Tuesday, 28 March 2023, morning // Fanning Plantation
from (numismondo.net/pm/fai/)[https://numismondo.net/pm/fai/]
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The boat was not sailing toward a destination. No, the Ysabel May she was stationary, and instead the earth was slowly rotating to bring the island to the vessel, to her.
Christmas was coming, as inevitable as a date on the calendar. The relentless waves, the relentless winds, the relentless days that pass and pass. The world turning. His world turning. Ysabel May, axis mundi.
Christmas was coming for Joe, that was certain. What gifts were in store? What gifts did he deserve? He was leaving a world behind. He was hopeful.
The sun broke over the ocean, beaconing a wide fan of light from the horizon, the white silver rays upon the surface indicating the weather that lay ahead.
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“Greig. That Scotsman would pinch a penny till it begged f’ mercy. The rich stay rich by not givin their money away.”
Fanning was discovered on 11.6.1798 by Edmund Fanning, at 3 a.m., while he was on his way to China. It remained unpopulated until 1846 when British Tahitians, Lucett and Collie landed with a group of natives to harvest coconuts. They laid claim to the island and later sold the rights in 1851 to C.B.Wilson who later sold it to Captain Henry English. On 7.4.1857 English received consent from the British Consul in Honolulu to hoist the British flag on the island. Formal possession of the island was taken in 1861 by HMS Alert and annexation by HMS Caroline took place in 1888 when plans were being drawn up to lay a cable across the Pacific.
The Station buildings, Pacific Cable Board, Fanning Island
Kenneth P. Emory describes (in 1934 and 1939) stone ruins, adzes, a fishhook and other ethnological specimens found on Fanning Island. He concludes that the island was populated by people from Tonga about the 15th century. Captain Fanning's narrative of near shipwreck and his description of the island make good reading. Several whalers visited Fanning Island. One commanded by Captain Mather, called it American Island in 1814. An account of the island is given by Captain Legoarant de Tromelin, of the French corvette La Bayonnaise, which visited the island in 1828. At least four vessels arrived at Honolulu from Fanning between 1843 and 1853.
A short time prior to 1855, Captain Henry English, with 150 natives from Manihiki (Humphries) Island, settled on Fanning and commenced the production of coconut oil. He placed the island under British protection when Captain W.H. Morshead visited it in H.M.S. Dido, October 16, 1855. Shipping records in The Friend, The Polynesian, and The Gazette (all published in Honolulu) give some idea of the amount of coconut oil produced. In 1859 two vessels arrived at Honolulu with 15,000 gallons; in 1860, one vessel with 10,000 gallons; 1861, three vessels with 30,000 gallons; 1862, four vessels with 44,000 gallons; and 1863, four vessels with 10,800 gallons.
About 1857, a whaling ship brought to Fanning an Ayrshire Scotsman, William Greig. A short time later he was joined by an American, George Bicknell. Both married native islanders. Greig's wife was Teanau Atu (1842-1917), sister of the king of Manihiki. Both men died on Fanning, Greig on July 17 1892. The three sons of Greig remained on Fanning; but the descendants of Bicknell gradually moved away. His heir sold his share of Fanning and Washington Islands to a man in Suva, from whom it was acquired by Father Emmanual Rougier.
A firm, Fanning Island, Limited, was formed which operated Fanning and Washington Islands until 1935. Due to low price of copra, in that year it was sold to a subsidiary of Burns, Philip and Co., Ltd., operating under the name of Fanning Island Plantations, Ltd.
According to shipping records in Honolulu, there was a guano digging boom on Fanning between 1877 and 1879, for ships of many flags sailed there to load guano. Some vessels were wrecked, such as the British barque Crosby, in 1879. In 1885 guano still was being shipped. But in 1887 lumber was taken there to make copra drying and storage sheds, and from then on copra was the chief industry on the island.
Fanning was formally annexed to Great Britain by Captain William Wiseman, of H.M.S. Caroline, March 15, 1888. A cable relay station was established in 1902. This breaks the stretch from Bamfield, Vancouver Island, to Suva; 3,300 miles, Bamfield to Fanning; 2,200 miles, Fanning to Suva. Up to 1931, Union S.S. Co. freighters stopped with supplies. Since then the island has been supplied from Honolulu, the S.S*. Dickenson* making quarterly trips.
Many comforts are provided, such as radio, refrigeration, electric lights (from Diesel generators), a doctor, tennis court, library, even a branch of the New Zealand Savings Bank, to make pleasant the two year tours of duty of the cable station personnel and their wives, numbering about 20 white people. Storage tanks hold about 8,000 gallons of rain water, and well water also is reported to be both good and plentiful.
In September, 1914, the German cruiser Nurnburg slipped up to Fanning, flying the French flag. They landed and wrecked the cable station, cut the cable, and destroyed a cache of spare instruments. With the assistance of Hugh Greig, who dived for the several ends of the cable, communication was re-established within two weeks. In 1939, it was reported that the island was being fortified against a repetition of this but the report was later denied, it being stated that an undefended island of purely commercial importance was safer.
At English Harbour, headquarters of the copra plantation, there are 3 or 4 more white people and between 100 and 150 Gilbert Island workmen. It was reported in 1939 that 300 new Gilbertese recruits were being taken to Fanning. At that time, Fanning Island was administered from Ocean Island (Banaba) 1880 miles away, but there was a resident agent immediately in charge. New Zealand stamps had been used for postage.
In 1859 English entered into a partnership with William Greig and George Bicknell and these three were joined by William Owens, owner of Washington Island, in 1860. Owens left the following year and English retired in 1864. Messrs. Greig and Bicknell were confirmed as lawful owners of both Fanning and Washington Islands by the British Consul in Honolulu on 2 September 1864. The Greig Bicknell partnership lasted until 1906 when they sold out to Father Rougier who in turn sold it on to Fanning Island Plantations Ltd., a Burns Philp subsidiary.
Like Cocos, Fanning Island received a visit from the German Navy. On 7 September 1914 the cruiser SMS Nurnburg, accompanied by SMS Leipzig, approached Fanning Island, flying the French flag. Landing an armed party the Germans set about wrecking equipment and cutting the two cables. They also took 3000 gold sovereigns from the safe, used to pay the staff, plus £71 in stamps and cash from the Post Office. Shortly after this incident the Nurnburg was sunk, with all hands, in an engagement with the Royal Navy known as the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
The decision to land COMPAC at Hawaii instead of Fanning Island brought about the closure of the cable station at the end of 1963. In 1964 it was taken over by the Hawaiian Oceanographic Institute as a Pacific Equatorial Research Laboratory for the study of Equatorial Currents.
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