The Armchair Navigator I

THE ARMCHAIR NAVIGATOR I 2019
THE ARMCHAIR NAVIGATOR I
SUPPLEMENTS TO POST-SPANISH DISCOVERIES
IN THE
BY
STEVE DEHNER
1
OENO ISLAND (23° 55' S. 130° 44' W.)
1819
It was Capt. James Henderson of the E.I.C. (East India
Company) vessel “Hercules” 1 who, when sailing from
Valparaíso to Calcutta, touched at Pitcairn’s Island on
January 18, 1819. Presumably on the next day he sighted
modern Oeno Island, N.W. of modern Pitcairn Island.
Henderson, soon after his arrival, informed the local
paper that it was covered with lots of cocoanut trees and
that it had breakers off the N.W. and S.E. ends and also
that it was about one mile in circumference, situated in
24° 00' S. 131° 20' W.” 2 Henderson’s spot on description
puts beyond all doubt which island was seen by him.
From what little I was able to muster on Henderson in
literature (sometimes mentioned as James/John Heron) it
appears as though he failed to name a single one of his discoveries 3 albeit that one case is
known where someone had done so in his behalf, viz. captain Raine of the “Surry” of London:
On my route to this place I made Ducies Island, which is correctly laid

down 24°, 37ʹ S and 124°, 37ʹ W and afterwards made another island in lat.
24°, 26ʹ S. and long. 128°, 30ʹ W. about 110 miles ENE of this; which I call
"Hendersons Island", as it appears to me from the conversation I had with
him [James Henderson] at Valparaiso, to be his discovery on his last voyage to
India from that port in the ship Hercules [...]
Pitcairns Island, April 12, 1821. 4

Thomas Raine (1793/4-1860)
H.M.S. “Blossom”, Capt. Beechey, after having weighed anchor at modern Pitcairn Island,
reached Oeno Island on December 23, 1825, stood off to sea for the night, so it was not until the
1 “Hercules” was built in Calcutta, India, by Gilmore and Co. (commissioned by Farlie and Co.) and launched in 1814.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find anything on James Henderson’s date of birth/demise, let alone a real portrait.
2 The Calcutta Journal (or Political, Commercial, and Literary Gazette) of September 17th, 1819, p.151.
British Library: MFM.MC1148. Available online in 2018 as “Proquest, British Periodicals Collection II”.
3 Henderson presumably rediscovered modern Henderson Island but no doubt discovered modern Starbuck Island on
the same voyage - Quiros is said to have discovered modern Henderson Island in 1606. The “Hercules”, however,
preceded (by a matter of mere months) ship “Elizabeth”, capt. Henry King, in rediscovering modern Henderson.
4 The Nantucket Inquirer, January 7th, 1823. Henderson rediscovered modern Henderson Island on January 17th, 1819.
2
next morning that it was subjected to a more thorough inspection by

him. He wrote: “About ninety miles to the northward of Pitcairn
Island there is a coral formation, which has been named Oeno
Island, after a whale-ship, whose master supposed it had not before
been seen; but the discovery belongs to Mr. Henderson of the
Hercules.”
Frederick W. Beechey, R.N. (1796-1856)

1823/4
Old charts that depict both Oeno - and Hercules Island are few and far between, but John
Arrowsmith’s map of 1832 is one that does. That modern maps depict it as Oeno Island is
due to its rediscovery by captain George B. Worth of the Nantucket whaling vessel “Oeno”:
George B. Worth (1794-1842)
John Arrowsmith (1790-1873)
3
The “Oeno”, Capt. George B. Worth, sailed for the

Pacific on December 19, 1821, and arrived back in
Nantucket on June 28, 1824. 5 During this round trip
Worth had spotted modern Oeno Island, that much
is clear from both the accurate co-ordinates and its
given position relative to Pitcairn’s Island. Yet, with
the logbook gone and newspapers not univocal the
$64,000 question remains: “when did he see it?” One
source (November 1, 1858, Nantucket) 6 states that
“George B. Worth of Whale Ship Oeno, on his way to Valparaiso” discovered this island in
“December 1823” and named it after his ship, which claim seems strenghtened by another,
namely that the “Oeno” was at Pitcairn in (on January 26th?) 1824 7 yet, I could not grab
hold of any evidence able to back up either one of these assertions. Some early-19th-
century newspapers state that Worth sighted the island on March 24, 1824, but this date
might be a tad late when we consider the abovementioned day of arrival of “Oeno” in
Nantucket - besides, the Nantucket Inquirer of Monday, May 24, 1824 (p.3) states that
“Oeno” on the 29th of February, 1824, was at Massafuero (Más Afuera, modern Alejandro
Selkirk Island) and on the 5th of March, 1824, was in sight of Juan Fernandez (modern
Robinson Crusoe Island) bound for the coast of Chile (I guess Valparaíso) with 1900 BBLS
of oil. Both Edouard A. Stackpole in 1938 8 and Carlos C. Hanks in 1940 9 wrote that G.B.
Worth discovered Oeno Island in 1822, yet each failed to substantiate that claim with
sources and, apart from that, it also appears as if Hanks († May 5, 1956) borrowed a great
deal from E.A. Stackpole. As for the ship’s name: it was derived from Greek mythology, for
Oeno, together with Spermo 10 and Elais, was one of the 3 daughters of Anius, which trinity
is also known as the Oenotropae. She was built by the Barstow bros. (John B. and Elijah) at
North River, Ma., and was launched in September, 1821, thus a brand new ship when G.B.
Worth took her to the whaling grounds of the Pacific for her owner, one Aaron Mitchell.
(image: Oeno Island by Évremond de Bérard)
5 Nantucket Inquirer of Saturday, January 8th, 1876 + Nantucket Inquirer of Monday, June 28th, 1824, p.3
6 Boston Daily Advertiser of November 3rd, 1858. Some whalers travelled from Valparaiso to Nantucket within 80 days.
7 Pitcairn Island and the Islanders...by Walter Brodie, 1850 + Pitcairn Island Register Book by Charles Lucas, 1929. If you
happen to know where Brodie got this date (January 26, 1824) from, I wouldn’t mind being informed on that matter.
8 Nantucket Inquirer of Saturday, March 19th, 1938, p.3. “Nantucket Whalers’ Discoveries Basis for U.S. Pacific Claims”.
9 National Republic, Volumes 28-29, 1940, “They Found Islands”. + The Albany Capital (Missouri), July 3rd, 1941, p.3.
10 The whaler “Spermo” was also built by Barstow bros. at North River, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, in 1820.
4
CAPTAIN BOND OF THE “MARTHA”
"I was informed by Buffitt, another of the Englishmen married on Pitcairn's Island, and who has been
living there for the last twenty years, that north-west by north by compass, and distant seventy-two miles
from Pitcairn's Island, there is a dangerous sandy reef, about a mile in circumference, known as Oneo
Island. No less than three different positions are assigned to it on our chart, under three different names.
The error arose from Captain Bond of the Martha having seen it, and, unconscious that it had been
previously discovered, having called it Martha Island; and, I suppose to make assurance double sure,
the recipient of the information, on his own responsibility, interpolated another Island, and christened it
Bond's Island. Some of the Pitcairn Islanders visited it in company with Buffitt; and the latter, who has
been a sailor, and second mate on board a merchantman, assures me that there is but the one reef, and that
it is nearly awash, and unworthy of the name of an island." 11
- Edward Lucett (1815-1853)-
Page 276 of Edward Lucett’s book seems to suggest

that it was “Norie’s chart of the Pacific (our only guide)”
that he was referring to there. His book also informs
us he was on Pitcairn’s Island in November of the
year 1843. We are inclined to believe that what E.
Lucett had on board was probably an identical edition
A new and complete epitome...,1835, J.W. Norie A New Chart of The Pacific..., 1825-36, J.W. Norie
of the map from which we copied the above image - not entirely sure it
was that map, nor what the rather illegible pencil scribblings mean, it
nonetheless shows the three islands mentioned by Lucett. What
makes Norie’s map so interesting is that it encourages its
beholders to think Martha’s Island was sighted in the year 1822.
It is also therefore that we suspect Capt. Bond of the “Martha” of
having preceded Worth in seeing Oeno, but because such credit
should only be given where it’s due, my plea on page 6 and 7 will be in
defense of the whaler and sealer, captain Ralph Bond of the “Martha”.
John W. Norie (1772-1843)
11 Rovings in the Pacific...by Edward Lucett (1815-1853), 1851, part 2, p.9. Lucett was at Pitcairn in November 1843.
According to Walter Brodie (1851) Lucett was the supercargo on the schooner “Sagaz”, captain Robert Griggs.
5
But it wouldn’t do to defend my conjecture by merely waving the “1822” suffix, for on old
maps such years not seldom turn out to be wrong, e.g. “Hercules I. 1818” on page 3 of this
essay, should in actual fact have read “Hercules I. 1819”. On the other hand, they shouldn’t
be discarded so easily, for although frequently wrong often they’re off by no more than one
year, and in that regard remain interesting leads. Ideally, a mere glance in the logbooks of
ships “Oeno” and “Martha” would suffice to learn which of their masters first saw modern
Oeno Island, but unfortunately, as has been the fate of so many decisive manuscripts, these
too have failed to stand the test of time, or so it seems. We have no option but to resort to
second-hand sources instead, i.e., books, yellowed newspapers and antique nautical charts:
An excerpt from p. 226 of Carl E. Meinicke’s Die Inseln des Stillen Ozeans (Vol. 2) of 1876...
...basically translates to: “Oeno, discovered by Henderson in 1818, but first named so by Worth in
1824, named Hercules in 1826 after Beechey, and Martha in 1825 after Bond”. A 1857 newspaper
has Martha’s I. as belonging to the “Paumotus” or Tuamotu Archipelago...12
...and what is more, also equated it to Bond’s Island :13
The famed “Russian” Admiral Krusenstern, some twenty years before that Aussie newspaper,
had deemed these islands to be identical with Oeno Island, as is demonstrated on p.158 of his
ultra-rare 1835 adendum “Supplémens au Recueil de mémoires hydrographiques...”.
Carte generale de l'ocean Pacifique., Krustenstern, 1835
A.J. von Krusenstern (1770-1846)
12 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW, Australia) of Tuesday June 30th, 1857, p.3
13 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW, Australia) of Monday May 25th, 1857, p.2
6
Oeno was seen by Worth quite possibly, but not per se, between Dec. 1823/Jan. 1824, but by
whom and when was Bond’s or Martha’s Island discovered and reported? Suppose that
Edward Lucett was right about this Capt. Bond of a ship named “Martha”, then only one
man meets the criteria: the British sealer/whaler (Ralph Bond, captain of the 183 ton heavy
brig “Martha” of London. “Martha’s” 1821-1824 voyage is of special interest to this story, for
during this roundtrip Captain Bond must have sighted, in all likelihood, modern Oeno Island:
“Martha”, Capt. Bond, left Gravesend for New South Shetland late in July, 1821. She spent a
month at Madeira with the “Pomona”, Capt. Robinson, from September 11th to October
16th, 1821. She was at NSS when the “Beaufoy” sailed, and at Clothier Harbour on March
7th, 1822, when the “George IV” sailed for England. Done sealing, Bond left Clothier
Harbour for Valparaíso in March, 1822, and got there in June. Still 1822, on July 8th he left
Valparaíso for a roundtrip to the whaling grounds of the Pacific, and returned there on the
19th of November 1822. Then “Martha” disappears from our radar for an entire year until
her arrival in London on January 4th, 1824, with 270 casks of oil and 546 seal skins in her
belly, for Thomas and H.D. Blyth, who had bought
her in early July, 1821.14 This was Bond’s last
voyage to and from the South Seas/Pacific and, not
unimportant, his sole one in the “Martha”. I think
it’s safe to assume that if Bond sighted Oeno Island,
he either did in summer/autumn 1822, or in a
month of 1823 that we may no longer retrieve so
easily. There still does exist a map by Aaron
Arrowsmith Jr., with the name “Pacific Ocean”, and
this chart was published on January 4, 1825, exactly
a year after “Martha’s” arrival back in London which, interestingly, also happened to
coincide with the period during which George B. Worth of the “Oeno” is said to have
discovered his island. To our knowledge it remains the oldest map to depict modern Oeno,
regardless the number of names that have stuck to it in the many decades that went by.
____________________
14 Lloyd’s List: 1821, july 27/August 3, 10 and 14/October 19. 1822, May 14, June 4, November 19. 1823, December 12.
7
FANNING ATOLL/TABUAERAN (3° 52' N. 159° 20' W.)
1798
Monday, June 11, at 3 a.m. Captain Edmund Fanning
(1769-1841) of the brig “Betsey” of New York sighted
three islets in 3° 35' N. and in 159° 10' W. of London,
lying in the shape of a triangle, which formed a large
and spacious bay. A landing party discovered no signs
of previous human habitation and hence wrongfully
deemed themselves to be the first human beings that
had set their feet on these islands. The northernmost
islet of this most low and woody atoll was dubbed
Fanning’s Island, the easternmost William’s Island (for either the second officer, Othniel
Williams, or Fanning’s brother, William) and the southernmost Britnal’s Island, for first
officer Caleb Brintnal. 15 The umbrella name ultimately bestowed upon this atoll by a most
modest Edmund Fanning: Fanning’s Islands. 16
Edmund Fanning Collect., archives of the American Geographical

image: not our Edmund Fanning! Library (New York/University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
1814
In Nov. 1816, during his sojourn at Oahu, Otto von Kotzebue had spoken the master of the
“Traveller” of Philadelphia, James Smith Wilcox (or Wilcocks).17 He informed Kotzebue
that in 1814 Andreas Walther (read Andrew Mather), captain of the “America”, travelling
from the Marquesas Islands to Canton, saw a group of low and wooded coral islands in 3°
48' N. and in 159° 15' W. and 30 miles in circumference - they were mapped as America’s
Islands. These islands seen by him were no doubt islets of modern Fanning Atoll/Tabuaeran.
15 Telegraphe and Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, Maryland), Friday, July 29, 1803, p.3.
16 Voyages Around The World...(1833, p. 225) by Edmund Fanning.
17 Entdeckungs-Reise in die Süd-See...(1821, p.25) by Otto von Kotzebue.

8
Another group of low wooded islands is said to have been discovered in 1814 and this was
mapped as Walker’s Island(s). Lieut. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the U.S. Ex. Ex. later wrote:
Charles Wilkes c.1840
According to English hydrographer John Purdy (1773-1843) these islands were discovered
by a captain Walker but how far-fetched would it be to suggest that Walker was nothing more
than a corruption of Walther or Mather? True, Wilkes wrote on authority of a whaler (!) but
that in itself doesn’t necessarily mean that the reporter was the very discoverer of this very island.
1817
On the 25th of July, sailing from Lima to
Canton, Joshua Mezick, captain of the
ship “Sidney” of Baltimore, MD, saw “two
islands” in 3° 44' N. 159° 13' W. Because
he found these islands not laid down in
charts or books on board he named them
“Sidney Islands”. 18 19
left: sketch from the 1836-39 logbook of the

whaler “General Jackson” of Bristol, R.I. /
Co-ordinates: American Practical Navigator of
1821 as published by Daniel Bowditch/Blunt.
18 This discovery is in no way related to the Sydney Island (Manra) belonging to the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati.
19 Baltimore Patriot (Baltimore, Maryland), Monday, March 30, 1818, p.2.

9
10
PALMYRA ATOLL (5° 53' N. 162° 46' W.)
1802
Cornelius Sowle of the ship “Palmyra” of Providence, RI,
sailing from Juan Fernández to Canton, arrived at Manila
Bay in Dec. 1802, and had a brief stopover before sailing to
Canton. It was during this sojourn that Sowle reported that
he had discovered an island, apparently to Spanish naval
officer Ignacio María de Álava himself, who was there until
January 7th, 1803, the very day he sailed for Spain in the
“Montañés” by rounding Cape of Good Hope - he arrived at
the Bay of Cádiz the 15th of May, 1803, the same date as
on the memoranda to his superiors, in which Álava stated (loosely translated by author) that
the American Cornelius Sawle of ship Palmyra on November the 7th, 1802, discovered an
island east of the Caroline Archipelago in 5° 49ʹ N. 162° 23ʹ W. and that the Palmyra had sailed
from Juan Fernández to Isla San Felix to fish, and one year had passed since her departure from
Providence on her arrival at Manila on 11 December and that she had stayed there for 11 days.
Ignacio Mª de Álava (1750-1817)
Memoranda: Biblioteca Virtual Del Ministerio De Defensa (Spain): ES-DFAMNM/AMN 0101 Ms.0096/013
11
A British newspaper of 1804 has a slightly different date for Cornelius Sowle’s discovery:
Mr. Editor,
I request you to insert in your Journal the following description of a newly discovered island in the
South Sea, which was seen by Capt. Sowle, in the American Ship Palmyra, of Providence, Rhode
Island, on the 10th of November, 1802. As the weather was fine, that day, at noon, had an
observation of the sun’s altitude, by which the latitude is accurately ascertained; and as he took his
departure from Christmas Island, and had a gentle westerly wind, it is scarcely possible there can be
an error in the longitude, even of two or three miles. This island lies out of the track of most
Navigators, who pass either from America to Asia, or from Asia to America; and, till lately, English
Whalers have been prohibited fishing in that quarter, which accounts for its not having been seen
before; it is, however, probable that there are several other islands in the same direction. Capt. Sowle
thinks he passed one the day before, as he saw many birds, and imagined he heard breakers; but the
weather being very hazy, he could not see eithers rocks or land. I am, Sir, Yours,&c.
Canonbury-place, Oct.4." " " " " " " " William Jacob.
PALMYRA ISLAND
Is situated in lat. 5° 49ʹ N. and in long. 162° 23ʹ W.
from London; it is about three leagues in extent; there
are two lagoons on it; in the westernmost of which is
twenty fathom water, with a fine sandy bottom. It is
very dangerous to approach the western part of the
island, on account of the coral rocks which are just
below the surface of the water, and extend to the
distance of three or four leagues from the shore. The
eastern part terminates in a steep reef of coral, over
which the sea breaks with considerable force. On the
north-west side there is good anchoring ground,
about three quarters of a mile from the breakers, in
eighteen fathom water, on a coral bottom. There are
no inhabitants on the island; nor was any fresh water
found; but cocao nuts of very large size are in great
abundance; and fish of various kinds, and in large
shoals, surrounded the land. A great quantity of drift-
wood lay on the beach [...].20
Cenotaph of Cornelius Sowle (1769-1818, at sea)
20 The Monthly Magazine (London) November 1st, 1804, No. 121, IV of vol. 18, p.281.
12
On Sunday the 10th of July 1803 Captain Sowle had

arrived back at Providence, 125 days from Canton
21, yet not one American newspaper would remark
upon Sowle’s discovery until 1806 22 , and then

merely quoted that William Jacob, who may have
been the merchant of London (c.1761-1851) who,
along with his brother John, owned several
whaleships during the early 19th century - their firm
appears as Jacob&c. in Lloyd’s Register - the owners of
“Palmyra”, John Innis Clarke and Wm. F. Magee, of
Providence, also appear in Lloyd’s Register. The log for this voyage seems no longer to exist
so when exactly Capt. Sowle made his discovery is arguable. Worthier a debate may be if
Sowle was its first Western discoverer and not Capt. Edmund Fanning, who, later in life,
claimed to be. Henry “Harry” Evans Maude repudiated Edmund Fanning’s claim as follows:
“In his book published thirty-five years later, Fanning claimed that
what he had seen was Palmyra Island, some thirty-four miles from his
position [North of Kingman Reef]; but even if the top of its trees
reached ninety feet above sea level this would still not seem possible.
He may have seen the loom or reflection of its lagoon in the sky, but
whether this constitutes ‘visuable apprehension’ of the island, and
therefore its discovery, is a nice legal point.”
H.E. Maude (1906-2006)
Maude, although he couldn’t be more right here, must have overlooked a few 1803 newspapers
that quoted straight from Edmund Fanning’s journal: “We supposed that we saw land from
the masthead to the southward of the shoal but it was so hazy we were not certain.” 23
Compare this to Fanning’s 1833 book: “I went aloft, and with the aid of the glass could
plainly see the land over it, far in the south” 24 and you have got two incompatible statements.
21 Providence Phoenix, Saturday, July 16, 1803, p.3.
22 Philadelphia Gazette, Thursday, May 15, 1806, p.3
24 Voyages Around The World...(1833, p. 234) by Edmund Fanning.

13
KINGMAN REEF (6° 23' N. 162° 25' W.)
1798
On June 15, 1798, at 7 a.m., Capt. Fanning just in
time caught sight of a dangerous shoal of breakers in
6° 15' N. 162° 18' W. The reef was circular in shape
and about six leagues in circumference and formed a
large lagoon of white water. 25 The shoal seen that
day can easily be equated to modern Kingman Reef,
named for W.E. Kingman, captain of the “Shooting
Star” of Boston, who passed it November 29, 1853. 26
Capt. Prince B. Mooers of whaleship “Spartan” of
Nantucket saw a dangerous reef in 1825, “30 miles West by North of Palmyra Island.” 27 and
whether or not he named it, no question he saw modern Kingman Reef and may be deemed a
rediscoverer. January 21st, 1853, the ship “Caldew” of Sunderland, England, capt. Wm.
Joseph Snow, at 4.30 a.m. ran aground in latitude by observation 6° 21' N., and in longitude
by chronometer 161° 43' W. 28 - this reef became known as Caldew Reef. On November 19th,
1859, Captain William H. Thorndike (Rockland, Me) of the “Alice Thorndike” saw a shoal
in 6° 24' N. 162° 22' W. 29 , reported it and it was thence sometimes referred to as the Alice
Thorndike Reef /Shoal. Capt. Crane of the schooner “Maria” claimed that he had passed a
sunken shoal in 5° 55ʹ N. 164° W. on
the 24th of October 1862 30 - it was
mapped as Maria Shoal. Most, if not
all, were modern Kingman Reef, for
no other reefs currently do exist in its
close environment, or so it appears.
26 The Friend (Honolulu), September 29, 1855, p.2.
27 Nantucket Inquirer, Saturday, March 3, 1827, p.3. /George Washington Gardner of “Maria” (also) saw it (instead)?
28 The Sydney Morning Herald (Aus), Monday, April 4, 1853, p.2.
29 The Argus (Melbourne, Aus), Friday, December 30, 1859, p.4.
30 The Friend (Honolulu), January 1, 1863, p.8.

14
PHOENIX ISLAND/RAWAKI (3° 43' S. 170° 43' W.)
31
1824
On February 23rd, 1824, Capt. John Palmer of
the ship “Phœnix” of London spotted a low
and sandy island covered with “tropical birds,
Men of War hawks and other sea fowl” in
latitude 3° 39ʹ South and Longitude 170° 30ʹ
West. It was named “Phonix Island”, after the
whaleship. 32 The “Phœnix” was one of many
ships owned by the firm (Daniel) Bennett &
Son, the largest whaling merchant of its day.
Still 1824, on August 2 “Phœnix” again touched
here and this time fish and turtle was procured from
this Pacific fly-speck, little short of a fairway bunker.
William Bennett (1790-1844) Daniel Bennett (1760-1826)

(hiding dog treat in hand?) (“reading” LLoyd’s List)
31 Dr. William Dalton (1802-1873) : original journal of..., kept at the National Library of Australia, NLA MS 7230
32 The Dalton Journal: two whaling voyages to the south seas..., edited by Niel Gunson, 1990, pp. 74-75.
15
KANTON/ABARIRINGA (2° 48' S. 171° 40' W.)
1824
On August 5, 1824, the “Phœnix” of London, Capt. John
Palmer (q.v.), in company with the ship “Mary” of London,
came to a low and barren island in latitude 2° 48ʹ S. and
Longitude 172° 10ʹ W. with a spacious lagoon and “this was
named Mary Ballcotts Island.” 33 Gunson assumed that in
this simultaneous discovery the “Mary” was a whaler owned
by John Lydekker (1778-1832) and that her captain, Edward
Reed, had named the island. 34 The entry for August 5, 1824,
of that “Mary’s” logbook, however, makes no mention of
Land Ho! or the ship “Phœnix”. 35 Nope, in reality this island
was baptised by a captain A. Locke, master of whaler “Mary” of
London, owned by Hill, Boulcott & Hill, a firm comprised of
the two brothers, James and Amon Hill & brother-in-law John Ellerker Boulcott. The latter
was married to a Mary Boulcott, née Hill, and it was she whom this island was named for, but
while it should have been spelled Mary Boulcott’s Island from the get-go, it wasn’t, and
thenceforth it appeared with slightly deviating spellings, but also abbreviated as “Mary Island”.36
J.E. Boulcott (1784-1855) Mary Boulcott (1786-1858)
33 Dr. William Dalton (1802-1873): original journal of..., kept at the National Library of Australia, NLA MS 7230
34 The Dalton Journal: two whaling voyages to the south seas..., edited by Niel Gunson, 1990, pp. 76-77.
35 The Museum of London has this captain as Edward Reed Lacy, possibly the one from Tynemouth, England.
36 Since one of the whalers involved had the name “Mary”, the “abbreviation” could also relate to the name of the ship.
16
Modern Kanton derives its name from the New Bedford whaler “Canton”
which was wrecked on its outer shore early March, 1854. 37 Capt. Andrew
Johnson Wing (1820-1897) and his full crew managed to save not only
themselves but also four small whaleboats and scanty provisions. In late
March the 31 men tried their luck by putting to sea in the four open boats
and made their way northwestwards for 49 days straight when finally they
reached safety in Guam, 2,900 nautical miles from where they had started.
A.J. Wing (1820-1897)
Possession of this island was taken by the

American Phoenix Guano Company after its
“discovery” in 1859 by a Capt. Green in the
hermaphrodite brigantine “Agate”. 38 But
was it named either “Swallow Island” or
“Williams Island”? Or was it named both?
37 Columbian Register, Saturday, February 3, 1855, New Haven, CT, p.1. + Boston Shipping List, Saturday, Nov 18,
1854, Boston, Ma, p.1.
38 The Polynesian, Saturday, December 10 + December 17, 1859, Honolulu, HI, p.2. and many, many other newspapers.
17
BAKER ISLAND (0° 11' N. 176° 28' W.) & THE VOYAGE OF “LOPER”
When E.H. Bryan, Jr. wrote that one

account states that the name “New
Nantucket” was given to this island in the
year 1818 by a Elisha Folger of the
Nantucket whaleship “Equator” 39 , he
must have had in mind one of E.A.
Stackpole’s bulky, yet also notoriously
scatterbrained 1938 essays on those
Pacific islands discovered by “Yankee Sea
Kings”: 40
A tad late maybe, but on pp. 345-346 of his 1953 "Sea-Hunters" Stackpole rectifies himself:
[...]In August 1825, while in longitude 176°-20' west, Captain [Obed] Starbuck sighted a low,
barren island, not more than half a mile in circumference. Partially covered with a low grass and
shrubs, with white coral beaches that shone dazzling white in the sunlight, this island (practically
on the equator) was named New Nantucket by the shipmaster. Perhaps the name was a combination
of homesickness and of the contrast to the ship's [“Loper” of Nantucket] island home. [...]
39 American Polynesia and The Hawaiian Chain, 1942, p.43, by Edwin H. Bryan, Jr.
40 New York Times, March 13, 1938. + Nantucket Inquirer, March 12, 1938. See also: The whalemen of Nantucket...,
Nantucket Inquirer, December 15, 1945.
18
Mister Stackpole eventually realized that he had confused Obed Starbuck of the “Loper” with
Elisha Folger of the “Equator”, both of whom hailed from Nantucket. Starbuck had touched
at Baker Island, and you will see “evidence” of it, but was it also this captain who bequeathed
the name “New Nantucket” to it? Allow us to explain why we are asking this one question...
Starbuck set sail for the whaling grounds of the Pacific on December 6, 1824, and arrived
back home on October 19, 1826. I believe the original logbook for this voyage isn’t extant but
a facsimile (at least it appears to be at first sight) was kept by a then-15-year old Robert
McCleave and it currently sits in the Nantucket Historical Association and, eventhough a copy,
it more than suffices to demonstrate that...
...modern Baker Island, one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands, 41 was seen on
August 19, 1825, and then named on the spot. And this is where it becomes
interesting, for the Nantucket Inquirer of Saturday, November 25, 1826, say five weeks after
“Loper’s” arrival at Nantucket, printed an announcement (left).
The attentive reader won’t fail to notice Oeno Island (q.v.)
here and will also not miss the peculiar discrepancy
between the log entry above and the newspaper clipping:
indeed, the co-ordinates that
were formerly still belonging
to Lopers Island have suddenly
shifted to New Nantucket. The
tricky part is to figure out now
the underlying cause for this
apparent mix-up of two islands.
41 As do Palmyra Atoll; Howland Island; Jarvis Island; Johnston Atoll; Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, etc.
19
Sifting through the log of “Loper” one quickly learns that Granger’s Island and A Rock 42 could
not possibly have been Starbuck’s discoveries and, familiar already with the “discovery” of Oeno
Island by Worth, I have taken the freedom to do away with these designations. Our first inkling
was that news of a possible earlier discovery of modern Baker Island had somehow reached Obed
Starbuck’s ears, and that as a consequence of it the name of “Loper’s Island” was retracted by him,
only to be stuck onto another island discovered by him during “Loper’s” voyage: an island with co-
ordinates 6° 07ʹ S. 177° 40ʹ E. and which on the map corresponds with modern Niutao, located in
northern Tuvalu. Before returning to New Nantucket I’d first like to touch upon the remaining
“discoveries” that were made during “Loper’s” journey but were somehow overlooked, misinterpreted or
simply forgotten about.
In 1980 Munro and Chambers stated, in regard to modern Niutao and Starbuck visiting it: 43
“The log of the Loper (McCleave nd.) does not provide firm evidence for the sighting of Niutao,
although this probably happened late in November 1825. We are grateful to H.E. Maude for
allowing us to consult his microfilm copy of the Loper log”
The next strikethrough entries from within Mccleave’s journal are the ones Munro and Chambers are
alluding to. We can also see in them as to why Mccleave’s journal must be a copy of some original tome:
A) Remarks On Board Friday Nov 18th 1825 [...] Latt By Obs 5° 05' S Long In 177° 30' E
B) Remarks On Board Saturday Nov 19th 1825 [...] At 9 AM Saw a Reef Of Rocks to the N E Part
Within 6 miles of them they lay In Latt 5° 29' S Long 175° 01' W So Ends
C) Remarks On Board Sunday Nov 20th 1825 [...] At 4 PM Saw Whales...Put Off at 7 AM Got 3
Whales to the ship...Latt By Obs 5° 05' S 175° 30' W
D) Remarks On Board Monday Nov 21st 1825 [...] Latt By Obs 7° 05' S Long 177° 45' E
Y Remarks On Board Sunday Feb 19th 1826 [...] Saw A Reef of Rocks to the N.N.E. within 6 miles
of them the Reef lay in Latt 5° 29' S Long In 175° 01' W
Z Remarks On Board Monday Feb 20th 1826 [...] At 4 PM Saw Whales...Put Off at 7 AM Got 3
Whales to the ship...Latt By Obs 5° 05'S 175° 30' W
Mccleave accidentally “copied” entries Y and Z from an original work, and “pasted” them, if you will, in
the empty entries (Nov. 19 and 20, 1825) of his own - unfortunately he never corrected them so we
may never know what entries B and C should have read. The simplest solution is to substitute the
“strikethrough” co-ordinates of B and C with the co-ordinates of Niutao, 6° 07ʹ S. 177° 40ʹ E., and
nowhere else in Mccleave’s journal can we hear that reassuring sound of two puzzle pieces clicking into
42 Actually, this presumed hazard to navigation had already been reported back in 1823 by several newspapers.
43 The “Mystery” of Gran Cocal: European Discovery and Mis-Discovery In Tuvalu, by Keith S. Chambers and Doug
Munro, published in the The Journal of the Polynesian Society Vol. 89, No.2, June, 1980, pp.167-198.
20
place but there. Let’s have a visual recap, with Starbuck departing “Hope Island” (modern Arorae) after
having bartered with the natives there on the day of November 15, 1825:
ARORAE
November 15: 2° 38ʹS. 176° 49ʹE
November 16: 4° 00ʹ S. 176° 15ʹ E

November 17: 4° 06ʹ S. 176° 58ʹ E
November 18: 5° 05ʹ S. 177° 30ʹ E
NIUTAO
November 19 + 20: 6° 06ʹ S. 177° 20ʹ E
November 22: 7° 50ʹ S. 178° 30ʹ E

November 23: 8° 50ʹ S. 178° 55ʹ E
Again, we’ll never know what truly transpired during those two unaccounted for days, but we may
assume that Niutao was rediscovered by Starbuck on November 19, 1825 or November 20, 1825.
This is in congruence with what Munro and Chambers wrote, namely that Starbuck’s sighting of Niutao
‘probably happened late in November 1825.[but] since Mourelle [Francisco Antonio Mourelle de la Rúa
(1750–1820)] discovered Niutao in 1781, the sighting of that island by Captain Obed Starbuck of the
Nantucket whaler Loper in 1825 (Stackpole 1953:346; Sharp 1960:204-5; Maude 1968:126) was not a
discovery but a rediscovery. We need not remove Starbuck's name from the list of European
discoverers of Tuvalu, however, for in late 1825 his sighting of Vaitupu, which he named Tracy Island
after his first mate, was apparently the first instance of a European chancing upon that island’
Where they are right about Starbuck’s rediscovery of Niutao they are wrong regarding his discovery of
Vaitupu in 1825, for p.126 of Maude’s 1968 book (as refered to above) contains a crucial misconception:
‘The second whaler to enter the area was Captain Obed Starbuck, who completed the discovery of the Group [Tuvalu,
formerly known as Ellice Islands].[...] Starbuck was sailing south from Aranuka in 1825 when he sighted an island in 6° 07ʹ S
and 177° 40ʹ E, which he called after his ship. The position is twenty miles to the east of Niutao, quite a reasonable error in
longitude, and it could not very well have been any other island.[...] A day or two later Starbuck sighted Vaitupu in 7° 30ʹ S and
178° 45ʹ E, and named it Tracy’s Island after his mate.’
In reality modern Vaitupu wasn’t discovered by Obed Starbuck in November 1825 but instead half
a year later, viz. April 1826. On the next page we’ll see a map [Maude, 1968, p.125] that shows
Starbuck’s trajectory from Niutao according to Maude (- - -) and according to Mccleave (----). This
21
green line shows that “Loper” didn’t

come close to modern Vaitupu (in
1825) and that the first island seen after
her departure from modern Niutao was
modern Nukufetau (Depester’s Island in
the log), which Western discovery, as goes
for modern Funafuti, was made in May,
1819, by the American Capt. Arent S. De
Peyster (1779-1863) in “Rebecca”, a ship
built in the United States of America. 44
Obed Starbuck (1797-1882)
When navigating fast forward in Mccleave’s journal we soon stumble upon the following
entries, of which the absent designations of longitude had no doubt been East of Greenwich:
E Remarks On Board Wednesday April 26th 1826...At 7 AM Saw an Island to the W S W. [...] Steered for
it [...] Latt By Obs 7° 28' S
F Remarks On Board Thursday April 27th 1826 [...] At 5 PM Close in With The Island Went on Shore with one
boat and Found it was Inhabited Came on Board The Natives Came Off with Coconuts to Trade Latt 7° 43'S
G Remarks On Board Friday April 28th 1826. [...] At 7 AM Saw Elices Groupes [sic, Ellice’s Group is
the modern Funafuti atoll] to the S S E. Steered By The wind to the S E Lattitude By Obs 8° 29'S
44 John Askin Papers pp.172-173/Military (1776-'79) transactions of Major, afterwards Colonel, 8th or King's foot, Arent
Schuyler de Peyster (sea captain Arent Schuyler De Peyster was a nephew of Colonel Arent S. De Peyster, who was
commandant at Mackinac and Detroit during the Revolutionary period) by John Watts De Peyster, 1821-1907. Original
at University of Alberta./Miscellanies: by an officer, volume 1, 1813, edited by John Watts De Peyster, 1888. “Rebecca” was
a British ship during this voyage, as both she and Captain De Peyster are listed in Lloyd’s register of 1819.
22
The combination of the coordinates [7° 30' S. 178° 45' E.] of the inhabited “Tracy's Island” [see
Nantucket Inquirer on p.19] and the general heading of “Loper” leaves little doubt that modern Vaitupu
was seen by Starbuck on April 26th, 1826, and thus not, as Maude assumed, late in 1825. Was Obed
Starbuck still its Western discoverer? Why, yes, since no other known log makes mention of the island until
August 21, 1827, the day that Capt. William Plaskett of Nantucket whaler “Independence II” called at modern
Vaitupu. In view of Obed Starbuck’s sighting of that island in 1826 the next entry might raise an eyebrow or two:
At 9 P.M. man on the Fore-yard saw a light ahead, Soon after saw two
more. At 10 tack'd ship to SSW, At 1 A.M. tacked again to the ENE. At
daylight found it to be a small low island about 6 miles long. Dist. 12 miles,
went within 7 miles of it. 2 canoes came off with a few cocoanuts. Having one
native and an interpreter on board who we brought from Rotumah,who formerly
belonged to one of the islands about here and who understood their language we
learned that they had never seen a ship before.The natives name of this island is
Voytopu,It is not laid down on the Books or Charts so we call it a new
Discovery. Lat.7°-25 [South] Longitude 178°-47' East. 45
Wm. Plaskett (1798-1846)
Starbuck’s and Plaskett’s co-ordinates are practically the same, so must they (the natives) not
have seen ship “Loper” then? Were they perhaps a different group of people? Anyhow, we’ve
seen that both captains were at Vaitupu. As for the name “Tracy’s Island”: this may have been
named for Jared Wentworth Tracy (1795/7-1864) - E.A. Stackpole [1953, p.346] wrote that Tracy
was Starbuck’s (first?) “mate”, but since I wasn’t able to obtain a crewlist for “Loper” I deem it
wiser to refrain from further speculation.
45 1825–28 whaling voyage of Independence II, Capt. William Plaskett, kept by Henry Colt (1803-1888) of
Edgartown. Held by Martha's Vineyard Museum.
23
There have been some vague reports regarding Obed Starbuck’s discovery of two islands
within the modern Phoenix Islands, Kiribati. Andrew Sharp [1960, pp. 205-6, 211-12] and
E.A. Stackpole [1953, p. 375] both wrote about two uncertain islands seen by Starbuck in this
voyage of “Loper” but it was the latter who caused the uncertainty. Go to page 18 above and
once more read about the landing of Folger/Starbuck on both “Dangerous Reef” and
“Nantucket” - we can safely say now that the latter was “New Nantucket” (known today as
Baker Island) but how about the former? And why would one land on such a flagrant hazard
to navigation? Well, Starbuck never would land on it. Let’s reread entries Y + Z of p. 20 above:
Y Remarks On Board Sunday Feb 19th 1826 [...] Saw A Reef of Rocks to the N.N.E. within 6 miles
of them the Reef lay in Latt 5° 29' S Long In 175° 01' W
Z Remarks On Board Monday Feb 20th 1826 [...] At 4 PM Saw Whales...Put Off at 7 AM Got 3
Whales to the ship...Latt By Obs 5° 05'S 175° 30' W
And what do you know! Starbuck saw a reef, alright, but didn’t land on it. Still he must have reported it
because the co-ordinates of A Reef (p.19 above) equal those of entry Y. This reef can be equated with
modern Carondelet Reef (5° 34' S. 173° 51' W.) of the PIPA (Phoenix Islands Protected Area) - its
Western discovery (according to one authority) was made in 1824 by a Capt. Kemin (probably this was
Charles Kemish of London whaling vessel “Eliza Ann”). 46 In the two newspaper articles below we can read
why and by whom it received the name that it still bears on the nautical charts of today:
This was undoubtly Wilder Farley Stetson (1849-1924), son of Aber

Stetson of Damariscotta, Me., for whom “Carondelet” (image) was
built by Edwin Flye & Co. and she was launched from their yard at
Newcastle, Me., in December 1872. Two obscured articles, that
without the Internet would both still be awaiting their disclosure.
46 Recueil de mémoires hydrographiques...,Vol.2, Krusenstern, p.427, 430, 435. (image: Malcolm Brodie Shipping Collection)
24
The log of the Nantucket whaler “India”, capt. Joshua Coffin (q.v.), contains a list of “Islands, Reefs,
Rocks and Shoals” and within it a unique confirmation of Starbuck’s sighting of modern Carondelet Reef:
Although only made mention of inside Robert Mccleave’s journal, one noteworthy island within
the modern Phoenix Islands was actually seen and landed upon by Starbuck during his voyage,
and this one event took place two days after having sighted the aforementioned “Starbuck’s Reef”:
A Remarks On Board Sunday Feb 19th 1826 [...] Saw A Reef

of Rocks to the N.N.E. within 6 miles of them the Reef lay
in Latt 5° 29' S Long In 175° 01' W
B Remarks On Board Monday Feb 20th 1826 [...] At 4 PM
Saw Whales [...] Put Off at 7 AM Got 3 Whales to the ship
[...] Latt By Obs 5° 05' S 175° 30' W
C Remarks On Board Tuesday Feb 21st 1826 [...] At 5 PM

Saw Land to the East [...] At 4 [AM] Finished Boiling [...]
At Daylight Saw Land [...]So Ends[...]Latt By Obs 4° 29' S
Long In 175° 10' W
D Remarks On Board Wednesday Feb 22nd 1826 [...] At 1 PM

Carondelet Reef (5° 34' S. 173° 51' W.) Saw The Land Went on Shore with 2 Boats Got some Fowls
and Fish [...] Latt By Obs 4° 40' S Long In 175° 05' W
When taken into account that Capt. Starbuck had plotted
“Starbuck’s Reef” roughly 1° too westerly, may we assume
then that the same chronometrical error applied in the days
that followed? Yes, and this would mean that in reality
the island lies 1° easterly of the longitude assigned to it
by Starbuck. Thus, if one travels 1° eastward from D
(on the right), one finds that it could not easily have been
any other island than...modern Nikumaroro. The modern
Orona and Manra Islands, in more or less the same latitude as
modern Nikumaroro, can’t truly be deemed alternatives, for
(in my humble opinion) the longitudes of A, B, C and D
simply do not differ enough for that to be a viable possibility.

NIKUMARORO ISLAND
(4° 40' S. 174° 31' W.)
25
Although modern Nikumaroro was surely seen

by Starbuck, the Nantucket Inquirer on p.19 above
doesn't list its co-ordinates and this suggests
that he, if ever he had deemed it an original
discovery, must have found out rather soon that
it was merely a rediscovery - the periodical
Nantucket Inquirer of December 8, 1827,
contains an interesting article, not only in
itself but it probably also explains as to why
Starbuck hadn’t reported it back in the days.
This article isn’t particularly keen on providing its readers with

the discovery dates for the islands mentioned within it. Worse:
a logbook of “Ganges” for this “cruise” (1825-1827) seems no
longer extant, hence that isolating the exact day that Joshua
Coffin sighted modern Nikumaroro proves difficult, if not impossible. Yet even if we were to isolate such
a date then Coffin’s sighting still couldn’t be deemed more than a rediscovery of modern Nikumaroro,
anyhow.47 Joshua Coffin’s “owner”, the employer after whom the island was named, was Gideon
Gardner (1759-1832). John Dunmore, on p.115 of his book Who’s Who in Pacific Navigation, was
clearly mistaken when he wrote that the island was
actually discovered by Coffin’s “fellow captain”, a certain
“Joshua Gardner”. Dunmore, still on that same page,
also stated that this discovery was made “late in 1825”
but provides no source for his claim, but this was E.A.
Stackpole [1953, p.378], whose own source was that
very Nantucket Inquirer of above, yet even the full article
doesn’t disclose a date or year. We can see the logic in an
educated guess on Stackpole’s part: since it was
Coffin’s “first” of four “discoveries” total, so it might
have been made relatively early into his voyage. I
think Starbuck had learned about Coffin’s “discovery”
prior to “Loper’s” return at Nantucket. Most likely
this knowledge transfer would have taken place at a
port of call like Tahiti (Society Islands, not Sandwich
Islands). Although I cannot produce proof for latter
scenario, it’s logical that news like this would have
spread like fire, especially among the American captains.
The “Loper” was then steered North-West, which maneuver took her from the modern
Phoenix Group to the modern Gilbert Islands (formerly Kingsmill Islands). It was here
that Starbuck made his final “discovery”, which was reported (Nantucket Inquirer p.19
above) and then mapped as Starbuck’s Group on a handful of 19th-century maps (next page).
47 A certain captain Kemin is said to have discovered it in 1824. I will perhaps come back to this man in future essays.
26
In the old chart superimposed on that of Google Maps “Loper” sailed from Gardner I. to
Starbuck Gpe , but which islands was this shortlived Starbuck’s Group actually comprised of ?
A Remarks on Board Saturday April 1st 1826 [...] Latitude by Obs 00° 19 S. Longitude in 175° 30 E.
B Remarks on Board Sunday April 2nd 1826 [...] At 1 A.M. Saw 3 Islands to the Northward [...] At 4 A.M. saw
a Large whale [...] At sunrise saw the Land [...] Latt 00° 10 m [iles] North.
C Remarks on Board Monday April 3rd 1826 [...] Saw Halls Island [modern Maiana] Latt by Obs 00° 40 N.
It seems as if Starbuck had approached his group from below and therefore may have only seen
modern Aranuka and modern Kuria (consisting of 2 islets, which may account for 3), and thus
Abemama was never sighted. Since Loper’s path knows an uncanny resemblance to that of the
British vessels “Charlotte” and “Scarborough” in year 1788, I do urge you, dear reader, to also read...
- Harry Evans Maude - Of Islands & Men, 1968, pp. 96-100

- Andrew Sharp - The Discovery of the Pacific Islands, 1960, pp. 152-155.
- Edouard Alexander Stackpole - The Sea-Hunters, 1953, pp. 346-347
- C.M. Woodford - The Geographical Journal, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct., 1895), pp.
325-350
...and judge for yourself. They may justly wonder as to why these islands were apparently
not found in “Loper’s” maps and books on board in year 1826, roughly 40 years after their
discovery. As mentioned before, merely a handfull of maps are still known to literally
depict a Starbuck Group in this Pacific realm, and most if not all seem to be stamped from
the same 1830's mold, which immediately suggests that most mappers had never really
considered Starbuck’s sighting a true discovery to begin with. This was in a nutshell that
part of Obed Starbuck’s voyage that mattered most here. We will now return to New
Nantucket with three nineteenth-century logbook entries and one newspaper article. Not only do
all of them mention the name New Nantucket but three also equate this designation with Loper’s
27
Island, while we have seen that this name has currently been reserved by the historical appelations of
modern Niutao. I still can’t make heads or tail of all this but I do feel like I’m barking up the right tree.
image: Logbook of the whaling vessel “Edward Carey”, Perry Winslow master - entry for Sept. 13, 1855.
This log (MS220-73) was kept by Joseph Edward Ray (1833- ?), boatsteerer.
“[...]First Part. At 2 PM saw New Nantucket or Lopars Island[...] This
Island was discovered by Capt Obed Starbu[ck] in the year 183 [?]
Capt Starbuck called it after his ship which was the Lopar of N[antucket]
but of late a few chuckleheads have got to calling it New Nantucket
[...]”
Perry Winslow (1815-1890) is said to have discoverered modern Winslow Reef (PIPA/Kiribati) captaining
the whaler “Phoenix” of Nantucket. 48 He gives rise to the impression that in 1855 he had inside information
about Starbuck’s discovery of modern Baker Island, 30 years before. Winslow, however, is not only cautious
providing an exact year in which this presumed discovery had taken place, but is also incapable of reproducing
the right decade. When he states that “as of late a few chuckleheads have got to calling it New Nantucket”, he is
mistaken, since much older mentions of New Nantucket (“Loper’s” log omits this name) do still exist,
e.g. that of New Bedford whaler “Minerva Smyth” (or Smith), Capt. Daniel McKenzie, kept by
Lewis Handy. From its entry for March 8, 1827, we read:
[...]Thursday, March the 8 - at 7 AM saw the island of New Nantucket in the
Lat of 15 miles North Long by Acount 176:27 West. At 9 Lowrd the Boat and
tried to Land but Couldnt. The Surf run so high. Ends Pleasant lat 00:05
North Long 177:30 W.[...]
On the next page one will see a tiny fragment from the logbook of the Nantucket whaler
“Harvest”, Capt. David N. Edwards, kept by George Washington Gardner Jr. (third mate):
48 The Nantucket Inquirer, Wednesday, March 9, 1853; p.2. On page 30 of this essay I will demonstrate that Capt. Perry
Winslow wasn’t the first Western captain to stumble upon this reef.
28
[...] Wednesday December 22 [1830] at 4 AM saw an Island called by some

Loper Island and Others New Nantucket to the WNW about 3 leagues at sunset
passed to the Southward of it about 4 miles distant [...] Latt 5 miles N [orth]
Longitude By Lunar obs[ervation] 177-30 West long of the Island 176 26 West.
Decades later The Pacific Commercial Advertiser of April 28, 1859 printed this article
on page 2, featuring Robert McCleave, by now a middleaged whaling captain himself:
AN INTERESTING RELIC. - The

Josephine recently brought up from New
Nantucket Island, the old ships record book,
which purports to have been left there by
Capt. Rob’t M’Cleave, of the ship Richard
Mitchell, of Nantucket, July 14th, 1850. It is
simply an octavo memorandum book, with
a sail duck cover. On the first page it states
that "New Nantucket or Lopers Island was
discovered by Obed Starbuck in the ship
Loper, in August 1825, Lat. 0° 12’ N.; Lon 176°
18’ W." It is a curious document, much
weather worn, having been kept on the island
in a small kennel house, which also contained
a pen and inkstand without ink. The book is
nearly full of reports of whaleships, dating from
July 1851, but many of them are so defaced as to
be unintelligible [...]
CAPTAIN MICHAEL BAKER
Baker Island was named for Michael Baker (1802-1860), who had sworn in an affidavit (1855)
that he had discovered it in 1832 and found guano there on August 14, 1839, while burying
the orphan crew member Warren Wilbur. 49 The logbook of “Gideon Howland” 50, however,
strangely (or conveniently) omits all entries for this month (it looks like the pages have been
glued together or torn) while it refers to the island as “New Nantucket” (!) in entry May 22, 1841
(below), and moreover qualifies it there as “a low sand bank in Lat 12’ South Long 176 °20 W”...
49 The Southern Planter, Vol. XVI., May, 1856, p.143. + The Sun (Baltimore, MD) of Monday, January 7, 1861, p.4.
50 Logbook for 1838-1842 of the Gideon Howland of New Bedford, Capt. Michael Baker, kept by Wanton Sherman.
29
A couple of years
before his demise
Capt. Michael Baker
received $6000 from
the U.S. Government
for his “discoveries”
of guano islands in
the Pacific. What
can be concluded is
that mister Baker
wasn’t the real
discoverer of the
modern Baker Island,
but at its very best
merely the discoverer
of a lot of guano upon
it. What remains
unclear to me is
whether or not this
o r p h a n e d c r ew
Wilbur really did
exist. If he was real,
then was he buried
in year 1939 or
1841?
This damn logbook: it doesn’t mention an “orphan” boy Warren Wilbur, nor his fatal accident, let alone
his funeral on Baker Island, but perhaps some mention of him lies hidden between the seemingly glued
together pages I was referring to a while ago, so one might readdress this issue in the future and from
another angle perhaps. Before I will wrap up this chapter and with it the entire essay it couldn’t hurt to
cut Capt. Baker some slack. Remember my claim that Perry Winslow didn’t discover Winslow Reef?
Entry November 9, 1840, of the log of “Gideon Howland”, Capt. M. Baker, may suffice as solid evidence:
Mond [ay] 9th fine weather light trades all hands severely engaged doing nothing.
At 11 AM passed over a reef apparently not more than 5 or 6 fathoms of water on
it in Lat 1° 36 S Longitude 175° 24 W Lat Mer [idian] 1° 33 S [...]
Capt. Perry Winslow wouldn’t see this reef any time sooner than the year 1851, more than a decade later.
And this is exactly why I do plead for more and faster digitization of the still existing early 19th century
logbooks. This essay proves that way more treasures like this could be rescued from oblivion, or at least be
frozen as easter eggs or time capsules, if you will, for future researchers to be found. Paper does not last!
30
! ! THE END
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
!
!
! ! ! BAD TATTOO INC. © MMXIX
Contact: TheNantucketConnection@gmail.com
Vdrlugt@Outlook.com
Facebook.com/steve.dehner.338
31

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THE ARMCHAIR NAVIGATOR I 2019

SUPPLEMENTS TO POST-SPANISH DISCOVERIES

OENO ISLAND (23° 55' S. 130° 44' W.)

On my route to this place I made Ducies Island, which is correctly laid

Pitcairns Island, April 12, 1821. 4

next morning that it was subjected to a more thorough inspection by

Frederick W. Beechey, R.N. (1796-1856)

George B. Worth (1794-1842)

John Arrowsmith (1790-1873)

The “Oeno”, Capt. George B. Worth, sailed for the

(image: Oeno Island by Évremond de Bérard)

CAPTAIN BOND OF THE “MARTHA”

Page 276 of Edward Lucett’s book seems to suggest

John W. Norie (1772-1843)

...and what is more, also equated it to Bond’s Island :13

Carte generale de l'ocean Pacifique., Krustenstern, 1835

A.J. von Krusenstern (1770-1846)

FANNING ATOLL/TABUAERAN (3° 52' N. 159° 20' W.)

Edmund Fanning Collect., archives of the American Geographical

16 Voyages Around The World...(1833, p. 225) by Edmund Fanning.

17 Entdeckungs-Reise in die Süd-See...(1821, p.25) by Otto von Kotzebue.

Charles Wilkes c.1840

left: sketch from the 1836-39 logbook of the

19 Baltimore Patriot (Baltimore, Maryland), Monday, March 30, 1818, p.2.

PALMYRA ATOLL (5° 53' N. 162° 46' W.)

Ignacio Mª de Álava (1750-1817)

Cenotaph of Cornelius Sowle (1769-1818, at sea)

On Sunday the 10th of July 1803 Captain Sowle had

upon Sowle’s discovery until 1806 22 , and then

H.E. Maude (1906-2006)

21 Providence Phoenix, Saturday, July 16, 1803, p.3.

22 Philadelphia Gazette, Thursday, May 15, 1806, p.3

24 Voyages Around The World...(1833, p. 234) by Edmund Fanning.

KINGMAN REEF (6° 23' N. 162° 25' W.)

26 The Friend (Honolulu), September 29, 1855, p.2.

28 The Sydney Morning Herald (Aus), Monday, April 4, 1853, p.2.

29 The Argus (Melbourne, Aus), Friday, December 30, 1859, p.4.

30 The Friend (Honolulu), January 1, 1863, p.8.

PHOENIX ISLAND/RAWAKI (3° 43' S. 170° 43' W.)

William Bennett (1790-1844) Daniel Bennett (1760-1826)

KANTON/ABARIRINGA (2° 48' S. 171° 40' W.)

J.E. Boulcott (1784-1855) Mary Boulcott (1786-1858)

A.J. Wing (1820-1897)

Possession of this island was taken by the

When E.H. Bryan, Jr. wrote that one

November 16: 4° 00ʹ S. 176° 15ʹ E

November 18: 5° 05ʹ S. 177° 30ʹ E

November 22: 7° 50ʹ S. 178° 30ʹ E

green line shows that “Loper” didn’t

Obed Starbuck (1797-1882)

Wm. Plaskett (1798-1846)

This was undoubtly Wilder Farley Stetson (1849-1924), son of Aber

A Remarks On Board Sunday Feb 19th 1826 [...] Saw A Reef

C Remarks On Board Tuesday Feb 21st 1826 [...] At 5 PM

D Remarks On Board Wednesday Feb 22nd 1826 [...] At 1 PM

Although modern Nikumaroro was surely seen

This article isn’t particularly keen on providing its readers with

- Harry Evans Maude - Of Islands & Men, 1968, pp. 96-100

[...] Wednesday December 22 [1830] at 4 AM saw an Island called by some

AN INTERESTING RELIC. - The

CAPTAIN MICHAEL BAKER

! ! ! BAD TATTOO INC. © MMXIX

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