I don't know if they were related to the Captain Gardner of Gardner Island fame.
There was no Captain Gardner. The island, also known as Kemins Island and Mary Letitia Island, was named in 1825 by Joshua Coffin, master of the Nantucket whaler Ganges, for the ship's owner and Coffin's father-in-law Gideon Gardner who was also the U.S. Congressman for Nantucket.
(I'm related to the Coffins of Nantucket on my mother's side.)
Ric, do you happen to have any daguerreotype/photo's/portraits of captain Joshua Coffin? Or know of their existence? I am asking you since you are a close relative to this family. I myself wasn't able to furnish any facial depiction of this man. Other information, let's say the ship
Ganges, or manuscripts/logbooks running in the family that have not been sold to musea?
As I've shown via the URL I do all my research free of charge to gain a complete picture on the history of discovery of all these islands where Pacific writers before me had not the luxury of internet. This is a call to anyone reading this, who knows about certain island discoveries in the Pacific made by their ancestors and not published as of yet in books, papers or whatever media. Please come forward with these precious documents for they can contain information that alter our understanding of the western human history regarding these islands.
Btw, if Coconut crabs really ate the body of Amelia...would she not have been able to eat them first? And if so, would that not have kept her alive? Or Coconuts on the island? I have not read myself into this, but I suspect this topic has already been mentioned. I know that digesting proteins within a human being demands more water than with carbohydrates (which I reckon donate water to the body) and I think fresh water is somewhat a problem to obtain on this island. I don't know, merely shooting the breeze in the off chance.