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Armchair Navigator II: Supplements To Post-Spanish Discoveries
Armchair Navigator II: Supplements To Post-Spanish Discoveries
2020
BY
STEVE DEHNER
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[ ] Little is known about the man. It appears that he was married to a Catherine
Henderson, née Black, and that she gave birth to their twin daughters Margaret
Wemyss & Ellen Ann in Valparaiso on 22 June, 1823 (The twin was baptised in
1825 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland). Sometimes Jas. Henderson is mentioned as a
John Heron/Henderson. He visited Adams on Pitcairn Island in 1821 and 1822.
During latter trip Hercules was loaded with 600 copper ingots, which cargo had to
be jettisoned in order to get Hercules off a sandbank somewhere near Ngazi Reef.
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While all hands were busily employed seated on the quarter-deck sewing on sails,
the cry of "land" by one of the men who had had occasion to go forward was so
unexpected and it being so near that it threw us into considerable confusion...it
proved to be an undiscovered island, 8 or 10 feet in height, and 2 miles wide by
10 miles long, with a very white beach. It lay in the form of an angle...in
latitude 5° 32' South and west longitude 155° 55' W. We made and attempt to
land on the west side near the north end, but at this place it was unaccessible...the
one attempt, merely through curiosity, as it has no other temptation being a
dreary waste. It is the abode of nothing save sea foul, although its situation is
such that if made soon made known may save the lives of thousands. [ ][ ]
[source: The Whim Whams & Opinions of M.E. Morrell, written for himself for his own amusement on a
voyage to the South Sea on board the Ship Hero of Nantucket, 1822-1823-24, held by the NHA,
Nantucket: "220 - ships' logbook collection, log 348.]
[ ] Entry for September 5th, 1823 of Moses E. Morrell's journal [p.20, Nov. 8th
1822 - Mar. 4th 1824].
[ ] Morrell, a green-horn from Upstate New York, was born in New Jersey in
1790. (More info is always most welcome, as goes for the rest of this essay.)
,
[source: Boston Daily Advertiser Feb 13, 1824]
[ ] Oahu, Hawaii.
[ ] West of Greenwich, according to p. 293 of The American Practical Navigator (1826),
which calls it Hero Island. I don’t know if there ever was a map depicting it as such.
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Only three months (and seven days) later Valentine Starbuck, Obed's
nephew [ ] and captain of the London whaler L'aigle, too sighted the
island, ignorant of earlier, aforementioned discoveries. The following
is an extract from a journal kept aboard L'aigle by a John Rose and it
narrates the chancing upon Starbuck Island and subsequent landfall:
December 1823
10th Mr. Neptune gave us a gale but the passengers paying the tribute dispense with the
usual ceremony of shaving etc. [ ]
12th Moderate breezes from the E’ward. At noon discovered an island [ ] ahead. At 2
p.m. sent 2 boats on shore. At 6 returned with hay for the cattle. The capt and six
others stop’d ashore all night with the expectation of getting some turtle by the
morning. The ship stood off till 12 oc when it became calm.
13th At daylight found we had drifted out of sight of the island. Beating to windw’d all
day with a light breeze but saw nothing of the island. The people ashore without
water or provisions.
14th Light breeze. At 6 p.m. saw the island about 4 leagues distant. During the night
saw the fire that was made ashore by the capt.
15th At 7 a.m. lowered a boat and sent some provisions & water ashore to them. Found
a very heavy surf running. With great difficulty the captain & another man swam
off to the boat. He then came on board & sent two other boats for the rest of the
people and after 6 hours of great difficulty and danger succeeded in getting off
the people but left every thing else behind them. They lived during their stay there
upon raw fish etc. & drank urine & birds blood. They dug a well 8 feet deep but
found nothing but salt water.
19th Thick hazy w’r with a heavy sea running. Stands to the S’Eward. Saw a shoal of
sperm whales. Lat 11. 13 S Lon 143. 51 W.
[source: Journal of John Rose, kept aboard whaler L’aigle, January 5th 1822 - May 24th 1824 (microfilm).
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Although Rose had left out the essential coordinates, the English
hydrographer John Purdy (1773-1843) informed “Russian” Admiral
Krusenstern (1770-1846) in a letter [ ] that Volunteer Island, in 5° 06'
S. 155° 5' W., was discovered in 1823 by English whaleship Eagle
(L’Aigle in French). Supposing that it was Starbuck who reported this
island, then the question to ponder, why he named it thus, remains valid.
...of which Byron knew that Valentine Starbuck had previously seen
it while conveying those unfortunate royalties to England. Starbuck
had arranged for all that without the upfront permission of L’Aigle’s
owners (Boulcott & Hill) and consequently saw himself sued by them
for loss of profit that had resulted from this ‘state visit’. The King
and the Queen Consort of the Sandwich Islands - modern Hawaii -
succumbed to measles several days after their arrival at Portsmouth.
On August 16, 1861, it was accidentally (?) named Coral Queen Island by
one Capt. William Hardcastle after his schooner clipper, believing that
he had discovered an island “40 miles south of Starbuck’s Island”. [ ]
[ ] Captain’s Log for the H.M.S. Blonde, 1824-1825, held by the Hunting Library,
San Marino, Ca. as mssHM 64596. Also read Susan J. Corley’s work on it.
[] Suppléments au Recueil de Mémoires Hydrographiques...(1835, p.16), by A.J. von
Krusenstern, a Baltic German explorer who circumnavigated for Russia.
[] The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.) of Nov. 13, 1861, p.4. + The Sydney Morning
Herald (NSW) of Jul. 9, 1862, p.6. Hardcastle may not have acted in good faith.
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In point of actual fact, Daniel Mckenzie sighted the island in late 1828:
Monday, Dec. 1, 1828 [...] at 2 P.M. saw land [...] supposing it to be New
Nantucket, [ ] an island visited on a former voyage; but on nearer
approach, found it not to be the same, as that is a low sand bank
entirely barren, and situated in lat. 14 miles N. and lon. 176 33 15
W. while this by observation was found to be 45 miles N. lat and,
from repeated observation of the sun and moon, in lon. 176 49 50 W.
[...] Supposing myself to be the first discoverer of this island, as it
is not laid down in any charts or books with which I am acquainted,
I have, in honor of my owners, called it Howland’s Island. Found good
landing on the West side, but no anchorage [...][ ]
Decades later the following brief correspondence (in regard to the true
discoverer of Howland Island) was published in a few newspapers:
We notice that Mr. Shubael Clark’s memory was only one month off
from what the authorative journal of Capt. Daniel Mckenzie states.
[ ] The Daily Mercury, New Bedford, Ma, August 29, 1859. Shuabel Clark (1800-1880?).
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Wm. Tolley Brookes
(1791-1874) (Source: Sydney Gazette, Tuesday, October 14, 1834)
[ ] H.E. Maude, Of Islands & Men, 1968, p. 110. Maude, although he had the same source at his
disposal as the author, must simply have overlooked the identity of the ship and captain there.
Also do consult both newspapers Sydney Gazette and The Sydney Herald of October 9, 1834.
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Mckenzie would name it Howland’s Island, yet this name had previously
belonged to another island, rediscovered by him in a previous voyage [ ]:
January 5, 1826. Commences with fresh winds from NE Steering by the wind
NNW. Squally with rain took in and made sail as occasion. At 8 AM
Discovered an island.It is a small Low Island covered with wood. A heavy surf
breaking upon all sides of it we suppose it to be an Island that has never been
discovered before. It is not laid down on our charts or navigations we call it
Howland’s Island it being in the Lat of 10° S Long of 152° 40 W by observant.
The island seen here was undoubtly modern Vostok Island but from the
next log entry we can conclude that Mckenzie must soon have learned
that it hadn’t been a discovery at all and retracted this name for later use:
November 2, 1826. Commences with Light Winds and Pleasant Weather Steering SE
winds EWE Set Studing Sails. At 6 PM made Stivers [sic] Island in the Lat of 10°
00 South Long in 152° 30 West. Middle Part Calm Latter Part fine breezes And
Pleasant weather variation 1⁄2 easterly Lat by obs 10° 07 Long in 152° 00”.
[Fine example of the pronunciation of Staver’s name as “Sty-vers”] [ ]
[ ] Journal of Lewis Handy, kept on the whaler “Minerva Smyth”, capt. Daniel
Mckenzie, on a voyage lasting from August, 1824 - April, 1827.
[] Rongotute, Stivers and ‘other visitors’ to New Zealand ‘before Captain Cook’, Rhys Richards,
p.29, 1993.
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Vostok Island
10° 06' S, 152° 23' W
[August 3, 1820]
[...]
Their huge wings seemed
perfectly motionless; they had
brownish, heart-shaped patches
on the breast. At 9.0 a.m. I
altered course to westward,
reckoning that I was now near
latitude 10° S. I believed that
we were not far from land
but was doubtful as to the
side on which it lay until there was a cry from the
look-out: "Land ahead!" Messrs Torson and Lyeskov
verified it from the look-out with their telescopes. Before
noon we had made the circuit of the island very close
inshore. It appeared overgrown with thick low trees; the
white shore seemed to consist of coral, rising gradually up
to the woods. Its greatest length was a little more than
half a mile in a north-we s t by north
direction, and in width it was less than half
a mile. I called this island "Vostok" after
our own ship. According to observations at
noon we fixed the position of Vostok Island
as Lat. 10° 05' 50" S., Long. 152° 16' 50" W. [...]
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• Leavitt’s Island - log of Peruvian for entries April 12 and 13, 1835:
12th Saw Flint Island bearing North East Lati.d 11 34 Long 152 14
13th Saw Land on our Lee Bow Bore up for it attempted to land but could not on
account of its being rugged The island is very low and covered with srub 1/4 mile
in length from N.E. to S.W. We gave it the name of Leavitts Island It not
being laid down in any of my charts the above Isl. is in Lati.d 10 04 S. L.152
25 W [ ]
The Peruvian was a whaler from Saint John, NB, Canada, owned by
Wm. & Thomas Leavitt & James Kirk, and her captain being one J.
Wood [but this could be a corruption of John Wootton/Wootten].
• Carr’s Island
A New Island
We learn from the Nantucket Telegraph that the first officer of ship Obed Mitchell at
that port, writes that on the 1st of April last, saw Flint Island, and the next day saw a
small round island, moderately high and well wooded. Not finding it laid down in any
books or charts, Capt. Coffin gave it the name of Carr’s Island (after the name of the
boat steerer who discovered it.) This is directly in the course of our whalers, being in
latitude 10 degrees 3 minutes south, bearing from Flint Island North, 16 degrees West;
distant from Flint Island, 89 miles. It being very squally at the time, Capt. Coffin did not
attempt to land.
[] []
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You can download for free also the following essays by the same Author:
THE END
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Contact: TheNantucketConnection@gmail.com
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