes directly
from Henry Harrison Vaskess, Secretary of the Western Pacific High Commission.
Gallagher is to provide more information to headquarters and “keep
matter strictly secret.” Note that this is telegram No. 1 from the
WPHC to Gallagher. It’s the first time the High Commission has had
any need to communicate directly with the lowly O.I.C. P.I.S.S. |
|
Document #7
TELEGRAM.
From
The Officer-in-Charge P.I.S.S., Gardner Island
To The Secretary
for the W.P.H.C., Suva.
No...1.................................................(Date)
17th October, 1940.
Confidential.
Complete skeleton not found
only skull, lower jaw, one thoracic vertebra, half pelvis, part
scapula, humerus, radius, two femurs, tibia and fibula. Skull discovered
by working party six months ago -- report reached me early September.
Working party buried skull but made no further search.
Bones were found on South
East corner of island about 100 feet above ordinary high water springs.
Body had obviously been lying under a "ren" tree and remains
of fire, turtle and dead birds appear to indicate life. All small
bones have been removed by giant coconut crabs which have also damaged
larger ones. Difficult to estimate age bones owing to activities
of crabs but am quite certain they are not less than four years
old and probably much older.
Only experienced man could
state sex from available bones; my conclusion based on sole of shoe
which is almost certainly a woman’s.
Dental condition appears
to have been good but only five teeth now remain. Evidence dental
work on jaw not apparent.
We have searched carefully
for rings, money and keys with no result. No clothing was found.
Organized search of area for remaining bones would take several
weeks as crabs move considerable distances and this part of island
is not yet cleared.
Regret it is not possible
to measure length of skeleton. No hair found.
Bones at present in locked
chest in office pending construction coffin.
Gallagher
|
Gallagher answers
the Secretary’s questions and provides more details. A “ren”
tree is Tournefortia argentia, a type of scrub tree typically found
in association with dense underbrush. |
|
Document #8
TELEGRAM.
From
The Secretary for the Western Pacific High Commission, Suva,
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Island.
No
2. .............................................(Date)
26th October, 1940.
Confidential.
Your telegram 17th October.
Organised search should be made in the vicinity and all bones and
other finds, including box, sextant and shoe, should be forwarded
to Suva by the first opportunity for examination.
Secretary.
|
Shipping everything
to the High Commission in Suva means jumping the normal chain of command,
bypassing the colonial administration. There is also a misunderstanding
that a sextant has been found. |
|
Document #9
Nikumaroro
(Gardner) Island,
Phoenix Islands District,
27th December, 1940.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge
the receipt of your confidential telegram No. 2 of the 26th. October,
1940, and to state that two packages are being handed to the Master,
R.C.S. "Nimanoa", for eventual delivery to the High Commission
Office in Suva. The larger of these packages is the coffin containing
the remains of the unidentified individual found on the South Eastern
shore of Gardner Island; the second package is the sextant box found
in the immediate locality and contains all the other pieces of evidence
which were found in the proximity of the body.
2. The fact that the skull
has been buried in damp ground for nearly a year, whilst all the
other bones have been lying above ground during the same period,
was probably not apparent from previous correspondence, but may
be helpful in determining the age of the bones. In spite of an intensive
search, none of the smaller bones have been discovered and, in view
of the presence of crabs and rats in this area, I consider that
it is now unlikely that any further remains will be traced. A similar
search for rings, coins, keys or other articles not so easily destroyed
has also been unsuccessful, but it is possible that something may
come to hand during the course of the next few months when the area
in question will be again thoroughly examined during the course
of planting operations, which will involve a certain amount of digging
in the vicinity. If this should prove to be the case, I will inform
you of the fact by telegraph.
3. Should any relatives
be traced, it may prove of sentimental interest for them to know
that the coffin in which the remains are contained 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.
I have the honour
to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(Sgd) Gerald
B. Gallagher.
Officer-in-Charge,
Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme
|
This is a letter
rather than a telegram. The original probably accompanied the shipment
to Suva. R.C.S. (Royal Colony Ship) Nimanoa was the rather decrepit
sailing vessel that periodically serviced the islands. |
|
Document #10
TELEGRAM.
From
The Medical Officer, Tarawa Island
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Islands.
No.......................................(Date)
6th February, 194 1.
I understand from the Master
R.C.S. Nimanoa, that he has certain human remains on board consigned
to Suva. As I am in charge of Medical and forensic investigation
of such objects throughout the whole colony and have no knowledge
of the matter, I preasume that the package was intended to be consigned
to myself?
Isaac. |
This is trouble.
More than three months later, on the way to Suva, the Nimanoa puts
in at Tarawa where the senior medical officer gets wind of the bones.
He is 30 year old Dr. Lindsay Isaac, who will later change his name to
Lindsay Verrier. He has “no knowledge of the matter” because
the affair has been classified as strictly secret. To him, it looks like
young Gallagher is not properly acknowledging Isaac’s position. Those
who knew Isaac personally describe him as “a strange little man”
and “very full of himself and easily offended.” |
|
Document
#11
TELEGRAM.
From
The Resident Commissioner
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Island.
No 3......................................(Date)
7th February,1941.
Senior Medical Officer
repeated to me his telegram to you regarding human remains addressed
to Suva on "Nimanoa". I am informing him of position and
there is no need for you to take further action.
Resident. |
The Resident Commissioner
recognizes the problem and tells Gallagher he will straighten it out.
Later correspondence implies a heated exchange between the Resident and
the Doctor but Isaac examines the bones anyway. |
|
Document #12
TELEGRAM.
From
The Senior Medical Officer, Central Hospital, Tarawa.
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
No..........................................
(Date)
11th February, 1941.
Confidential
For your information remains
taken from "Nimanoa" part skeleton elderly male of Polynesian
race and that indications are that bones have been in sheltered
position for upwards of 20 years and possibly much longer.
Isaac. |
In one sentence,
Isaac dismisses the bones. A present day physical anthropologist had this
opinion of the probable accuracy of his analysis: “It’s highly
unlikely that a British colonial medical officer of the 1940s, or almost
any other decade, would be conversant in physical anthropology. Some early
and basic publications in physical anthropology were available at that
time ... but I don’t think that said medical officer would know them
well enough to apply them competently.” |
|
Document #13
TELEGRAM.
From
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
To
The Senior Medical Officer, Central Hospital, Tarawa.
No........................................
(Date) 11th February,
1941.
Confidential
Your confidential telegram
11th February. Many thanks - rather an anticlimax! Personal should
be delighted if you keep box but matter has been mentioned in private
letter to High Commissioner who is interested in timber used and
may ask to see it. It would be fun to make you one for yourself
or perhaps a little tea table - we have a little seasoned timber
left. Please let me know whether you prefer box or table and if
former give any particular inside measurements.
Gallagher |
The same day, Gallagher
acknowledges and apparently accepts Isaac’s evaluation, considers trying
to placate him with an offer to build him a tea table, but then changes
his mind and crosses out everything but the first two sentences. |
|
Document #14
TELEGRAM.
From
The Senior Medical Officer, Central Hospital, Tarawa.
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
No..................................... (Date) 14th February,
1941.
Your telegram 11th February.
Confidential. Matter became somewhat tense and complex after guillotine
conversation between us. As I had (and still have) no information
save presence of remains and therefore ......... guarantine from
......... no danger infaction, I am still wondering how wretched
relics can be interesting.
Isaac. |
This message only
makes sense if it is Gallagher’s copy of a message Isaac directed to
the Resident Commissioner. It’s clear that Isaac still has no idea
why everyone was so interested in these “wretched relics.” There
is some indication that he intends to quarantine the bones before sending
them on to Suva. [Misspellings sic.] |
|
Document #15
TELEGRAM.
From
The Secretary for the Western Pacific High Commission, Suva.
To
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Is.
No
2 ........................................
(Date) 28th April, 1941.
Confidential
Your letter 27th December.
Remains and sextant box received, but no sextant. Did you forward
sextant?
Secoma. |
It is almost two
months later before the bones, etc. arrive in Suva, so maybe Isaac did
quarantine them. There is still confusion about the sextant. |
|
Document #16
TELEGRAM.
From:
The Officer-in-Charge, Phoenix Scheme, Gardner Island,
To The Secretary, Western
Pacific High Commission, Suva.
Confidential. Date;
28th April, 1941.
Your telegram No 2. No
sextant was found. Only part discovered was thrown away by finder
but was probably part of an inverting eyepiece.
Gallagher |
Gallagher clears
up the confusion and provides one last detail, and with this the matter
was apparently closed. In May, Gallagher came to Fiji on leave but we
have no way of knowing if he tried to follow up on his discovery after
Isaac’s put down. He returned to Gardner in late September aboard the
S.S. Viti but arrived gravely ill with sprue. His friend, Dr. D.C.
M. “Jock” MacPherson
operated to try to save his life, but Irish died on the table in the house
he had built on Gardner Island. He was buried beneath a cement monument
which can be seen today.
|
The survival of the
file itself seems little short of miraculous. Tarawa was virtually levelled
during World War Two and we can only conclude that the folder now in the
archives is that which was kept by Gallagher at his headquarters on Gardner
Island (now Nikumaroro). His files must have been transfered to the colonial
headquarters in Tarawa sometime after the war. When the British Gilbert
& Ellice Islands Colony became the independent nations of Kiribati and
Tuvalu in the late 1970s, the file became part of the Kiribati National
Archives.
|