TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => The Islands: Expeditions, Facts, Castaway, Finds and Environs => Topic started by: Richard Miller on November 21, 2009, 07:38:26 PM
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I recall reading that the reef shelf on Niku looks deceivingly smooth, when in fact it is comprised of deep crevasses and wide gashes.
If AE's plane actually would have landed on that shelf it would have crashed, rather than landed smoothly.
If that is the case, I am wondering if there are still tell-tale signs of the Electra's impact on the shelf. It's hard to imagine something of that size impacting the reef and not causing a large depression or impact crater where it hit. Granted a lot of time has passed, but is it possible that the damage is still there?
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The reef flat where the available evidence suggests the plane was landed (just north of the shipwreck) is flat and smooth enough to permit a safe landing in a Lockheed 10 at low tide. The classic "spur and groove" features you refer to as "deep crevasses and wide gashes" are seaward of the area that dries at low tide. If you watch the video that is now on the homepage of this website (www.tighar.org) you can see for yourself. As far as any possible remaining scar in the reef surface goes, even if the plane had nosedived straight into the reef flat I doubt that there would leave a scar. The only scar I've seen on that reef is from the keel of the Norwich City - a 5,000 ton freighter - and the scar is only about two inches deep.
Ric Gillespie
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Wow. Very nicely done short film on Tighar and the search for AE! Reasoned, logical, and focused...I wish I were going on the 2010 trip!
Norm
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Thanks Norm. We're pretty proud of that film. Mark Smith and Stephanie Daniels of Oh Seven Films did a great job.
Ric
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Yes indeed! Much more to come.
Ric
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Speeking of the film (which I've enjoyed several times now), I was quite taken by Ric's hat selections. Oh the possibilities there... Also impressed with his obvious talent for the squeeze box. FYI - should Tighar ever need a muic historian, I'm your guy!
Can't wait to see more footage from Niku.
All the best,
t
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Thanks Tim,
Hats-R-Us. My favorite is the cork helmet, often mistakenly called a "pith helmet" (I, of course, also have a true pith helmet). All hats are too hot for Niku but you do need something to keep the sun off. The cork helmet does that, plus it doesn't blow off in the wind and it provides protection from falling coconuts. The latter may sound silly unless you've watched a five-pound coconut come down from a forty foot tree. The biggest drawback to the cork helmet is the commentary from colleagues.
The squeeze box (concertina) is a lot of fun and it's less bulky than a guitar (which I couldn't play anyway).
In many ways these expeditions are, by necessity, a sort of 19th century enterprise and, for me, both the headgear and the music are a connection to that time.
Ric
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The TIGHAR film is great! I have seen it several times myself.
Was that aerial footage shot from the helicopter you encounter there some years back?
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Ric,
You need to find a Sponge helmet liner that will help keep your brain cooler. Dip it in water and wa la!
Ted Campbell
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The TIGHAR film is great! I have seen it several times myself.
Was that aerial footage shot from the helicopter you encounter there some years back?
Absolutely LOVED That Video! Especially the 'FINAL Approach' Shot coming over the Norwich City.
Only need to imagine a slightly lower tide to expect a successful 'Wheel' landing in a 'light' Lockheed 10E.
May you have the best of success on your Twenty-Ten Archeological Expedition!!! :-*
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Was that aerial footage shot from the helicopter you encounter there some years back?
Yes. If you'd like to see the entire flight, both around the outer perimeter of the atoll and a low level trip around the lagoon shore, plus a short history of the island, "An Aerial Tour of Nikumaroro" is available on DVD from the TIGHAR Store at http://www.tighar.org/TIGHAR_Store/tigharstore2.html
Well worth the 50 bucks (TIGHAR member price).
Ric
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You need to find a Sponge helmet liner that will help keep your brain cooler. Dip it in water and wa la!l
Good idea. The team are always telling me to go soak my head anyway.
Ric
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Hello Ric,
This is my first post. Just wanna say that the video is excellent. Loved especially the 'reef landing'.
I'm a Filipino working as a missionary in Pakistan!... just to tell you that somebody is following TIGHAR (everyday!) even from there!
Jude
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Hey Jude! (I'll bet you get that a lot.)
Thanks for your support. We're flattered.
Ric
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Ric--Just watched the video of TIGHARs search on Nikumaroro, GREAT video---really shows the amount of effort from you and the rest of the TIGHAR team.
The woman from Fiji suggests that she knows of the weckage "north" of the shipwreck. Would it be possible to suggest that storms and wave action either broke the plane up, or floated it off the reef into deep water? If that is the case, possibly there is some part of the plane embedded the ocean floor, or on the side of the slope leading to the reef. I believe that you are on the right track.
TomI recall reading that the reef shelf on Niku looks deceivingly smooth, when in fact it is comprised of deep crevasses and wide gashes.
If AE's plane actually would have landed on that shelf it would have crashed, rather than landed smoothly.
If that is the case, I am wondering if there are still tell-tale signs of the Electra's impact on the shelf. It's hard to imagine something of that size impacting the reef and not causing a large depression or impact crater where it hit. Granted a lot of time has passed, but is it possible that the damage is still there?
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Ric,
Just took a look at a Google Earth picture of Niku dated 2/22/2007 and noted what appears to be major ocean over wash on the South West and West side of the island. Do we have good data on the elevation of the island?
I have often wondered why AE may have left the area of the "landing", the old village, the Norwich City, etc. and decided to relocate to the "Seven Site" which is quite a hike around to the other side of the island.
If the weather was such that she was always wet just after her landing I now understand why she would want to move on from the area that provided the most attachment to civilization, al-be-it years earlier, for someplace more comfortable.
Do we have any data that suggest that the hardest weather/ocean surge hits the island in a Northeasterly direction?
Is there any data on the Coast Guard base regarding ocean over wash, etc. while the base was operational?
If the over wash is normally to the Northeast on the island wouldn't it be prudent to look for artifacts to the NE of the "Seven Site" in addition to the site it self; just a suggestion.
Ted Campbell
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Ric,
Just took a look at a Google Earth picture of Niku dated 2/22/2007 and noted what appears to be major ocean over wash on the South West and West side of the island. Do we have good data on the elevation of the island?
Like all coral atolls, the elevation doesn't amount to more than a few meters. However, the reef does a good job protecting the island and overwash is rare. Incursions by storm surges are apparent all along the western and southwestern shorelines but the only place we see evidence of recent overwash from ocean to lagoon is in a swath through the old village on the southern shore of Tatiman Passage. That event occurred sometime between 2003 and 2007.
I have often wondered why AE may have left the area of the "landing", the old village, the Norwich City, etc. and decided to relocate to the "Seven Site" which is quite a hike around to the other side of the island.
The part of the island on shore from where the airplane seems to have landed is sheltered from the prevailing easterly winds and, therefore, very hot and unpleasant. The Seven Site, by contrast, is (or was in 1937) the best place on the atoll for a castaway to hang out. It was open forest, cooled by the trade winds, and close to both the lagoon and ocean reef for fishing. By climbing a tree you could get a clear view of both the northern and southern horizons to watch for a ship. I would imagine that the Seven Site was selected as a result of a fairly thorough exploration of the island - something any sensible castaway would do.
Do we have any data that suggest that the hardest weather/ocean surge hits the island in a Northeasterly direction?
Storm events and surges come out of the west and northwest.
Is there any data on the Coast Guard base regarding ocean over wash, etc. while the base was operational?
No, nor would I expect there to be. That is the most sheltered part of the island.
If the over wash is normally to the Northeast on the island wouldn't it be prudent to look for artifacts to the NE of the "Seven Site" in addition to the site it self; just a suggestion.
We've seen no evidence of overwash anywhere near the Seven Site. Artifacts may well have been moved from where they originally lay, but that movement was likely caused by forces other than water - wind, animals, birds, and humans, including us in the process of clearing vegetation from the site.
Ric