Hey, fellow 'searchers'........another wild thought entered my mind after reading this. Our birgus latros friends.....if push came to shove......and fish and birds temporarily unobtainable, could she/they have bludgeoned a few of these critters for sustenance?? Resident experts, weigh in.
If I recall correctly, there is mention in someone's journal (Gallagher, I believe...but won't say for sure) about the colonials being quite ecstatic when they first arrived and saw the coconut crabs....later running off to find some for cooking. Therefore...clearly they are edible.
No doubt that 'if push came to shove' I'm sure the idea would, at the very least, occur. (Get hungry enough and you'll be willing to eat the south end of a northbound skunk!)
I believe you're thinking about Maude's discussion of Gardner from his Of Islands and Men. As coincidence would have it, I just read it last night. Here are a couple of the passages of interest related to what you are probably referring: nb. bracketed interpolations are mine.
re Gardner's fauna:
p.324: ...and Gardner [has] some of the largest coconut, or robber, crabs in the Pacific.
Scouting out the islands:
p327: We arrived at this atoll [Gardner] on 13 October and tied up to the wreck of the Norwich City, near the main lagoon entrance. I remember stepping out of the canoe into shallow water on the edge of the reef with a feeling of pride at being the first to land on this remote shore for many years; but this was soon cured by a young lagoon shark, which knocked me over in its pursuit of a school of fish. The lagoon and shore waters of Gardner teemed with fish, like those of all uninhabited coral islands, and in the hold of the Norwich City they were swimming around by the thousands: the officers of the Nimanoa [the boat that brought them there] used to shoot them by torchlight with revolvers. ... I shall always remember that first night in the Phoenix Islands. We lay in a circle under the shade of the giant buka trees by the lagoon, ringed by fire as a protection against the giant robber crabs, who stalked about in the hhalf-light or hung to the branches starringbalefully at us. [he includes the foot note: The islanders called Gardner by the appropriate name of Mota Aonga (the island of coconut crabs).] Birds were everywhere and for the most part quite tame, and the noise they made until well into the night was deafening. Unfortunately for them, both the crabs and birds were very good eating and we gorged ourselves on a diet of crabs, boobies and fish. Until I stopped them, the delegates would walk up to the boobies, seize them by the neck and crack them like a whip before roasting them on one of the fires. The fish were so plentiful and unaccustomed to man that they were literally scooped out of the water by hand.
arrival of colonists:
p.334: After five days at sea we reached Gardner, and slept our first night under a large tarpaulin, ringed by fires as before. Those who slept at all, that is, for the majority were too excited ny novel sights and sounds, and spent the night feasting on the robber crabs and boobies.
Water on Gardner:
p336: [returning to gardner on way back to Gilberts after leaving "pioneer" parties on islands] Here we found dire trouble among the ten men left here: the well water was considered undrinkable, one condensing plant had burnt out and they were afraid the other would go too. They demanded to be taken home forthwith. Argument appeared useless and we had a final and sad meeting prio to departure , in which I happened to mention how sorry I was at the turn of events as I was returningto the Gilberts to bring their wives back with me on the next ship. The effect was instantaneous and ludicrous. "wives did you say? said their spokesman. "Why, the water here is not so bad, afterall. We're staying on.
re poisonous fish:
p.337: The main trouble of the sydney settlers appeared to have been fish-poisoning, and most of them had been down with it for varying periods. On coral islands certain of the reef fish tend to be poisonous for portions of the year, the types of fish and times during which they are poisonous changing from island to island. In the Gilberts, of course, these periods are well known to the local inhabiyants, but when they reached the Phoenix they had to learn afresh by bitter experience what fish could be eaten and when.