One mistake I believe that most of you are making is that AE, and/or FN spent time at the 7 site. I believe that if AE did land at Gardner, both she and FN were dead by the time of the Lambrecht flight. Neither AE or FN ever visited the 7 site, let alone ever settled it. The 7 site was 'settled' by A) the Norwich city crew, B) the coast guard, C) the settlers, D) some other group, E) some or all the above. The 7 site has been a terribile distraction in finding AE; in terms of time, money resoures, and the uncountable false leads that it has generated. Many of you are a lot more knowledgeable than I am and I hope someone will pick up on this idea. If this line of reasoning is correct, it answers many of our questions.
What made--and makes--the Seven Site attractive is the thought that it
might have been where Gallagher found the bones, sextant box, parts of a man's shoe, parts of a woman's shoe, corks on brass chains, and a Benedictine bottle half-filled with water, near "remains of a fire" with bird bones, clams, and a turtle shell near by.
Of course, we can get all of that material somewhere on the island by imagining cross-dressing navigators from the
Norwich City who survived but didn't get rescued with the other men. Or any number of other scenarios involving love triangles and stormy weather.
I doubt very much whether TIGHAR would have built up a reputation for doing good work if the Seven Site hadn't been studied so carefully. I am sure that the Angel of Doubt will show up shortly to remind me that nothing from the Seven Site is the Any Idiot Artifact that we all desire. The question of whether TIGHAR's work there has been or will be fruitful is something about which reasonable people may reasonably disagree. I've placed my money on TIGHAR, and TIGHAR judged that the Seven Site was worth exploring. The site has not been completely mapped yet;
if it happens to be where the bones of the castaway were found, there may still be the odd tooth lying around somewhere.