Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 2. Human Activities
Draft 1 March 2007
Degener and Gillaspy 1955). The reef was about 1.6 km (1 mile) NW to SE, and nearly 1.2
km (¾ mile) broad. Sounding indicated the depth of the reef was 7.3 m (4 fathoms).
In the early 1900’s various ships and planes unsuccessfully searched for this reef
(Hydrographic Office 1940). In 1922 the steamer Hauraki passed over the reef, and saw no
signs of it (Ward 1967f). In 1928, the British steamer Nassa passed over the site, and saw no
signs of it. In 1932, the American steamer Golden Cross also passed over the position and
saw no sign of it.
The British auxiliary schooner Doris Crane passed a sand bank or coral reef at 0 0 55’W, 174 0
51’W (no year provided, Ward 1967f). This location was about 72 km (45 miles) northward
of Winslow Reef.
Winslow Reef was finally located in 1944 about 16 km (10 miles) northwest of the originally
reported location (Hydrographer of the Navy 1969).
In 1945, a small area of the sea about 4.8 km (3 miles) east of Winslow reef was reported to
be breaking (Hydrographer of the Navy 1969).
C. GUANO ERA (c1856 to c1887)
In August 18, 1856, Congress passed the guano act that authorized American citizens to take
possessions of islands that contained guano deposits if those islands were not occupied or
possessed by any other government (Grattan 1941).
Many of the Phoenix Islands were wrongly placed on charts (Ellis 1937). Some were as
much as 24 km (15 miles) out of position. This made their identification and registration as
a guano island difficult.
Obsolete names for Phoenix Islands and locations were identified in Anon (1871).
Hempstead (1871) reported that there were no islands named Favorite Island or Arthurs
Island.
C.A. Williams & Co. discovered five guano islands (Anon. 1859b). In a note to Anon.
(1859b), Ward (1967b) suggested that the Williams Company probably referred to the
Phoenix Islands Guano Co.
The digging of guano on the Phoenix Islands was difficult work under appalling conditions
(Skaggs 1994).
For a detailed history of the guano era see Skaggs (1994).
ABARIRINGA (CANTON, KANTON)
In 1859, a list of 48 islands was published by the New York Tribune that listed Pacific
Islands with guano deposits (Hague 1862). The list included Birnie, Rawaki (Phoenix),
Enderbury, Manra (Sydney), and Abariringa (Mary).
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