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.
Hawaiian Birds and Short-tailed Albatross Success
Even though this one particular Short-tailed Albatross hatched in the middle of a raging storm in January, and was swept away from its nest during a second storm in February, and then survived the Japanese tsunami in March, it still managed to fledge in June. This alone makes for an incredible survival story, but this Short-tailed Albatross chick is also the first to have been bred in the United States.
The chick’s parents were banded as fledglings on their main breeding grounds of Torishima Island, Japan. The pair then nested in the middle of a Midway Atoll decoy plot that biologists created in 2000 in an effort to lure the birds to breed there. Biologists placed dozens of decoys in the area, including models of adults and immature ‘shorties’, and played recorded birdcalls.
The Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) was once the most abundant of North Pacific albatross, but was decimated by feather hunting, and by the late 1940s was thought to be extinct. They were later found on only two breeding sites in the world -Torishima and the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
Midway Atoll, which is now part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, provides a new breeding ground for this endangered seabird, marking a potential turning point for the species. The Short-tailed Albatross ranges along the coasts of eastern Russia, Korea, China, Taiwan, Aleutian and the Hawaiian Islands, and rarely off the Pacific Coast of North America south to California. The Midway chick will spend the next two to seven years at sea before returning to land to find a mate. Photo by Pete Leary.
Hawaiian Monk Seal and Ciguatoxin
Hawaiian Monk Seals, whose population has dwindled to around 1100, are now exposed to another threat. Researchers from NOAA have discovered a potent and highly-debilitating toxin in the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal. The dangerous toxin, called ciguatoxin, is produced by marine algae common on coral reefs, and accumulates in fish species that are consumed by humans.
The study was conducted by marine toxin experts at NOAA’s National Ocean Service in collaboration with veterinarians and ecologists at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. Monk seals were sampled throughout the Hawaiian Islands, including in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, and samples were analyzed for toxins.
The study reveals that Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) are exposed to significant levels of these ciguatoxins. Ciguatera, the human disease caused by ciguatoxin, affects thousands of people every year worldwide and comes in the form of acute gastrointestinal and neurological illness with symptoms resembling chronic fatigue syndrome.
The threat could pose management challenges for this species that has been dwindling at four percent annually. “Based upon this study, we believe that ciguatoxin exposure is common in the monk seal population. This study is an important first step. However, we still need to understand more clearly how widespread exposure is and more importantly what role it may be playing in the decline of the species.”
Papahanaumokuakea and Nihoa Island
Nihoa Island is located at the southeastern end of Papahanaumokuakea, about 170 acres in size, with 900 foot cliffs, basalt rock surface, and a tiny beach. This remote land of rugged cliffs and steep valleys provided a home for Hawaiians between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1700. More than 80 cultural sites have been discovered, including religious shrines, habitation terraces and shelters, agricultural terraces, and burial caves. Many of the mea makamae (cultural objects) and structures associated with these wahi pana (cultural places) are similar to many found throughout the Main Hawaiian Islands. Artifacts found included fishhooks, sinkers, cowry shell lures, hammerstones, grindstones, and adzes.
Even though the island’s rugged landscape may look uninhabitable, its rocky outcroppings support some of the most unique and varied insect, seabird, and plant life of all Papahanaumokuakea. Seventy-two terrestrial arthropods including giant crickets and earwigs, and two endemic landbirds, the Nihoa Finch (Telespyza ultima) and the endangered Nihoa Millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris kingi), are found only on Nihoa. Several species of seabirds, such as terns, shearwaters, petrels, boobies, albatrosses, tropic birds, and frigate birds are also found here.
Endemic endangered plants include the Nihoa Fan Palm (Pritchardia remota), the only species of tree on the island, and the leguminous ‘Ohai Shrub (Sesbania tomentosa). The submerged coral reef habitat covers about 142,000 acres with seventeen species of stony corals documented. Small encrusting forms of the lobe coral, and rose coral colonies are the most common. Limu (algae), wana (sea urchin), and opihi (limpet) inhabit the shallow waters, while sharks and jacks hover in deeper waters offshore. The rare spotted knifejaw (Oplegnathus punctatus) is often seen at Nihoa. Nihoa also supports a small population of endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals.
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.
Hawaiian Reef Fish and Masked Angelfish
Masked Angelfish (Genicanthus personatus) are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. This species is abundant and in shallow waters of Papahanaumokuakea, but extremely rare in the main Hawaiian Islands, where it is usually encountered in deep waters of 250 feet or more. This group of angelfish often lives off the bottom, where it feeds primarily on zooplankton and grows up to ten inches long.
Like other angelfishes, it begins its mature life as a female, then eventually changes sex to become a male. Female Masked Angelfish are white, with a black patch on the forehead and over the eye region and above the eyes, and a black bar on the tail. Males are pearly white, rimmed with orange on the tail and around the eyes, with a black bar on the tail.
