Hawaii | Page 91 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 19, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Lady Lawyer

“Foreign missionary Harvey Rexford Hitchcock married Rebecca Howard. They sailed for the Hawaiian Islands on the whaleship Averick, arriving in Honolulu 17 May 1832, after a voyage of 173 days. His sister Elizabeth later came to Hawai’i to join them.”

Harvey and Rebecca Hitchcock; they had four children, David Howard, Harvey Rexford Jr, Edward Griffin, and Sarah Diana (who died very young).

“The boys were educated at home until it was time for them to attend O’ahu College (now Punahou). After his Island schooling, David went to Massachusetts, where he entered Williams College as a sophomore in 1853. He returned to Molokai in 1855 where he read law with one of the best lawyers in the Islands.”

“David remembered a young lady school teacher whom he had met in his days back East and sent Almeda Eliza Widger of Otselic, New York, a proposal of marriage, adding that if he did not hear from her, he would consider it a refusal.”

“The letter did not reach her at once on its arrival and she saw it listed in the list of advertised letters. She wrote him that she would come and sailed from Boston on board the Raduga which after a long voyage around Cape Horn arrived finally at Honolulu considerably overdue.”

“Rev. Mr. Armstrong accompanied David on board the Raduga, and he married Almeda on 13 March 1857; thus, she arrived in Honolulu as Mrs. Hitchcock.” (June Hitchcock Humme, grandniece of Almeda Eliza Hitchcock)

“Their first child, Ella Marian, arrived before the new home was completed. Born in this home were Cora Etta, David Howard Jr, Almeda Eliza, and Charles Henry Wetmore Hitchcock.”

“The last daughter, Almeda Eliza, was born Saturday, 5 December 1863. Her father, writing to his brother Edward on 15 January 1864, had this to say about her: ‘… baby grows like a weed. We call her ‘Alme’ or ‘Kitty’, mostly the latter, as she is so good to lie still.’”

Alme was taught at home until age 15, when she and her sister Cora went to O’ahu College (Punahou) as boarders in Honolulu. In 1880 there were 112 students in the school, many of them boarders.

“In a family letter of 15, June 1881, Alme’s aunt Mary Castle Hitchcock states: ‘Cora will be through with her course and David and Almeda have decided that Alme is not to go back to school next year, on account of her health, which has never been as good since she had a fall in Hilo, four or five years ago, which hurt her back.’” (Humme)

That leads us to another child of David and Almeda, David Howard (Howard) Hitchcock.

“His brothers and sisters were not such problems to their father. Cora graduated from Punahou, married an educator and became a teacher herself. Alme, (Almeda) went on to college at Anne Arbor.”

“The oldest daughter, Ella, married Albert Loebenstein, a businessman, and Charles the younger son worked for the new telephone company, and for the railroad, as tax assessor and court clerk, all practical and normal jobs.”

David Hitchcock wanted his son to be a lawyer … Howard Hitchcock wanted to be an artist.

Before his formal training abroad, D Howard Hitchcock was inspired by other Volcano School painters and was encouraged by Jules Tavernier to endeavor life as an artist. Hitchcock admits to following Tavernier and Joseph Strong around, ‘like a parasite.’ (NPS HAVO)

“One family legend says that when Howard insisted on painting, his father sent him up to his Puakala ranch to hunt beef, where he presumably would be cut off from art for lack of supplies. But he found some house paint and made a charming study of akala berries on a door, which still survives.” (Shipman info sheet at Haena)

“But it was another event which may have turned the key for Howard’s complete release into the world of art. The Hawaiian Gazette for November 6, 1888 has a story titled ‘A Lady Lawyer … Miss Hitchcock Admitted to the Hawaiian Bar – The Pioneer of Her Sex.’” (Shipman) (Her brother, D Howard Hitchcock, became a famous Hawai‘i artist.)

Almeda Hitchcock was admitted to the bar in Michigan on December 27, 1887, before her graduation, “under honors – as she is class prophet.” (She was apparently the only woman among the 143 graduates in the law class.) (Matsuda)

Then, “Miss Almeda E. Hitchcock, daughter of Hon. D.H. Hitchcock, of Hilo, was on October 29th admitted to practice in the Courts of this Kingdom. She submitted to the Judges of the Supreme Court her diploma as Bachelor of Laws from Ann Arbor University, Michigan, also her license to practice law in the Circuit and Supreme Courts of that state.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 6, 1888)

“Miss Alme E Hitchcock … will doubtless be the first woman to be admitted to the bar outside of the United States’. She indicated that she felt there would be no reluctance on the part of men attorneys in her country …”

“… pointing out that ‘there are at present no women practicing law, but there are quite a number of practicing [women] Physicians. The popular feeling is for rather than against women in the professions.” (Matsuda)

David Hitchcock made his daughter his partner at once, and the law firm of Hitchcock and Hitchcock presented its first case … the next day.” (Almeda made and won her first motion – the court dismissed the case.) (Matsuda)

“Although her career was short, lasting only five years before her marriage [on May 24, 1892, Hitchcock married American physician William Levi Moore] and early death [she died May 9, 1895, at the age of 31], Almeda Hitchcock led the way for women as the first lawyer and law partner in Hawai‘i.” (Case)

“She was possessed of many pleasant qualities, which made her an always welcome guest and her loss keenly felt. She received an education in the Law school of the University of Michigan and has shown an unusual aptitude for the profession. Hers was a life of bright promises.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Humme)

May 18, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Poi Boys

On May 9, 1959, the call letters of the existing AM station begun in 1946 were changed from KHON-AM to KPOI-AM and the format was changed to full-time rock-and-roll.

On May 18, 1959, KPOI Radio 1380 AM signed on the air (one of the first stations to use a name, not the series of call letters issued by the FCC). K-POI was the focal point of rock-and-roll in the Hawaiian Islands in the early years of Statehood. (Territorial Airwaves)

Originally on-air from 6am until midnight; after a few ratings KPOI went 24 hours. The ratings then were Hoopers. K-POI rocketed to #1 — with shares in the high teens and sometimes 20’s — by October. (Jacobs, ReelRadio)

The K-POI studio and tower were located at 1701 Ala Wai Boulevard between Kalakaua Ave and John Ena Road. The tower was located along the Ala Wai Canal, across from the old Aloha Motors location (across the Ala Wai from where the Convention Center is situated).

A crew of young broadcast vets known as the ‘Poi Boys’ came on and played the Top 40 hits mixed in with outrageous fun and games.

The original Poi Boys included ‘Uncle’ Tom Moffatt, Bob ‘The Beard’ Lowrie, ‘Jumpin’’ George West, Sam Sanford and ‘Whodaguy’ Ron Jacobs. “They ranged from merely extroverted to outright nuts.” (Jacobs) Moffatt stayed with the station for 14 years, eventually becoming vice president and general manager. Other Poi Boys came and went.

“We had a lot of creative minds at KPOI and that’s where I learned a lot,” says Mofatt. “It was the first 24-hour-a-day, all-rock station and that’s where we started putting our minds together and developing marathon hits, bowl-a-thons, hula-thons and every kind of ‘thon’ you could imagine.”

“The first, and greatest, [Thon] was when Tom Rounds, our News Director, stayed awake in a funky department store’s window for 8 1/2 days (!!!) thus breaking the record in the Guinness Book when few people even knew of that volume.”

“K-POI jocks hung from cars suspended from cranes, broadcast underwater from a glamorous Waikiki pool, and competed in Drum-A-Thons, Pool-A-Thons, Insult-A-Thons, donkey basketball games and endless stuff that caught the fancy of the kids turning on to Elvis, Frankie, Ricky, Fabian, etc.”

“We ran our own board, answered the phones, filled out two logs, flipped two-minute records, watched the news wire and made our own coffee. There was no such thing as a ‘post’ to ‘hit,’ children. You just felt it man.” (Jacobs, ReelRadio)

“In June 1960, Dave Donnelly, recently discharged from the Navy and studying drama at UH, joined KPOI as the weekend newsman. He replaced Larry Cott, who left to write political commentary full time. Within a year Donnelly was reading the news on the ‘Ron Jacobs Show.’”

“Every morning for three hours we peered at each other through a soundproof window. [Jacobs] played records by ‘Ricky’ Nelson, the Five Satins, Connie Francis — all the golden oldies of the future.”

“Donnelly reported on Hawaii newsmakers like Gov. William Quinn, Mayor Neal Blaisdell and new U.S. Sen. Hiram Fong. International headlines, which included named like Gagarin, Eichmann, Gromyko and DeGaulle, seemed to be coming from another worlds.”

“It was 20 years before CNN began … Rounds nicknamed Donnelly ‘The Moose’ because ‘he was big and hulking — like a moose.’”

“Later, when Donnelly morphed into a Poi Boy, he was issued a goofy jingle that ended with the words, ‘Moose, Moose, Moose.’ Donnelly pretty much despised the moniker.”

“If [Jacobs] called him the ‘Moose’ off the air, he would shut [him] up by calling [him] ‘Ronnie,’ which he knew [Jacobs] hated since elementary school.” (Jacobs, SB)

In the late 1970s, K-POI AM ceased operations, the property on 1701 Ala Wai Blvd sold and the AM tower dismantled. But the KPOI Poi Boys had changed Hawaii’s radio landscape forever. (Territorial Airwaves)

May 17, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Hawaiʻi has a Federal Building – Hilo Got It.”

Postal services in Hilo commenced in 1858. However, when the Hawaiian Islands became a territory of the US in 1900, officials determined that both postal and court facilities should be expanded to better serve the citizens. (GSA)

Likewise, a need was expressed in governmental correspondence for new federal and Territorial offices. Successive early Territorial governors agreed that a new federal office building should be constructed in Hilo. (NPS)

“A block was set aside in Hilo for public building purposes. Governor Frear recommended that it be cut in two, one half for federal purposes and the other half for territorial purposes.”

“Congress accented this proposal on condition that the government sell all the building then on the properties and devote the proceeds to building roads around and through the property as divided.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 12, 1912)

New York architect Henry Whitfield designed the new building in 1915. Whitfield, who was Andrew Carnegie’s brother-in-law, had just completed the design for the Honolulu Carnegie Library. Whitfield designed the building in the Mediterranean Renaissance Revival style, which blends traditional classical architecture with features more suited to a tropical climate. (GSA)

“…the contract for the erection of the Hilo federal building had been let to the Campbell Construction Company of Salt Lake City at its bid of $185,522”. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 10, 1914)

“Twenty-five per cent of the Hilo federal building is completed. One-fourth of the structure is finished; three-fourths more has to be done before the structure can be handed over to the eager public.”

“This good news will probably cause a stir or surprise in Honolulu, where they are still fighting and squabbling over the site for their federal building.”

“Hilo knew what she wanted some years ago and she has what she wants right now in the shape of a rapidly growing, federal building.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 8, 1917)

“’There have been delays, sure, but we fully expect to have the Hilo federal building finished and ready for a house warming by November 1,’ declared Mr Campbell, who represents the mainland contractors who secured the big job a couple of years ago.”

“’I would suggest Thanksgiving Day as the one to celebrate on, and I hope the contractor will have something to be thankful about when the job is pau that is the right word, isn’t it for all through.’”

“The federal building job has been delayed from time to time by the usual red tape and pass-it-along stunts of the Washington authorities. … The first Intention was to have a house warming about Christmas time, but there is now no need to wait until then.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 17, 1916)

The building was one of the first in Hawaiʻi constructed using reinforced concrete, a technology that was common on the mainland. Construction was completed and the building occupied in 1917.

It originally functioned as a courthouse, post office and custom house. Other tenants included the Immigration Bureau, Agricultural Extension Service, Weather Bureau and Internal Revenue Service. (GSA)

The original portion of the building was a rectangular structure with a portico on the main (south) side and a projecting wing on the north side.

The original portion has a full basement, a raised first floor two stories in height which contained the post office, a second floor one story in height which contained the court functions, and a fourth-story clerestory with windows above the original courtroom. (NPS)

By the 1930s, tenants required more space and two wings were added to the building between 1936 and 1938. Louis A Simon, supervising architect of the US Treasury, designed the wings in a style compatible with that of the original building.

The three stories of the additions correspond to the first, mezzanine and third floors of the original building. The result was a U-shaped building with a deep front courtyard overlooked by open verandas on three sides.

The clerestory, or band of windows, admits light into the interior of the third story; there are five skylights on the building, including one on the penthouse roof, that also serve to illuminate the interior.

It still houses federal agencies, although the main US Post Office was moved to a new building near the local airport in 1978, leaving a branch operation in its place. The Third Circuit Court vacated its courtroom and ancillary facilities on the third floor in 1979.

On Memorial Day in 1922, the American Legion planted 17 royal palms along Kekaulike Street to commemorate Hawaiian citizens who died in World War I. (GSA)

Federal Building, US Post Office Hilo

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Federal Building, US Post Office and Courthouse, Hilo

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Federal Building, US Post Office-Mason

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May 16, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Life in the Islands During WWII

Japan’s method of declaring war on the US was a four-wave air attack on installations in Hawaiʻi on the morning of December 7, 1941. It was executed in what amounted to five phases.

Phase I: Combined torpedo and dive bomber attack lasting from 7:55 am to 8:25 am; Phase II: Lull in attacks lasting from 8:25 am to 8:40 am; Phase III: Horizontal bomber attacks between 8:45 am to 9:15 am; Phase IV: Dive bomber attacks between 9:15 am and 9:45 am and Phase V: General attack. Raid completed at 9:45. (Maj Gen Green)

The first order of business was the issuance of orders immediately essential to the internal security of the Hawaiian Islands. The next was providing means for enforcing those orders. (Maj Gen Green) Later in the morning, the Army’s commanding officer met with Hawaiʻi’s Territorial Governor.

“General, I have thought it through. I feel that the situation is beyond me and the civil authorities and I think the safety of the Territory and its citizens require me to declare martial law.” (Governor Joseph Boyd Poindexter to General Walter Campbell Short, December 7, 1941; Green)

“He asked General Short if he concurred in his conclusion and General Short said that he did. The Governor then asked General Short if he would accept the responsibility and General Short replied that he saw no other way out. Whereupon, the Governor stated that he would declare martial law and inform the President in accordance with Section 67 of the Organic Act.”

The men arose, shook hands and the Governor said, “I wish you luck.” (Maj Gen Green)

A rush of nationalism surged over the country, and everyone did his or her part to support the war effort. Children collected scrap materials, such as rubber and metal, to help supply the armed forces. (Taylor)

Tens of thousands of young men from Hawaiʻi enlisted and were shipped out to bases on the US mainland and to fight in Europe and the Pacific. In their absence, over 500,000 soldiers from outside Hawaii were based in the Islands at the height of the war. (PBS)

Immediately after the attack, Boy Scouts helped to extinguish fires that resulted from the attack, transported supplies and messages, went door to door informing residents of the blackout policy and even stood as sentries on roadways.

Day-to-day life during World War II, whether on the continent or in the Hawaiian Islands, changed. Hundreds of general orders were issued under the name of the commanding general.

Martial law with its seemingly endless string of rules and regulations dictated minute details of daily life, setting limits on things that were once part of daily life: curfews, registration, blackouts, drills, rationing, air raid sirens, censorship … detention (for some.)

The Army also instituted a 6 pm to 6 am curfew for anyone not on official business and drew up intelligence reports on 450,000-people in Hawaiʻi. Every citizen over the age of six years was fingerprinted, registered and issued an identification card.

The military ordered a strictly enforced nighttime blackout. Anyone caught with a lit cigarette, pipe or cigar during the blackout was subject to arrest, as was anyone else if the light of their radio dial or kitchen stove burner could be seen through the house windows.

Homes, schools and businesses were directed to prepare bomb shelters. Everyone was issued a protective gas mask and students were trained in their use and conducted drills where an Army officer would fill a classroom with tear gas and have the students walk through to be sure their masks were functioning properly. (Taylor)

Gasoline was rationed, the possession of arms was prohibited to unauthorized persons, radio transmitting sets and short wave sets were regulated, photo materials were rationed and the local telephone company was taken over to insure the maximum availability of it to the military. (Maj Gen Green)

Food was rationed; sugar was the first food to be rationed. Across the country, to prevent hoarding and skyrocketing prices, the Office of Price Administration issued 123-million copies of War Ration Book One, which contained stamps that could be used to purchase sugar.

Because the islands were so isolated, shipping and receiving supplies, and even mail, became a logistical nightmare. To supplement food needs, Americans planted “victory gardens,” in which they grew their own food.

Transportation between the islands and the mainland was stopped. Only those needed to fill positions in the islands were allowed to travel. (Taylor)

All outgoing mail was read by military censors, and letters that could not be edited with black ink or scissors were returned to the sender to be rewritten. Long-distance telephone calls were required to be in English so that military personnel could listen in. (White & Murphy)

Fearing that Japanese invaders might try to disrupt US currency, the military confiscated and burned more than $200-million in US paper money, and replaced it with bills with HAWAII overprinted on them.

In addition, people in Hawaiʻi were forbidden to make bank withdrawals of more than $200 in cash per month or to carry more than $200 in cash. (White & Murphy)

Japanese in Hawaiʻi had it worst. Many Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. They were put in these camps, not because they had been tried and found guilty of something, but because either they or their parents or ancestors were from Japan and, as such, they were deemed a “threat” to national security.

In the Islands, between 1,200 and 1,400 local Japanese were interned, along with about 1,000 family members – 120,000 people were interned on the continent. (Not a single Japanese American in Hawaiʻi was ever convicted of espionage, treason or sedition.) (NPS)

Although originally it was believed that martial law would last only a short time, it lasted for almost three years. After it was terminated, curfews and blackouts still remained in effect until October 24, 1944. (Schneider)

To get a glimpse of conditions in the Islands at the time, read and see ‘Under the Blood Red Sun,’ written by Graham (Sandy) Salisbury. (Nelia reads the book to her 5th grade class each year at Kainalu.)

May 15, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas; the daughter of a railroad attorney, she spent her childhood in various towns, including Atchison and Kansas City, Kansas and Des Moines, Iowa.

“Doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke … but enjoys an occasional game of poker. … Dances anywhere a band plays. Says there’s a saying among aviators: ‘Show me how well you dance and I’ll tell you how well you can fly.’” (Keir)

“(Flying) may not be all plain sailing … But the fun of it is worth the price.” (Putnam, The Fun Of It)

When she was 10, she saw her first plane at a state fair … she was not impressed. “It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and looked not at all interesting.”

It wasn’t until she attended a stunt-flying exhibition, almost a decade later, that she became seriously interested in aviation. A pilot spotted her and her friend, who were watching from an isolated clearing, and dove at them. “I am sure he said to himself, ‘Watch me make them scamper.’” She stood her ground.

Something inside her awakened as the plane swooped by. “I did not understand it at the time,” she said, “but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by.” On December 28, 1920, pilot Frank Hawks gave her a ride that would forever change her life.

“By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground,” she said, “I knew I had to fly.” (California Museum) Learning to fly in California, she took up aviation as a hobby, taking odd jobs to pay for her flying lessons.

In 1922, with the financial help of her sister, Muriel, and her mother, Amy Otis Earhart, she purchased her first airplane. She was the 16th woman to earn her pilot license, receiving it on May 15, 1923.

In 1929, she and a group of other women pilots (a total of 99) formed the Ninety-Nines; she served at its first president. Later, she met and married (February 7, 1931) George Palmer Putnam, a publisher and promoter.

She flew for ‘fun.’ She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic (1932,) the first woman to fly solo, nonstop, across the US from Los Angeles to Newark (1932,) and the first person to fly solo between Los Angeles and Mexico City and between Mexico City and Newark (1935.)

She came to Hawaiʻi twice (December 27, 1934 to January 11, 1935 (to make the Hawaiʻi to the continent) and March 17 through March 20, 1937 (as part of the first plan to fly around-the-world.))

“Over the Christmas holiday (1934,) Amelia Earhart and George Putnam, along with Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mantz, arrived in Honolulu on December 27, having sailed on the Matson liner SS Lurline. Amelia’s Lockheed Vega was secured on the ocean liner’s deck. The group spent two weeks vacationing in Hawaiʻi.” She visited Hilo and planted a banyan tree on “Hilo Walk of Fame.”

Five days after planting the banyan tree, she took off from Wheeler Field, Oʻahu and after 18-hours and 15-minutes, Amelia and “Old Bessie, the Fire Horse,” made a perfect landing at Oakland Airport at 1:31, January 12, 1935, she was engulfed by a cheering crowd of 5,000-enthusiastic supporters.

It was another record flight for Amelia – the very first person, man or woman, to fly solo between Hawaiʻi and the American continent and the first civilian airplane to carry a two-way radio. (Plymate)

A commemorative plaque to honor her trans-pacific solo flight was put up on Diamond Head Road. Documents of that flight were placed in a copper box and inserted into the plaque’s base on March 6. It was dedicated on March 14, 1937.

The last Hawaiʻi visit was part of her planned flight around-the-world. She assembled a team to make an around-the-world flight (navigators Fred Noonan and Captain Harry Manning, as well as technical advisor/assistant navigator Paul Mantz.) It wouldn’t be the first around-the world flight, but it would be the longest, taking an equatorial route.

They set out from Oakland on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17, 1937) and headed for Hawaiʻi on the first leg of their journey. After 15-hours and 47-minutes they landed at Wheeler Field. (From there they would travel on to Howland Island in the South Pacific, and then on to Australia.) The plane was moved to Luke Field for take-off on the next leg.

At 5:53 am, March 20, 1937, she began the take-off roll; suddenly, at the 1,000-foot mark the right tire blew (ten seconds more and the plane would have been airborne.)

The right landing gear broke and the right wing and other parts of the plane were badly damaged (no one was hurt.) Within 6-hours after the aborted take-off, she was heading for San Francisco via ship. The plane had to be shipped back to California for repairs and the round the world trip was rescheduled.

She set out on her second attempt in June, this time with only Noonan to assist her effort. They set again from Oakland, this time flying from west to east, across the continental US to Miami, Florida.

They then flew toward Central and South America before finally turning east and crossed Africa and southern and southeastern Asia before setting down in Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937.

Necessary repairs and adjustments were made and the plane was refueled for the big trek across the Pacific to tiny Howland Island – the destination Earhart was attempting to reach on her first around-the-world attempt.

On July 1, she made her way from Lae, New Guinea for Howland Island. A radio report was received from her plane that she was over the ocean with no land in sight, with about one-half hour’s fuel left on board. (hawaii-gov)

They never reached Howland Island; they disappeared July 2, 1937.

Despite an extensive coordinated search carried out by the Navy and Coast Guard with 66-aircraft and 9-ships they were not found. (On January 5, 1939 Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead, in Superior Court in Los Angeles, California.)

In 1938, a lighthouse was constructed on Howland Island in her memory, and across the United States, streets, schools, and airports are named after Earhart. Her birthplace, Atchison, Kansas, became a virtual shrine to her memory.

The search for clues to Earhart’s disappearance continued. It was recently reported on Discovery that a fragment of her lost plane (a patch that replaced a navigational window in her modified plane) has been identified to a high degree of certainty.

New research strongly suggests that a piece of aluminum aircraft debris recovered in 1991 from Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati, does belong to Earhart’s plane. (The rivet pattern and other features on the 19-inch-wide by 23-inch-long fragment matched the patch and lined up with the structural components of the plane.)

The breakthrough suggests that, contrary to what was generally believed, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash in the Pacific Ocean, running out of fuel somewhere near their target destination of Howland Island.

Instead, they may have made a forced landing on Nikumaroro’ smooth, flat coral reef. The two became castaways and eventually died on the atoll, which is some 350 miles southeast of Howland Island. Further research is on-going. (Lots of information here is from hawaii-gov, Soylent and Amelia Earhart Museum.)