The Jaluit Photo

Christian Stock · September 10, 2019, 04:03:31 PM

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the theory that Earhart and Noonan wound up in Japanese custody, posed for some tourist photos on Jaluit, and were then executed on Saipan, Mili, and some other places. The Government of the RMI has bought into this as well, to the point that they tried to debunk the debunking of the famous 1937 photo of Fred and Amelia that was published in 1935, stating that the rickety old dock in the photo was not built until 1936. Well, I am here to debunk the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by providing a photo of said dock, from December, 1928. It was taken during William K. Vanderbilt II's 1928-29 around the world voyage, on his private yacht the Ara. In fact, I believe one can see the Ara out in the lagoon.

The ONI giveth, and the ONI taketh away.

https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2017/07/20/captain-alfred-parker-on-jaluit-atoll-march-april-1937/

Ric Gillespie · September 11, 2019, 07:25:28 AM

Thanks Christian. Note that the only sources cited by the Ministry are the recollections "of our eldest citizens." Someone old enough (say, 10 years old) to remember the construction of a dock built in 1936 would be 91 years old in 2017.
The photo you cite proves their recollections to be in error.
This is a great illustration of a basic rule in historical investigation. Anecdotal recollections are not reliable unless corroborated by contemporaneous written documentation or datable photographs. When that rule is applied, the entire Japanese Capture theory falls apart.

Bill Mangus · September 11, 2019, 07:57:39 AM

Christian,

Not bad for a first post! Impressive bit of research, you certainly know your way around the Archives.

Perhaps you could take a look for the USCG Cutter Bushnell's deck log for November - December 1939 and see if there is any mention of a missing sextant and/or sextant box.

Just a thought.

Ric Gillespie · September 11, 2019, 08:01:00 AM

Quote from: Bill Mangus on September 11, 2019, 07:57:39 AM
Perhaps you could take a look for the USCG Cutter Bushnell's deck log for November - December 1939 and see if there is any mention of a missing sextant and/or sextant box.

USS Bushnell was not a Coast Guard cutter. It was a U.S. Navy survey ship.

Bill Mangus · September 11, 2019, 08:13:52 AM

Oops!! You're right of course. I was thinking of something else. Note the re-naming and re-designating.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/36/3602.htm

Christian Stock · September 12, 2019, 08:09:02 AM

Deck log archives seem to start after WWII. I'm not seeing much of anything from the first USS Bushnell. Lots from the second one, launched during the war.

Has anyone looked for records of Navy sales of surplus WWI equipment, from which Noonan may have bought a lot? Would he have had his sextants checked at the USNO, or a local University? There's one on ebay right now with USNO #889, along with a Northwestern University asset tag. Did they own it, or were they just performing the same function as the USNO?

Quote from: Bill Mangus on September 11, 2019, 07:57:39 AM
Christian,

Not bad for a first post! Impressive bit of research, you certainly know your way around the Archives.

Perhaps you could take a look for the USCG Cutter Bushnell's deck log for November - December 1939 and see if there is any mention of a missing sextant and/or sextant box.

Just a thought.

Ric Gillespie · September 12, 2019, 08:15:44 AM

Quote from: Christian Stock on September 12, 2019, 08:09:02 AM
Has anyone looked for records of Navy sales of surplus WWI equipment, from which Noonan may have bought a lot?

At least in some cases, surplus Navy sextants were sold to wholesalers, presumably in quantity, who then retailed them to individuals.

Christian Stock · September 13, 2019, 02:49:28 PM

The photo (and the capture theory) falls apart whether or not the recollections of the elders were correct. The press release says that the dock was built in 1936. It does not say that the dock was built in 1936, then rebuilt in 1964 or 1988. The current Jabor dock is a concrete structure, and not the same dock seen in the "Earhart" photo (a coral and wood jetty). If the elders remembered correctly, the press release confirms that the photo was taken before the dock was built in 1936. If the elders remembered incorrectly, there is nothing to contradict the date of the book in which the photo appeared.

The Japanese built up the base at Emidj with a pier and 2 seaplane aprons, just a few miles away, before the war. It's likely that they built the concrete pier at Jabor at the same time. With no ice or snow, the pier will probably last a hundred years or more.

To recap, we are talking about 3 docks in this location.

1. The old German "coal pier", which was destroyed in the Typhoon of 1905.
2. The rebuilt pier (presumably rebuilt in 1906), photographed in 1928 and circa 1935.
3. The concrete pier, built in 1936, per the government of the Marshall Islands.

Quote from: Ric Gillespie on September 11, 2019, 07:25:28 AM
Thanks Christian. Note that the only sources cited by the Ministry are the recollections "of our eldest citizens." Someone old enough (say, 10 years old) to remember the construction of a dock built in 1936 would be 91 years old in 2017.
The photo you cite proves their recollections to be in error.
This is a great illustration of a basic rule in historical investigation. Anecdotal recollections are not reliable unless corroborated by contemporaneous written documentation or datable photographs. When that rule is applied, the entire Japanese Capture theory falls apart.

Christian Stock · September 16, 2019, 04:40:21 PM

I just found the Tighar discussion of the 2017 History Channel show at https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,1943.60.html in which Matt Revington and others debunked the show and the Marshall Islands press release dating the dock to 1936. Matt posted an image of the dock from 1911, and it's certain that the two large iron pilings on the end of the dock, which seemed to have survived the 1905 typhoon, are present in the 1905, 1911, 1928 and 1935 photos.

One of the Japanese Capture bloggers specifically calls out these pilings as a feature of the new dock in 1936, specifically for docking large capital warships and such. He also claims the wooden dock is "fortified", and a pre-1905 image (with a German caption no less) of the coal pier is from 1947.

Christian Stock · September 30, 2019, 01:20:22 PM

Why is the photo dated to July, 1937? Because it's Amelia and Fred on the dock.

Is it Amelia and Fred on the dock? Yes, what other white people would be there in July, 1937?

Why is the photo dated to July, 1937? Because it's Amelia and Fred on the dock.

Do you see where this is going?

I submit to you that the presence of unguarded westerners on the dock is in itself proof that the photo was taken much earlier than 1937.

Don White · September 30, 2019, 04:04:46 PM

I'm interested that the ships in both old photos look similar. I thought at first they were the same ship, but the later one has the midships enclosed where the older one is open.

Don

Christian Stock · April 15, 2020, 02:42:21 PM

I just got sucked into reading this mess....pirates and all. We even get a mention a few days after this thread was posted.

https://www.pacificwrecks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5206&start=30

I love the twists, turns and outright leaps in conspiracy theories. He goes from "I see an airplane under water at Hull" (I don't) to Amelia Earhart teaching English to Admiral Yamamoto, Imperial Japanese ARMY pirates running a radio station on Niku, fake Lockheed Electras and Fred Noonan's leg splinted with a 7-foot signpost.

Christian Stock · February 25, 2023, 10:02:51 AM

https://maritime.org/doc/id/oni208j-japan-merchant-ships/index.php#toc

more to follow.

Christian Stock · February 26, 2023, 09:47:24 PM

Based on the site above, I believe the ship in the background of the infamous Jaluit photo of random people waiting on a dock was indeed the Koshu. The Koshu was confirmed to have been in the harbor at Jabor a number of times in 1935.

Christian Stock · March 02, 2023, 03:02:12 PM

One of the conspiracy bloggers pointed out that the December, 1928 photo in my original post showing the dock was marked "Facing 32°", which would make this a different dock than the one in the infamous photo. He found the remains of what he calls a "German dock" down near the current airport that this could be. Fortunately, I found a few sources that rule out his dock.

First, this dock is called the Sydney Pier on the WWII Jaluit Atoll map attached. Today, its remains are submerged, just North of runway 03 at Jaluit Airport. It was photographed soon after the war (https://libweb.hawaii.edu//digicoll/ttp/ttp_htms/2918.html), and there is even a youtube video of local children freediving around the dock at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGKfIxspve8.

If this was the Sydney dock, and the photographer was facing 32°, you would see almost the entirety of Jabor town in the background, only three-quarters of a mile away, but there is noting but water. I can't really speak to why Archives has the photo marked as Facing 32°. It's entirely possible that the photographer's notes said 320, which would line up perfectly with the Jabor harbor pier, the seawall in the foreground, the trees on the far right, and the lack of land (Jabor) in the background. As a navigator, I would always write out the full heading, such as 032 or 320, so this may be a misread of 32° vs 320.

Jabor Pier (WWII-era pier on current site of the modern pier and all previous piers since 1886): https://libweb.hawaii.edu//digicoll/ttp/ttp_jpg/291805.jpg

Sydney Pier (WWII-era Japanese pier near airport): https://libweb.hawaii.edu//digicoll/ttp/ttp_jpg/291802.jpg

With this in mind, I still feel that the dock in the 1928 photo IS the same as the one featured in the History Channel mockumentary, a coral and sand jetty, with a small wooden dock at the end, which debunks the anonymous letter from the Government of the Marshall Islands.

Attachments don't seem to work today.