TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => General discussion => Topic started by: Ric Gillespie on October 29, 2018, 12:48:00 PM
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The Benedictine bottle is a unique case. Gallagher apparently never saw it. He arrived to take up residence on Gardner in late August or early September 1941. Native Magistrate Buakee Koata left the island to get medical attention at the Central Hospital on Tarawa about that time, probably on the same ship that brought Gallagher.
• Some time after arriving but before September 23, Gallagher heard about the skull that was buried, went to the site and found the partial skeleton etc. Somebody told him that Koata had found a bottle at the site and had taken it with him to Tarawa.
• On September 23, Gallagher wired David Wernham, the Acting Administrative officer in Tarawa, asking him to intercept Koata when he arrived. "Grateful you retain bottle in safe place for present and ask Koata not to talk about skull which is just possibly that of Amelia Earhardt.(sic)"
• The same day Gallagher wires the Resident Commissioner on Ocean Island notifying him of the discovery. He mentions the bottle but not what kind of bottle.
• A week later (Sept. 30), Wernham wired Gallagher, "Koata has handed to me on benedictine bottle."
• The next day, October 1, the Resident Commissioner notifies the High Commissioner in Fiji of Gallagher's discovery but he does not mention the bottle.
• The same day, the Resident Commissioner wires Gallagher with a series of questions including, "Is there any indication as to contents of bottle?"
Gallagher now knows what kind of bottle it was and replies in a telegram to the Resident Commissioner on October 6, " 'Benedictine' bottle but no indication of contents."
That's the last mention of the bottle. The High Commission in Fiji never knew about it and apparently nobody ever collected it from Wernham.
So what do we know about the bottle?
• We know Koata had it before Gallagher arrived.
• We know Gallagher believed it was found near the skull.
• We know Wernham was able to identify it as a Benedictine bottle. Benedictine bottles have the name embossed into the glass so Wernham could know what it was even if the label was missing.
How might it have gotten to the island?
• On Norwich City? Possibly, but nobody intentionally brought it ashore. When the ship caught fire and the lifeboats were either wrecked of capsized, everybody had to swim for their lives.
• Was it among the cache of provisions brought ashore by the rescue party from SS Trongate? Possibly. Those provisions might have included a bottle of Benedictine as "medicinal brandy." The provisions were intentionally left on the island for future castaways.
• On USS Bushnell? Possibly, but it's not the sort of thing you'd expect a navy survey party to have.
• Flotsam and jetsam wash up. Possibly.
• Brought ashore from the Electra by Earhart or Noonan? Possible, but there is no indication that there was ever alcohol aboard the airplane.
Of the possibilities I can think of, the cache left for future cutaways seems like the most likely source.
How might it have gotten to the castaway site?
• Brought there by the work party that found the skull? No, it was the work party who found it.
• Brought by a Bushnell surveyor staggering through the bush, too drunk to notice the skeleton or the skull, who polished off the last of his liqueur and threw away the bottle? Possible but not likely.
• Brought there by the castaway to whom a bottle of any kind was of great value? That's the only rational explanation I can think of.
Gallagher said he had "no indication of contents." The bottle appears in the Floyd Kilts story as "Beside the body was a cognac bottle with fresh water in it for drinking." We found what appears to be a system the castaway had for purifying collected rain water.
• Collect water with a concave fallen leaves and bolls in tree roots using a small bottle. (We found such a bottle, dated 1933.)
• Boil the water in larger bottles standing in a fire. (We found the fire, the bottles, and the twisted wire that appears to have been used to hold the bottles upright.
• Put boiled water in a storage bottle. Maybe the Benedictine bottle was the storage bottle.
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The Benedictine bottle has seemed to me a less likely Earhart artifact. There's no known record of alcoholic beverages on board the Electra. It might once have been postulated to have been brought on board by that notorious drunkard Fred Noonan, but he's been rehabilitated and is no longer considered to have been that much of a drunkard (no more so that was usual for American men in the 1930s). And would weight-conscious Amelia have given up the weight of some more fuel for a bottle of booze?
Navy regs about alcohol on board ships being what they are, the USS Bushnell also seems an unlikely (though not impossible) source.
That leaves the Norwich City camp, and they did say they had some 'brandy' and that they left the supplies in the camp for some other unfortunate future castaways to use.
LTM,
Don White
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That leaves the Norwich City camp, and they did say they had some 'brandy' and that they left the supplies in the camp for some other unfortunate future castaways to use.
Where did they mention having some brandy? (I’m just being lazy and not looking it up myself.)
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Not the Norwich City camp but this written account from the New Zealand Pacific Aviation Survey Expedition mentions drinking a bottle of "medicinal" brandy on the Island
"Christmas was drawing nigh and we were wondering what we had to celebrate with. I had two bottles of brandy in the stores — for medical purposes but we decided that we would break out one bottle for X’mas day. On that day the cook excelled himself and he produced a meal of turtle steak and lobster. We all got slightly tiddly on the brandy and considering our isolation we had a very good day."
https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Documents/Hay_Journal/hayjournal.html
I found a link about Benedictine where it is mentioned as originally being considered a medicinal liqueur.
https://magazine.winesworld.net/medicinal-liqueurs-benedictine-chartreuse/3928/
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That's pretty good but, assuming that:
• The Kiwi's medicinal brandy was Benedictine.
• They finished it off in their Christmas celebration.
• They left the empty bottle behind when they left in February 1939.
That still doesn't explain how the bottle got to the castaway campsite at the other end of the island. The Kiwis were never there and the first time the Gilbertese were there was in April 1940 when the skull, and presumably the bottle, were found.
The best explanation seems to be that the bottle was in the Norwich City cache in 1929 and that the cache was subsequently found by the castaway. That hypothesis is supported by the next topic - the "small corks with brass chains" found with the bones.
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The best explanation seems to be that the bottle was in the Norwich City cache in 1929 and that the cache was subsequently found by the castaway. That hypothesis is supported by the next topic - the "small corks with brass chains" found with the bones.
There's another, perhaps less likely option. Read what the Bushnell survey crew found when they explored the wreck of the Norwich City
https://tighar.org/aw/mediawiki/images/0/0a/Bushnell_Part_2.pdf
(Start about 2/3 of the way down at their Part IV VI Items of Interest, on page numbered 21, which is the 11th page of the PDF file)
They do say the wreck was gutted by fire but "crockery and old silver pieces" seems to have survived. Perhaps the captain of the NC had a bottle of Benedictine in his cabin that AE/FN could have found if they also explored the wreck
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My fault. I didn't look it up either -- I remembered a mention of brandy in connection with the Norwich City rescue and didn't bother to look up the reference.
Don White
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Correction:
In puzzling over the origin of the Benedictine bottle I acknowledged that it could be one of the "two bottles of brandy" the New Zealand survey party consumed in their Christmas celebration.
But, "That still doesn't explain how the bottle got to the castaway campsite at the other end of the island. The Kiwis were never there..."
We don't actually know that the Kiwis were never there. We do know that the focus of their activity was the NW end of the atoll which they surveyed in detail to determine its suitability for the construction of a landing strip, and the lagoon where they laid out and marked a safe area for flying boat operations. There is nothing in the record to suggest they explored the rest of the island on foot (which would take weeks). Information about the rest of the island was obtained primarily from the aerial photos taken by a Supermarine Walrus launched from HMS Leander.
It is possible that one of the surveyors, hiking through the bush at the far end of the island and, for some reason, carrying a Benedictine bottle, happened to drop it in the vicinity of the skeleton without noticing the bones or the skull. It doesn't seem likely, but it didn't seem likely that the sextant box would turn out to be from the Bushnell survey.
One can always speculate that events for which there is no evidence may have occurred. Such speculation is meaningless unless supporting documentation is found.
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actually, the kiwis were there. the report says they did a detailed survey of the NW corner then did a survey of the island perimeter so that puts them in the vicinity at some point. also of note, one of the crew on the boat that brought the kiwi's was a scotsman who drank heavily and was known for his ability to handle extreme amounts of alcohol. Mentioned on the trip to gardner was a storm they encountered where the scotsman "could barely get the bottle to his lips". this was not a military ship or crew so it's harder to tell what may or may not have made it ashore.
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One minor point is that Benedictine is a liqueur not brandy. According to the wiki page Benedictine and Brandy (B&B) was developed in the 1930s although I don't see details as to when and where it was first marketed. As far as I can see the initial reports refer to a benedictine bottle although the regular benedictine and the B&B bottles looked very similar so they could easily have been confused.
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it is also possible the bottle came ashore during the wreck and rescue of the norwich city. there was plenty of time to load the lifeboats with supplies before they abandoned ship and also, there were supplies sent ashore by the rescue ships. aside from actual rations none of the supplies are listed.
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actually, the kiwis were there.
Depends on how you define "there."
the report says they did a detailed survey of the NW corner then did a survey of the island perimeter so that puts them in the vicinity at some point.
A map of the perimeter survey is shown at the end of Part II (https://tighar.org/aw/mediawiki/images/0/0a/Bushnell_Part_2.pdf).
The little circles are survey points. It looks like they plotted the position of most of the points by taking bearings on one of the three 80 ft towers they erected. There are no lines shown connecting the towers to points at the southeast end, probably because those points were too far way to see the towers. The position of those points were probably plotted by taking celestial observations with a sextant. The closest circle to the castaway location is on the ocean beach roughly a mile away.
If you haven't been there, it can be hard to appreciate how remote and isolated the castaway campsite is. The spot where the bones were found is 80 meters of dense vegetation from the beach. If you're there, a brass band could march past on the beach and, due to the ambient noise of wind in the trees and surf on the reef, you'd never know it.
also of note, one of the crew on the boat that brought the kiwi's was a scotsman who drank heavily and was known for his ability to handle extreme amounts of alcohol.
"The crew of the Yanawai consisted of the Captain named Bray who always had a bible with him, Mad Mac McGregor, a Scotsman famous throughout the Pacific as a navigator and his colossal capacity for strong drink and a half-caste Fijian named McFadjen [?] as mate."
As a Scot, I'll take that as a compliment, but Mad Mac was the navigator on the chartered vessel Yanawai. The ship left after dropping off the survey party and returned later to pick them up.
It still seems most likely that the Benedictine bottle was delivered to the castaway site by the castaway, but there's no apparent connection between a bottle of Benedictine and Amelia Earhart so it's a moot point.
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my definition was loose, which is why I said "in the vicinity"
the kiwis had no such towers, those were erected by the bushnell crew. not sure how the kiwis did the perimeter survey, but their report states it.
yes, it took them 10 days to unload the supplies from the yanawai... 700 gallons worth of water hauled onto shore in 44gallon drums via the norwich city... must have been a big job. there was obviously alcohol on the boat.
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the kiwis had no such towers, those were erected by the bushnell crew. not sure how the kiwis did the perimeter survey, but their report states it.
You're right. I got the two survey's confused. My bad.
The New Zealanders didn't describe how they surveyed the perimeter but the castaway site is not on the perimeter of the atoll, so there's no evidence that the Kiwis were there.
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You're right. I got the two survey's confused. My bad.
The New Zealanders didn't describe how they surveyed the perimeter but the castaway site is not on the perimeter of the atoll, so there's no evidence that the Kiwis were there.
speaking of which, the broad island survey map they did has several notes on it that I cannot read. any chance you have a copy that is legible? It looks like they made notations about portions of the wooded areas not directly in the aerodrome location. this may indicate further explorations. I do remember reading the journal of one party member that stated how bored they were, to the point that they were wading into the water and shooting sharks to watch them attack each other.
(https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Documents/New_Zealand_Survey_Report/kiwimap.jpg)
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any chance you have a copy that is legible?
Try this.
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ahh! much better thank you Ric, as suspected it appears that they have at least done a cursory survey of the wooded areas of the island. having labeled the western side of the islands flora roughly down to the south eastern tip and around the northwest side of the island to just across from the southern lagoon access point. How closely they looked into these areas is unknown, but given the western side seems to be more detailed I would guess they walked those areas probably in search of good places for a well. the eastern shore that is labeled is done so more generically so I would think it possible they looked less closely there.
it also seems they made sure to label the areas with large trees and were less concerned with the scrub areas. do we have any other anecdotes that lists forestation?? the fact that they added "valuable" to the kanawa tree forest is interesting.
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ahh! much better thank you Ric, as suspected it appears that they have at least done a cursory survey of the wooded areas of the island. having labeled the western side of the islands flora roughly down to the south eastern tip and around the northwest side of the island to just across from the southern lagoon access point. How closely they looked into these areas is unknown, but given the western side seems to be more detailed I would guess they walked those areas probably in search of good places for a well. the eastern shore that is labeled is done so more generically so I would think it possible they looked less closely there.
Remember also that the map was compiled with information from both the ground survey and the aerial survey. The different types of vegetation are easily seen in the aerial photos. No need to go bashing about in the bush.
it also seems they made sure to label the areas with large trees and were less concerned with the scrub areas. do we have any other anecdotes that lists forestation?? the fact that they added "valuable" to the kanawa tree forest is interesting.
Kanawa was well-known as a valuable hard wood. The labels on the map are interesting. The names of places, areas, and vegetation are a mixture of English, Gilbertese, and Tokelau.
• "Henderson Bay" was obviously named for J.A. Henderson, the expedition's leader who had to be evacuated the first day due to illness.
• "Wreck Point," "S.W. Point," "Kanawa Point,"etc. are also obvious.
• "Petro Point" is named for Jack Petro, the half-Gilbertese, half-Portugese overseer in charge of the Gilbertese laborers.
• "Point Pensive" and "Point Cowan" are probably named for some memorable incident.
• "Mao" (scaevola) and "Ren" (Tornafortia argentia) are Gilbertese names.
• "Puka" is the same is the Gilbertese word "Buka" (Pisonia grandis).
• The early Gilbertese village is labeled "Keresoma" which is Tokelau for Jerome, but there is no other record of the village having that name or any name.
• The atoll is made up of three islands, each of which is named on the map, but the names are different from the names later given them by the Gilbertese laborers. The names on the map are in Tokelau. "Moto Oonga" means "Island of the Coconut Crab". "Fanua Matutu" means "Land of the Red-tailed Tropic Bird" ( Red-tailed Tropics nest under the beachfront scaevola all along that shoreline). I forget what "Whenua Amokura" means (My Tokelau is rusty).
In any case, none of the names on the New Zealand map stuck.
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good thinking on compiled information. I have a hard time seeing much in the pictures so I tend to think they weren't used heavily in the mapping. thinking can lead to trouble.
I would also think they had to physically go to many areas just based on the detail provided. things like "dry at low tide" can't be seen from the air.
so, if they mark out the valuable trees and most all of the taller trees is there a reason that we would think there was tanawa in other locations besides the area of tanawa point??
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good thinking on compiled information. I have a hard time seeing much in the pictures so I tend to think they weren't used heavily in the mapping.
Really? I can. What was the point in taking detailed aerial photos of every part of the island?
I would also think they had to physically go to many areas just based on the detail provided. things like "dry at low tide" can't be seen from the air.
True, but those notations are only near areas at the NW end where they were doing the detailed work on the ground.
so, if they mark out the valuable trees and most all of the taller trees is there a reason that we would think there was tanawa in other locations besides the area of tanawa point??
You mean kanawa. We know there was a kanawa tree on the lagoon shore near where the bones were found.
"Should any relatives be traced, it may prove of sentimental interest for them to know that the coffin in which the remains are contained is made from a local wood known as "kanawa" and the tree was, until a year ago, growing on the edge of the lagoon, not very far from the spot where the deceased was found. (Gallagher letter Dec. 27, 1940)
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yes, the vegatation is hard for me to make out, although I haven't played with enhancements.
they are also shown down at the southern lagoon entrance.
yes, sorry. Kanawa. been a long week here! I'm using this mental exercise as therapy to relieve some stress of a family illness.
given that statement, are we literally taking it to mean that the tree was close by or could it also be taken with the grain of diplomatic salt. a feel good measure if you will. Gallagher wanted the buildings made of kanawa wood and asked about getting the wood they were clearing brought to a saw mill on another island to use for the village buildings. Do we think he would have had the carpenter hand form a box or use a plank??
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given that statement, are we literally taking it to mean that the tree was close by or could it also be taken with the grain of diplomatic salt.
a feel good measure if you will. Gallagher wanted the buildings made of kanawa wood and asked about getting the wood they were clearing brought to a saw mill on another island to use for the village buildings. Do we think he would have had the carpenter hand form a box or use a plank??
Let's take a close look at what he said.
"the coffin in which the remains are contained is made from a local wood known as "kanawa" and the tree was, until a year ago, growing on the edge of the lagoon, not very far from the spot where the deceased was found."(Gallagher letter Dec. 27, 1940)
If we take him literally, the kanawa tree was standing on the edge of the lagoon "not very far" from the bones in December 1939. So some time after Dec. '39 the tree was cut down and turned into usable lumber from which the island carpenter Temou Samuela (Emily's father) constructed the coffin some time before February 1941 when the bones went to Fiji.
A tree growing on the edge of the lagoon would be easy to spot (Hey, there's a nice kanawa tree!) but it would still be about 50 meters from where the skull was buried. Was the tree cut on the same trip the the skull was found and buried? Maybe, maybe not - but it's worth asking how Gallagher knows that the wood to male the box came from a tree that stood etc., etc. He didn't take up residence on Gardner until September 1940, so it's either a story he made up (as you suggest) of someone who was there told him about the tree. If he made up the story, what was the work party doing down there? The clearing for the coconut planting didn't start until after the bones were found.
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Trees along the edge of the lagoon would likely be prime targets for wood that is going to taken back to the village for wood working, floating a log through a relatively calm lagoon back to the village site is much easier than any other method of transport on the island.
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Trees along the edge of the lagoon would likely be prime targets for wood that is going to taken back to the village for wood working, floating a log through a relatively calm lagoon back to the village site is much easier than any other method of transport on the island.
what strikes me as odd is the largest (possibly only??) supply of kanawa is just south of the village... south east actually.
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Let's take a close look at what he said.
"the coffin in which the remains are contained is made from a local wood known as "kanawa" and the tree was, until a year ago, growing on the edge of the lagoon, not very far from the spot where the deceased was found."(Gallagher letter Dec. 27, 1940)
If we take him literally, the kanawa tree was standing on the edge of the lagoon "not very far" from the bones in December 1939. So some time after Dec. '39 the tree was cut down and turned into usable lumber from which the island carpenter Temou Samuela (Emily's father) constructed the coffin some time before February 1941 when the bones went to Fiji.
A tree growing on the edge of the lagoon would be easy to spot (Hey, there's a nice kanawa tree!) but it would still be about 50 meters from where the skull was buried. Was the tree cut on the same trip the the skull was found and buried? Maybe, maybe not - but it's worth asking how Gallagher knows that the wood to male the box came from a tree that stood etc., etc. He didn't take up residence on Gardner until September 1940, so it's either a story he made up (as you suggest) of someone who was there told him about the tree. If he made up the story, what was the work party doing down there? The clearing for the coconut planting didn't start until after the bones were found.
ok, so lets go forward with that thought. the work crew is clearing Kanawa trees to make the government house. skull found. Gallagher goes back and finds the rest of the bones. bones get locked up until the box is made from wood found in the area.
the tree would be visible in the aerial photos from the kiwis correct??
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the tree would be visible in the aerial photos from the kiwis correct??
I thought you'd never ask. :-)
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speaking of which.... I do remember reading the journal of one party member that stated how bored they were, to the point that they were wading into the water and shooting sharks to watch them attack each other.
Interesting. Metal detecting along the village inlet shoreline during NIKU IIII in 2001, I found both an .303 shell casing, and not far away, the bullet.
Andrew
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Interesting. Metal detecting along the village inlet shoreline during NIKU IIII in 2001, I found both an .303 shell casing, and not far away, the bullet.
Andrew
and that would be what he used as well...