What is the prevailing thought on the identity of the ship sighted at 1030Z. Was it the USS Ontario or MV Myrtlebank? Would a smaller vessel like Ontario even be visible?
There's no way to know for sure but
Ontario reported no contact with Earhart but a crew member on
Myrtlebank named Dowdeswell said he heard a plane.
Nauru heard Earhart say "Ship in sight ahead" at 20:30 Sydney,
Australia time which which was 1030Z. Sydney was Greenwich minus
10. Nauru should be Greenwich minus 11, in which case Earhart was
heard there at 21:30.
Dowdeswell remembers that he heard the plane at about 22:00.
If we assume that
Myrtlebank was on Nauru time (which they should
have been), then Nauru heard Earhart say she saw a ship in sight
ahead roughly half an hour before Dowdeswell heard the plane pass off
the ship's starboard quarter. If we take the times as approximations,
it all fits.