The Discovery and Documentation of Whaling Shipwrecks At Pearl and Hermes Atoll

Discovery:

On September 20^th, 2004, NOAA divers in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands came across a major wreck site. Jake Asher, marine debris removal team leader, and his divers found numerous trypots (cauldrons for boiling whale oil), anchors, bricks (from the tryworks structure on deck), whaling implements, fasteners, copper sheathing, cannon, and other hardware scattered on, around, and even under the shallow coral reefs of Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Asher and his team were in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands conducting marine debris removal, which involves cutting away and removing large fishing nets which drift into the atolls and reefs and damage the coral ecosystem. This effort has been ongoing since 1996 by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and its Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (parts of the Coral Reef Program) and other partners. The discovery of historic shipwreck “debris” of a different sort excited the team and, for a while, turned them into amateur archaeologists.

This was not an altogether unexpected discovery. Before the cruise Dr. Hans Van Tilburg, Pacific Islands regional maritime heritage coordinator with NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program, had a chance to meet with the debris team and brief them on the characteristics of historic shipwrecks and other artifacts in the NWHI. The debris teams cover miles of ocean bottom by tow board, searching for nets in high-probability impact areas. With such preparation, the diver/discoverers at Pearl and Hermes could recognize scattered shipwreck elements, and were familiar with non-invasive recording techniques and site protocols. The artifacts at the atoll are protected as historic resources within State waters, and are also a part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The debris cruise discovery gives a big boost to NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program, an initiative begun by the NMSP to learn from and preserve such sites.  NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program works in close coordination with the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cultural Resources Team. 

The Wrecking Event:

What vessel(s) are these? Though a positive identification has yet to be made, the only records of whaling ships lost at Pearl and Hermes Atoll are, indeed, the British registered whalers Pearl and Hermes themselves (for which the atoll has been named), vessels of the South Seas Whaling Industry based in London. Both were sailing in consort from Honolulu to the newly discovered Japan Grounds in 1822, a route that led them through the unfamiliar but treacherous NWHI. The 262-ton Hermes ran aground on the unseen reef on the 26^th of April at about 4:00 AM, and the 320-ton Pearl (actually an American-built ship captured by the British in the War of 1812) ran aground nearby a few minutes later, reportedly about a quarter mile to the east.  Both were stuck fast and eventually broken on the sharp coral. The combined crew totaling 57 souls were castaway with what meager provisions they could salvage on a nearby island for months.  One of the carpenters on board the Hermes, James Robinson, supervised the building of a small 30-ton schooner named Deliverance on the beach.  Though most of the crew elected to board the passing ship Earl of Morby, Robinson and 11 others were able to recoup some of their financial losses from the wreck by taking possession of the nearly finished Deliverance, sailing her back to Honolulu, and eventually selling her there for $2,000.  From there Robinson went on to found the highly successful James Robinson and Company shipyard in 1827 and became an influential member of the island community. 

The Pearl and the Hermes may be the only vessels of the British South Seas Whaling Industry ever discovered in an archaeological context.  These are the oldest shipwrecks yet discovered in the Hawaiian Islands.  Yet relatively little is known of the construction of the vessels themselves, and only a few tantalizing clues exist as to the tragic events on the coral reef and small sandy island at the distant atoll.  Further site work may tell us more about this event and provide a window into our historic maritime past.  Archival search, as well as collaborative interpretative work with London’s Dockyard Museum, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and elsewhere, is currently underway.

2005 Survey:

The NWHI are a remote and challenging location to conduct a research expedition. Weather, research vessel time constraints, and the complications of working in a dynamic reef environment all contribute to the need for special planning for maritime heritage expeditions to the NWHI on NOAA’s platform, the NOAA research vessel Hi’ialakai. Pacific Islands Region maritime archaeologists are beginning to establish a protocol for annual underwater archaeological survey at these and other remote sites, as well as develop a better understanding of the environmental processes relative to the spur and groove topography and wave action at these coral atolls.

In June of 2005, a team of five maritime archaeologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Maritime Heritage Program returned to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands aboard the NOAA research vessel Hi`ialakai in order to extensively document shipwrecks and maritime heritage resources during a 25-day voyage. The archaeologists added a cultural heritage component to the biological and oceanographic research being conducted on the multidisciplinary cruise.  Time at the whaling wrecks discovered at Pearl and Hermes Atoll was a high priority for the archaeology team.  Fixed baselines were established at two artifact concentration sites (corresponding to each vessel?), and maritime archaeologists then collected photo documentation and data for a plan view drawing of the wreckage.  Numerous previously undiscovered artifacts, such as additional fasteners, tools, ship timber, hardware, anchors, trypots (cauldrons for rendering the whale oil), and portions of the tryworks (structures built to house the trypots) were added to the site inventory. Divers currently count six cannon for these sites, seven trypots, five anchors, and numerous other artifacts.  Strong circumstantial evidence suggests these are indeed the British whaling vessels Pearl  and Hermes.

The maritime archaeology team used a combination of permanent datums, baseline trilateration, digital photography and GPS positioning to generate data for site plans and artifact interpretation.  In addition, high definition HD videography was used to record sites, features, and the work process.  Portions will be included in a short educational film product featuring maritime heritage resources in the Hawaiian Islands.

A preliminary site map has been created as well as a GIS project demonstrating the wide distribution of wreckage inside and outside of the reef at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Special permits were obtained in order to collect several diagnostic artifacts at the whaling shipwreck sites that will aid in identification of the sites. These diagnostic artifacts were photographed, sketched, tagged, and appropriately stored on board the ship during the cruise. Upon return to Honolulu, the artifacts were shipped to a submerged artifact conservation and stabilization facility: the Heritage Resources Conservation Lab, Department of Anthropology, California State University at Chico under the Dr. Georgia Fox.  Wood from timbers at the whaling shipwreck site was sampled and sent to the Paleo Research Lab in Colorado. The wood samples were analyzed and determined to be oak and pine [specific genus and species?]. 

From the preliminary analysis of artifact distribution at East Site, it appears that the vessel grounded in a sandy groove, pressing the keel and lower (garboard) strakes deep into the coral reef which borders the channel.  Copper hull sheathing was scrapped/rolled off the hull along the coral channel.  The two anchors located near the trypots may have been stowed, not in use at the time of the wreck.  The third anchor inshore may have been set to stabilize the ship on the reef. 

From the preliminary analysis of both site findings, backed up by photo documentation, it appears that these sites are indeed whaling shipwrecks from the early 19^th century.  The amount and type of material at each site indicates two separate vessels.  There is nothing on the site which indicates any post-1822 date.  That interpretation, plus their location which corresponds to the wrecking incident and observations made by other captains after the event (and lack of any other recorded whaling vessel losses at Pearl and Hermes Atoll) leads to the preliminary conclusion that these wreck sites are the British whalers Pearl and Hermes lost on April 24^th 1822. 

Work to fully identify and interpret these sites has just begun. The whaling shipwrecks at Pearl and Hermes Atoll contribute to the story of an important era in Hawaiian history when the whaling industry expanded American commerce to the far reaches of the globe and led ships through the remote atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. These are rare sites, glimpses into our past, and deserve our best survey and preservation efforts.   

Photo-mosaic of Pearl and Hermes wreck.