TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => The Islands: Expeditions, Facts, Castaway, Finds and Environs => Topic started by: Tony on April 27, 2011, 11:10:11 PM
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I'm wondering if anyone was aware that an expedition of "eclipse" watchers where on Canton "Kanton" during the month of June 1937?
Heres a link to the "National Library of Australia" archives of "The Sydney Morning Herald" newspaper article dated 9th June 1937 and "Wikipedia" on the eclipse that year.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17389503?searchTerm=Phoenix%20Islands&searchLimits=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_June_8,_1937
Interestingly they had been there several weeks before the event and sort of begs the question were any still around for a while after?...seen as transport would have been at a more leisurely rate back then.
The article also mentions the somewhat secretive nature of HMS Leith's pacific deployments.
Not sure it contributes anything but it makes you relies that there was more "traffic" in these "isolated area's" then you would suppose.
Cheers Tony
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Not sure it contributes anything but it makes you relies that there was more "traffic" in these "isolated area's" then you would suppose.
Depends on how much you suppose. The eclipse parties departed Canton long before Earhart was in the neighborhood. See The Battle of Canton Island in Randy Jacobson's paper The American Equatorial and Phoenix Islands (http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/ResearchPapers/Phoenixislands.html).
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that visit wasn't so much "traffic" as strategic. by 1937 the united states and great britain could see the writing on the wall regarding conflict in japan and asia. canton was a strategic position that NEEDED to be held as it could house a rather large airfield.
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Hmmm... Interesting. Don’t know if you noticed but the article right below the one referred to (about the eclipse) talks about a native swimming out to the ship from “Gardner Island”. Which of course is Nikumaroro Island. It does not say the date but Gardner Island should have been uninhabited around June of 1937 (unless AE and FN landed there a month later). The article could of course be in error, wrong island, wrong date, etc. I’m not the best speller or always use the best grammar myself, but if those would be requirements for that Gardner article to equate to accuracy, that article might be suspect… But interesting anyway. Here is the text right below the “eclipse text” you have the link to, which says it is the Sydney Morning Herald dated June 8, 1937.
-Chuck
GARDNER ISLAND ANNEXED.
The manner in which the Phoenix Group was annexed is not without interest. When Captain Gibson, in command of H.M.s. Cura- coa, arrived off Gardner Island he found that the natives already regarded themselves ai subjects of Queen Victoria. The naval ofUcer found, owing to heavy seas breaking on the reef, that it was Impossible to land. He had departed from Sydney on a mysterious voya»e similar to that undertaken recently by H.MS Leith. However, a native of the island swam off to the wnrshlp, and he informed Captain Gibson that Sir John B. Thurstan, well known as High Commissioner in the Western Pacific had already annexed the group, nnd leased Gardner Island to Arundel and Company st a rental of £ 25 per annum. Consequently, tin native Inhabitant.-, considered themselvei British subjects. Nevertheless, Captain Gib. son solemnly read a deed of protection to tin visitor, and presented him with a Union Jack, following which the native swam ashore with the tidings. "But not without difficulty," says a record of the historic proceeding in tfij Mitchell Library. "Of course, there is ona short time in the year when Gardner Island can be approached in safely, and it is dunn? such season that the copra is shipped, but there Í3 no opening In the reef at all,"
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Hmmm... Interesting. Don’t know if you noticed but the article right below the one referred to (about the eclipse) talks about a native swimming out to the ship from “Gardner Island”. Which of course is Nikumaroro Island. It does not say the date but Gardner Island should have been uninhabited around June of 1937
As indeed it was. The visit by HMS Curacao was in 1892 during the two-year period when John T. Arundel had a work party of Niue islanders there planting coconuts.
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that visit wasn't so much "traffic" as strategic. by 1937 the united states and great britain could see the writing on the wall regarding conflict in japan and asia. canton was a strategic position that NEEDED to be held as it could house a rather large airfield.
That's a common misconception. There is a natural tendency to see everything that happened in the Pacific in the mid-to-late 1930s as a precursor to Pearl Harbor - but that's a mistake. True, U.S. and British strategic planning included contingencies that contemplated a possible war with Japan but that does not explain U.S./British competition for ownership of Canton. That was not about war. That was about money.
The U.S. and Great Britain were competitors for the embryonic transoceanic airline market. Pan Am's CEO, Juan Trippe, had been frustrated in his efforts to open the lucrative North Atlantic routes. His big Sikorsky flying boats could do the job but the Brits had refused to grant landing rights in Newfoundland and Northern Ireland. The U.S was willing to grant reciprocal landing rights but the Brits didn't have an airplane that could carry sufficient payload to make money on the long-haul routes. In 1935, Trippe turned to the Pacific where he could land his boats in U.S.-owned sheltered water in Hawaii, Midway, and Wake, and get landing rights in U.S.-dominated Manila. By 1937, Pan Am was flying mail and scheduled passenger service across the northern Pacific. The next big prize was service to "the Antipodes" (New Zealand and Australia). Anticipating aeronautical advancements that would allow land planes to fly transoceanic routes, the U.S. Bureau of Air Commerce had finagled the annexation of lagoon-less Jarvis, Howland and Baker islands hoping to eventually construct an airfield that would serve as a mid-Pacific refueling point - but for the moment the flying boat was king. Islands on the Hawaii/New Zealand route are scarce. Islands with landable lagoons are rarer. Suddenly the previously worthless Phoenix Group was golden. Canton, Sydney, Hull and Gardner all have big lagoons so the Brits took great pains to make sure the islands were properly placarded as the property of His Majesty. Canton was the best of the lot, so when the British eclipse party arrived in June 1937 to find a U.S. Navy ship there and the stars and stripes flying over the island, the guano hit the fan. British concern over reinforcing their claim of sovereignty to the Phoenix Group was the principal motivating factor in the establishment of the Phoenix Island Settlement Scheme and the colonization of Gardner, Sydney and Hull.
Ultimately, in 1939, the two countries agreed to share Canton and Pan Am began landing Boeing 314s in the lagoon. That same year, with war clouds gathering in Europe and tensions rising in Asia, the U.S. decided it needed to know more about the islands of the south central Pacific and sent USS Bushnell on a mapping survey. By early 1941 the diplomatic situation with Japan had deteriorated to the point that the islands were the focus of strategic concern. The Army started building an airfield on Canton in January and in June a squadron of Navy PBYs was sent down from Hawaii to fly photo missions over the Phoenix Group.
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ric, I was thinking more along the lines of the chinese and japanese conflict at the time not pearl harbor. I can imagine the united states wanting to increase their presence in the pacific during that period. I don't see the united states pushing british ownership rights for pan am.....
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ric, I was thinking more along the lines of the chinese and japanese conflict at the time not pearl harbor. I can imagine the united states wanting to increase their presence in the pacific during that period. I don't see the united states pushing british ownership rights for pan am.....
If you want to make the case that there was a "strategic" aspect to the National Geographic Society eclipse expedition to Canton in June 1937 you'll need to produce some documentation. What you can imagine the United states doing is not relevant.
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Hmmm... Interesting. Don’t know if you noticed but the article right below the one referred to (about the eclipse) talks about a native swimming out to the ship from “Gardner Island”. Which of course is Nikumaroro Island. It does not say the date but Gardner Island should have been uninhabited around June of 1937 (unless AE and FN landed there a month later). The article could of course be in error, wrong island, wrong date, etc. I’m not the best speller or always use the best grammar myself, but if those would be requirements for that Gardner article to equate to accuracy, that article might be suspect… But interesting anyway. Here is the text right below the “eclipse text” you have the link to, which says it is the Sydney Morning Herald dated June 8, 1937.
-Chuck
GARDNER ISLAND ANNEXED.
The manner in which the Phoenix Group was annexed is not without interest. When Captain Gibson, in command of H.M.s. Cura- coa, arrived off Gardner Island he found that the natives already regarded themselves ai subjects of Queen Victoria. The naval ofUcer found, owing to heavy seas breaking on the reef, that it was Impossible to land. He had departed from Sydney on a mysterious voya»e similar to that undertaken recently by H.MS Leith. However, a native of the island swam off to the wnrshlp, and he informed Captain Gibson that Sir John B. Thurstan, well known as High Commissioner in the Western Pacific had already annexed the group, nnd leased Gardner Island to Arundel and Company st a rental of £ 25 per annum. Consequently, tin native Inhabitant.-, considered themselvei British subjects. Nevertheless, Captain Gib. son solemnly read a deed of protection to tin visitor, and presented him with a Union Jack, following which the native swam ashore with the tidings. "But not without difficulty," says a record of the historic proceeding in tfij Mitchell Library. "Of course, there is ona short time in the year when Gardner Island can be approached in safely, and it is dunn? such season that the copra is shipped, but there Í3 no opening In the reef at all,"
I was caught out by that too for a bit until I realized they were talking of an earlier time (The Queen Victoria reference.) gave it away.
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Not sure it contributes anything but it makes you relies that there was more "traffic" in these "isolated area's" then you would suppose.
Depends on how much you suppose. The eclipse parties departed Canton long before Earhart was in the neighborhood. See The Battle of Canton Island in Randy Jacobson's paper The American Equatorial and Phoenix Islands (http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/ResearchPapers/Phoenixislands.html).
Thanks for the link Ric...its a fascinating mystery and I have been following "Tighar" for some years now.
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ric, I was thinking more along the lines of the chinese and japanese conflict at the time not pearl harbor. I can imagine the united states wanting to increase their presence in the pacific during that period. I don't see the united states pushing british ownership rights for pan am.....
Yes the "Geo-political" machinations going on in the background is an intruding story in itself.
If you skip back through the headlines in the preceding days to that particular article the "China/Japan" conflict features regularly and some mention of the political unrest going on in Europe.
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As indeed it was. The visit by HMS Curacao was in 1892 during the two-year period when John T. Arundel had a work party of Niue islanders there planting coconuts.
As part of a coconut planting work party, the guy in 1892 who swam out from Gardner Island to meet the ship must have been awful glad to see the ship. Or perhaps his only mode of transportation. Even so, from the readings here it seems the surf was a bit of a risk even in the best of conditions. Not to mention the sharks. One who is part of a coconut planting group might after some months/years feel a bit like a castaway. Cabin fever of sorts? Hard to imagine considering the swim though.
-Chuck
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The official title of the expedition was "National Geographic Society-United States Navy Eclipse Expedition" according to the Navy Department Library, which [edited for brevity] writes:
On 8 June 1937 a US Navy detachment commanded by Captain Julius F. Hellweg, USN (Ret.), participating in the 16-man National Geographic Society-United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, made an observation of a total eclipse of the sun.
The seaplane tender USS Avocet, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Binney Williamson, USN, was assigned to this expedition, embarking [6 May 1937].
After soundings at Enderbury Island revealed no good anchorage there, Avocet proceeded thence to Canton, arriving the same day, 13 May. Joined by the British sloop HMS Wellington on 26 May, with men from a New Zealand expedition embarked, Avocet observed the total eclipse of the sun at 0836 on 8 June 1937.
Sailing for Pearl Harbor on the afternoon of 9 June, the ship arrived at her destination on the 16th, disembarking her distinguished passengers upon arrival.
(http://www.jrsportfolio.com/phila/uspi/images/Canto01.jpg)
The Avocet and Wellington reportedly fired one shot each across each others' bows in a squabble for the best anchorage to view the eclipse.
During this time [date?] the American party officially claimed Canton for the nation [can eclipse enthusiasts do that?].
It was the USS Avocet that fueled the Lexington to search for AE:
Shortly after noon on 8 July 1937, Avocet arrived at Lahaina Roads, the deep-water anchorage off the island of Maui, and moored to the port side of the aircraft carrier Lexington (C V-2). She commenced issuing gasoline to the carrier at 1300 and completed the task at 2015; Lexington soon sailed to carry out an extensive, but in the end unsuccessful, search for the missing aviatrix.
Four weeks later, the Brits reasserted their claim to Canton Island and by 31 Aug 1937 established two radio operators (hopefully supplied with lots of fresh water, since Canton reportedly has none) there.
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It was the USS Avocet that fueled the Lexington to search for AE:
Shortly after noon on 8 July 1937, Avocet arrived at Lahaina Roads, the deep-water anchorage off the island of Maui, and moored to the port side of the aircraft carrier Lexington (C V-2). She commenced issuing gasoline to the carrier at 1300 and completed the task at 2015; Lexington soon sailed to carry out an extensive, but in the end unsuccessful, search for the missing aviatrix.
The gasoline Avocet issued to the carrier was avgas for the airplanes.
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Oh...thank you Ric...so Avocet wasn't refueling Lexington at all, correct, just giving her aircraft fuel?
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One more tidbit, just in case any names or details in this post-expedition article mean anything to the more seasoned researchers here (or if anyone, like me, still gets a small thrill seeing anything dated "July 1937").
This is a pdf of "Sun Eclipse Observations Are Released" from the Evening Times, Cumberland, MD, July 9, 1937.
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Oh...thank you Ric...so Avocet wasn't refueling Lexington at all, correct, just giving her aircraft fuel?
That's right. Battleships burned fuel oil, known as bunker fuel, and they refueled from large barges. Avocet was a small (187 ft) "bird class" minesweeper commissioned in 1918. In 1925, she and her sisters Swan and Pelican were converted to seaplane tenders. They could carry one floatplane on their after-deck, plunking it in the water and retrieving it with a crane, but they often operated as general purpose vessels with no plane aboard. Avocet had no plane aboard for the solar eclipse trip in 1937 and Swan had no plane aboard when she acted as plane guard for the Earhart flight later that year. Pelican was at Gardner Island in April of 1939 with a Grumman J2F Duck aboard to take aerial photos as part of the U.S. Navy's survey of the Phoenix Group.
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Beaut pic of Kanton (6 Feb 2000)
http://ia600507.us.archive.org/24/items/kanton_etm_2000037/kanton_etm_2000037_lrg.jpg
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Tiny bit of useless trivia - Avocet had an interesting life. Was at Pear Harbor (appearing in several of the more-famous photos of the attack), then spent most of the war the the Aleutian theater of operations before being sold for scrap in December 1946.
There ... now it's stuck in your head for the rest of the day!
LTM,
Monty Fowler
TIGHAR No. 2189CER
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One more bit of odd (and tragic) Avocet trivia:
At about 0745 [sic] on Sunday , 7 December 1941, Avocet's security watch reported Japanese planes bombing the hangars at the south end of Ford Island, and sounded general quarters. Her crew promptly brought up ammunition to her guns, and the ship opened fire soon thereafter. The first shot from Avocet's starboard 3-inch gun scored a direct hit on a Nakajima B5N5. [Much else transpired, and] that night, at 2105, Avocet again went to general quarters as jittery gunners throughout the area fired on aircraft overhead. Tragically, these proved to be American, a flight of six fighters from the Enterprise (CV-6). Four were shot down; three pilots died.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/AVP/avp4.html
But back to her more admirable accomplishments:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1938-Seaplane-Tender-USS-Avocet-Finds-Samoan-Clipper-/00/$(KGrHqMOKikE4sjSduV9BOV+NM2+-!~~60_3.JPG)
USS Avocet Finds Samoan Clipper, 1938
And:
(http://www.dickkeiser.com/lm_scans/n1270.jpg)