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Much Evidence of the Past on 
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were among the specimens tak¬ 
en off Nihoa, 
The last museum expeditions 
in 1923 and 1924 reported dis¬ 
covering similar artifacts, stone 
platforms, and terraced fields to 
give proof that the island was 
once inhabited by humans. 
Mr. Sheehan said the island 
is covered with the platforms, 
terraces, and thousands of birds. 
. * * * 
THE ISLAND IS a U*. S. bird 
sanctuary and its feathered pop¬ 
ulation apparently has no fear of 
human visitors. 
The expedition landed on the 
the island at 9 a.m. Aug. 21. 
ifach man had a job to do. Aside 
from Mr. Nottage, who skippered 
the Aukaka, and Mr. Sheehan, 
who made television movies, col¬ 
or and black and white photo¬ 
graphs, and tape recordings, 
there were two other men bent 
on close scientific scrutiny of the 
island. 
H. Ivan Rainwater, an ama¬ 
teur archaeologist and airport 
ANCHORING’IN’ Adam’s bay supervisor with the P lant Quar- 
Radio announcer Ed Sheehan, 
one of the five members of last 
week’s Nihoa island expedition, 
returned home Saturday with a 
vivid account of the 156-acre 
speck of volcanic' rock jutting 
out of the ocean some 250 miles 
northwest of Honolulu. 
The expedition, headed by 
David G. Nottage, a Honolulu 
insurance man, left Kewalo Basin 
about 11 pm. on Aug. 19 on the 
36-foot cabin cruiser Aukaka.' 
' ' . j|g 
MR. SHEEHAN, who is-also an 
account executive with a Hono¬ 
lulu advertising firm, said the 
vessel stopped briefly at Kauai 
then continued on to Nihoa. 
The expedition arrived off¬ 
shore from the tiny Leeward is¬ 
land about 6 a.m. on Aug. 21. Al¬ 
though the day before an under¬ 
water volcanic disturbance had 
been reported by passengers on 
two Military Air Transport Serv¬ 
ice planes, Mr. Sheehan said no 
one on the Niho£ trip saw any 
evidence of the activity. 
* * 
on the southerly side of the is¬ 
land, the group went ashore in 
a dingy through surf piled up in 
10-foot swells. 
Nihoa is shaped like half of a 
cowboy’s saddle. It slopes steep¬ 
ly upward from the south in a 
series of five small valleys to 
drop precipitously to the sea on 
the north. 
The western side of the island 
is also a cliff 600 to 800 feet 
high. The shores are rock-strewn, 
and landing from a boat is dan¬ 
gerous. 
THE EXPEDITION’S main 
purpose was to collect a carbon 
sample to be used to determine 
when the island was first occu¬ 
pied. 
Mr. Sheehan said such a sam¬ 
ple was dug from beneath an old 
shelter found on the island. He 
added that an unfinished adz, a 
flew in and out of the sheltef 
all night, 
* * * * 
MR. SHEEHAN said the ex¬ 
pedition found remnants. of an¬ 
cient stone temples, and discov¬ 
ered two palm valleys on the 
southwest side of the islapd. 
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There were so many evidences 
of former habitation “that I al¬ 
most expected to see people walk 
out of one of those heiaus 
(temples) any time,” he said. 
He said the National Geo¬ 
graphic Society expressed inter¬ 
est in the expedition and that he 
hopes to write an article about 
the trip - V * . : - 
THE EXPEDITION left the is- 
t 
land at 11 a.m. Aug. 24 and ran 
into bad weather on the way- 
back to Kauai. It took them al_. 
most 26 hours to return—seven 
hours more than the outbound 
trip from. Kauai to Nihoa. 
No conclusions have been 
dra^n from the expedition yet, 
but it is hoped the carbon sam¬ 
ple will shed further light on the 
antine branch of the- U. S. De¬ 
partment of' Agriculture, was 
chosen by Dr. Kenneth P. Emory 
of the Bishop Museum to collect 
various specimens. 
He was assisted by George 
Carter, a Pearl Harbor mechanic, 
Peter * Nottage, a Honolulu con¬ 
tractor, Mr. Sheehan, and Mr. 
Nottage. 
jjC £ 
MR. SHEEHAN said they found 
opihi as large as silver dollars 
around the island, and “we ate 
them like peanuts.” 
In the evenings, he said, the 
men occupied their time by 
catching seven to eight foot 
sharks. About a dozen were land¬ 
ed. He added that 50 moi were 
caught in three hours, and many 
other fish were hauled ashore. 
Mr. Rainwater and Mr Shee¬ 
han spent Sunday night on the 
island in one of the old shelters. 
stone bowl, and four frigate birds They found that the tame birds 
earlier civilization. 
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