Here's another oddity. In the days before DNA, a weather-beaten, partial skeleton was impossible to identify unless there was some unique distinguishing feature. As MacPherson wrote on October 23, 1940, "Bones, per se, unless corelated with some known physical deformity or injury in the deceased (such as a healed fracture, etc.,) are of little value as regards identification..."
Had the Americans been contacted, MacPherson might have learned that Earhart had had a tooth extracted immediately before leaving Miami. Even if teeth were missing from the skull, a recent extraction should have been evident. He may also have learned that Earhart had had a Calwell-Luc procedure to relieve sinus pressure. The tiny tell-tale hole in the skull would be hard to detect unless you were looking for it.
From Gallagher on down (Gallagher, Resident Commissioner Barley, Vaskess, MacPherson), just about everyone who knew about the incident recognized that the numbers on the sextant box were the best clue to the castaway's identity. Finding a sextant box with numbers on it would be like us finding an airplane part with numbers on it. It's technology. It's traceable. Ya gotta find out what the numbers mean.
There was a misconception, at first, that Gallagher had found a sextant. MacPherson wrote, "Up till the present the number on the sextant case appears to afford the most hopeful means of identification. The instrument itself moreover, if a good one, should have engraved on it a number assigned either by the Bureau of Standards in the case of the United States, or the National Physical Laboratory in the case of the United Kingdom. This number indicates as a rule the result of tests for which compensation requires to be made in using the instrument."
Right on, Jock. So what did Sir Harry do? On June 9, long after it had been decided that the bones were not Earhart's, the sextant box, but not the file, was sent to Commander Nasmyth, a meteorological officer, for his option on its origins.
"Dear Commander Nasmyth,
With reference to our telephone conversation relative to the identification of a sextant and box which I mentioned as having been found and which you were so good as to say you would examine, I regret to state that on further examination it was discovered that no sextant had actually been found but only a box thought to have contained a sextant.
I am forwarding the box to you with this letter and His Excellency would be grateful if you would examine it with a view to determining its use and origin if possible.
Sincerely,
Secretary to the High Commission" We don't know what was said in the phone call.
Then, on August 5, 1941, Sir Harry takes possession of the file, retrieves the box from Nasmyth (without learning his opinion of it), and personally takes it to Harold Gatty who says it's not a box for the kind of instrument used in trans-Pacific aviation. No mention of the numbers.
Again, we have no idea how much Sir Harry told him but it's obvious that Sir Harry wanted to know whether the box might have an aviation context. We do know that Gatty had worked with Fred Noonan at Pan American and we can safely assume that Gatty knew that Noonan had disappeared with Earhart in 1937.
Sir Harry returned the file and the sextant box to Vaskess on Oct. 8, 1941 and asked him to find out what Nasmyth thought. Vaskess gave the job to Paddy MacDonald who wrote on October 11:
"I have spoken to Captain Nasmyth who replied as follows:- "As the sextant box has no distinguishing marks, & since it was discovered that no sextant had been found, all I have been able to find out is that the make of the box – that is – the dovetailing of the corners – makes it appear to be of French origin."No distinguishing marks?
? The box has two numbers on it!
This looks to me like Sir Harry personally taking steps to insure that the file contains entries that give the appearance that a responsible attempt was made to identify the box. This stinks.