I went back to the Emily Sikuli interviews to refresh myself on how she describes the airplane parts on the reef.
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/15_Carpentersdaught/15_Interviews.htmlI've copied everything that refers to the airplane parts below, weeding out the rest of her interview in case anyone else is interested and so we can have it all in one place. Her story is really extraordinary given what has been independently revealed in the Nessie photo. I always scratched my head about what she must have seen since we were thinking aluminum wreckage, but now her story makes sense. It is amazing that we have her interviews, and can now connect the dots after 13 years.
Distilled, she indicates a lone rusty steel "strut" or tube, about 20 cm in diameter and perhaps 10 to 12 ft long (4 arm spans?) with a round thing at one end, visible at low, but not high tide, and located pretty much right where Nessie is seen in the Bevinton photo.
I find it interesting that certain words are used, such as the word "struts" and "steel frames"
In Ric's 1999 analysis of Emily's story,
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/15_Carpentersdaught/15_Evaluation.htmlhe says:
"With photographic confirmation that there was something there, and in the absence of a good alternative explanation for what it might be, it makes sense to accept Emily’s second-hand identification of it as a working hypothesis. If further photographic research can establish that the material which is present in Bevington’s October 1937 photo (a contemporaneous, primary source document) is from an aircraft, the implications are obvious. Air traffic over the remote reaches of the Central Pacific prior to October 1937 was extremely rare and is very easy to catalog. Only one airplane from this period is missing."
Little did he know that he'd already cropped out the part of the photo that would later reveal Nessie.
from the first TK interview - July 15, 1999.
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TK: We are all interested about the bones in the box. Can you tell us something about the circumstances of that day?
ES:
The bones were found in the sea on Nikumaroro. There was a boat that was wrecked, but that boat belonged to New Zealand and that part of the island was named for New Zealand. Where the boat was on the reef. Not too far from there, is where the plane came down. [shown map at this point, she indicates area north of Norwich City on reef]
[Up to this point the interviewers had not said a word about an airplane, just the box, the bones, and her father. However, Foua Tofiga had talked with Emily, arranging for the interview, and later recalled that he had mentioned that we were interested in bones and an airplane.]
TK: Where were the parts of the airplane?
ES: Not far from where the ship was. Not toward the village but away from it. The struts were there. [holds up hands in circle, apparently indicating that the struts were round in cross-section, about 20 cm. in diameter] It was around that area were the bones were found. Could be bones from the ship or the airplane. During the westerlies, heavy swells took the rest of the bones away.
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TK: Did you see the plane fall?
ES: No, it was already there when I came. I came in 1938–1939, when I was 11 years old. I left in December 1941. The steel of the plane was there sometime before we got there. [asked specifically about aluminum, she says no] Fishermen found the bones. They were frightened and they brought the story of them to the Onotoa man.
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TK: Please clarify about the bones. Were the 10 skeletons/bodies separate from the bones that were put in the box?
ES: The bones of the 10 people were toward the shoreline, but these bones [the bones in the box her father made]were found on the reef near the remaining parts of the plane. People decided these bones were from the people from the plane. When I used to go to the place, the bones of the 10 people were still there. People who found the bones near the plane were frightened to touch them. They told Teng Koata of the bones and he told Gallagher. Koata had them collect the bones for Gallagher. Until I left the island, I hadn’t heard anything about what had happened to those bones. The government put restrictions that children were not to frequent that area.
TK: Did people use parts of the airplane?
ES: I don’t know for sure. When we got there only the steel frames were left, only the long pieces were there. We were frightened to go close to the plane. Where the shipwreck was – the remainder of the plane was not very far from there. The waves were washing it in low tide. The 10 people had complete skeletons. Looking at those people, they could be tall people. They were very long. People were afraid of all the bones in both places.
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And from the second interview with RIc, July 27, 1999
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RG: When Dr. King and Kris talked to you before, you told them about an airplane wreck on Nikumaroro when you got there. I’d like you to tell me what you know about that. I’d like to hear your story.
ES: When we went there, no plane came during that time. Until we came off, no plane had come. We only heard that there was a plane that crashed near that ship.
RG: Let me repeat this back to be sure I understand. No plane arrived or crashed while you were at the island. But, people said that before the people came a plane had crashed there near the ship. And when you refer to the ship you mean the ship that was on the reef, that was aground.
ES: It is true.
RG: Did you ever see any part of that plane?
ES: Only the frame, a piece of steel. [Mr. Tofiga offers clarification, &“Uh, it’s not a piece. The term she uses ‘afiti,’ it could be this long or this long.” Moves his hands close together then far apart. “ But it’s steel. Only the framework.”]
RG: And where was this piece?
ES: Nearby that wrecked ship. It was not far from there. From about here to that house. [She points to a house across the road.]
RG: OK. That's probably 100 meters. Was it on land or in the water?
ES: On the rocky part. It was not far from where the waves break.
RG: Let’s look at a map. If you could show us the shipwreck?
ES: Is this the part called Nutiran? [points to northwestern end of island] Maybe this is the place. [points to the small ship symbol on the map] It was not very far from that place.
RG: [explaining map] This part here is the rock. The waves of the ocean break out here. The beach with the sand is here.
ES: That means this is where that plane was. It was not very far from the ocean where the waves break. That’s why the parts of the plane got carried away quickly. That frame was also very rusty.
RG: Could you put a mark on the map where the plane was?
ES: [marks the map] It was here.
RG: And on the back of the map could you draw a picture of what you saw?
ES: It was a long steel. [draws a line] There was a round part of it. [adds a small solid circle at the end of the line] I do not know what part of the plane it was. We were forbidden to go there. I was following my father. When I went there my father stopped me.
RG: Did you go out on the rock or did you only see it from where the sand is?
ES: Only from the sandy part.
RG: How big was this piece?
ES: About four arm spans. [holds her arms out]
RG: So it might fit in this room?
ES:
Yes, barely. It was a big plane. [the room was perhaps twelve feet long]
RG: How did you know that this was part of an airplane?
ES: I heard it from those who were there before us that it was part of an airplane.
RG: So the people on the island said that this was part of an airplane.
ES: Yes.
RG: Did the people know anything about the people who were in the airplane?
ES: I didn’t hear a story in connection with that.
RG: Were there ever any bones found on Nikumaroro?
ES: Yes.
RG: What can you tell us about the bones that were found?
ES: Some Gilbertese went to fish, they saw in the shallows some pools, at the place where the plane crashed, some bones, and they knew these were human bones because of the skull bone. They went and reported to Teng Koata, there were bones. So from that they assumed that these must have been the bones of those who were in the plane when it crashed. These were under the plane, near the plane. This was near the top end of the steel.
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RG: Do you know if the European knew about the airplane wreck?
ES: In that connection I really no not know. Perhaps.
RG: But Koata knew about it?
ES: Yes. The Gilbertese people because they were there before.
RG: Was there ever a time when Koata left the island?
ES: No. Also, when those people went there the airplane had already crashed before. There were no people there.
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RG: When you saw the piece of steel from the plane wreck, you were with your father?
ES: Yes, I was accompanying my father.
RG: And what was he doing there?
ES: Because he usually goes out to search out the various trees. The government only allows him to go in.
RG: Did you see the plane wreck just one time or many times?
ES: Two times. When we passed that place I saw it. He wouldn’t let me go out to the wreck because of the government ban.
RM: What color was the wreckage that you drew on the map?
ES: It was very rusty.
RG: What color rust?
ES: Very red. When it is seen at low tide. Not observable at high tide. At low tide it could be seen. Very rusty, bad, useless.
RG: Was there other wreckage or debris around it or all by itself?
ES: Nothing.
RG: Did the people in the village have any pieces?
ES: No.
RG: You saw none of the other parts of the plane. The aluminum, the shiny parts?
ES: No, all gone. Nothing.
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