MkN 
There was immediate interest in this form of prospecting, and after 
considerable debate the United States Congress, on August 18, 1856, 
passed an act which allowed Americans to claim unoccupied islands in 
the name of the United States, for the purpose of removing the guano. 
Claims were made to about 48 islands under this Guano Act. 
A list of these was published in the New York Tribune, March 5, 
3858. It was reprinted in the Friend (Honolulu) for April 20, 1859, and 
in a German article by E. Behm, in 1859, already noted. In the American 
Journal of Science, September, 1862, J. D. Hague again lists these islands; 
and the author discusses their identity in the Paradise of the Pacific 
magazine for September and October, 1939. 
Only 18 of the islands are now known by the names given. Twelve 
are known today by different names; three names are duplicate; and 15 
are not known to exist at all. 
In the spring following the passage of the Guano Act, representatives 
of the American Guano Co., of New York, arrived at central Pacific 
islands, via Honolulu. Alfred G. Benson of New York, and Charles H. 
Judd, of Honolulu, representing this company, took possession of How¬ 
land Island, February 5, 1857, and Baker, February 12. Jarvis was 
occupied by Mr. Judd and 24 Hawaiian laborers in March the same 
year. 
Officially representing the government, the U.S.S. St. Marys, Cap¬ 
tain Charles Henry Davis, visited Jarvis and Baker later the same year, 
surveying the islands, taking guano samples, and announcing formal 
possession in the name of the United States. 
The Phoenix Guano Co, began activities on McKean island. A. M. 
Goddard with 29 Hawaiians left Honolulu for Phoenix Island on the 
brig Agate, Captain Long, on April 19, 1859, but ended up at McKean. 
The American schooner Modem Times was loaded there in 45 days, 
sailing August 15, 1859. Work was commenced on Phoenix Island in 
September, 1860. 
Supplies were taken to the guano islands about four times a year 
from Honolulu by schooners, which also transported native laborers, 
and white overseers and chemists. Following the Agate, this ran was 
made by the Helen, the Odd Fellow, and the Active, 1863 to 1864; the 
Hawaiian bark Kamehameha Y, 1865 to 1869; and the C M. Ward, 1870 
to the end of activity in 1879. 
29 ;, 
M. 
i 
A large number of schooners, barks, and clipper ships, flying various 
flags, called at the islands and carried the guano away to American 
and foreign ports. We have a record of those which touched at Hono¬ 
lulu ; others went direct. 
The loading of these vessels with thousands of tons of guano was 
an enormous task. The powder had to be sifted from the rocks, shovelled 
into bags, run on tram cars to the beach, loaded into small boats, and 
these run through the surf to the waiting ships; all hand work. There 
was little or no anchorage. Vessels had to make fast to buoys or lines 
leading out from shore, risking the danger of piling up on the reef should 
the wind shift. Many fine ships were wrecked. Navigation was difficult 
because of the swift currents which swept past the islands. 
37 MAN Enderbury was added to the guano islands in 1862, and reached the 
height of its enterprise between 1870 and 1873, under the management 
of Captain Elias Hempstead. During the summer of 1870, alone, four 
vessels were loaded there with more than 6,000 tons of guano. 
. / 44 jy McKean was the first to be worked out, no vessel being recorded as 
visiting it after 1870. Phoenix Island was abandoned in August, 1871. 
3 V AM Activities continued on Enderbury until 1877, there having been four 
white persons and 55 Hawaiians there in 1876. Several of the superin¬ 
tendents were accompanied by their wives and families. 
After the American guano diggers withdrew, nearly all of these is¬ 
lands were worked by John T. Arundel and Co., a British firm, between 
1883 and 1891. Parties were supplied by schooner from Apia. The la¬ 
borers were mainly from Niue and the Cook Islands. 
Other islands also were worked by this company, such as Sydney 
^MM^sland, 1884-5, Canton Island, 1885-6, Flint, and Starbuck. Gardner and 
Hull were planted to coconut palms. It was mainly at Mr. Arundel’s 
request that the Phoenix Islands were annexed by Great Britain during 
June and July, 1889. 
After 1891 this company turned its attention to phosphate deposits 
on islands off the coast of North Queensland. Later much richer de¬ 
posits were found on Nauru and Ocean Islands. 
Other guano companies were also active, most of them with head¬ 
quarters in Australia. Guano deposits were found on Malden Island 
about 1848 by an American whaler, who sold his find to a company in 
Sydney, N.S.W. That island has been worked almost continuously to 
within the last few years. 
m 
