Unknown Whaling Shipwreck - Kure Atoll

Maritime archaeologists are not yet sure of the identity of the second shipwreck site at Kure Atoll, but signs indicate that it may be the American whaler, Parker. Of the seven known wrecks at Kure, only two vessels likely correspond to the nature of the scattered artifacts surveyed: the British whaleship Gledstanes, reported lost in 1837, and the American whaleship Parker, wrecked on the reef in 1842. The survivors of the USS Saginaw wreck in 1870 reported seeing extensive remains of the Gledstanes directly to their north, which does not correspond to the location of this second site.

This second wreck site appears to be the bow section of a mid-19th century whaling vessel. The scour path which leads to the reef, and numerous small magnetometer hits outside the reef indicate an initial impact on the seaward reef slope, followed by large broken sections of the ship being lifted over the crest by the storm and deposited inside the lagoon, dropping artifacts in a trail as they moved. Within the calm waters of the lagoon lies an extensive scatter of windlass machinery, fasteners, anchors and anchor chain, wire rigging, hull sheathing and bricks. The distribution and style of these elements suggest the wreck of a large wooden hull sailing vessel, a whaling ship, of considerable size.

During the 2003 expedition to the NWHI, the maritime heritage team expanded the site first discovered in 2002 by finding artifacts to the northwest of the initial area. In 2005, maritime heritage program divers conducted further survey at this unidentified site where four anchors, chain, windlass, rigging and deck machinery lie scattered amidst the coral. In order to assist in positively identifying this shipwreck site, maritime archaeologists obtained permits to remove small, diagnostic artifacts from the shipwreck site. These diagnostic artifacts include a small piece of what was believed to be wire rope, an artifact that will aid in dating the shipwreck. Currently, this wire rope is being properly conserved at the Heritage Resources Laboratory at California State University, Chico. Conservation scientists think that this may be one of the earliest examples of archaeologically recovered steel cable. If this is true, the date the ship may be the American whaler Parker lost in 1842 during a storm, the castaways making their way to Green Island. This wreck site lies in State waters and is protected by federal and state preservation laws. Our efforts to document and interpret this shipwreck site help to achieve the heritage goals of many agencies, including the State of Hawaii’s.