Now, I'm not saying they brought a piece of their wrecked PBM with them as a souvenir, I'm just pointing out that it isn't so farfetched to think stuff from Howland could end up at Canton; and again let me say that I'm agnostic on the odds of that actually having happened.
So, someone arranges to blast a piece off of some part of the PBM, carries it as a souvenir to Canton, then decides it isn't such a good souvenir, and gives it to someone headed toward Gardner, because ...
Uh, I don't see a great because there.
I'm not saying that this is impossible. This is one of the kinds of negatives that can't be proven. If you show that there is a source for the rivet pattern on the PBM in question, then I guess I'll have to give this more credence. For the moment, it seems to me to be an extremely unlikely sequence.
I'm probably a strong number 2 candidate for "most believes that 2-2-V-1 is a likely Electra artifact" right behind Ric here by what I've already publicly said, so I hope this is not taken as poking holes. I just also believe we have to be thorough about eliminating other potential sources for 2-2-V-1, and a potential 'donor' 350 miles away is strong, IMO.
Now lies this PBM wreckage with a stiffener arrangement of some sort (similar 'standard' pattern - may be a fit, maybe not) visible through a gaping hole cut in the side of a PBM wing float where metal was removed, said remains lying at Howland Island. We have no clear lines of victualization between that place and Niku. But, said float bears obvious evidence of old repairs in at least one location near foward end, on the side skin. In the background lies a wing from that same PBM; in the more immediate background lies a junkyard of what may be fuselage remains, or something else - but by appearances "aviation wreckage".
The history of this wreck is colorful - deliberately beached on coral and destroyed by fire - and by the old repairs visible on the float, 'hard service' suggests a history of dings and patches. Any part of those remains could prove a 'fit', however unlikely we think it that a portion could have got to Niku later - or 'not a fit'. Or maybe there is a PBM we can look at more expediently to see if a match occurs.
While later than the Electra, the PBM is arguably of appropriate vintage (entered service September 1940) as we now understand the decline of the brazier-head rivet to be about a decade later than previously thought, and that some of these seaplanes had surprisingly thinner metal on the hull skins that previously believed (see links up-string).
I recognize the burden of transport and that we don't know of any direct paths by history's record and realize that the governance of Howland vs. Gardner / Niku and others is different (U.S. vs. then-UK, now Kiribati), and what that suggests regarding access. I also realize that metal does not float, and that it is unlikely that any metal lying about got swept up with Dorothy and Toto to be deposited later at Gardner. But someone 'cut' metal from the side of that float - and a bit crudely, look at the jagged edges - and must have gone to some trouble to do so, for some reason.
So we have vintage-reasonable wreckage within 300 miles or so of Gardner which bears evidence of old repairs and later 'harvesting' (my term) of some portions of metal from the remains; the structure has a traditional belly-stiffener arrangement visible through a gaping hole where metal was removed by someone after the ship was destroyed. These remains are from an airplane which was destroyed with at least some interaction of its lower elements with the reef at Howland, and we know that a fire played some part in its destruction. 2-2-V-1 is one mechnically and possibly thermally-abused artifact, which bears evidence of forcible removal from its host aircraft.
I concede that we have no known mode of transport and that there are jurisdictional challenges - but we have these other things and reasonable proximity within which many strange and unrecorded things could have easily happened over some period of time when the official world was not looking. My belief is that we cannot ignore this hulk as a possible source anymore than we'd shy from visiting the AF museum for a comparison.
While I view 2-2-V-1 as a very strong Electra candidate because of its unique character and place where found, we still have a vexacious fitment issue and other sources are possible - especially anything of similar vintage and repair history lying within a few hundred miles of 'home'.