13 
Albatross feathers, usually from the Laysan Albatross, were collected from 
September to January, so that the crews were able to work almost all year. 
They preferred to kill Fairy Terns, but did not find them sufficiently 
numerous. Black terns [perhaps noddies] were seldom killed. The large 
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numbers of dead birds with feathers remaining, found by Captain Hamlet, had 
been killed solely for the breast muscles, which were dried for food. 
According to the manager, the party had killed 285,991 Sooty Terns on Lisianski, 
not counting those killed solely for food. The Japanese believed that the 
S o oty Terns moved from island to island, laying one egg and raising one young 
every four months, so that they believed that they were not harming the bird 
populations with their slaughter 
o 
As there was no law protecting the bir^s in 1904 the Japanese were not 
prosecuted. The United States claimed the feathers, and dispatched a vessel 
to retrieve them. However, they were removed, probably by the crew of the 
w 
iji Maru , before Captain Weisbarth of the Lavinia could make the return trip 
to Lisianski. The Viji Maru later wrecked on Pearl and Hermes Reef and part 
of her crew was found on Lisianski in September 1904, along with part of the 
crew of the Tanzi Maru . (Bryan, op . cit . ). 
On 17 December 1904 Max Schlemmer, manager of the Forth Pacific Phosphate 
and a 
fertilizer Company's operations in the Leewards, submitted a letter to 
G. R. Carter, Governor of the Territory of Hawaii, requesting a 99 year lease 
on the islands of Laysan, Lisianski, and French Frigate Shoals. He stated 
that he would agree to plant 1000 coconut trees per year, that he would pay 
the Territory a royalty of 50 cents per ton on all guano removed, and that 
he would agree to protect the birds, providing that he would be allowed to 
. . . / , 
kill so many per year for their skins. The Territory was to receive a 10 
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