A rebuttal of the "Earhart's bones have been found!" claims from a former Federal Investigator

An eloquent rebuttal from Les Kinney, Earhart investigator, former Federal investigator, who was featured on the History Channel Earhart program:

New evidence of Amelia Earhart? Or old evidence that's been misrepresented?

Well, here we are again.

Someone puts out a press release, the press release goes around the world, and feathers fly about Amelia Earhart.

As I just said on "Coast to Coast" - I'd love it if it were true that they found her bones at last. 

It would mean I wouldn't have her bugging me (for the past 30 years) about telling her story. But I can only report what I've been reporting since I began researching her story. 

Over 200 people claim to have seen her on Saipan after she disappeared. Their stories line up - if they were making it up, delusional, or some other reason - then we'd find some folks on islands somewhere else making the same claims. 

But there are none. I've interviewed 15 new eyewitnesses who either saw her or claim their relatives saw her - I've interviewed US Marines who claim they found her plane, claim they saw her plane flown, claim they found her briefcase (dry as a bone with passport and flight plans, over two witnesses) people who claim they guarded her plane and ultimately witnessed US forces destroy it - all of this lines up and is consistent in the reporting. So I ask you - if she was incarcerated, died on Saipan, apparently as late as 1944, how did her bones wind up in a grave on this other island FOUR YEARS EARLIER THAN SHE DIED?

Actually the find occurred back in 1940, at the time the doctor who examined these bones said they were from a male, 5'5" - but as Tighar points out, another doctor in Fiji said they were of a European female, closer to 5' 7."And to be sure, let's not forget - these "bones" do not exist. They have no "bones." The bones are long gone. This analysis is of another man's analysis! 

Where the original analysis said it must have been a male this new analysis - without photographic or forensic evidence - says he's 99% certain that it's Amelia Earhart! Wow. Wonders never cease.
From the report: "If the skeleton were available, it would presumably be a relatively straightforward task to make a positive identification, or a definitive exclusion. Unfortunately, all we have are the meager data in Hoodless’s report and a premortem record gleaned from photographs and clothing. From the information available, we can at least provide an assessment of how well the bones fit what we can reconstruct of Amelia Earhart. Because the reconstructions are now quantitative, probabilities can also be estimated." (Unless you're looking on an island she never, ever, ever, ever was on.)

So that must be Amelia!  

Well hang on a second there cowboys and cowgirls.  First we have to look at the facts.

Well we know she wasn't 5' 5" - she's a head taller than this car door.

How many people claim they saw her on Nikumaroro or the Phoenix island group?

The answer to that is zero.

However, we do have people who claim to have seen the Electra land on Mili, that pieces from that landing have been found on Mili.  

Looking at pieces of the Electra in Seattle with Dick Spink, former
NTSB investigator Jim Hayton and explorer Mike Harris

I have a former NTSB investigator on camera saying "Beyond a shadow of doubt, the pieces that were found on Mili could only have come from her Electra." He demonstrates on camera how they fit on her plane.  

Further the paint of those pieces has been compared to an actual piece of the Electra (owned by a fellow in Seattle that was "taken" off the plane before it left) and the color is the same. 

Piece that came off the Electra. Paint is the same as hers.

Jim demonstrating where it fit prefectly on his
own brake assembly from the same Electra

The wheel assembly from a rare
copy of the Electra manual. Same piece.

Then we have the over 200 islanders who claim to have seen her after the plane came down.  We have them on Mili, we have them on Majuro (a stevedore who tells that to a US Navy soldier during WWII) we have them on Jaluit - (including a Marshallese congressman, who saw her plane on the back of the Kyoshu when he was a boy,) including a young man who tended to her and Fred's wounds, (and reported that to numerous investigators) including others who claim they saw both Amelia and Fred and the plane in Jaluit.

Andrew Bryce met a stevedore on Majuro in WWII who claimed he
transported the plane from Mili for the Japanese

All eyewitnesses. All saw Amelia or heard the
Japanese talking about her capture.

Then we have eyewitnesses who claim to see her come ashore on Saipan, claim to have tended to her wounds in the hospital, claim to have seen her incarcerated, claim to have heard of Fred Noonan's torture and execution, and her being incarcerated for a number of years in a cell in Garapan, Saipan. Or this fellow, who claimed he saw her on Saipan in USA Today.

Saipan vet saw the Electra in a hanger at Aslito. "It was the
most famous plane in the world, it was missing for 7 years when I saw it.
We all knew what it was, and we all talked about it." Doug Bryce.

Decoded the messages for his Marine commander that said "We
have found Earhart's Electra June 1944 Alsito airfield. Guarded
the Electra for 24 hours, decoded the message they were going to fly it,
then decoded the message and watched as it was destroyed.

Also watched it being destroyed, and corroborates
Naber's story of Navy brass trying to gain entrance to
see the plane.  Quoted Nabers although he'd never met him,
and I interviewed him a month later.

Bob Wallack, interviewed by Connie Chung, found her
briefcase in a safe "dry as a bone." He corroborated what
Nabers said, as he turned over the briefcase to Naber's commanding
officer.  Nabers saw the same briefcase, and described the
same one that Wallack found.  Wallack kept her passport and briefcase for two weeks
before turning it over to Lewis Wallace, Marine corps Lt.Col (and Naber's boss)

Further we have the 12 GIs who claim they found the plane in a hangar on Aslito airfield, claim they recovered her briefcase, claim they found a photo book with her picture in it, claim that they saw the plane flown, then burned and destroyed.

Former congressman whose father saw AE and FN
coming ashore,the same day that others saw them.

As a boy of 12 saw her in captivity. Quoted as saying "The first
European woman you've ever seen, dressed like a man and her hands
tied behind her back? Not something you forget." His story
corroborated by another Saipanese man the same day.

This man's mother worked in the hospital,came home
in 1937 said "I treated an american woman pilot today" and told him not
to tell anyone for fear of retribution by the Japanese.

This man's father saw Amelia in prison in the cell
next to his brother, this man's uncle.

This woman was 16 years old when she saw Amelia and Fred
come ashore in Saipan.  She corroborated the same details that
the other man's father told him. Japanese ordered them to
"lower their heads" but neither he nor she would do so. Her report
is what alerted CBS newsman Fred Goerner to the story in 1963.

Are all of these people lying?  

Well, let's ask the simple question; if they're all lying, why aren't their lying islanders on other islands?  Why isn't there one sighting of her on any other island in the Marshalls or the Marianas or the Gilberts or the Phoenix islands?  Why would so many concoct one story to fit only one scenario?

But then we have this conclusion from the scientist looking at this skeleton's bones.  I have no doubt that the scientist did his best work in examining these bones.  However, the problem I have is his conclusion.  What he concludes is that the bones are of a European woman who is taller than the 5' 5" - two inches taller than the previous conclusion, that these bones come from a European woman. That does not mean it was Amelia, because there's no evidence she was on this island. But there's a detail in the report that shows where else these bones might have come from.  

Who owned the Phoenix islands?  History tells us "The name Phoenix for this group of islands seems to have been settled on in the 1840s, after an island of that name within the group. Phoenix Island was probably named after one of the many whaleships of that name plying these waters in the early 19th century."

So there were ships "plying these waters" as early as 1840. The island in question, once called "Gardner" "was once the headquarters for the British colonial officer heading up the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme, Gerald Gallagher. Gallagher constructed a village on the western end of the atoll, with wide coral-paved streets, a parade ground, cooperative store, administrative center and residence, and radio shack." Let's see. A shop on the island with storefronts. Sounds popular.

Further: "Although shelled and bombed a few times during World War II, neither Kanton nor any of the Phoenix Islands was ever occupied by Japanese forces. Between 1938 and 1940, in an effort to reduce overcrowding on the Gilbert Islands, the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme colonised the previously uninhabited Orona (Hull), Manra (Sydney), and Nikumaroro (Gardner) islands. By 1963, however, the three settlements had failed and the entire population was moved to the Solomon Islands."

IN THE REPORT BELOW, GALLAGHER SAYS THE BODY HE FOUND IN 1940 LOOKED ABOUT "FOUR YEARS OLD." If that was correct, hmm... shall we do the math? She disappeared in 1937. He found a four year old grave in 1940.  The Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme (mentioned above) colonized Nikumaroro with a new population of people.  Could they have been one of those people?  

According to this report, no, because this body is "european" in origin.  (I.e. Caucasian)

So there were a gaggle of people living in these islands, specifically repopulating Gardner.  The question is - were any of them European females? Well, let's just look at the history of these islands by looking at their cemeteries of this and other islands:  

This cemetery in Majuro (Marshalls) is about to be
claimed by the ocean.

Cemetery on Kirabati (Phoenix) The names are often
European descendants, from the colonists
who populated the islands.

Some European names in this cemetery on Nikumaroro.
There are many in the old cemeteries of Saipan, Tinian and other
islands in the Marianas.  Europeans were like insects; everywhere.

Pics from the old cemetery on Saipan. Many
German names and Spanish names up until 1939
when this cemetery was moved.

European heritage, European parents, but native islanders
with European last names.

In other words - many of these descendants have European (German or Spanish) ancestors.  Last time I looked, a skeleton doesn't know what the color of someone's skin is. But there's more:

In the original finding, they claimed that alongside the bones they found a  a "shoe," a bottle of Benedictine, and a sextant. (The shoe, claimed to be a woman's shoe in the report, was proven to be a man's shoe size 9 by the New York Times back in the 1980's.) Tighar tried to claim she "wore men's shoes."  Whatever. The discussion of the bones has been a bone of contention for some time. 

Here's what the article concludes: 

"To address the question of whether the Nikumaroro bones match estimates of Amelia Earhart’s bone lengths, I compare Earhart’s bone lengths with the Nikumaroro bones using Mahalanobis distance. This analysis reveals that Earhart is more similar to the Nikumaroro bones than 99% of individuals in a large reference sample. This strongly supports the conclusion that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to Amelia Earhart." 

Literally saying that he's found that these bones are likely to be that of a European woman - but there's no reason to assume that European woman would be Amelia. 

Here's why these other objects found are important. These islands were owned by Europeans since the 1840's. The Marshalls were ruled by the Germans until World War I. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands. 

Saipan, which I'm most familiar with, was ruled by Spain, sold Germany, then turned over to Japan (in 1914) then after the war became part of the United States. 

"Ferdinand Magellan was the first known European to visit the Mariana Islands and in 1521 he named the archipelago ‘Islas de los Ladrones’ (Islands of the Thieves) as a result of cultural misunderstandings. Over the next 40 years Spanish merchant ships passed through the region while exploring possible trade routes. During this early exploration period only one vessel is recorded lost in the Mariana Islands; in 1522 the caravel Santa Margarita was wrecked somewhere in the general vicinity of the ‘Ladrones’ (Brunal-Perry et al., 2009: 99)." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../1095-9270.12140/full

So let's not pretend that because a European skeleton is found on Nikumaroro it means it has to be Amelia's. First we'd have to prove some other connection to the body, or why a European woman might have been on this island.  Could it be that a descendant of a European father and an island mother died with this sextant box and a bottle of Benedictine?

 -By the way... a "Benedictine Bottle" is an odd tasting liqueur made by French Monks since the 16th century, it was common into the 19th century. Amelia didn't drink alcohol and Fred didn't carry around bottles of Liqueur - whisky perhaps - but not some fancy French monk "liqueurs."

BÉNÉDICTINE ESSENTIAL FACTS

• In 1510, the Benedictine monk Don Bernardo Vincelli created the recipe for this French liqueur, which calls for 27 plants and spices. The three main ingredients are Angelica, Hyssop and Lemon Balm.
• There are only three people on earth who know the complete recipe for making the spirit.
• Benedictine is aged for up to 17 months before bottling.
• The brand was first imported to the United States in 1888.

The sextant found with the bones and the bottle was commonly used by sailors prior to 1918 - where did I get that detail? From Tighar's own site: https://tighar.org/smf/index.php?topic=183.120

A sextant is used in sailing for the most part.  And if it was found on Nikumaroro, chances are it came from a sailor.  AE didn't have a 1918 sextant aboard the Electra either way.

The point being - whether it's a male or female is irrelevant when one looks at the objects in light of the history of the region. Germany sent missionaries, Spain created churches (all the prayerbooks circa 1940 are in Spanish) and Europeans are still there - in the tombstones present on Saipan, Tinian and other islands, as well as those in the Marshalls. Europeans mated with islanders and had children. This idea that "no one has ever been to this island before" is something perpetrated by people who want to profit from their findings.

Besides the fact that there is forensic evidence the Electra landed on Mili atoll (see the History Channel program), I've examined the pieces myself, compared the color of the paint to a piece of her plane owned by a man in Seattle, I've got an interview with an NTSB investigator who proves on camera that the pieces found on Mili belonged to her plane. 

Eyewitnesses saw her transported to Saipan, eyewitnesses saw her on Saipan. Over 200 saw her there, and if someone has a problem with believing what islanders say (even though no other islanders say that from any other island in the Pacific) then I strongly urge them to look up the word "racism" in the dictionary: 

noun

1. prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.

   
   

   • the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

     
     

Somehow these fellows have a blind spot when it comes to the actual history of the place, the actual history of the people who lived there, and the actual people who claim that they or their ancestors saw her "land" on Mili, saw her arrested, and saw her taken to Saipan, where she was seen by many more. 

Plus there are the above veterans and U.S. Marines who claim they found her briefcase, found the Electra and watched it destroyed and buried by US forces. Not a theory or belief - but just reporting accurately what people actually have said about her and what happened.

If indeed, this fellow has proven these bones to be that of a European woman who is 5'7" - the Benedictine bottle, and the sextant would put her as someone who was aboard a Spanish ship in the 19th century who either after a wreck or some other reason made it to that island.  If it was Amelia, what would she be doing with a sextant from the first World War? What would she be doing with a bottle of Benedictine? Something neither she nor Fred drank.

From "the Bottle of Benedictine Found on Nikumaroro" on wikipedia.

(There's a photograph of a 1930's bottle with the caption "It is most likely representative of the bottle found on Gardner Island." Hello? There's no date on the bottle, and it could have come from any time period.) 

"When the skull was found and buried in April, 1940, it seems that there was a bottle nearby. Teng Koata apparently took the bottle with him to Tarawa before Gallagher began the "thorough search" suggested by his superiors. Although the bottle was recovered from Koata, it apparently was not shipped to Suva with the other things collected on Niku.

Telegram from Gallagher to the Acting Administrative Officer, Central Gilbert Islands District, Tarawa. Transcript
September 23, 1940
Please obtain from Koata (Native Magistrate Gardner on way to Central Hospital) a certain bottle alleged to have been found near skull discovered on Gardner Island. Grateful you retain bottle in safe place for present and ask Koata not to talk about skull which is just possibly that of Amelia Earhardt. [sic] Gallagher.

Here's the contents of Gallagher wrote in 1940:

"Some months ago working party on Gardner
discovered human skull – this was buried and I only recently heard about it. Thorough search has now produced more bones ( including lower jaw ) part of a shoe a bottle and a sextant box. I would appear that
(a) Skeleton is possibly that of a woman,
(b) Shoe was a womans and probably size 10,
(c) Sextant box has two numbers on it
 3500 ( stencilled ) and 1542 – sextant
 being old fashioned and probably painted
 over with black enamel.

Bones look more than four years old to me
but there seems to be very slight chance that this
may be remains of Amelia Earhardt. If United States authorities find that above evidence fits into general description, perhaps they could supply some dental information as many teeth are intact. Am holding latest finds for present but have not exhumed skull. There is no local indication that this discovery is related to wrekc of the “Norwich City”.  Gallagher.

Telegram from the Administrative Officer, Central Gilbert Islands District, Tarawa to Gallagher. Transcript September 30, 1940
Your telegram 23rd September. Koata has handed to me one benedictine bottle. A.O.C.G.I.D.
Gallagher in a telegram on October 6, 1940, says that there was "no indication of contents" found in the bottle, if any.

Cf. Bones Chronology.


Floyd Kilts was told that "beside the body was a cognac bottle with fresh water in it for drinking."

Let's just break this down for a second. Gallagher says he finds a skeleton, says it looks like a woman.  He says the shoe was probably size 10 and there was a sextant box. The sextant is reported to be from before 1918. (According to Tighar research) 

Alongside of that, he hears later there was an empty bottle of Benedictine that was "filled with water."

Just like the scientist examining the bones that he has never seen, Gallagher is talking about a bottle he never saw.

Further, in reply to some questions, Gallagher offered:  (a) Skeleton was not buried – skull was buried after discovery by natives (coconut crabs had scattered many bones), (b) (located) 100 feet from high water ordinary springs, (c) ("Was body buried?" Improbable, (d) ("What's the condition of the shoe?") Only part of sole remains, (f) Appears to have been stoutish walking shoe or heavy sandal, (g) “Benedictine” bottle but no indication of contents, There are indications that person was alive when cast ashore – fire, birds killed, etc., 

Okay, this was all covered back in 1988, this was all debunked decades ago. Now we have a scientist who claims that the bones "match that of a Caucasian female." Not sure how these are related whatsoever to Amelia, but it's the source of why these guys have been scouring this island for 30 years and have never found any other evidence. 

If they found a bottle of buttermilk, (her favorite) I'd have to think twice about whether it was hers or not.  

Or some other compelling clue - but nothing, zero, gives this any credibility to this conclusion whatsoever.  But nice to see Amelia's photograph whenever I do see it.

When Is A Book Not a Book? Evidence that proves the ship was in Jaluit

In light of the latest hoopla with regard to the infamous photograph of the dock on Jaluit that proves Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were in Japanese custody...

Your honor... I present further evidence.

Let's recap, shall we?

The History Channel and my friend Les Kinney release a photograph that shows a number of verifiable details.  A ship identified on the show as the Koshu towing a plane on a Japanese barge with the same dimensions as the Electra. 

The show examines that the ship indeed was the Koshu.  We have records from the Koshu itself that show it was in Jaluit in July of 1937 (more on that later.)

The photograph in the portfolio - not a book, nor "a copyrighted book" - but a photo album that's been stamped 1935 - never published, not ever a book -  (if we can't agree on what a book is, what's the point of language anyway?) A book is bound - it's published, it's reprinted - that's not the case here. 

Guess they couldn't bind books in Japan without string.
Or perhaps it is what it is - a porfolio of photos stamped as 1935 incorrectly.

It's a photograph with other photographs taken by the same photographer tied together with the traditional string that photo albums have. 

1935 stamp. Not a copyright notice. Not a bound book by any stretch 
of the imagination. Not a published, reproduced book.  
No other copies of this portfolio.

That's all very clear from the website itself.

Hey look, a 1937 Ford! (just kidding - but you get the idea)

The photo caption for the photograph of the Jaluit dock actually says the ship in the photo is the "Koshu."  Gee willickers - you can't claim the photo proves one thing, then doesn't prove another thing.

When was the Koshu at the dock in Jaluit?  I reveal that below.

The photo has: A man standing on the dock who forensic photo experts claim is a match with Fred Noonan, and the back of what appears to be a woman crouching.  

It looks to my eye that it is Amelia's back - but then I've only amassed 5000 photographs of her, watched 30 hours of stock footage of her, been hired on the Diane Keaton and Hilary Swank films, have been studying her back for oh... 30 years now.  Could it be someone else's back?  I suppose so. But from the pose that I see - my brain said "oh, look, Amelia's back."

So there are other people on the dock as well.  Can these folks be placed on the dock in 1937. As I showed in a previous post here - yes, there is some evidence of Europeans being arrested, detained by the Japanese on these docks in the past.  De Bisschop is one, the fellow "V B 2" who wrote the "I saw Earhart in custody on the dock at Jaluit in 1937" letter is another.

But I digress.

The Marshall Islands issued a preliminary press release where they refuted the "debunking"of the photograph - claiming that their records and oral histories show that dock was not built until 1936.

(They've issued a second official release where they didn't mention the dock, but reaffirmed that they believe the words of the elders who claim they saw the Electra come down, saw the woman pilot arrested, and reported the dock was not built until 1936.)

So what else can we glean from this photograph?

Well, a number of things.

As reported below, an eyewitness who claimed he spoke to a stevedore who helped drag the Electra off of Mili Atoll, and then put it on a Japanese barge which took the Electra to a Japanese ship docked in Majuro.

Andew Bryce, Navy Vet, who spoke to the stevedore on Majuro
who claimed he transported the Electra to a Japanese barge, then to a Japanese ship. His brother Douglas saw the Electra in a hangar on Saipan. What are the odds two vets - brothers would hold key clues to her plane? (Both interviewed in the "eyewitnesses on saipan" footage)

There's an eyewitness report in the footage below that quotes a Marshallese congressman who remembers the day in 1937 when his father took him to the dock to show him the plane on the back of the Japanese ship, and told him about the arrest of an "American spy."

He was a boy when his dad to him to the dock in 1937 to show him the Electra.

There's an eyewitness report in the footage below where Bilimon Amaron, a local on Jaluit, claims the Japanese brought him aboard the Japanese ship to examine Amelia and Fred and he saw the plane on a sling on the back of the ship.

Bilimon Amaron, a man above reproach,
according to his business partner of 40 years. 
Bilimon was filmed at least twice, 
and his story reported in a number of books.

But maybe they're all wrong? Maybe they made that up?

What's a simple logical way to learn if and when this ship, identified by many sources as the Koshu, wound up on Jaluit?

The ship's records.

Turns out there's someone who has examined the ship's records.  Vincent Loomis.  Turns out he wrote about examining those records in 1985.  I found these references this morning, and I will post them verbatim and where they came from:

From a page marked "Warships in the Marshalls in 1937"

Subject: Warships in the Marshalls
Date: 2/21/01
From: "R.R."
Concerning Japanese military in 1937, I have a document that might be of interest.

Department of State
Division of Far Eastern Affairs
5 July 1937
Subject: Search for plane of Amelia Earhart

"Mr. Hayama informed Mr. Ballentine over the telephone that the Japanese Embassy had received an urgent telegram from Tokyo asking that inquiry be made of this Government whether the Japanese Government could be of assistance in connection with the search for Amelia Earhart, in view of the fact that Japan had radio stations and warships in the Marshall Islands... Mr. Ballantine expressed his appreciation etc."

"The significance is that the Japanese did have warships in the Marshall islands on 5 July 1937."

Subject: Re: Warships in the Marshalls
Date: 2/22/01
From: "D.P."

"At the very least, it shows that someone at the Department of State thought that the Japanese had warships in the Marshalls. This is the same intelligence that missed the Japanese planning to bomb Pearl Harbor. Their beliefs could have been incorrect."

(reply) From Ric

The communication alleges that Mr. Hayama (presumably of the Japanese Embassy) called Mr. Ballantine (presumably at the U.S. State Dept.) to tell him that the embassy had just received an offer from the Japanese government to help with the Earhart search because "Japan had radio stations and warships in the Marshall Islands...". 

"This would seem to be a rather straightforward acknowledgement by Japan that it had warships in the Marshall Islands. What ships were they?"

"For (sic) his book Amelia Earhart : The Final Story, Vince Loomis went to considerable efforts to dig out the records of what Japanese ships were in the Marshalls in July 1937. He was trying to figure our (sic) what ship his star witness, Bilimon Amaron, had seen carrying the Earhart Electra on its aft deck." 

"His book claims that he was able to determine that the Japanese really did not carry out the search for Earhart they later claimed to have made, because the ships of the "12th Squadron" supposedly used in the search were, in fact, in port in Japan the whole time. A survey ship also said to have participated in the search, the Kamui (meaning "God's power" and incorrectly listed as Kamoi in most Earhart books) was also in home waters." 

"The only ship Loomis could come up with anywhere near the Marshalls was the seaplane tender Koshu. She was in Ponape, about 400 miles west of the Marshalls, on July 2, 1937 and arrived in Jaluit in the Marshalls on July 13. Loomis says Koshu then left Jaluit but returned sometime before July 19 when she sailed for Truk and eventually Saipan. It is between its departure from and return from Jaluit that he says the ship picked up Earhart, Noonan and the plane at Mili Atoll in the southern Marshalls.

LTM,
Ric"

Subject: Re: Warships in the Marshalls
Date: 2/23/001
From: "R.J."

"Here's a pertinent extract from the book TFKing, and others are writing:

"The U.S. also asked the Japanese to search the areas around the Marshall Islands, and official correspondence at the time indicated that they asked the oceanographic survey ship Koshu to do so. The Koshu arrived in the Marshall Island area on or about July 9th, and continued searching for about ten days. 

A 1949 U.S. Army Intelligence report states that despite the fact that no documentation exists in the Japanese Navy, interviews of Japanese officials on Jaliut (sic) and elsewhere indicated that both the Koshu and Kamoi searched the Marshall Islands, with the assistance of a large-type flying boat. Bridge logs of the Kamoi clearly state it was no where near the Marshalls during this time, and we have no documentary evidence that a flying boat was ever used to search for wreckage. 

The report also states that no traces of the Electra were found. 1. The Japanese also offered to search the Gilberts, an offer that seems to have been (understandably) ignored. 2. The Koshu was doing oceanographic surveys, and based upon their reports, one can deduce from their speed and departure date to have arrived in the Marshalls (Jaluit) no earlier than July 9th. 

Official correspondence between the US Navy and State Dept. and Japanese officials at that time acknowledge only the Koshu in assisting in the survey for AE wreckage.... 

What's interesting about this Army Intelligence report is that it is the first document that names the Kamoi. Every AE book states the Kamoi and Koshu were involved in the search. Hmmm. Now about that seaplane...no confirming documents on its existance (sic) ...but I wonder if the anecdotes about a plane being sighted in and around Jaluit during the search phase on the back of a ship was this seaplane and not AE's...I wonder..."

1 US Army Intelligence, 1949a; Kamoi bridge logs in Jacobson archives; Maritime Safety Agency, Tokyo, 1951, Hydrographic Bulletin, 981(8).
2 Western Pacific High Commission, 1937a; U.S. Department of State, 1937; U.S. Navy, 1937e; Spading, 1997.

(reply) From Ric

"We clearly have the Kamui (Kamoi - whatever) nailed, but I'm a bit fuzzy about the Koshu. The Loomis book includes copies of various diplomatic exchanges between the U.S. and Japan but there's no reference to the Koshu. Mike Holt couldn't find a Koshu in A. J. Watts' Japanese Warships of WW2. I wonder what evidence we have that there even was such a boat?

The Honolulu Star Bulletin has an AP release dated 6 Jul 37 from New York; in sum, Japanese officials report that the "2100 ton survey ship Kooshu [sic]" is searching in the Marshall Islands. (In the main article the spelling is "Koshu", so probably an extra "o" typo. Also the Japanese were searching in "other areas near Howland".)

"This is probably independent corroboration of the Koshu's status. Fukiko Aoki, Japanese author, writes in Searching for Amelia Earhart in 1984 (not translated as of yet) that there were two Japanese ships in the area. The "battleship Koshu" and the carrier Kamoi." 

(RM: Obvious error or mistranslation from Ms. Aoki - not a battleship) 

"According to her, she reviewed the logs of the Koshu which reflect the dates and places reported by Ric. The Koshu left Jaluit on 19 Jul 37 headed to Saipan."

(RM: Hello? The Koshu was in Jaluit from July 9th to July 19th?  Then headed to Saipan?  Gee, I wonder what it was taking to Saipan?  Oh, I don't know. Perhaps that shiny aluminum plane that both Bilimon Amaron and Oscar De Brum claim they saw?

There are multiple reports that claim Amelia was taken to Saipan by hydroplane - there is even a claim that a suitcase of hers was found on Truk. (By a GI during the war) I'm claiming neither, but there have been claims made about both.

Ms. Blanco-Akiyama says she was at the seaplane harbor when Amelia and Fred came up the docks, as does the son of another eyewitness in the "Eyewitnesses on Saipan" footage below. (As do eyewitnesses in Goerner's book and his interviews in 1963. But these documents are posted on a research webpage that states that the Koshu not only was docked in Jaluit in July of 1937 but that it went from Jaluit to Saipan. How cool is that?)

Subject: Re: Warships in the Marshalls
Date: 2/22/01
From: "E. E."
Found on www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/misc/45-41.html

From: U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings; Pt. 35, the Clausen Investigation, pp. 52-62.

Fourth Fleet:
Survey and Patrol Division: Koshu

"Seems to be some sort of cargo ship"

From Ric

"Bingo. Nice work. At least a ship by that name existed."

These reports printed from: 
https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Forum/Highlights121_140/highlights127p2.html


The "Ric" in these reports are written replies from the founder of Tighar.org, Ric Gillespie. (Whose latest expedition (I think this is the 7th or 8th over the past 30 years) is being covered by National Geographic. The one with the cadaver dogs.)

These mentions of the Koshu on Jaluit are from his excellent repository of all things Earhart, the extensive research files from Tighar.org

Not to be overly obvious - but these messages were from 2001.  They were generally focused on the Kamoi - a ship that many thought was involved with the search for AE's plane.  But obviously, it's the Koshu that deserves focus.

Here's the Koshu in the photograph (so identified in the photo caption when put into the photo album originally).

And as confirmed here for the first time, it's in the ship's records that it was docked in Jaluit in July of 1937.

THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS OBVIOUSLY TAKEN BETWEEN JULY 9 AND JULY 19TH 1937. IT'S THE ONLY TIME THE DOCK EXISTED AND THE KOSHU WAS IN THE HARBOR AT THE SAME TIME.

Amelia kneeling in front of the wheel that the dust cover
came from in a previous post

People tend to put theories in opposing camps.

Frankly, I don't care a fig about opposing camps. Or theories. I stick to when there is more than one eyewitness report that can be corroborated. 

I have no beef with Tighar or their work, or their research. I admit I was annoyed when I got to Saipan and someone from their organization called the Saipan newspaper ("Marianas Variety") and claimed I was some "Hollywood" fellow trying to get people to say anything on camera. That I was influencing their replies by 'twisting the questions.' The article was posted before I'd interviewed anyone.

The opposite was true.  I found pretty quickly that if you go to Saipan and ask about Earhart people close their doors in your face.  Or spout the official story that she disappeared.  Unless you ask them the question "So what was it like for you and your family during and prior to the war?"

And when they open up about their experiences, their own life stories - they begin to talk about how well they got along with the Japanese, how Japan brought wealth and friends to the island from 1914 on. That it was only just prior to the onset of war that they suddenly imported battle weary troops from Manchuria who treated the Saipanese "as slaves." Who executed them for not bowing low enough. Who took all of their homes and sent the populace to live in caves.

Photo from a private family album on Saipan

And after those stories, I'd ask "So did you or anyone in your family ever hear anything about a female pilot on Saipan?" 

And they would preface it with "I don't know who she was. If you ask me if it was Earhart, I will tell you - I don't know. We called all Caucasian people Europeans. (Spain ruled Saipan, then Germany, then Japan, now the US.)  

But yes, my "mother" "brother" "father" "grandfather" told the following story..." - and that is the eyewitness testimony I gathered.  10 hours of it.

When the Prime Minister of Japan visited Saipan. A private family photo.

And the stories were the same. She ("the female pilot" "the european woman dressed like a man") came to the island in July of 1937. Many people saw her - only the people who saw her weren't "Europeans."  

As I told the Marianas Variety "It's a peculiar form of racism that doesn't listen to eyewitness testimony of islanders and claims people didn't see what they saw, or for some reason would lie about it, or somehow conspire to tell THE SAME STORY." (emphasis added, because well, it's annoying to have to repeat myself)

I didn't bother uploading the parts where they spoke of how their families survived the war - for example, one fellow said "I saw Amelia just prior to the War."  I said "You mean in 1941?"  He said "No, it was May of 1944. She was on the back of a truck..."  

His memory of seeing Earhart on the back of a truck was
independently corroborated by another Saipanese businessman
who claimed he saw the same truck on the same day a mile further down the road.

I realized May of 44 was just prior to "the war" which began on Saipan in June...when the US came ashore. It's an example of listening with "Caucasian ears."  I thought he meant the war that began in 1941. He meant the war that began on Saipan in 1944.

As I've mentioned before - I was part of the sizzle reel for the History Channel show, and I was asked to be part of it, but I ultimately declined.  

I have my own Earhart projects, and am not invested in selling anyone's point of view. I don't represent the show, or their theory or any other nonsense. 

Yes, the show had many details that can be verified in my research as well. But enough with the "tastes great" "less filling" arguments - there is evidence that points to these simple facts that she landed the plane, it was picked up, and she and plane were taken to Saipan where numerous people saw her, and US Marines found her plane.

I'm just interested in the truth.

We owe that to her at the very least.

I'd like to congratulate Tighar for helping to prove the precise date that the Koshu was in Jaluit.  They got it originally from Vincent Loomis' book about Earhart, who Mr. Gillespie quotes above.

Apparently the ships records prove that the Koshu arrived in Jaluit on July 9th and stayed until the 19th.

Six days after she landed at Mili atoll.

Three days after she was heard broadcasting from her plane (and Tighar's reports show those reports extensively). 

Three days after the Japanese came to the island, arrested her - dragged the Electra (with the help of 40 Marshallese men) onto the barge and transported it to Majuro and then to Jaluit. (The Marshallese men were interviewed by Mike Harris, Dick Spink, Les Kinney and Jim Hayton. I was invited on that trip too, but declined.)

So there you have it. 

Proof that the Koshu was in Jaluit in July, 1937.

Just as its been reported.

Just as its shown in this photograph.

The photo must have been taken sometime between July 9th and 19th, 1937.  

So the Marshallese government says that its elders remember the dock being built in 1936. As they noted so eloquently; there was no dock in 1935.  

The League of Nations forbid it - yet when they built the dock, add fortifications, guns, ammo - they began arresting, beheading, detaining Europeans as spies.

That's why this photograph was classified and in the Office of Naval Intelligence. 

Not because it showed the Electra on a barge on the back of the Koshu. Not because it showed Amelia - or a woman who has the same shoulders as Amelia - or Fred Noonan standing on the dock.

Because it proved there was a new dock.

Just a little bit of evidence that proves the same thing that's been said before.  Amelia was captured by the Japanese, taken to Jaluit - and later to Saipan. Seven years later on June 19th 1944, the Electra was found by US Marines at Aslito airfield on Saipan. (see the eyewitness reports below and to the side of this panel.) Her briefcase was recovered, part of her body, and the Electra itself was destroyed (and witnessed by these GIs)

Saipan is where she died. Where the Electra was found on June 19th 1944 by US Marines.

It's not an opinion, belief or theory.  It's just eyewitness reports.  Not conflicting reports. Consistent reports. The same story. If you can only open your ears.

You're welcome.