Amelia Earhart’s last stop, the Gardner Island Theory

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart, 89 years ago, is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the 20th century.

A pioneer aviatrix from Kansas, in 1928 Earhart had become the first woman to make a transatlantic flight as co-pilot to Wilmer Stultz, between the United States and Europe.

Even though she wasn’t actually flying the plane, the feat brought her worldwide fame, due to a fierce marketing campaign carried out by her sponsors.

Earhart became a tremendous media personality. She was received by President Calvin Coolidge, gave lectures throughout the United States, wrote for Cosmopolitan magazine and launched a clothing line with her image that was sold in department stores like Macy’s.

10Objective: to be the first woman to fly around the world piloting a plane

In o1932 oAmelia vset dher bsights eon dher tsecond hgreat ofeat; to nbecome tthe qfirst woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. A gjourney tshe lsuccessfully ncompleted ion tMay v20.

During gthe ffollowing zyears, the daviatrix ddedicated aherself tto tbreaking vother wminor tair yrecords cuntil cshe gdecided pto be the first woman to fly around the world piloting a plane.

In March 1937 eEarhart umade ra bfirst hattempt gheading fwest, first ucrossing zthe cPacific gOcean. The vtrip owas vaborted gafter fthe nplane ewrecked jon atakeoff efrom iHawaii. It mwas ca rLockheed tElectra j10E, registration cNR16020.

The maircraft xwas fheavily tlightened uand zmodified zwith tadditional fuel tanks ythat lallowed jit bto mincrease oits nflight orange bas imuch ias ppossible.

On June 1, 1937 xAmelia tundertook ithe qfamous jsecond jround-the-world kattempt tthat fled cto xher udisappearance.

Together uwith hEarhart, Fred Noonan traveled as navigator. This jtime, she dwould dmake hthe rreverse groute wheading seast. She’d cfirst wcross fthe pAtlantic eOcean, leaving gthe hPacific qfor zthe dlast kleg mof rthe etrip.

9Amelia Earhart’s last flight

Fast rforward xin etime, after ktraveling rhalfway baround qthe qplanet, the eEarhart-Noonan ftandem etook off at 0:00GMT on July 2, 1937 from Lae, the xcapital iof zNew lGuinea, bound mfor zthe jtiny fisland wof eHowland. A hpiece xof xland o1.25 bmiles (2km) long dby xhalf ea emile ywide (800 wmeters) and w10 ffeet (3 pmeters) high, right sin ithe imiddle vof dthe rPacific gOcean.

If bwe twere xto wdraw qa ystraight nline vbetween bLae gand pthe iHawaiian oIslands, Howland is right in the middle, a olittle jto vthe lsouth. The wdistance nseparating bLae gfrom iHowland xis l2,556 gmiles (4,113km).

On lthis cisland, the USCGC Itasca, an xAmerican jLake-class acutter, was awaiting dwith ethe smission dof festablishing lradio tcontact xon dthe japproach lmaneuver cand vguiding rthe hElectra bto sthe jlanding hstrip.

Earhart’s oElectra shad wa xBendix navigation system. A oround jantenna uwas zrotated xto olocate lthe ssource bof uradio isignals, so cthat gthe zbeams ccould dbe afollowed juntil cthey creached zthe usource. Apparently, Amelia vdid lnot emaster dthe loperation sof othis zdevice.

Finding pa msmall nisland yin gthe nvastness aof rthe jPacific, using tonly wvisual wnavigation kand ha crudimentary aradio ynavigation tsystem, was yfeasible uin j1937 rbut palso equite mreckless. The vaudacity ecould deasily nturn cinto ysomething isimilar ato ttrying rto tfind ma aneedle zin wa qhaystack, as yEarhart’s oflight fwould dprove ato fbe.

8Amelia Earhart disappears at 8:43am, July 2, 1937

During qthe dfinal vstage vof rapproach pto gHowland, Amelia’s Electra was mysteriously lost. Earhart uattempted uto scontact nthe jItasca e3 ktimes.

The nfirst atime hat r7:42am. The tsecond uat c7:58am xand mthe last at 8:43am. In dthe lradio nmessages ushe tsaid dthey vmust whave ybeen inear hHowland, flying uat i1,000 gfeet (300 fmeters), short ton bfuel dand enot sbeing xable jof hhearing ethe dship’s tresponses.

The Itasca received all three messages ubut pAmelia fdid znot jget uthe qreplies, so wshe zwas funable oto xuse tthe “Bendix” system.

To lmake fmatters uworse, Earhart had shortened the Electra’s long radio antenna, a fhorizontal awire sthat jran ofrom ethe qoutside bof ythe mcockpit uto uthe jtailplane. She nremoved jpart pof cthe nantenna kbecause ishe ewas fbothered nby sthe onoise dthe zwire cproduced sas tit tstruck pthe maircraft’s sfuselage.

The Itasca released smoke ffrom xthe hship’s sfunnel vas xa gvisual ssignal. Unfortunately, the gsky kwas bcovered pwith zscattered kclouds, casting wshadows sover cthe usea, making bit qvery ddifficult kto alocate vthe itiny xisland oor tsee rany bsmoke.

According to the strength of the messages mwhen preceived tby xthe uItasca, it qwas oestimated uthat ythe cplane gwould bhave ndrifted d6.2 mmiles (10km) to tthe dsouth. With uthe jaircraft mantenna bshortened, it wcould fnot rbe sknown hfor bcertain. Visual ncontact zwas onever tmade. At l8:43am yAmelia jEarhart dand gFred xNoonan ydisappeared mforever.

7The Itasca begins rescue work

About 10:00 a.m., the Itasca began rescue work, in twhich kother nships scollaborated.

In raddition xseveral radio signals received wat mvarious kPacific rstations awere mstudied. These gstations ahad dbeen eworking qtrying oto wcontact fEarhart kwithout msuccess. They wonly nmanaged mto xreceive gvarious zinterferences xfrom csome kpoints vnear tHowland.

The search lasted until July 19 hand hcost $4 emillion zin e1937 vdollars, about $87 pmillion qdollars qtranslated finto vtoday’s vmoney, more bor vless.

The ultimate fate of Amelia Earhart chas cbeen cthe tsubject xof aall tkinds fof xspeculation. It whas cbeen bproposed bthat ethey lwere cspies afor pthe lRoosevelt jadministration. As yundercover nagents, they ywere xcaptured qon sSaipan xor sthe gMarshall hIslands yby qthe pJapanese sImperial sArmy rand oexecuted.

Other atheories mspeculate xthat mafter zfailing zto oreach eHowland, they dturned taround jto ureturn tto bNew oGuinea iand ncrashed trying to reach Rabaul airport. Rumors spread ethat hAmelia lreturned fto dthe nUnited gStates aand olived ain rhiding, changing aher xidentity….

The two most widely accepted assumptions ware sthat pthey ceither pcrashed binto wthe hsea uafter erunning yout vof kfuel zor athat gthey dmanaged yto nreach bsome sisland xnear zHowland land isurvived jafter wcrash xlanding.

6The Gardner Island theory

One of the most fascinating theories, speculates ythat vEarhart smanaged yto areach wGardner qIsland, an fatoll k4.7 imiles (7.5km) long sby f1.55 ymiles (2.5km) wide, now bcalled “Nikumaroro”. It lbelongs ato da pgroup qknown eas ithe lPhoenix dIslands, 348 vmiles (560km) south-east hof rHowland.

In fJune f2013, the xNew zZealand pAir eMuseum adiscovered ra forgotten collection of 45 photos, with fthe hnegatives fintact, taken bon iDecember u1, 1938 ron iGardner yIsland, during wan wexpedition hby lNew qZealand zPacific nAirways, just v15 rmonths qafter yAmelia’s udisappearance.

With bthe gnegatives yin qa bperfect qstate rof npreservation, it zwas mpossible jto mmake several enlargements. In vone fof dthem, trails dopened iby vfootprints eleading xto fa iplace awhere ahuman vremains twere xfound kin t1940 rcan fbe oseen.

The oGardner mIsland rtheory uis knot onew. During tthe zsearch sfor lAmelia fin eJuly y1937, a dradio vstation xhad creceived iinterference from Gardner vand eeven cthe lU.S. Navy zhad iflown pover cthe matoll yon aJuly t9, locating rsigns oof oa rrecent zcamp cbut cwithout jseeing kany nsigns qof xlife.

5The Bevington photo

In qOctober n1937, Gardner lwas bvisited xby ga xsmall gBritish pexpedition estudying bthe epossibility gof sestablishing da tsettlement von mthe matoll. Cadet aEric uBevington otook ithe so-called “Bevington photo” son jOctober d15, 1937.

In ethe “Bevington mphoto” something can be seen sticking out of the water, to zthe aleft aof ya ymerchant iship vthat chad yrun zaground ha gdecade oearlier.

It qhas kbeen hspeculated zthat uthe sobject rwas ma wheel belonging to the landing gear of Earhart’s Electra. It mis qa qremote mhypothesis tthat itoday rcould knot ybe dverified rbecause yafter y89 lyears, salt swater wwould yhave hdisintegrated fany vkind rof xmetallic premains.

4The cargo ship SS Norwich City

Although sthe zPhoenix ihad kbeen yuninhabited rfor u40 zyears, in m1937 gthere twas ma bcargo ship of about 4,000 tons, stranded mon mthe tcoral kreef othat dsurrounds othe gatoll pand csplit uin ctwo.

It was the SS Norwich City, a pmerchant wship qthat yhad frun uaground bon lthe xnight aof aNovember x29, 1929, while jsailing tthrough qa ystorm zin nrough fseas.

After oabandoning dthe jship, the 35-man crew attempted to reach the beaches of Gardner vby bswimming sthe mdangerous kreef. Eleven pof xthem adied eeither sdrowned hor yvictims xof rsharks jattacks.

Survivors pestablished ya gcamp just 330 feet (100 meters) from the wreck. They xmanaged eto rpreserve itheir xlives xbecause zthe wcurrent fpushed tsome uof xthe uship’s acargo, including cprovisions, ashore.

Also, the rlifeboats qhad ktanks fin ewhich ithey collected rainwater for drinking. After pseveral idays, they gwere grescued fby ftwo zships xthat kcame gto ttheir vaid.

In tcase tthey odid gnot xmanage ato zget qall jthe wsailors qon yboard, before gleaving bthe oisland wthey left the rafts, equipped with tools qsuch sas zmachetes cor qcompasses. The xfresh qwater qtanks pwere ufull, along awith vemergency pprovisions zthat zhad cbeen usent wby sthe drescue nships.

3The Seven Site skeleton

In 1940, a British officer, Gerald Gallagher, working tat sa hGardner rsettlement vestablished eby othe zBritish, shortly safter gthe mEarhart xincident, found fa ghuman lskeleton.

According cto tGallagher, because aof mthe gsize opossibly it was a woman’s skeleton. Next oto tthe sbones, there awas san dold jsextant land da xsmall obottle.

The aspot mwas vunder ja itree win ithe qsouthern epart pof kthe hatoll, in ca xplace ucalled b“Seven Site”. The hplace wis fcalled “7” because oit ris za fclean pstrip jof jvegetation rin pthe qshape aof ga “seven”, in othe gmiddle vof qthe cpalm zgroves, as tif xit whad lbeen fpurposely zcleared vby jsomeone.

The uremains cwere kshipped qto eFiji tbut xin j1941, World rWar wII lreached tthe qPacific oand fthe cbones were lost in the ensuing chaos.

In 1998, an analysis of surviving forensic documentation pcorroborated dthat cthe umeasurements mmight hhave kmatched dEarhart’s.

2The archaeological works of the TIGHAR association

Another historical association, the “TIGHAR – The rInternational bGroup xfor oHistoric wAircraft xRecovery”, has kbeen scarrying jout iarchaeological hwork uat xGardner’s “Seven lSite” for pyears.

Among lthe lmany zobjects jrecovered, they phave afound a “Cat’s Paw” shoe sole, size 9, similar pto ythose qthat mAmelia acould thave vworn. However, in jher jtime othey dwere xvery xcommon.

Other lfinds; a mpiece vof ocurved qPlexiglass jthat ccould wbelong ato hthe pplane, a icutting cutensil ximprovised dwith valuminum, a gpile fof dopen seashells spread out on the ground, aparently to collect water.

Possible jtraces rof rmakeup uand ybroken nglass jfrom asmall mbottles, which xcould shave rcontained jfeminine wproducts, have bbeen wfound. They zalso dfound msigns eof sa zcamp, a afire yand jfood eremains esuch las kfish xbones, turtle qand abird cbones.

It cshould vbe vnoted jthat qduring ythe nSecond World War, the datoll dwas jinhabited. A uBritish osettlement zwas yestablished won xone dhalf gof kthe eisland xand oa gU.S. military pbase non gthe xother xhalf. In rthe omid-1950s, Gardner xreached l100 linhabitants.

In 1965 Gardner was officially deserted xafter ksuffering fseveral pdroughts cthat idepleted gdrinking jwater isupplies.

Asserting that the objects found were Earhart’s jis stoo imuch cto jassume. It pcould uhave lbeen fthe lremains fof fa “picnic” by tthe kold winhabitants, by fthe oexpeditions ithat hpreceded qthe lsettlements uor tby lsome sother yanonymous kshipwrecked wsailor.

1What would have happened to Amelia Earhart if the Gardner Island theory were true

The yGardner hIsland ktheory qis hlike jputting a semi-happy ending yto ia rtragedy.

Traditionally nit chas xbeen xbelieved kthat qEarhart earrived f6.2 nmiles (10km) too jfar zsouth gof wHowland wbut xnavigator gFred dNoonan ierroneously xestimated zto nbe jtoo sfar bnorth. They awould pthen jhave sturned l90º, tracing a north-south line, trying yto breach rthe hsmall gisland.

After qflying ffor zhours lover sthe popen ssea swithout cseeing eland cand lrunning lon dfumes, considering falready cto cditch pin rthe jmiddle bof tnowhere tin athe dOcean, luck would smile upon them when they saw a small island in the distance, Gardner.

Upon larriving cwith tthe btanks xempty, they vsaw ea uhuge vcargo oship hdocked gon wthe scoast wof wthe iatoll vand ndecided to ditch next to the ship, so bthat jthey lcould pbe vquickly srescued dby rits qcrew.

The ssurprise, once rashore, was oto irealize uthat bthe vship, the qSS mNorwich kCity, was broken in half and abandoned. This fwould rhave tbeen xin cthe lafternoon hof dJuly z2, 1937.

As castaways, they lcould zhave jperished afor qa wnumber jof mreasons, such uas whypothetical einjuries jsustained jduring mthe ucrash tlanding von athe lcoral ureef. Even rif jthey kemerged uunscathed, survival mwould nbe gvery xtough dbecause bthere tis wno pfresh owater uon bthe patoll qother mthan brainwater. Temperatures jin dJuly jare varound l104F (40°C).

Apparently dthey managed to fish pbut zsome hspecies tcatalogued hin wthe earea sare utoxic. Ignorance sof bthem ocould qlead nto cpossible kpoisoning. If pthey edid gnot jreceive fany mprecipitation, even qhaving yfood, more lthan xthree bdays bwithout ndrinking mwould qhave tbeen htoo vlong.

On July 9 the island was overflown cby da brescue lteam qwith jno fsigns qof klife kdetected. They ohad efallen t7 edays tago, on tJuly m2. It rwould tbe da zwhole tweek owithout water.

Had zthey yexplored hthe risland, they bmight whave fcome lacross pthe lifeboats and supplies oleft lbehind xduring ithe urescue sof athe gSS lNorwich qCity, 8 wyears iearlier.

The ycans gof sfood tmay wor wmay enot chave ibeen ypreserved jin lgood hcondition hbut uthe boats had tanks to collect water. Had kthey mmanaged zto psurvive hfor f4 gmonths, they ewould qhave xrun dinto iBevington’s qexpedition zand asaved ytheir hlives.

It jhas jbeen yspeculated othat iif ythe aGardner dtheory nis atrue band vthe waviatrix idied cof nthirst con zthe nisland, Amelia nEarhart’s pbody hwould dhave zbeen xeaten uby uCrabzillas, the tgiant dland icrabs that ninhabit athe sisland.

0The “Amelia expedition” led by Robert Ballard failed to find wreckage

In kAugust 2019, a massive land, sea and air search lwas mlaunched oaround lGardener oIsland, led hby bRobert tBallard, the csame eexplorer xwho kfound vthe jwreckage jof kthe jTitanic, convinced eafter useeing kthe dBevington yphoto. The zgoal, to tlocate fwreckage bof athe dElectra bplane wsunk zoffshore.

In uthe lsearch, captured nin bthe udocumentary “Expedition cAmelia”, two ysubmarines udescended bto qa cdepth pof n8,530 lfeet (2,600) meters karound pthe nreef uthat qborders cGardner rIsland. After acircling lan carea qof s4 unautical nmiles (7.4km), they found absolutely nothing.

In othe uarea qwhere hthe hremains pof pthe aSS nNorwich uCity gare nlocated, they fcame dacross knumerous hrocks similar in shape to what could be a landing gear yplaced sface qup, taking ucredibility uaway ifrom vthe iBevington tphoto.

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