Howland Island, Its Birds and Rats, as Observed by 
a Certain Mr. Stetson in 1854 
Llewellyn Howland 1 
The following account of a visit to How- 
land Island in 1854 is an abridged fragment 
of a communication from a Mr. Stetson ad- 
dressed to my grandfather and his half brother, 
partners in the firm of George and Mathew 
Howland of New Bedford. Unfortunately all 
information concerning Mr. Stetson, even his 
initials, is lost to us. Indeed the original of 
his manuscript has disappeared, in all like- 
lihood having been destroyed with other 
records of the United States Guano Company 
when my grandfather’s counting house in the 
"Candle Works,’’ Hillman Street, was cleaned 
out between 1884 and 1886, soon after his 
death. My uncle, the late Mathew Morris 
Howland of Jacksonville, Florida, made a 
copy of the part of Stetson’s report which I 
assume he, in going over his father’s papers 
in the counting house, thought he would like 
to preserve for future reference, and that copy 
is reproduced in part here. 
Such is the history of the Stetson report so 
far as I know it. I will add that my uncle 
Morris Howland and I were for many years 
after my grandfather’s death affectionate rel- 
atives and good companions, with added 
bonds of sympathy, a love of the sea, retentive 
memories, and a deep interest in the history 
of the Howland family. The Stetson report, 
and the man himself, were frequently the 
subjects of conversation when we were on 
outdoor expeditions or otherwise together; 
so that I am willing to bet my head against 
a football that the report is authentic except- 
ing the detail of the name of the ship and 
1 Hope’s Garden, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. 
Manuscript received July 7, 1954. 
captain involved, and even in this item I have 
checked the available shipping records and 
am of the opinion that "Rousseau’’ and Cap- 
tain Pope are the means whereby the survey 
was made. 
To my knowledge the report never has 
been published. I referred to it briefly in my 
book Sou West and West of Cape Cod (1947), 
as did G. E. Hutchinson in his Bio geo chemistry 
of Vertebrate Excretion (1950). 
I have only a short note to add to the 
island’s history. My ownership of the island 
consisted of my having bought out all right, 
title, and interest of those of the family who 
might, through inheritance of the U. S. Guano 
Company, have a legal claim. When I pre- 
sented my case to the United States Govern- 
ment in 1926 my friend, Assistant Secretary 
of State William Phillips, gave me his opin- 
ion, quoting chapter and verse from docu- 
ments in Government hies, that British 
subjects had established squatters rights and 
if I was prepared to guarantee costs of $50,000 
the State Department would be glad to pre- 
sent my case to the British Government. Not 
choosing to so obligate myself at the time 
and learning later that the British Government 
and the United States had come to an under- 
standing that while the United States should 
take title to the island, Great Britain, under 
a contract, would have equal rights to use it 
as a hying field, I abandoned all thought of 
my claim to this remote property. 
Mr. J. C. Greenway, Jr. has kindly assisted 
in arranging for publication of this paper and 
has written the natural history notes and ob- 
servations which follow the Stetson letter. 
95 
MAVo 
