Papahanaumokuakea Shipwrecks and Churchill
Within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, at French Frigate Shoals, is the site of the possible shipwreck Churchill. The four-masted Schooner Churchill was built in North Bend, Oregon, and launched in April, 1900 by shipwright Asa Meade Simpson, and was known to have been lost in the area in 1917.
While the identity of the ship has not yet been determined conclusively, diagnostic artifacts at the site, including parts of the windlass, three large iron anchors, ship’s pumps, and numerous blocks and rigging components, appear consistent with the 178-foot, 600-ton Schooner Churchill. Anchors, rigging, pumps and deck equipment all correspond to the Churchill’s size and construction.
The Churchill was carrying a cargo of copra (the dried meat or nut of the coconut) from Nukualofa, Tonga, to Seattle, Washington, when she ran aground on a reef at French Frigate Shoals on Sept. 27, 1917. All members of her 12-man crew were rescued by a nearby vessel.
Papahanaumokuakea Aerial View
In this aerial video you will experience the grandeur of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from the air. From the flight deck of a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 you will tour the largest conservation area in the U.S.
Flying from Nihoa Island at the southeastern end of Papahanaumokuakea and continuing for 1200 miles over French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl & Hermes Atoll, Midway Atoll, to Kure Atoll, the northernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago, this video gives you a birds-eye view of tiny islands and atolls surrounded by the azure waters of the North Pacific.
Papahanaumokuakea Shipwrecks and Two Brothers
Three whaling ships have been reported shipwrecked at French Frigate Shoals: the Daniel Wood in 1867, the South Seaman in 1859, and the Two Brothers in 1822. Many are familiar with the fate of the Nantucket whaleship Essex, cited as the inspiration for Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. After the tragedy of the Essex, Captain George Pollard and other survivors endured a 95-day journey in small boats that resulted in sickness, starvation, and cannibalism.
Pollard was later given command of the whaleship Two Brothers, which headed towards newly discovered whaling grounds in the Pacific. Sailing in consort with the whaleship Martha, they encountered stormy weather in the vicinity of French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and stuck the reef in 15 feet of water. Survivors describe a wrecking event so violent and confusing that the sailors barely had the time to launch small boats and paddle away before the vessel became a complete loss on the reef. The crew found the Martha anchored in the lee of a fifty foot tall rock, now called La Perouse Pinnacle. The entire crew of Two Brothers was rescued and they headed back to Oahu.
In 2008, a team of NOAA maritime archaeologists made an exciting discovery of a large anchor in approximately 15 feet of water near French Frigate Shoals. Then they discovered try pots, another large anchor, hundreds of bricks, hawsepipes, remains of standing rigging, blubber hooks, grinding wheel, kedge anchor, and cast iron pots. In 2010 the team uncovered an incredible collection of whaling tools on the sea floor, including whaling harpoon tips, whaling lances, ceramics, glass, and a sounding lead that all date to the 1820s. The evidence suggested that they were looking at the Two Brothers, the only American whaler lost at French Frigate Shoals in the 1820s.
The Two Brothers still remains on the seafloor at French Frigate Shoals within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. This and other American whaling ships lost in Papahānaumokuākea are the material remains of a time when America possessed over 700 whaling vessels and over one fifth of the United States whaling fleet may have been composed of Pacific Islanders. The artifacts will become part of the Monument’s maritime heritage exhibit at the Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo.
Papahanaumokuakea Fall 2010
French Frigate Shoals & Tern Island
Papahanaumokuakea is home to most of the breeding albatross in the world, and Blackfooted Albatross (Ka’upu) and Laysan Albatross (Moli) started returning for their next breeding season. Albatross fly thousands of miles across the North Pacific, eating squid, and fish, and return to the same place each year to lay only one egg at a time. Albatross chicks born on Tern get a plastic yellow-and-black band on their left foot to identify the bird whenever it returns. Red-footed Booby chicks, and Wedge-tailed Shearwater chicks were also banded. Thirty-six Hawaiian Monk Seals were born on French Frigate Shoals.
Laysan Island
Shorebird surveys revealed Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpresi), Pacific Golden Plovers (Pluvialus fulva), Wandering Tattlers (Heteroscelus brevipes), Bristlethighed Curlews (Numenius phaeopus), Sanderlings (Calidris alba), and Long-billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus scolopaceus.) The Laysan Duck (Anas laysanensis) surveys accounted for 414 adult ducks. Efforts were made to eradicate invasive plant species, as well as to repopulate the island with a native grass Pacific Island Thintail (Lepturus repens).
Midway Atoll
Wetland checks and Laysan Duck surveys revealed a total of 337 ducks. Eradication of cattle egrets continued, as these non-native birds have the potential to prey on White Tern chicks, Sooty Tern chicks, and Laysan ducklings. Removal of the invasive, nonnative Chinese banyan trees (Ficus microcarpa) continues. Once all the trees are removed, staff will continue to look for new seedlings that may germinate over the next year. Thanks go to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and volunteers for their conservation efforts in Papahanaumokuakea. Photo by Keith Burnett.
Papahanaumokuakea and French Frigate Shoals
French Frigate Shoals (Kanemiloha‘i) is a crescent-shaped atoll formed by an eroded volcano, which has been submerged for millions of years. While the land area is only 67 acres, the total coral reef area of the shoals is over 232,000 acres. A steep-sided basalt pinnacle (La Pérouse Pinnacle) juts out of the water in the center of the atoll. Tern Island, which is part of the atoll, was formed into a runway to serve as a refueling stop for planes enroute to Midway during World War II. Six different species of terns have been recorded from Tern Island.
La Perouse supports a large number of seabirds, and the bird guano provides high nitrogen levels in the surrounding waters, which promote the growth of algae in the pinnacle’s intertidal zone, with more than 150 species of algae including red, green, and brown algae. The Shoals’ semi-enclosed lagoon gives protection from storms and waves, and provides many reef habitats. The reef supports the greatest variety of coral species in the NWHI with forty one species of stony corals, including table, finger, and lobe corals. It also supports more than 600 species of invertebrates such as sponges, coral worms, snails, lobsters, crabs, shrimps and clams, oysters, sea urchins, and sea stars.
The outer reef waters support gray reef sharks, butterfly fish, jacks, groupers, chevron butterflyfish, and endemic masked angelfish. The islets attract the largest breeding colony of the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal in Papahanaumokuakea, while also serving as the breeding ground for 90% of threatened Green Sea Turtles in the Hawaiian Islands. Satellite tagging of these turtles indicates that most of them migrate to the Main Hawaiian Islands to feed and reach sexual maturity before returning to French Frigate Shoals to breed.
Papahanaumokuakea Summer 2010
French Frigate Shoals & Tern Island
Green Sea Turtle hatchlings found on Tern Island’s runway and other locations considered dangerous for the small turtles, were collected and released at the water’s edge.
Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) eggs and chicks on Tern Island decreased in numbers from approximately 6,400 total nests to only 228. Great frigatebirds are known to eat noddy chicks, and some of the chicks had fledged since last count, but not enough to account for the dramatic decline.
NMFS Staff continues collecting marine debris of nets, rope, wire, and trash, which is especially important in preventing Hawaiian Monk Seals and Green Sea Turtles from becoming entangled.
Thirty-six monk seal pups were born, three were killed by sharks. Based on observations and remote cameras, certain sharks have been identified as targeting and attacking newly weaned seal pups. Typically, nothing would be done to intervene in the natural predator/prey relationships that occur within Papahānaumokuākea. However, since the Hawaiian monk seal is a critically endangered species whose population is dropping by approximately 5% per year, a decision was made to take a more active role in protecting young seals.
Laysan Island
There were a total of twenty-five known Green Sea Turtle nests this season.
The Laysan Finch (Telespyza cantans) was originally native only to Laysan Island, but a small translocated population is also found on Pearl and Hermes Atoll. An annual survey sighted approximately 8,300 individuals.
A survey located 327 adult Laysan ducks (Anas laysanensis). Once found only on Laysan Island, a second population has been translocated to Midway Atoll where it is thriving.
Midway Atoll
Daily wetland checks and weekly Laysan duck surveys were conducted on both Sand and Eastern Islands. The first suspected case of avian botulism was found, but many have been successfully treated and released.
In the summer of 2009 four Laysan Albatross fledglings were tagged with solar satellite tags. One of them continues to transmit its location approximately 3,000 km northwest of Midway. Two other albatross were approximately 370 km northwest of Midway after only 6 days. And one tag failed prematurely for unknown reasons.
At least 5 Bulwer’s Petrels were seen investigating the artificial burrows and petrel calling station on Sand Island. Refuge staff are hopeful that successful nesting will occur this season for the first time since rats were eradicated from Midway in 1997.
Invasive plant removal on roughly 200 acres of the refuge, along with native plant propagation of approximately 300 pots per week is ongoing.
Volunteers removed a large mass of netting and rope from the emergent reef that threatened to entangle several Hawaiian monk seals. Monitoring of five marine debris plots is being done to hopefully qualify and quantify the tremendous amount of marine debris that makes its way to Midway Atoll. Thanks go to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and volunteers for their conservation efforts in Papahanaumokuakea.
