Gledstanes, 1837 Over the course of several field seasons, NOAA maritime archaeologists had been looking fo r the site of the British whaleship Gledstanes, which wrecked at Kure Atoll , fifteen years after the loss of the Pearl and the Hermes. Like the whalemen of Pearl and H ermes, all onboard survived the wrecking event and eventually made it back to civilization after enduring several months camped out on the nearby tiny Ocean (now "Green") Island, where they built a boar o n rhe beach to seek their own rescue. Like the boat built by the Pearl and H ermes crew, this vessel was also named Deliverance. Co nfirmation of the Gledstanes wrecking event came five years late r, when the New Bedford whaleship Parker wrecked along that same reef in 1842. H er survivors noted where the Gledstanes's rem ains were located, and they used items the British wh alers had left behind on Ocean Island to aid them in their own survival. Remarkably, in 1870, portions of the Gledstanes wreck we re still visible-thir ty- three years later! In that year, the US Navy steamship Saginaw ran agro und on the reef d uring the night. W hen dayligh t broke, after a harrowing nigh t on the reef, her sailors let out a cheer when the silhouette of another ship appeared on the horizon. Soon their elation gave way to desperation when they realized that the ship wo uld not be their salvarionit was the shipwreck of the Gledstanes. Most of the Saginaw crew wo uld survive their o rdeal, and their journals and reports helped archaeologists immeasurably in locating the Gfedstanes in 2008. Usi ng data gleaned fro m historical research and previous fi eld surveys, it was the Saginaw
Rectangular iron bars scattered in a ravine were the first artifacts divers saw when they discovered the site ofthe G ledstanes in the Papahdnaumokudkea Marine National Monument.
survivo rs' map of the atoll that proved the most helpful. Nevertheless, an "X" on a hand-drawn sketch hardly lands yo u exactly in the right spot out on the ocean
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cou•T•sv HoucHToN MIFFLIN
Commander Montgomery Sicard of USS Saginaw made this sketch of Kure Atoll with the Location of the Gledstanes wreck clearly marked on the upper right.
Kelly Gleason examines the sheered offtrypot at the G Ieds tan es wreck site.
SEA HISTORY 125 , WINTER 2008-09
with no permanent landmarks from which to take bearings. Dr. Hans Va n Tilburg's extensive histori cal research and field experien ce, coupl ed with Dr. Kelly G leason's systematic approach toward narrowing the search area, put this yea r's archaeology dive team close to the location of th e G!edstanes remains. W ith the sea co nditio ns Lmusually calm during th is fi eld season, the team was able to towboard and drift-di ve very close to the reef crest. O n the seco nd day of surveying, the team came across a large collection of iron bars lying in a groove about 600 feet from the reef line. Following the sand channel shoreward, dramatically fl anked by steep coral walls on either side, the divers discovered more ballas t (about 40 to 50 bars in all), piles of heavy chain, at least one cannon, four mass ive anchors, and heavy iron pieces encrusted into the coralline substrate (poss ibly rryworks knees) . Finally, the discovery of a sheered-off rrypot co nfirmed the sire as a whaling shipwreck. Between the reporrs of the shipwrecked sailors from the Gfedstanes, Parker, and Saginaw, and the fact that the G!edstanes is the only whaleship known to have been lost on the eastern side of the atoll, the archaeologists are co nfident that this site is indeed the British whaleship lost here in 1837, th e 428-ton G!edstanes. The story of G!edstanes's career, wrecking, and subsequent survival of her crew refl ects the history of Britain's involvement in the business of whaling across the globe, of whaling's influence on H awaiian history (at leas t of two of the shipwrecked whalemen were native H awaiians), and of man's indomitable spirit and resourcefulness when faced with surviving a shipwreck more than a thousand miles from the closest port. Look for the full story in an upcoming issue of Sea History.
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