A Doubtful Island of the Pacific 



485 



year, liable to similar conditions of 

 season, weather, prevailing winds and 

 currents, it seemed a reasonable suppo- 

 sition that the Levant might follow, in 

 i860, the leading vessel on her voyage 

 of 1 859 in substantially the same courses, 

 as one arrow might follow another, shot 

 from the same bow and aimed at the 

 same target. According to De Greaves' s 

 story, when he was about a thousand 

 miles east of Hawaii, or (see map) in 

 longitude 136 and north latitude 17 , 

 he discovered an island, about 50 to 70 

 feet high and two miles long, right 

 ahead, about nine o'clock in the morn- 

 ing. If the Levant had reached substan- 

 tially De Greaves' s point of discovery in 

 the night, it is more than probable she 

 would have sailed in the darkness onto 

 the island and made shipwreck there. 



Although De Greaves' s story, on care- 

 ful inquiry and search of records, was 

 presently found to have been largely, if 

 not wholly, invented for the occasion,* 

 nevertheless the possibility that the 

 Levant might have been wrecked on 

 some island, somewhere in her sailing 

 track between Hilo and Panama, seemed 

 most reasonable, especially in view of cer- 

 tain indications of the above-mentioned 

 wreckage that the ship had not found- 

 ered in mid-ocean (as once determined 

 by act of Congress), and had not been 

 dismasted in a storm, but had been 

 broken to pieces on rocks, and, further, 

 in view of the much increased probability 

 that such rocks, perhaps a low reef, per- 

 haps a habitable island, might be found 

 in the neighborhood of Captain Law- 

 less' s recently discovered shoal. 



I had the honor to bring the matter 

 to the attention of President Roosevelt 

 in June, 1903, and thereafter, upon 

 presentation and consideration of the 

 known facts at the Navy Department, 

 the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. W. H. 

 Moody, determined to send an expedi- 

 tion, as soon as one or more suitable 



* Presumably to stimulate renewed interest 

 in further search for iruano islands. 



vessels could be spared for the service, 

 to finally settle the question of the ex- 

 istence or non-existence of any shoal, 

 reef, or island in the doubtful region.* 

 This determination, as originally 

 formed, contemplated the sending of 

 one, or perhaps two, vessels suitably 

 equipped for deep-sea sounding, f of 

 large bunker capacity, carrying suffi- 

 cient coal for a cruise long enough to 

 traverse the entire field and overlook in 

 daylight every square mile of the ques- 

 tionable area. No such vessel had yet 

 been found available for the proposed 

 work, when in May, 1904, the Tacoma, 

 a newly built cruiser, was about to make 

 a trial and practice voyage from the 

 Bremerton Navy Yard to Honolulu and 

 back to the Pacific coast. Although 

 the Tacoma'' s coal-carrying capacity was 

 too small to allow more than a few days' 

 detour, it was thought expedient for her 

 on the return voyage to visit the locality 

 of Captain Lawless' s reported observa- 

 tion and the assigned position of De 

 Greaves' s alleged discovery for such 

 reconnaissance as might be feasible under 

 existing conditions. 



*The late Rear Admiral H. C. Taylor, at 

 that time Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, 

 manifested a very strong interest in the pro- 

 posed search, and he repeatedly expressed his 

 earnest desire to see it conclusively accom- 

 plished. 



f Deep-sea soundings, showing the depres- 

 sions and elevations of the ocean bottom, may 

 often give significant indications of submarine 

 peaks, plateaus, or ridges, which, if followed 

 up, may lead to the discovery of shoals or 

 islands visible at the surface. The deep-sea 

 soundings in the North Pacific, made some 

 years ago by the U. S. ship Tuscarora while 

 sounding for a cable line from San Francisco 

 to Honolulu, under the command of Rear Ad- 

 miral Erben, discovered a shoal region in 

 which the depth of water suddenly changed 

 from more than 2,200 to less than 400 fathoms 

 and deepened again as suddenly, indicating 

 the crossing of a submarine peak or ridge. 

 This shoal region lies in 33 north and near 

 133 west, about 900 to 1,000 miles due north of 

 the doubtful field here under consideration. 



The Tacoma was not furnished with an)* 

 deep-sea sounding apparatus, and her search 

 in that regard w T as therefore only superficial. 



