DU547A23n. s.MARCv.9

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VOLUME 9 1979

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A Publication Of TheUNIVERSITY OF GUAM

Produced By TheMICRONESIAN AREA RESEARCH CENTER

EDITORThomas B. McGrath, S.J.

ASSOCIATE EDITORSMarjor ie G. Driver Erni l ie G. Johnston

STA FFDirk A. Bal lendorf

Elair-re P. ConcepcionJoirn P. SablanRosita D. Tosco

A,lbert L. Wil l iams

WRITE FOR THE RECORDERThe Recorder wants articles from you.

Send them to:

THE GUAM RECORDERMicronesian Area Research Center

University of GuamP. O. Box EK

Agana, Guam 96910

Al l photographs are f rom the MARC col lect ionunless otherwise ind icated.

Publ ished annual ly to provide scient i f ic ,

cul tural and histor ical informat ion

concerning Guam and Micronesia.

F BONT COVE R: Whaleman,s sketch of h is vesselsurrounded by humpback whales in the paci f ic .

Courtesy of the Kendal l Whal ing Museum, Sharon,Massehusetts.

MUCHAS

GRACIAS!

It is time to extend a word of gratitude to oneof our Associate Editors, Ms. Marjorie G. Driver. Inaddition to her own research and translation work,some of which has appeared in the GUAMRECORDER, she has effectively led the MicronesianArea Research Center through the period betweenits first and second directors.

Transition periods in any organ:ration are cru-cial. In the main they function to preserve what isgood in the past and to point the way to new growth.This interim administration was successful in sustain-ing the services of MARC, developing research intothe Spanish Era on Guam and initiating it into theAmerican Era, while maintaining a modest acquisitionand publishing program. Looking to the future thisadministration began the process of attracting andsustaining grants for its historical research, preparedthe way for consultations on MARC's future develop-ment and took an active role in the formation of thePacific Studies Program, guided MARC through theplanning phase of a new facility to be located on thecampus, and as Guam has looked to Mexico over theyears MARC was able to take a first step towardforging a new tie, this time with the UniversidadAuto noma d e Guadalaiara.

The interim administration has been able tohand on to the new director, Dr. Dirk A. Ballendorf,a MARC that is well established with a solid potentialfor development in the future. Well done andmuchas gracias, Marge.

Fr. Thomas B. McGrath, S.J.Editor, GUAM RECORDER

l

MAGAZINE OF GUAM AND MICRONESIAPublislted by rhe

Micronesian Area Research CenterUniversity of Guanr

Agana. Guam

VOLUME 9 SECOND SERIES t : t :

AMERICAN WHALESHIPS lN THE tv lARlANAISLANDS

by Kenneth R. Mart in

SIX PACI FIC DISCOVERI ESby Saul H. Riesenberg

IN A WAKE OF FOAM AND BLOODby Francis X. Hezel , 5.J.

RESCUE AT SEA_'I909by James A. McDonough, S.J.

THE SPORT OF COCKFIGHTINGby Maria Teresa Arr ias, M.M.B.

GOVERNOR SEATON SCHROEDERby Thomas B. McGrath, S.J.

3 29

81

51

52

42

10

16

woMAN OF WTSDOM--FELtCtA E. PLAZA, M.M.B. 22by Marjor ie G. Dr iver

CCM's GUAM ROOTS AND SPECULATION FORTHE FUTURE

by Dirk A. Bal lendorf

FEDERAL LANDby M ichael

CONTRI BUTORS

OWNERSHIP ON GUAMV. Ziehman

SOME FRIENDS ON TRUKPhotos by Thomas B. McGrath, S.J

The opinions expressed in art ic les publ ished in th is magazine are the pr ivate ones of the wr i ters and should not be construe. -any way as ref lect ing the v iews of the Micronesian Area Research Center, Universi ty of Guam, or the Government of Guam. Volur-= "

of the revived Guam Recorder consisted of only one issue. Volume 2 consisted of three issues of which issues Number 2and3 were c, :^ -bined, and Volume 3 consisted of three issues. Subsequent volumes wi l l coincide with the calendar year. We reserve the r ight to acc: : .or re ject any mater ia l submit ted for publ icat ion.

{}et , 3-moB. H. M. WXIT}IEY.

ffiTTEP CII.ESTg}&XRSAT GUAM"

rr f 1 i; tl (-INDIIRSIGIEED, having entered ints a Co-partner--t- sh,p f ,rr the purpose of carrylng on"the SII IF CHASIILh;*

I ' lY nr-;${l i OSS, under tns name and firrn of

TIIO}IAS $PNNCNN, & CO.-,r ' . 1,i ir j lsland *f Gnam, Ladrone fslands, respectfully ann6one*ir) lnasiers o{ rv}raleshipr and olhers, that s full asxo*nrent ofX3'val S{orex and r€u'nits wil l t le kept constantly on hand andt ir rn ishe d Lry tttem on the nrostadv;rnee d on whalerts bi l l r on t

.{ ' ! t e;&lAS SPn}g0trR,i lu:m*lulqt . S" l ,

asonahle torrns, a,rrs m$noyUn itett Stateg. -

J. S. VA N INGEN,Srram, Ladrone Iel;rndr.

SS*6rn

AMERICAN 1IIHALESHIPS INTHE MARIANA ISLANDS

by Kenneth R. Mart in

Jan I

1 849run in for the land 10 am come to an

anchor in lApra] bay in ls land of Guam. . . we found

10 whale ships ly ing here . . . we went up to the town

. . there are 7 or 8000 Inhabitants in the town there

is a spanish governor the nat ives speak spanish and

are al l cathol ics the houses are bui l t of bamboo or

wood covered with cocoanut leaves they are raised

about 3 feet f rom the ground on posts the church and

government bui ld ings are stone whitewashed i t was

very s ickly whi le we were there lsaw 8 dead bodies

carr ied into the Hospi ta l yard in 2 hours the Super in-

tendent to ld me there was 100 bur ied in 3 days. we

exchanged a man by the name of Johnson for one

Edward an Engl ishman on board the [whaleship]Ni le. we got 12 cords of wood here but could get no

recrui ts. Jan 22 got under weigh and went down to

Umatta a v i l lage about 12 mi les distant and anchored.

there we got about 300 bbls of water on the 24 got

under rveigh again af ter remaining 23 days in th is

miserable place for a chr ist ian. we are bound for the

Japan Seal

rehe

The Marianas teemed with whaleships in the mid-nineteenth century. F. Cady's rematks, quotedabove, reveal the strain of that traffic on Guam,a strain emphasized in this case by the fact thatGuam's epidemic was blamed on a visiting whale-ship's contaminat ion.2 By the lB40s, dozens ofsperm whalers called at Guam in winter or earlyspring before putting in a season on the richJapan grounds. By 1850, their numbers wereaugmented and supplanted by right and bowheadwhalers, passing through the Mariana chain, boundfor the Okhotsk and Bering Seas. Traffic bywhaleships remained heavy until the late nine-teenth century, and involved substantial trade atseveral Mariana islands. Some vessels also made abusiness of whaling the Marianas' resident whalestocks. Manuscripts at the Kendall Whaling Mu-seum provide interesting details of these activities.

Guam received most of the Marianas' whal-ing traffic. Each year between January and April,British and American ships dropped anchor at Apradisgorging countless whalemen: Micronesians,Polynesians, Londoners, American blacks and

whites, Portuguese, Cape Verdeans, West Indians,mostly young, who took liberty on and with theisland.J Their effect on Agana was economicallystimulating but socially disruptive. Their survivingdescriptions of Guam are memorable, instructiveand unflattering. Whalemen were easily pleasedby aboriginal Pacific islands; but ports with awestern veneer, however thin, brought out snidecomparisons with home. The seedy officiousnessof Guam's establishment seemed to whalemen asludicrous as the moral pretensions of Hawaii'smissionaries. In addition, stories circulated foryears in the fishery about a British whaling skip-per's violent death in Agana, rumored to have beenmurder by the govemor's order.+ Wralemen oftentook a contemptuous. boisterous attitude ashorewith them at Guam. These sentiments were notmellowed by the governor's eight o'clock curfewand requirement that each skipper lodge his crewin Agana boarding houses. The constabularycharged with enforcing the curfew inevitably camein for pranks and r idicule. In 1853, when John D.Jones and his crewmembers of the Emily Morganorganized an after-hours dance, they were orderedby soldiers to desist. The dancers quickly passedout liquor. While most of the soldiers were chang-ing their minds about the curfew, one whaleman"took their muskets, carried them to the river, and,wading to a considerable depth, safely depositedthe 'government arms,' and then returned to thehouse, where the dance was kept up withoutfarther interruption."5 A few nights later, riotouswhalemen drove the soldiers out of Santa Cruz atApra and vandalized the premises.o Under suchcircumstances, the governor's curfew is not hard tounderstand; and even Jones was prepared to becharitable about Guam's defenders:

Sunday is the grand gala day of the inhabi tantshere. Among other th ings. we witnessed a parade andreview of the armv stat ioned here by the governor,

numbering of f icers, h igh pr ivates and al l , twenty-f ive.

They do duty as pol icemen as wel l as soldiers. They

were not a very formidable- looking body of men;

some were dressed in whi te, and some in blue, wi th

fanciful ly-decorated cloth caps. A port ion of them

were armed with muskets, the remainder wi th spears.

However, they performed their evolut ions very wel l ,

a l though we do not bel ieve their commander ever

stud ied Scott 's Tactics.T

Boarding house food did not draw muchpraise. Here is how one hungry whaleman's hopeswere dashed:

Friend! Did you ever take a cold shower. . . for any

chronic complaint? l f you have, you can judge of the

damper we exper ienced when we surveyed that tab:

a table which wi l l never be ef faced from memor' '

whi lst reason holds her sway. In the centre of t i - :

room a few boards were placed across some upr ights. . .

upon which were la id a dozen plates of a dingy hu:

with here and there a kni fe and fork of every var ietr

s ize and pattern. . . which had la in suf f ic ient ly lon:

in sal t water to give i t a sol id coat of rust . Then cam3

the dinner, a hog cut up in smal l p ieces, almost br ist les

and al l , and boi led in f resh water wi th a few potatoes.

and a l i t t le sal t spr inkled on each man's plate, com-pr ised the sum total of that d inner.S

The writer of the above description, ashore durirgthe 1849 epidemic, noted that neither influenz.nor Sunday masses could prevent cock-fightin_:matches in Governm ent Plaza.

It should be added that however disparagmgthese descriptions may seem, many whalentenfound Guam an irresistable alternative to life on rwhaleship at least for awhile. Agana thus becamea labor pool of deserters, many of whom wor.tlcshortly ship on vessels more to their liking. Deser-ters and the pursuit thereof created additionaltensions between officials and shorthanded skipr-pers. In 1852, for example, the governor refusedto allow one Captain Nash to replace deserterswith Marianos until all the whalers at Apra werefumigated to smoke out stowawuyr.9 tt-t. missingmen were not found, and Nash accordingJr"shipped 5 Spanish men and one American.. . . "1U

What did visitors like about Agana? Tuba.of colrrse. which Jone-s insisted was no moreintor icat ing than "a glass of soda or lemonade." l I(Others for-rnd i t t ruly potent. r r) Some remarkedabout the ordered neatness of the streets, especial-1v after Lieutenant Colonel Pablo Perez assumedtie governorship. l 3 The Marianos themselvespleased visi tors by their appearance and kind man-ner.r + Their ever-present machetes and thelanguage barrier probably did not encourage closeacquaintance by Yankees, however. And, asidefrom their attraction to cigars and betel nut, localladies drew praise. Jones's exuberant style gives r-rsthis rhapsody:

The females of Guam are remarkably fair- looking:keen black eyes, long, f lowing black hair , smooth com-plexion, and possessed of a robust and wel l ' roundedform; their step l ight and elast ic, and very graceful intheir movements. One of these dark-eved beaut ies inthe att i tude of prayer, her hands beseechingly clasped,her loose hair f lowing luxur iant ly around her wel l -

rounded shoulders, and her countenance expressive

of meekness and innocence, would form a model for

the chisel of a Powers.15

As Cady describes. vrsi t i r rg vessels took otr

water at Umatac. Cadl ' ' 's ship lef t Umatac at theheight of the 1849 epidemic. one day before Guamsuffered another catastrophe: a destruct ive earth-quake. Captain Gi lbert Pendleton spent thatuntorgettable daY at Umatac:

Wednesday, January 24th

Commences with l ight wind from the

Eastward & good weather, at 7 AM I took a Boats

crew & startecj for Apra. at 2 PM I started to

Come down to the ship. af ter coming 2 mi les we had a

heavy shock of an Earthquake &when I got to the ship

I found i t had done considerable damage onshore.

The frunt & part of the s ide of the large stone Church

lay in ruins, and a large stone dwel l ing house the har-

bor master l ived in was badly in jured' There was a

number of boats at the water ing place gett ing water

the land sunk about 12feet at the head of the bay &

the water went out leaving some part of the harbor

dry. & when i t had done Sett l ing the sea rushed in

with great force sweeping everything that was in i ts

way, Boats men & cask & then receded l iveing them

high & dry far f rom the water. No one got hurt . but a

number of cask was lost & some boats stove. Many

f ish was hove up & lef t on the land. In the Night had

7 more shocks but not so heavy. The atmosphere

was qui te c lear but had a strong smel l of br imstone.

The people of the place say i t is the f i rst that was ever

known here. When the water f lowed in i t took the

ships in wi th great forse running them over their

Anchors, & when i t receded they went back & brought

upwith a very tought strain on the Chains & the Ship

Keepers thought we had parted. The wind was very

l ight & the ship held on]6

About mid-cer"rtury, the whaling industryshif ted i ts efforts somewhat. increasing i ts empha-sis upon the r ight whale and i ts arct ic relat ive.the bowhead. Tir is change ref lected decl iningpubl ic demand for spenn u'hale prodttcts and anincreased use of baleen. a f lexrble. f r inged mater ialthrough which most species of S:reat whales inciu-ding r ights and bowheads. strain their food. l /

Before the development of cel luioid and springsteei, baleen had many commercial appl icat ions.Its procurement continued to make long Pacificvoyages worthwhile long after the advent of whaleoil substitutes; so the inevitable decline of thisold-fangled fishery was slow, and Yankee whale-ships remained regular annual fixtures in theMarianas. (After a summer's whaling to the north,these vessels usua,lly sailed eastward and southwardby prevailing winds and currents to reprovision inHawaii.) The Northern Marianas also providedsupplies for the fishery. Volume of trade was

heavy, especially when Gnam's periodi'- naturaldisasters produced local shortages. In l8-19. lorexample, the press of whaleship traf f ic str ippedRota of rrroduce. l8 H".. is Nash's i t r formativeaccount of t rading Rota in better t imes:

pul led on shoar wi th one Boat towin one boat for sai l .

which I sold for s ixty dol lars. taking pay in t rade as

fol lows. fourteen Hogs. one dozen Fowls. four

hundred cocoanuts. and Eleven hundred f i f ty pounds

o{ yams. Traded for 18 more fowls 2 hogs. one hun-

dred oranges. and sum Bananners. and at 5.30 pm

returned on bord tuck up the boat and haled on the

wind to the south ward bound to Guam. the is land

of Rota produces yams. Hogs. fowls. orange. &c.

&c. and a plenty of Wood. there is a governor and

four hundred inhabi tance on the ls land. . . .19

A late whaling account by Captain R. D. Wicksoronounces Rota the "best Island of the lot andeasy trade."2o Wick's recruits included "six dozEsgs three ducks shells and Bamboo for broomspie]r ty of Corn. . . . "21

Tinian's wild cattle were a source of beefsuppl ied by convict labor, as Reuben Delanorecal led in 1846:

They have no horses. and the Spanish " lasso" was not

in use among them. The musket is the weapon most in

Captain R. D. Wicks of the San Francisco bark Coral, 1887.1889. Courtesy of the Kendall Whaling Museum, Sharon,Massachusetts.

use for taking them. Sometimes when wounded these

animals show the greatest feroci ty and rage, and of ten-

t imes turn upon their pursuers. In such encounters the

Spaniard throws down his gun, seizes the animal by thehorn and general ly casts him down with as much ease

as we would a common sized dog. The long kni fe is

soon appl ied to his throat, and the l i feblood f lows pro-

fusely. The hide is then taken of f and the beef cutf rom the bone; th is is cal led " jerked beef," i t is thenpacked in hide and is ready for exportat ion.22

Despite an ephemeral populat ion, Anatahan.Guguan and even J^agun plovided provisions forvisiting whaleships./J In fact, the agents for tradethereabouts were often beachcombers who hadonce been whalernen. The Nortliern Marianas musthave seemed ideal desertion sites, for they com-bined srniling abundance and occasional contactswith vessels from home. This was especially trueat mid-century, when the volume of whalers wasgreat, and lor a generation afterward. when therewere at least a few humpback whalers working theMarianas. Beachcomber activity must necessarilybe i l lustrated through isolated examples. In 1841,the William and Eliza of New Bedford found twoEngl ishmen at Guguan eager to sel l hogs. Duringthe transact ion, one of the crew deserted.:+Desert ions remained a regular occurrence in theMarianas until at least the tum of the centurv.

and a few unusuallv delinotient whalemen werealso lef t behind in local custody.25 The fate ofsuch trren arouses and frustrates our curiosity,for beachcombing elsewhere in Micronesia wasa dying art by t l ie l860s. Perhaps their residencetradit ions include whalemen in their ancestry. 26

Saipan transcended its role as a tradingstop to become a whaling base. Beginning about1850. some Yankee vessels would anchor onSaipan's lee side and spend a few weeks "betweenseasons" whaling humpbacks. There are severalstocks of North Pacific humpbacks, the bestknown of which is the group which winters forcalving and mating in Hawaii. Correspondingstocks winter in the Rvukvus. Bonins ar-rdMarianas.2T The Marianu, , to. t is presumed tosummer in Aleutian waters, where humpbackswcre ieavily whaled in the early twentieth cen-tury.-6 Thc or iginal and present populat ion ofthese whales is not known despite a recent surveyattempt in Northern Marianas. 29 What is certainis that they were systematically taken by Yankeesin the nineteenth century. Whaling of humpbacksoccurred throughout the Marianas. beginning inJ anuary. peaking

^in March, and subsiding al-

together by June.JU In late Spring the humpbacksapparently moved northwest, for March and Aprillogbook entries place many in the Philippine Sea,well we-st of Agrighan, Maug or Farallon dePajaros.J I

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Journal i l lustrat ion by John F. Akin, painted while cruising the Northern Marianas in 1846. Courtesy of the Kendall WhalingMuseum. Sharon. Massachusett. .

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/,+ ,fr4, "f.d^*z z: ^The Wil l iam and Eliza of New Bedford, a sperm and r ight whaler act ive in the Marianas, sketchedR. W. Dexter in 1857. Courtesv of the Kendall Whaline Museum. Sharon. Massachusetts.

"Humpbacking" was a side line in theYankee whale fishery, although its volume hasbeen underestimated. Humpbacks yield but lit[lebaleen, are wary and hard to take by whaleboat.32Many skippers left them alone, but others tookthem as targets of opportunity, or, in the case ofthe Marianas herd, a windfal l between seasons.

Rather than lower whaleboats from acruising mother ship, Yankees preferred to anchortheir vessels, then patrol the waters around Saipanin whaleboats. The following excerpts from thedetailed logbook of the lYavy arc representative,and give an idea of the ups and downs of hump-backing. In 7862, the Navy spent ten weekswhaling the Marianas. At least six American ves-sels worked Saipan that season, kill ing at leastseven whales:

Thursday Jany 23. . . . at 10 am made the is land Birdor Faral lon De [PajarosJ at 12 Noon up with l t

run c lose to l t nothing on l t so ends the day.. . .

Fr iday Jany 24. . . . at 6 PM made the ls land Sipan at

7. P. lVl . luf fed too of f N. End at dayl ight run for

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zZ f*. - n. /from sight by whaleman

the land at 12. noon Cast anchor and sent two

boats af ter humpbacks. .Saturday Jany 25. . . . fair weather three boats

after humpbacks see three without success. Ship

at anchor &c. . . ". .Monday Jany 27. This day in chais of whales

without Success at 3. P.M. Bark Fanny of NewBedford Came to anchor some two hundred

yards South f rom us. .Wednesday Jany 29. . . . at anchor employed in

boat ing wood and mending sai ls &c.

. .Sunday Feby 2. . . . f ine weather One watch on

l iberty.

. .Monday Feby 3. qui te f resh N.E. winds lat terparts In chais of f Hurnpbacks without Success

. . .Fr iday Feby 7. . . two boats af ter whales wi th-

outSuccess.. . .Feby 8. Saturday. in chais of whales wi thout

success. . . .. .Monday Feby 10. at 7. a.m. Ship Flor iday

struck and got a humpback &c.Tuesday Feby 1 1. . . . boats in chais of f whales at

12 noon Came on board two boats stove in. . . .

:r\ 'aSJ

. .Fr iday Feby 14. rain squal l & boats af ter

whales part the t ime Bark Fanny got a 10 bbl

whale

. . .Sunday Feby 16. at 2. P.M. Struck a humpback by

the L[arboard] BIoat] . turned him up eight

mi les f rom Shore. . .Tuesday Feby 18. employed in boi l ing and

Chaising f in ished boi l ing at 6. A.M. turned up

ZE bbls. . .Saturday March 1st . . . . boats in Chais of f whales

without Success at dayl ight Lewis Baker

Francis Evins & Sarapheme Leman were missing

at 3. p.m. found Leman & Evins on board Ship

South Boston they reported that Baker had

drownded In swimming from One Ship to the

Other &c.. . .Wednesday March 5. . . . boats after whales with-

out success Ship South Bostons boats struck and

had a boat stove and second mate got foul in

the l ine and drownded and lost the whale

. . .Thursday March 7. . . . at 4.Tz P.M.larboard boat

struck took the whale to the Ship 8 P.M. & at

dayl ight Commenced to Cut &c.. .Sundav March 9. . . . f in ished boi l ing 11. P.M.

turned up 80 bbls on deck' . . 'Tuesday March 18. . . at 7. A.M. Wlaist l . B[oat] .

Struck a Cal f L.B. B[ow] . B. Struck Cow Capt.got Capsized and a smal l hole knocked ln the

boat.

. .Sunday March 23. f i rst parts in Chais of

whales wi thout success & at 6. hove short at 7.

made Sai l took anchor to the north wi th f ine

weather So ends.33

The Narly's crew was experienced, but a look at hercatch effort proves that abundant whales were noguarantee of good fortune. In thirty-three en-counters, the Navy's boats struck four whales andkilled only three, results which typify the toil ofhumpbacking.

Humpbacks are now a protected species.Their original numbers and habits are of majorcetological interest. An extensive logbook surveyof Mariana contacts would vield instructive datafor biologists as well as historians.34

Yankee whaling humpbacks may havepeaked during the American Civil War, when short-ages drove up whale oil prices dramatically. But asYankee whaling declined in postwar years, so didthe traffic in the Marianas. There were still severaldiehard Yankee whaleships putting into Guam inthe 1890s, however 35, overage San Franciscosquare-riggers which were cheaper to keep at seathan at home. These last few anachronisms glean-ed the western Pacific for many species, and couldstill be seen around tlie Marianas in the earlytwentieth century, anchored at Apra while theirthreadbare crewmen caroused on shore; or lower-ing their outmoded whaleboats near green landfallswhich, to the end, seemed so enticing.36

NOTES

F. Cady, Journal kept on board Ship , lul ian of

New Bedford, 1847-7850 (Kendall Whaling Mu-

seum, Sharon, Massachusetts Ihereafter KWM] )1 January 1849 tf .

Father Aniceto lbanez del Carmen et al. , Chronicle

of the Mariana Islands (trans. and annotated by

Marjorie G. Driver, 2nd print ing, Agana; Micro-

nesian Area Research Center, 1976), p. 1.

In Apri l 1843, a typical month, there were at least

fourteen Yankee and four Bri t ish whalers anchor-

ed at Apra (Journal kept on board Ship QfCSAgofFairhaven, 1842-1845 [KWM] , 1 Apri l- l May

1843 ) .

Thomas Beale, Surgeon, -Ihe

Narural Historv of

the Sperm Whale . . . to which is added. a Sketch

of a South-sea Whaling Voyage; etc. (London,

John Van Voorst , 1839), pp. 335-339; [John D.

Jonesl , Life and Adventure in the South Pacif ic.

By a Roving Printer (New York: Harper & Rro-

thers, Publ ishers, 1861), p. 227.

Jones, p. 238.

The Fort "entirely surrounded by water" (Jones

p. 238) is Fort Santa Cruz. Confer Yolanda

Delgadillo et al. T!glg""! Forts of Guam(Agana: Micronesian Area Research Center,1979),p.34.

rbid. p. 236.

"Whaleman's Friend" (ShiP Braganza) to Samuel

C. Damon, Honolulu, 9 October 1849, publ ished

in The Fr iend (Honolulu), 15 Octobe r 1849.

Captain Nash, Journal kept on board Bark Pru-

dent of Stonington, 1850-1853 (KWM), 8 March

7852.

Ibid. , 12 March 1852.

Jones, p. 229.

Reuben Delano. The Wanderings and Adventures

of Reuben Delano, being a Nar-lative of TwelveYears' Life in a Whale Ship (New York: H. Long& Brother; and Worcester: J. Grout, Jr., 1846),p. 37.

L.A.B., "A Sketch of Guam, one of the LadroneIslands," The Friend (Honolulu), I January 1849;

Jones,p.229.

John F. Akin, Journal kept on board Ship Uryjlfgof New Bedford, 1843-1847 (KWM), April 1846;"Guam", T_S--E!."d (Honolulu), 14 November1855; Beale, p. 335.

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SIX PACIFIC DISCOVERIESBy Saul H. Riesenberg

EDITOR'S IlOTE: This article is reprinted withthe permission of American Neptune, the PeabodyMuseum. and the author. Further research rtn thepart of the author has revealed new informatic:n.He has instructed the editor to prepare two adden-da reflecting this. The author has recently retiredfrom his post at the Smithsonian Institution.

In the past several years, in the course ofgathering ethnohistorical materials on Micronesiafrom manuscript sources in various repositories,I have noted several instances of discoveries ofearlier date and by different voyagers than thosegiven in that valuable compilation by AndrewSharp, The Discovery of the PaciJ-ic Islands.lIn correspondence with Mr. Sharp, he has sug-gested that I place these instances on record, theconclusive ones along with the tentative ones! sothat they might be available to other scholars.All of the discoveries given here are in Micronesia;one of them (Fanning's discovery of Kapingama-rangi) is in published form but it is included herebecause i t is omit ted by Sharp; the others are al lfrom manuscript journals.

I , THE MORTLOCK ISLANDS. ThiSgroup, in the central Carol ine Is lands, consists ofthree atolls: Etal, Lukunor, and Satawan. Tirethree are located, respect ivelv. at : 5034-37'N.153032-35' E: 50294( N. -153o4.r-s0, E; a 'd' * - - -1: , - " : -

50 | 7-30' l \ , I 53028-45' b (al l posir ions here andin what follows being taken from Bryan's Guide).2

Sharp (p. 177), in agreement with manyother authorities, attributes the discovery of thegoup to Captain Mortlock of the British vesselYoung lli l l iam in 1795. The actual date was 27November. In commemoration of the event thegroup has long been known as both Young WilliamIslands and Mortlock Islands, as well as Nomoiand other names. (There is another Mortlock,properly Tauu, in the Solomons.) The islandsseen by Saavedra in 1528, supposedly lying in7oN, and inhabited by bearded, light-skinnedpeople (Burney I :152)J may have been thesesame Mortlock Islands, as various authoritieshave suggested, but as Sharp says, they mayequally well have been Namoluk, Losap-Nama,Ngatik, Pingelap, or Mokil; Sharp, therefore, attri-butes to Captain Mortlock the first firm report

the group named after him.But another claimant to the honor can be

put forward. In the Peabody Museum of Salem isthe journal of the ship Britannia, Captain W.Raven, on her voyage from England to portJackson, in the years I 192 to I 795. The author ofthis manuscript is R. Murray. By Murray'sBri tannia found herself on Christmas Day, 1793, atwhat is now known as Ngatik, not far from ponapein the Carolines; this atoll was taken to be a ner,,,discovery and was given the name Raven,s Islands.after the captain a name by which it was longknown thereafter. (Actually Ngatik had been dis-covered in June 1773, by Don Fel ipe Tompson.in the Spanish vessel Xluestra Senora de la Conso-lacion. on his journey from Manila to California.but this was unknown to Raven.) Three days later.on 28 December, Raven saw another of the Caro-l ines in lat i tude 5014'N, longitude 154oE. Thereis no description beyond these scant facts, but theisland must have been one of the Mortlocks. mostprobably Satawan. Satawan l ies at 50l7-30'N.I 53o28-45' t l . Raven's observat ions are consistent:his slight error here is of about the same magnitudeas the emor in his observations three days earlierat Ngatik, where he was only 0o3/out in latitudeand 0o58'out in longitude.

Captain Raven therefore preceded CaptainMortlock by two years and the honor of tnii Ois_covery rightly belongs to him.

) . EAURIPIK. To the west of the N4ort-locks in the Carolines is the atoll of Eauripik, lyingat 6041-41 N. t4:o0GO5'E. Sharp (pp. 21i-18)and other authorities give the discoverer as theRussian explorer, Fedor Lutke, commander ofSenyavin. Lutke sighted Eauripik on l2 Aprii1828, as he passed through the Carol ines on aneast to west course; he did not land, but theexpedition reports contain a chart of the atoll.This has been the only original discovery attri-buted to the Russian expedition (although Lutkeconsidered Ponape to be a new find), but even thishonor must now be taken from him.

Almost exactly thirty-two years earlierthan Senyavin, the ship Abigail seems also to havevisited Eauripik. The journal of Abigail's voyagefrom Port Jackson to Canton is kept at the JohnHay Library, Brown University, in Providence.The captain's name is not evident. To quote fromthe journal:

Remarks on board Fr iday, Apr i l 22, 1796.. . . At g A.Nl.discovered two smal l is land bear inq southwest % west and

10

west and west southwest, d istance 4 leagues. As approach-ed near we could see breakers extendi ,ng norther ly direct ionfrom the southern is land at least two leagues, which is thedistance between the two is land. The f i rst is land appearsto be about 3 or 4 mi les in length, is low and covered withlarge single t rees and looked to be in some state of cul t ivat ion. We were not near enough to see any inhabi tants. Theother is land is smal ler and covered with t rees. These is landsis not la id down in any chart that we know of and probablenever were discovered before. Therefore we shal l cal l themSolomons ls land as Mr. Solomon Thornton, our f i rst mate,f i rst saw them. Winds from east by north to east-northeast,course north and east, d istance 122 mi les. Lat i tude in byobservat ion 6045'north; Longi tude in by cal 14502{east.Longi tude in by calcu lated from celest ia l observat ion at 12meridian. The f i rst is land out of s ight , the second bearssoutheast by eas1. distance 41, leagues.

There are some difficulties about identi-fying this Solomon's Island as Eauripik Atoll. Forone thing there are actually five islets (a sixth isawash at higli tide), not two. But all but two (Oaoand Eauripik Islands) are so tiny that tliey couldnot be seen from a distance of four leagues, or less.Six years after the voyage of Abigail. on 3 April1802, three East India Company ships. Canada,Nile, and Minorca, sailing in company from PortJackson to Canton, saw Eauripik, also from four

leagues off.4 Each reported only two small islands.Lutke and his lieutenant. von Kittlitz. who sailedas close to thg atoll as one mile, botll speak of onlytwo islands.5 Likewise Cheyne,6 who visitedEauripik n 1844, mentions but two islands. Allbut Oao and Eauripik are on the southern rim ofthe atoll, whlle Abigail's track (and Senyavin's)was north of the atoll; hence it is easy to under-stand why only two islands were seen.

The reference to breakers extendingnortherly from the southern island can be explain-ed if 'northerly' is understoon as any deviationnorthward from an east-west line. Oao (the 'other,second smaller' island in Abigail's description) liesat 2900 from Eauripik Island (the 'first, southern'is land).

The description of 'the first island'(Eauripik Island) as three or four miles in lengthis more difficult. In reality it is less than half amile long, and although it is the largest islet of theatoll it comprises only .04 square miles. Perhapsfrom four leagues' distance the reef running westfrom it, along the southern rim of the atoll, withits tiny islets, was dimly seen and thought to bepart of Eauripik Island. Or il may actually havebeen larger once. Canada, above mentioned, in1802 describes Oao and Eauripik Islands as ofthree miles circumference each. Hambruch /

refers to a typhoon of 1907 which tore away theeastern part of the island, and to another similarstorm sixty years earlier; while Cheyne, whovisited Eauripik in September 1844, says each ofthe two islands he saw was about a mile long. If

we allow a once greater extent and adinit someexaggeration in Abigail's estimate, the discre-pancy can be reconciled. In any case, there is noother candidate to put forward as Solomon'sIsland in this matter of size; there is not a singleisland in the Carolines between Truk and Yap thatis as much as two miies in length.

Final ly. there is - the posit ion given inAbigail's account. 6045'N is virtually identicalwith Eauripik's actual latitude of 6o41-43'N. Brtl45o 25' E i, ,oo.. than two desrees east of theactual longitude, 143o 00-05'E.

-The only other

possible identifications on the basis of longitudeare Ifaluk, Olimarao, Elato, and Lamotrek, allsomewhat closer to the supposed longitude.But these atolls do not agree with Abigail's accountin the particulars already noted, and all of themlie too far north. E,rrors in longitude at this time(1196) are more easily excused than errors inlat i tude. so we may indeed accept Solomon'sIsland as Eauripik.

3. PULUWAT. About 150 mi ies west ofTruk l ies the atol l of Puluwat. at 7o21-22'N and149olG12"E, most often considered as f i rst seenby European eyes on 7 April 1 801 , by frigatelieutenant Don Juan lbargoitia, sailing east fromthe Phi l ippines (Sharp, p. 183; Kramer, pp. 129-30; Damm, p 2).8 Sharp (p. 177), l ike some otherauthorities, also refers to the possibility thatPuluwat may have been seen by Captain Mortlockin 1195 but says that Ibargoitia gives the firstfirm record of the place.

Among the East India Company logbooksat the India Office Library in London is that ofYoung William, Captain J. Mortlock, mentionedearlier in connection with the Mortlock Islands.The entry of 27 November 1795 describes andgives a rough sketch of what is evidentlySatawan, in the Mortlocks. Two days later, on29 November 7J95, the entry reads 'at 6.30 Sawa low Island which is covered with TreesDistance 8 or 9 mi les. The Lat. 7.21 N, Long.148.53"E.' Thus the possibility that Sharp refers toabove is actuality, and Captain Mortlock, whom wehave rejected as the discoverer of the islands thatstil l bear his name, is the real discoverer of Puluwat.

There is a record of another visit to Pulu-wat, also befor'e Ibargoitia. In the San FranciscoMaritime Museum is the journal of a passage fromProvidence to Canton of the ship Resource. Thecaptain's name is not evident. The relevant por-t ions are quoted:

Remarks on Monday OcIr.21st 1799. . . . aI 7 AM Saw 4lslands ahead Bearing NW distance about 5leagues. at 7 h42 m 22 S got an observat ion of the O & ) in Longitude150o59. East. Iseparately from these remarks the observedlat i tude is given as-/o42 N.l at B were under the Lee& near-ly abreast of the lslands. at 9 discovered two Canoescominq off towards us. at 9% AM hove the Topsai l aback

i t

l , ;hove too. the Canoes soon carne along side &without hesi-tat ion took hold of the Roaps we threw them &made fastunder the Stern. Lowered down our Smal l boat under theStern. Mr. Helden our f i rst of f icer &Mr. Gif ford wi th threehands went in her& traded with the nat ives for their Cloth

S necklesses in barter for Jack Knives & l ron hoops. thelat ter they gave much the pref ference to, but a hatchett ,which they Cal l Loo Loo, I th ink by what lCould observethey hold in high Esteem. we gave them one, which theyappeared inraptured with. they are of a Swarthy Complex-ion, long hair , wel l Shaped & of a midl ing Stature, f ineSharpe Eyes but bad teeth. Saw no weapons of waramongst them, & | bel ieve they are a happy Race amongstthemselves, as none of them had any Scars about them,&they appeared to be a mi ld paci f ic people. Every oneTraded for himsel f & al l appeared to Git wat they Couldfor th ier Trade of Cur iosi t ies. Two of our Sai lors Swam offonboard of one of their Canoes & in Git t ing into her theyunlucki ly Sunk her. the Nat ives onboard her appeared butLi t t le or any Concerned about i t . our Boat went & towedher to the Ship which they made fast too,& as Soon as webore away to leave them, they al l Jumped overboard outof the Canoe & bai led her out, wi th as l i t t le Concern as i fi t had Never happend. their was f ive Canoes in al l onboardof which was twenty Six or Seven natives. their Canoes areabout 16 or '1 8 feet Long, about 16 Inches whide, wi th oneSai l , which they handle very dexter iously, to Keepe themfrom Over Sett ing to prevent their making much Lee way.they have two out Riggers athwart the Canoe about 6 feetdistance from i t . at the Ends of which in al ine wi th theCanoe is a long piece of wood in the mini ture of the Canoe,ly ing in the water, th is Keeps them Steady, they also havepaddles. at 11 1/z AM. Bore away & lef t them. at Meredianthe Middle ls land bore E.b N. to E.S.E. 3 leagues.

The only other possible identification ofthe islands seen by Resource, besides Puluwat,would be the atoll of Pulap. The latter lies iustnorth of Puluwat, at 10 33-3gd and 1490 23-26/EThis is slightly closer to the coordinates given inResource's journal than are the true coordinates ofPuluwat. On the other hand, Pulap atoll containsonly three islands, not four. Puluwat has five,but if Resource lay under the lee of the islands,as the journal tells, To Island, which is only .037square miles in area, would have been hidden bymuch larger Allei (erroneously spelled Alet onmost maps), which contains .664 square miles. Infact To cannot be seen at all except from the northside of the atoll or from deep within the lagoon, toneither of which places Resource went. The des-ffiption of the atoll as having four islands istherefore understandable.

4. EBON. In the Ral ik, or eastem chain ofthe Mars1141ls, the sout[ernmost atoll is Ebon,40 34-4(N, l680 38-46'8. I ts discovery, accord-ing to Sharp (pp. 207-08), was made on 25 May1824, by the American whaler Boston, CaptainGeorge Joy. The atoll was named after the vessel-one of the several names it received.

But there is a record of an earlier discovery.It is in the journal of Ann & Hope, Captain Chris-topher Bentley, of a voyage from Providence roundAustralia to Canton and return. 9 Auzust 1799 to

2l Apri l 1800. The journal, which was kept byBenjamin Carter, belongs to the Rhode IslandHistorical Society. Ann & Hope passed throughthe Fijis early in December 1799 and on throughthe Gilberts; on 2J December the journal entryreads:At % past 7 AM . as I was standing on the quarter deckconversing with the chief mate Mr Warner saw the landbear ing f rom NW to WbS by compass. lThe course at thet ime was NNW.] l t was a most for tunate event for us thatwe backed ship last night, otherwise the course we steeredwould have precipi tated us on the ls land wher we shouldprobably have been devoured by savages or drowned. . . .the dist . f rom the nearest shore we judged to be about 3lea. making low and level in 5 separate is lands. By 9 AM wecould dist inguish '1 1 or '1 2 separate is lands, 3 back or W ofthe former. One appear lng about 5 mi les in length & doabout 3, the others smal l and al l appeared to be connectedby reefs as breakers are seen the whole length of the landand about 1 mi le N of the land. Saw smoke on one is land.This land is very low but th ickly covered with high trees,through some of which you can see, which spaces appearto the naked eye l ike whi t ish sandy spots at 3 lea. dist .We saw also f loat ing along an old t ree fu l l of barnaclessupposed to have been a long t ime at sea. Our chart laysdown no land within 2 or 300 mi les of th is, a c i rcum-stance which convinces us of the real necessi ty of seekingour way through these Lats. and keeping a good look out,which indeed we intend. . . . We stood N by compassunt i l'1 1 AN/ at which t ime the Northernnrost land bore WbS %S & we judged the land to tend NNW & SSE. in length 12or 16 mi les but we know not how far W.ward. We place this

' ^^^4"-land in Long. 168u45 E by our run from Hoopers ls landand by our lunar obs. in 169oE. Lar.4o2O N.

The description given by Carter and thecoordinates given leave no alternative for identification except Ebon, and Captain Bentley must beregarded as the true discoverer, twenty-four yearsbefore Joy.

5. NAMA, LOSAP, NOMWIN, ANdMURILO. Saavedra, in 1528, may have seen Namaand Losap, about fifty miles southeast of Truk, butthe description he gives is very equivocal. Mostauthorities agree with Sharp (p. 203), who attri-butes the first firm record of these islands toLouis Isidor Duperrey, commander of the Frenchvessel Coquille, on 23 June 1824. Actually,Duperrey seems to have seen only Nama, which henamed after his second-in-command, d'Urville.Although Sharp refers to Nama and Losap as'twoalmost conjoined atolls' Nama is not an atoll buta single island, and that is apparently all that is des-cribed in the expedition reports. Duperrey doesnot seem to have seen Losap atoll, which lies someten miles further southeast, and the discovery ofwhich was later claimed by Captain BenjaminMorrell of Antarctic, who came upon it on 23February 1830, and named it Westervelt's group.gConversely, Morrell evidently did nor see Nama.

But the actual discovery of both Nama andLosap seems to have been made by the East IndiaCompany vessel Coromandel (logbook at India

T2

As the fleet of four ships watched the moun-tain r idges of Mexico sink below the horizon, MiguelLopez de Legazpi ripped open the sealed packet ofinstructions from the Spanish court and read hissecret orders. He was to make for the Philippinesand find out which of the islands grew spices; thoselands he was to colonize, sending back to Mexicosamples of the "spices and other riches" that mightbe found there.

But i t was not to. be as easy as al l that l Justten days out of port , Legazpi was dismayed to f indthat one of his ships, the San Lucas under the com-rnand of A1onso de Arellano, had separated from therest of the fleet and was nowhere to be seen. TheSan Lucas was easily the fastest sailer of the fourships and had pul led wel l ahead of the other shipson previous days, almost out of their sight. Legazpihad taken the pilot, Lope Martin, to task for thison more than one occasion, and could only concludeafter he had lost the San Lucas that its maneuverwas intent ional. I t probably was! Mart in, i t seems,had concocted a sinister scheme with a few of l i isshipmates to gain control of the Sart Lucas after hehad shaken off the other ships in the f lce t . Thelplanned to turn i t into a pirate vessel. ei ' idett t1lhoping to steer for the waters around the soLtthernPhi l ippines where they could make raids on therichlyJaden merchart ships returning from theMoluccas. Unt i l the opportunity came for themutineers to make their move, however, they wouldhave had to keep well out of the way of passingships and, above all, prevent the San Lttcas frotnaccidental ly being discovered by the rest of the f leet.With this in mind, Lope M:rtin brought the SanLucas down a few degrees from the usual track thatSpanish ships followed to bring them directly to theLadrones. Its new course he brought the small shipto a number of hitherto undiscovered islatrds in theCaroline and Marshall groups on a voyage that wasthe most eventful one vet made throueh these waters.

THE MARSHALLS

The San Lucas was sailing before a stiff breezeone evening, a month after it had parted companywith the rest of the fleet. when shoals showed updead ahead. Mart in dashed to the prow of the shipto size up the situation, and was almost swept over-board by a breaker. The ship, meanwhile, wasbrought hard around by the helmsman and managedto barely clear some vicious-looking rocks. The ,SailLucas stood well off until morning when theSpaniards discovered that they had almost runaground on a group of low islands which were very1ike11' those of Likiep Atoll in the Marshalls. On the:r :r t day. January 7, l565,the San Lucas came upon

":rother atol l where they found anchorage. A sai l

r;:ir'ti{r;,,.]&

: t r: ; ,:..#.:ttl

\ l iguel Lopez de Legazpr.

appeared in the distance. the Spaniards made for i tand found a canoe manned by two natives and aboy. When invited aboard ship, the native clamberedup with no hesitat ion and received some smal l pre-sents for their efforts. The Spaniards then followedthem ashore to have a look around and. as i t turnedout, to meet their wives and chi ldren. These is landsof Dos Vecinos (Two Neighbors) may have beenKwajalein. On the following day the San Lucas cameto stil l another island-this smaller than the othersand ly ing at about 8 degrees and 30 minutes nort l rlat i tude, possibly Lib, an is land twenty mi les south ofKwajalein. As they made for it, the natives swamout in great numbers towards the ship. One'sight ofthe armed throng on the beach, however, was enoughto dissuade Arellano from putting ashore. The na-tives swarmed all over the shore brandisiring spearst ipped with the tai ls of the st ingrays. wooden clubs,and slingshots which they used with deadly accuracy'Since a force of only twenty men was aboard the ship'Arellano thought it better to leave the disposition ofthe people untested and hoist sai l ur imediately. Put-ting behind him the liadadores (the swimmers), ashe cal led t l - r is last is land. he lef t the Marshal ls to con-tinue his westward course through the Carolines.

CAROLINES: TRUK ATOLL

On January 17, lard agair appeared off theport borv this time a high island rather than the

T7

low coral atolls that the San Lucas had just passedin the Marshalls. As the ship. drew nearer, LopeMartin saw that it was in fact several high islandsringed by an enormous coral reef. The San Lucashad come upon the Truk lagoon. Hardly had tireSpaniards worked their way through the reef'snortheast pass when a large canoe drew up to theship, the four natives from the canoe who boardedthe San Lucas presenting the Spanish with the cus-tomary gifts: fish and a "dough-like food so foul-smelling that not a man aboard the ship could staydownwind of it" very likely preserved breadfuit. Thenatives made signs to the Spanish inviting them toput in alongside their island. When Arellano showedhis willingness to comply with their requests, oneof them remained aboard the ship to help pilot itthrough the shallows to the lee side of Toloas Island,one of the larger islands within the lagoon. TheSan Lucas had not quite made the anchorage whenthe Spaniards noticed witl-r alarm hundreds of canoesfrom the surrounding islands full of men armed withlances, clubs and slings, rapidly bearing down onthem. The Europeans could surmise that the hostof shouting natives making for them were angry thatthe Toloas people had beaten them to the punchand were themselves intent upon takine the ship asa pize.

The San Lucas beat a hasty retreat through theshallow waters off Toloas, with one of the friendlynatives who remained aboard taking the helm fromtime to time. When at last the ship had put a safedistance between itself and the pursuing canoes, thefew Toloas men who had stayed aboard helped them-selves to spoons and whatever other pieces of ironthey could find and leapt into the sea close by thebarrier reef.

But the worst was not over yet. Dusk wasquickly falling and the San Lucas still had to pickits way through the reef-studded lagoon. With sailshortened now, the hostile canoes, which had by nomeans given up the chase, were closing in on theSpanish ship. The fastest of the canoes had alreadydrawn up alongside the launch and the natives werebusy trying to cut it loose, when Arellano orderedone of his men into the launch to drive them off.While the beleaguered sezunan was defending himselffrom the blows of their clubs, the others in thecanoes let loose with a volley of spears. Somehowthey fell harmlessly to the deck without injuring anyof the Spanish, and one of Arellano's men emptiedhis musket at the canoes. In the turmoil and shout-ing that ensued, Arellano ordered the rest of the sailraised and the San Lucas slipped away into thegathering gloom. No one aboard ship slept that night.As the San Lucas crept through the dangerous waters,always within earshot of the thundering surf on thereef, the sailors would peer uneasily from time to

time at the ominous fire that blazed on the beachesof distant islands and listen for the sound of thestrange nat ive chants.

The night passed without incident. At day-break the ship hoisted sail and made for the pass onthe westem side of the lagoon. To the surprise anddelight of the entire ship's company there were nonative canoes to be seen-at least not until the SanLucas was passing To1, the westernmost of the islandsin the lagoon. The ship was pointing toward the passwhen about a dozen canoes came off the island, theiroccupants signalling the ship to turn about and put infor food and water. The weapons that the nativescarried in their canoes were poorly concealed, how-ever, and Arellano gave the order to load one of theship's culverins with a stone charge and fire it at thelead canoe. The gunner scored a direct hit, at whichthe other canoes reversed direction immediately,leaving the San Lucas an unimpeded passage throughthe reef and away tr: the west.

TO THE WESTERN CAROLINES

The Spanish ship was not long in making landagain. The morning after it left Truk, it came uponthree tiny islets arranged in a triangular shape arounda lagoon: the atoll of Pulap. By this time the SanLucas was badly in need of wood and water, not tomention food;so the ship hauled in under the lee ofthe island and prepared to send a boat ashore. Againthe Spanish saw what looked l ike the ent ire popula-tion throng to the shore with their weapons in hand.Any fears that the Spaniards may have had, however,dispelled when two of the native chiefs came aboardship, offered the assistance of their people in helpingthem take on wood and water, and willingly remainedon the ship as hostages while a young seaman wentashore with three canoes of natives to fetch water.When the lad returned. he was so enthusiastic about

1BGalleons in the harbor at Acapulco

the beauty of the island and the friendliness of thepeople that the ship's launch set out for shore with aparty of ten men. The two chiefs in native canoes ledthe way, and when they had beached their canoesthey made impatient signs to the Spaniards to landat the same spot. The officers hesitated when theycame to a reef that they judged risky to cross with afully loaded boat. A moment later their hesitationturned to apprehension when they watched thenatives split into small groups and take cover behindtrees with spears in hand. They could only suspectthe worst and brought the launch about to returnto the ship.

It was not long before a number of nativescame out to the ship to inquire why the Spaniardshad not come ashore. They insisted that they carrythe water jugs to the island in their canoes so thatthey could fil l them for the Spanish-but wanted afew of the Spanish to come with them. When theyagreed to leave a couple of natives aboard the ship ashostages, three of the Spaniards jumped into thecanoes and headed for the shore with the natives.Two of the Spaniards in the lead canoe had alreadyreached the island and gone ashore as the canoecarrying the third sailor was just approaching theopening in the reef. The seaman in it suddenly sawhis two crewmates dash out of the woods to thewater's edge witir a number of natives in close pur-suit. He watched in horror as they were clubbed todeath in the shallow water and their bodies draggedback ashore. Panic stricken, he seized a paddle andbegan swinging wildly at the natives in his canoe.yelling at them to tum the canoe around and makefor the ship. When they came at him with clubs, hepulled a dagger from his belt and killed two of them.The others leapt out of the canoe and swam for theirlives. The sailor turned the canoe around and madefor the ship amid a hail of stones hurled by thenatives in nearby canoes.

Meanwhile, the two natives who had been kepton the San Lucas, only too well aware of what washappening, jumped overboard and swam desoeratelyfor shore. A few of the Spaniards bounded into theship's boat to pursue the swimmers. When they sawthat there was no hope of overtaking them beforethey reached shore, a marine took aim with his mus-ket and shot sending a ball through the head of oneof them, kill ine him instantly. Then they picked upthe injured sailor, still paddling furiously for theship, more dead than alive. Feeling ran intenseamong the Spaniards at the loss of their shipmatesand Arellano called on a landing party to go ashorewith him to avenge their deaths. The ship's boatpr.rt out and skirted the reef looking for a passageto shore, but the party soon concluded that theboat could not get to shore without running therisk of having its bottom ripped out on the rocks,

and so returned to the ship. Their memory washonored in the name that would appear on futurecharts, Los Martires (the Martyrs). Arellano hadno recourse but to weigh anchor and sail ofl,leaving his two dead crewmen unavenged.

Some measure of vengeance was soon grantedthe Spanish, as it appeared. When they sighted thesmall island of Sorol three days later, they weregreeted by the usual sight of armed men along thebeach. By this time, though, they were wary enoughof islanders to avoid the main island, and insteadmade for a tiny uninhabited islet close by. Althoughthey had understandably developed a distrust ofcrowded beaches, they stil l were sorely in need ofwater and wood to cont inue their voyage. As theyanchored, two canoes approached the ship from adistance, the occupants armed in tl-re usual way.Even when Arellano signalled thern that he wantedto take on water, the natives continued to shoutand brandish their weapons. By this time the pa-tience of the Spaniards was wearing rather thin.But the ever resourceful Lope Martin, who wasnever without a ready stratagem for just such oc-casions, leapt to the poop deck, dropped a redjacket in the water and bade the natives to comepick i t up. As one of the canoes pul led up along-side the ship to do so, a crewman reached out andyanked up a young native by the hair. Almostsimultaneously the muskets were fired at point-blank range at the canoe near the ship, while theculver in was emptied at the other canoe. The dis-charges did great damage, Arellano tells us, but"not as much as the natives deserved for their evildesigns." The islanders, some of them seriouslywounded, abandoned their canoes and swam forshore. The Spanish seized the canoes and the wea-pons in them for firewood, which was stil l in shortsupply aboard the San Lucas. As for the capturedyoung man, his hair was cut, he was given the Chris-tian name Vincent and a pair of pants to make himdecent.

LEGASPI SAILS ON

While the San Lucas was dodging shoals andnative islanders in one harrowing escapade after an-other on its voyage through the heart of the Carolineand Marshall Islands, Legazpi was leading the otherthree ships of the fleet on a less troubled passagewest. Just four days after Arellano's first landfallin the Marshalls, Legazpi's fleet came upon an islandat which most of the men went ashore-much to theterror of the native population who fled in panicat their landing. Not long after, however, the nativesreturned to receive. presents from the hand of theSpanish commander and to cary on trade with the

19

ship. Entirely unknown to the islanders, Legazpi'sgrandson, Felipe de Salcedo, and the AugustinianFriar Urdaneta were ashore taking formal possession

of the island in the narne of the King of Spain. Whenthey retumed to the ship later in the day, theycarried with them branches of trees and some vegeta-tion that they had cut in token of the occupation ofthis Isla de los Barbudos (The Island of the BeardedPeople). On successive days Legazpi discovered fourmore island groups, all of them seemingly uninha-bited, and passed on without incident. His ships thenclimbed to the latitude of the Ladrones, makingGuam on January 22 where Legazpi himself wentashore to take fonnal possession of the island onbehalf of the Spanish crown and to attend a Masscelebrated by Urdaneta to solemnize the event.

The nat ives of Guam unfortunately, could notbe persuaded to bchave like loyal Spanish subjects.In the days that followcd they persisted in filchingnails and whatever else on the ship might happen tocatch their fancy, thus living up to the reputation asLadrones, which they had earned some time before.Each day the uneasiness of tl-re Spaniards grew, themore so as their landing parties returned with regularreports that they had been stoned whi le looking forwater. Final ly a young seaman who had been acci-dentally left ashore by a landing party was foundmurdered the next morning, his body pierced wit l - rspears and his tongue r ipped out. Vengeance wasswift and brutal. With a party of a hundred armedmen, Legazpi put the torch to all the palm-tl-ratchedhuts and outrigger canoes that he saw and summarilyhanged the four natives who were unlucky enough tobe caught by his party. On this unhappy note, theSpanish commander ended his eleven-day vis i t in theislands that he l-iad just claimed for his Sovereign andthen departed for the Philippines.

Arriving at Samar in the eastern Philippines onFebruary 73, Legazpi spent the next two monthsscurrying about in search of food, inquiring wherevaluable spices were produced. making diplomaticovertures to petty chiefs, and deciding where heshould establish the command post for the newcolony that he was to found. In late Apri l h is f leetreached the coast of Cebu where he was met by twothousand armed warriors. A display of l"ris artil leryquickly dispersed the force that had gathered tooppose him, and Legazpi landed without opposit ionto take possession of the archipelago in the nameof Philip II of Spain, thus beginning a colonial rulethat was to endure for more than three centuries.

Arellano and the San Lucas never did fall inwith the rest of the expedition. The San Lucas hadarrived in the southern Philippines just two weeksbefore Legazpi's ships, but had run down the coastof Mindanao to seek anchorage in tlie Davao Gulfwhere they lay waiting over a month for the fleet.

In early March Arellano brought the ship northwardthrough the Philippines on a fruitless search for therest of the f leet. Final ly, on Apri l 21, the San Lucascleared the Philippines altogether and steered to thenortheast to find a sailing route back to New Spain.Within a short time they had been driven by heavl'winds as high as 40o north latitude where the crudecharts they carried showed them to be somewherein the interior of China! Arellano turned the shipeastward and sailed easily across'the Pacific, with the

steacly westerly of those latitudes astern' Twelveweeks after they had departed the Philippines, thecrew of the San Lucas sighted the coast of NorthAmerica. The ship had become the first Europeanvessel to make the return crossing of the Pacific.arriving just two months ahead of Legazpi's flag-ship Sazz Pedro, which the Augustinian friar-navigatorUrdaneta had successfully guided along the sameroute under orders from his commander. The SanLucas and San Pedro had demonstrated the practica-

bility of return voyages between the Philippines andAmerica, and for two and a half centuries thereafterSpanish galleons would sail in tl-re track laid down bytirese two ships.

BACK ACROSS THE PACIFIC

But the saga of the Legazpi expedition was notyet over. Soon after the return of the San Pedro,authorities in New Spain decided to dispatch anothership to bring Legazpi supplies, ammunition and mili-tary reinforcements for his campaign in thePhilippines. The San Jeronimo was gotten out ofdrydock and sent off for this purpose under the com-mand of Pedro Sanchez Pericon. Captain Pericon wasa forbidding soul: "a miserable melancholic enemy ofkindness who delighted in solitude," in the words ofone of the men who served under him. Even worse,he was thoroughly without good judgment and apoor leader of men. To serve under him as his pilotwas chosen the wily Lope Martin, not so much for hisproven ability as a navigator as to provide a conve-nient excuse to get him back to the Philippineswhere he would have to answer to Legazpi for theseparation of the Ssn Lucas the year before' Thismismatch of the ship's officers was patent. It musthave been with some foreboding of what was to comethat the San Jeronimo's company of I'70 leftAcapulco on May 1, 1566.

Within just a few days of the ship's departure,Pericon had managed to alienate almost every man onboard. His heavy-handed treatment of soldiers andcrewmen alike did little to win their respect forhim and his 25-year old son who sailed with him.The only apparent object of his affections was a horsethat he had stabled in the bow of the ship and which

20

his men grumbled, received better treatment than anyof the ship's company. None of the men undcr himcould have wept inconsolably, then, when they weretold on the moming of June 4 that the captain andhis son had been killed in their sleep the night before.Behind the deed was Lope Martin, as given to intrigueas ever, and two fellow conspirators. At their invita-tion, the soldiers chose their Chief Sergeant as thenew captain of the ship, but his command was des-tined to be even briefer than Pericon's. Not threeweeks after the mutiny, the newly appointed captatnwas clapped into chains while drinking in his quartersone evening, marched to the yardarm and hanged,and in a needless display of cruelty cut down whilestill alive and thrown overboard. Lope Martin nowbecame the self-appointed captain of the vessel andthere was nothing to prevent him from carrying outhis long-cherished plan of bringing the ship down tothe trade lanes near the Moluccas and preying offPortuguese shipping for a livelihood.

Martin kept the San Jeronimo on a westwardcourse and soon found himself in the MarshallIs lands, as he had the year before with Arel lano.First he sighted a smal l chain of uninhabited is lands,then anotller group of islands from which a canoe ofnatives carne to gaze at the ship while keeping arespectful distance. Two days later he found a thirdgroup at which he anchored to get water and foodand received the same kind of warm welcome, withsinging and dancing, that Saavedra had been given athis los Jardines (the Gardens). That same evening thecompany returned to the ship and Martin pressed ontowards Guam.

It was towards dusk on July 6 when the SanJeronimo lurched suddenly towards some barelyvisible reefs off its port bow. Martin took the wheelfrom the helmsman and swung the vessel hard over,steering through a narrow passage into the Ujelanglagoon. The next moming the ship's company foundthemselves in the midst of calm waters surrounded byislands and reefs. The ship came to anchor off aparticularly attractive little island where the menfound deserted huts, a source of fresh water and allthe coconuts that they could have wanted. Mart indecided that this idyl l ic spot was a perfect place torest for a few days before resuming his voyage. Allthat the Spaniards needed to round out this pleasantexistence were a few natives to do their fishing forthem and a handful of women to serve their pleasurein other ways. Whenever Martin or any of the menmade for one of the native canoes that they occasion-ally spotted, however, the frightened islanders wouldsail off in great haste.

The company of the San Jeronilno passedseveral leisurely days on their island paradise, soon toL,ecome for many of them a prison. As might be ex-pected in these circumstances, quarrels arose among

the mutineers and mistrust grew daily. One day twoof the company who were out of favor with the muti-neers duped some of the crew into taking them backto the ship on the launch. Once on board, theyjcined forces with two of their supporters to retakethe San Jeronimo. Within a matter of minutes theysubdued the seamen who had been left to guard theship, had the mutineers in irons down in the ship'shold, and were opening up the arsenal to arm them-selves. The ship was theirs, and they shouted out toshore their intentions to leave the mutineers strandedon the island. During the next four days those whohad taken the ship carried on negotiations with thoseashore as to who would be permitted to leave withthe ship. Food supplies were left on the island, inexchange for which the marooned mutineers handedover the ship's instruments and charts. Martin washelpless; there was nothing that he could do topersuade those aboard to change their minds. Withsinking hearts he and twenty-six others watched fromthe shore as the San Jeronimo crawled out of theUjelang lagoon on the morning of July 21, and slowlydropped over the western horizon.

ia'):ii';rrili:

ZI

.{ugustinian F r iar Urcianeta

At i ts May 31, 1979 rneet ing, the Board ofRegents conferred upo11 Sister Felicia E. Plaza,M.M.B., the degree of Professor Emeri tus of theUniversity of Guam. Having met the criteria asestablished for the award. this tirne-honored acknow-ledgement of meri tor ious achievemettt and sustaineddedicated service, places the honoree among a uni-quely endowed and select group of individuals whohave achieved unttsual acadenlic success and whohave contributed significantly to the growth andprest ige of the inst i tut ion they have served.

A NEW CHALLENGE

At the t ime of her empioyment at theCol lege of Griam in September 1968, Publ ic Law9-106 which establishecl the Micronesian AreaResearch Center had been in effect just over a year,having been approved by the Governor of Guam onAugust 23, 1967. From i ts incept ion, sustainedefforts of the Center's miniscule staff were devotedto the establishment of a collection wherein alldocuments, findings, and publications pertainingto Guam and Micronesia were to be centrallylocated so as to enhance the understanding andpreservation of the Chamoro and Micronesiancultural heritage. From a nucleus of a hundreditems, MARC's Pacific Collections grew during tl-re

WOMANOF

WISDOMFelicia E. Plaza,

MMB

by Marjor ie G. Dr iver

period of Sister Fel ic ia 's tenure, to include manythousands of varied material hoidings. The specialarea she chose to pursue was the Spanish ColonialPeriod in Micronesia and its Christian Missions.MARC's present pr iceless and unique col lect ions intirese areas are unquestionably tl-re result of SisterFel ic ia 's quick and vibrant intel l igence, her intenseinterest, her tenaciousness, her skill as a warm andrelent less correspondent, her undeterred wi l l ingnessto travel wherever necessary in search of pertinentnrater ials, and her relent less underly ing committmentto serve the people of the Marianas and Micronesia.These personal character ist ics were supplemented bytwo other unusually valuable background attributeswhich served to sustain her endeavours and ensuredhigh degree of success: her Spanish background andher chosen career as a Cathol ic missionary.

It was perhaps fortuitous for MARC thatTyphoon Jean struck Saipan on Easter 1968. Thestorm wracked such destruction at Mount CarmelHigh School in Chalan Kanoa that its principal,Sister Felicia Plaza, and the other.sisters were unableto continue the program and were forced to close theschool. A friend on Guam, Dr. Larry Kasperbauer,was aware of the embryonic MARC and of its missionto return to Guam the documents which wouldretell the history of Spain in Micronesia. SisterFelicia had been authorized by her Order to return toSpain for a visit after an absence of twenty yearswhen Dr. Kasperbauer sought an appointment for

Sister Fel icia E. Plaza, M. M. 8., discusses Father San Vitores with the experts.

ZZ

Sister Fel ic ia with MARC's then director, PaulCarano. I t was this set of unusual c ircumstances thatpropelled Sister Felicia into her first secular career.

SAIPAN DAYS

She was born to Basque parents in Elko,Nevada where her father was a rancher and store-keeper. After finishing elementary school there,her parents sent her back to their native Spain forfurther education at the Colegio de Berriz inSpain. Tlrere she finished the bachillerato, a degreeequivalent to two years of col lege, and at 19, shejoined the sisters wl-ro had taught her, the Merceda-rian Missionaries of Berriz. She was later sent toKansas City to earn her bachelor's degree at theCollege of St. Teresa (now Avila College), then toSt. Louis Universi ty for a master 's in mathematics.She had started her doctoral studies there. when inAugust 1957 she was posted to Saipan as pr incipalof Mount Carmel School.

During the nearly twelve years in Saipan. herdedicat ion of service to the people of the Marianasand Micronesia was evidenced in the superior qualityeducation her school offered its graduates, many ofwhom went on to advanced education in the UnitedStates and were to become responsible leaders intheir islands. Even after her employment as a staffresearcher at MARC her interest in teaching conti-nued-especially as that teaching might benefitisland students who needed special help in mathema-tics or other subjects. She found time to teachoccasional university classes in Spanish and math andwas always available for special help and tutoring inthose areas. Her office was open to students whosought recommendations of varying kinds, whoneeded to be counselled as they encountered pro-blems in Guam which they had not learned to copewith on their home islands strange customs andstrange people presented situations where a kind andunderstanding counselor was needed

TO THE ARCHIVES

Her work on behalf of MARC actually beganbefore her official employment at the College.During hbr summer vis i t to Spain in 1968, she con-ducted an initial survey of the archives in Madrid andtook prodigious notes which would serve her later.rs the basis for further bibliographical research.R:tuming in September, she joined Paul Carano,\lar_iorie Driver and Emilie Johnston in the huge task--.i rcquiring materials related to Guam and to the

Pacific Arca. The staff first identified archrves withpotent ial Micronesian holdings, fol lowed up bibl io-graphical information located in footnotes orbibliographic listings, and then initiated corres-pondence which often led to either unansweredletters or to a situation in an archive where theonly means of retr ieving copies of ident i f ied docu-ments was by personal research and retrieval.Searches led to mater ials in Spain, Mexico, thePhi l ippines, I taly, the United States, Japan, Austral iaand Germany. In 1970, Sister Fel ic ia conductedthree months of research in Mexico, Spain, I taly andthe United States. There she thumbed throughbundles of materials called legajos, often tied withstr ing and untouched for decades, i f not hundreds ofyears. This was especially true in Sevilla at theArchives of the Indies where Marianas and Carolinesrnaterials are included in the Philippines legajos forthe 16th and l7t l i centur ies. There are no bibl io-graphic cards, the researcher must hunt page by pagefor an indicat ion of Micronesian mater ials. OnceSister Fel ic ia had ident i f ied the mater ials, MARCarrauge d for personnel at the var ious archives to make\ero\. nicroi l l r r or t1 'pescr ipt copies of selecteddocurne nts. Addit iona1l1, ' . copies of maps. pictures,books. records. c l ippings and diar ies relat ing to theSpanish period in the Mariana and Caroline islandswere retumed to MARC as a result of Sister Fel ic ia 'swork.

ln addition to catalogue findings in the manyinstitutions visited, Sister Felicia was rnost fortunatein arranging to meet with renowned scholars ofMicronesia, who because of their own studies,could direct her to valuable and often little-knownsources.

At St. Louis Universi ty in Kansas City,Missouri , she met Fr. Ernest Burrus, S.J. , who haswritten authoritative studies on Diego Luis deSanvitores. From him she leamed in detail whereto searcl-r in Mexico City. Once there. she found thearchives untouched by war, fire or typhoon and avolume of materials of interest to N{ARC whichwould demand the work of many scholars over aperiod of many years.

In Madrid, the venerable histor ian, Fr.Francisco Mateos, S.J. , an authori t l ' on the historyof the viceroyalty of Mexico (u,hich ruled thePhi l ippines and Micronesia). directed her tospecific documents and materials il various archivest l ' r roughout Spain. He introduced her to Fr. Manuelignacio Perez Alonso. S.J. . archivist of the Jesuitsirr Mexico City. a contact rvhicl t led to addit ionalclocumentat ion concent l tg the Sanvitores' per iod.

Sister Fel ic ia four-rd that at least once, heracquisitions sLlrvey rvorked in reverse. While searcl-r-ing in Spain for additional material concerning Fray

23

Aniceto Ibanez del Carmen, beloved Augustinian

Recollect curate of Agana, she learned that there

was no known copy in Spain of his oft' referred to,

yet undiscovered, diary telling of events on Guam

between l\4-l and 1899.Sister Felicia also made valuable contact both

in the official centers as well as in the Catholic

orders which have sent missionaries to the Pacific

Area. This research turned up a wealth of materials'

Other researchers, dedicated members of the staff

of the Center, added to these findings so that, today

MARC has literally tens of thousands of pages of

authentic documents. In 1914 the Accreditation

Report of the Westem Association of Schools and

Coileges referred to MARC's multi-lingual documettt

collection as "the world's most extensive collection

of materials on Guam and Micronesia'"In March lg'75, MARC Published the

"sanvitores Bibliography." The bibliography was

compiled by Sister Felicia Plaza, M'M'B', and Mr'

Albert Willi im: both members of MARC's research

staff. In view of the possible beatification of the

venerable Father Diego Luis de Sanvitores, S'J ' 'the bibliography has served as a research tool of

inestimable value for serious scholars presently

engaged in studies that, iropefully, will lead to the

inclusion of "the most inspiring and irnposingfigure in all of Guam's recorded history" irl the

Calendar of the Saints.One of Sister Felicia's most extensive and

valuable acquisitions trips was made in 1916. lnthatyear, MARC was the recipient of a three-year grant

irom the National Park Service the purpose of which

was to find documentation pertinent to Spanish

Historic Sites in Guam and Micronesia in order to

substantiate known historic sites as well as to identify

others long since fallen into oblivion. Accompaniedby the late Dale S. Miyagi, of the MARC research

staff, Sister travelled to the archives of Madrid,Barcelona and Bilbao, once again locating long-hiddenmaterials. It was during the period of that trip tliat

Bishop Felixberto C. Flores of Agana, was invited by

the Instituto de Cultura Hispanica to receive a por-

trait of Father Sanvitores and the machete which was

the instrument of his martyrdom' Because of her

"sanvitores Bibliography", Sister Felicia was invited

to represent MARC and the University at an audience

with His Majesty Juan Carlos, King of Spain, at which

time the Bishop accepted the gifts for the people of

Guam. This was, indeed, a unique acknowledgementof Sister Felicia's valuable and scholarly research'

A DECADE'S WORK

To gain an appreciation of Sister Felicia'scontribution to MARC, and by extention to theUniversity of Guam and the people of the Marianas

and Micronesia, one must visit the Pacific Collections

of the Micronesian Area Research Center and

especially view the materials housed in the Spanish

Colonial Period section. There, are to be found the

hundreds of folders, innumerable volumes of col-

lected documents, photographs, and maps which

retell highpoints of Spain's three centuries in

Micronesia. One finds that, indeed, there were

forts long long forgotten, that early gobernodor-

cillos and travellers who came ashore to stay were the

ancestors of many of today's residents.In addition to Sister Felicia's acquisitions'

efforts, either through correspondence or on the

spot search and surveys, are her published works

ln Uottr Spanish and English: articles and book

reviews; hundreds of index and catalog cards

identifying materials available at MARC, translations'

typesciipti, Tables of Contents and indeces' Blessed

with a ready sense of humor and the ability to

entertain, she has always been much in demand as

un ""p.ri

in her field. While in Spain, she lectured

about Micronesia and at home in Guam about the

Spanish Colonial period. As was to be expected, she

serued the Church limitlessly, among'other responsi-

bilities, as its Diocesan Archivist and Librarian. In1975, she was especial ly commended by AdmiralKent Carroll for her support on behalf of "OperationNew Life." On many occasions she served as theGovernor's official Spanish translator.

A fitting testimonial to Sister Felicia's work atMARC is its most recently published booklet, TheSpanish Forts of Guam. The editor, Thomas B.McGrath. S.J., states: "This publication began withthe research of Felicia Plaza in the archives of Spain.She advanced the idea of a unique publication on the

Spanish Forts of Guam, which would be coinprehen-sive in its documentation and as complete visually as

these documents and the present state of the'remains' would allow. Once the written sourcesincluding maps and drawings were reviewed, she ledthe authors on a field expedition to the sites them-selves in order that they might be examined in thelight of these documents. The documents served asa guide to understanding each of Guam's Spanishforts. "

Unfinished is a publication to be entitled

Si Gueloniha yan Si Gueloko which concerns the

ancestry of many of Guam's present day residents'With Sister's assistance via correspondence, MARCwill bring full circle Sister's contribution of longyears dedicated to the establishment of a now widelyrecogrized collection of materials centrally located"so as to enhance the understanding and preservation

of the Chamorro and Micronesian cultural heritage."Sister Felicia, Professor Emeritus (Retired),

now resides at Our Lady of Mercy Home, 918 EastNinth Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.

24

CCM'S GUAMAND SPECULATION

ROOTS

FOR THE FUTUREby Dirk A. Bal lendorf

ln 1952 MITTS was relocated at Truk by thedirector of education, Dr. Robert E. Gibson. Thenames was charged, appropriately, to PITTS-thePacific Islands Teacher Training School-and theschool was expanded to include a two-year course ofstudy. Later a third year was started, and programsin general education, agriculture and technology wereadded. There was stil l, during this early time, muchcontact which went on with Guam where suppliesand equipment were procured. and from where manyprofessionals came. At the time the Trust TerritoryHeadquarters was located on Guam.

In 1956 PITTS became the first senior highschool ih Micronesia and since its curriculum wasmore diverse, its name was again changed: thePacific Islands Central School-plCS. In lg5g, itwas moved to new quarters at ponape.

Although by the 1960s PICS,ident i ty had be_come more firmly Micronesian, Guam continued toplay an informal associative role. As pICS grew itcontinued to produce primary school teachers, butthere was still a need for more highly trained teachersin the islands and demands mounted for the devel-opment of another specialized program beyond thePICS level.

In 1963 the Micronesian Teacher EducationCenter-MTEC-was started in two classrooms atPICS on Ponape. The center was run on conrractby the University of Hawaii, and professor MaryReddin of the School of Education was the firstdirector. From these two classrooms-a very modestbeginning-the present-day Community College ofMicronesia grew.

CCM: PONAPE

MTEC remained an in-service teacher traininginstitute, which awarded high school credits, until1969 when it changed its emphasis from in-service topre-service. On 1 June, 1970 MTEC was renamed theCommunity College of Micronesia by High Com-missioner Edward T. Johnston. Gradually theUniversity of Hawaii phased itself out of the admi-nistration and the Trust Territory government took

On 20 June, 1978 at the regular meeting of theCommission on Community and Junior Colleges ofthe Western States Accrediting Commission inCalifornia, the Community College of Micronesia atPonape was granted ful1 accreditation. The actioncame after a careful consideration of the report andrecommendation made by the visiting team of educa-tors from the Commission who had previously spenta week at the Ponape campus in March. It was atruly great stride forward for the college. Effortsdirected at accreditation began n 191). The firstevaluation visit was in 1913, and at that time acandidacy status was granted. A second visit wasmade in 7975, and the result was an unqualifiedreaffirmation of candidacy status. The final visitin March, 1978, came after the community collegehad been included under the new College ofMicronesia system which takes in all post-secondaryprograms in the Trust Territory. All those involvedhad good reason to be proud.

ROOTS OF CCM

Although it is rarely mentioned, Guam has hada lot to do with the development of postsecondaryeducation in the Trust Territory. The roots of thenewly-accredited Community College of Micronesiago back to Guam and the beginnings of the Americanpresence in the islands after the war.

With the cessation of hostilities and the need tornove towards the normalization of society, a greatneed was seen for teachers in Micronesia. ln 1947,the Mariana Islands Teacher Training School (MITTS)rvas started on Guam. Using military facilities, equip-ment, and both American and Guamanian personnel,teacher training programs began. Micronesianscame from all districts to study and learn for shortperiods of time and then return to their home islandsto teach the primary grades. MITTS was the firstpost-iltermediate school for Micronesians, andbecause of its location, brought Guam into thesocio-cultural scheme of the Trust Territory.

25

- ld*

increasing responsibility for the college. Over theyears since 1970 there has been a gradual growth inphysical plant, program responsibilities, and studentenrollment. Currently the college offers Associate ofScience degrees in four ateas and an Associate of Artsdegree in liberal arts primarily for those studentsintending to transfer credits to other institutionsoutside the territory.

Along with the development of on-campusprograms the college has continued to provide oppor-tunities for elementary school teachers to worktowards their degrees through the extension programin elementary education offered in districts otherthan Ponape. There are now some 80 full-time stu-dents and 1200 patt-time students in the extensionprogram throughout the islands. Since the popula-tion of the Trust Territory is still growing-from89,000 n 1970 to 110,000 in 1977, and projectedto 130,000 by 1982-there is no indication as yet toexpect that in the years to come the size of thecohort entering college-as measured now-will doanything but get larger. Hence, steady growth inpostsecondary programs is what the future now seemsto hold.

At the various extension centers in the dis-tricts there is also room for considerable expansion.Not only are there teachers who need to completetheir degrees, but even more new teachers will beneeded. There also continues to be a sreat need for

nurses and trained government workers as well, andthe extension centers-broadened in scope-can helpmeet this need.

CCM: SAIPAN

l'he Nursing School is a part of the CommunityCollege although physically it is located at Saipan inthe Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Itwas orginally started in Truk in 1953. Along withteachers, nurses have always been in demand in theterritory. Subsequently the Nursing School went toPonape, and then to Palau. In 1963 it was moved toSaipan, and in 1968 a permanent facility for theschool was constructed adjacent to the TorresHospital. During its early years the Nursing Schoolwas a part of the Trust Territory Public HealthDepartment, but in 197 5 it was transferred to theeducation department and made a part of the Com-munity College. Students now attend a one yearcourse in pre-nursing at the Ponape campus and thengo to Saipan to complete their studies with clinicalpractice and also further classroom work. Over theyears the Nursing School has had numerous coopera-tive teaching and practicum arrangements with theUniversity of Guam's School of Nursing.

The Community College, in recent years, hasbeen charged with most of the responsibility formeeting the postsecondary educational needs withinthe territory. Although precise figures are notavailable, most Micronesian teachers and mostMicronesians with degrees have attended the Com-munity College and got their degrees there. As itcontinues to carry out its mission, the college mustaddress itself to the main campus at Ponape-which isdeveloping towards a transfer institution-and it mustalso address itself to the needs in the other districtsthrough the extension program. Curricula is beingdeveloped at the main campus in all programs with aview to diversifying the offerings at the extensioncenters. There is still the need for business and liberalarts degree programs, and for practical arts andscience courses for the self-improvement of Microne-sians who care to enroll.

It is expected that the Community Collegewill eventually adapt for the districts its presenton-campus business and liberal arts programs. Thespecific objectives are : ( 1 ) the introduction ofpractical arts and sciences courses into the exten-sion programs, (2) the development of businesscurricula for the extension program-an adaptionof the present main-campus programs, (3) introduc-tion of business curriculum to the extension centers,(4) the development of liberal arts curriculum for theextension centers-again, an adaption of the presenton-campus program, (5) the introduction of theliberal arts program in the extension centers, and

tI

q

26

II

- 'r l&;; ' ,' .q l ;*

. *cr::|6ft ,,'i.,,,

(6) training in administration and accountabilityfor each of the six extension coordinators in theterritory.

The instruct ional staff at the communit l 'col lege at Ponape in 1978 consisted of twenty, per-sons. Of these. eleven hold masters degrees and theothers have bachelors degrees. Not surprisingly,one-third of the Micronesian faculty hold collegedegrees from Guam. The instructional staff is sup-ported by five administrators and twenty-one classi-fied staff persons.

The part-time instructional staff in the exten-sion programs has averaged fifty people during 1978.They hold associate, bachelors, and in some cases,masters degrees. Again, many of these faculty peoplehold degrees from Guam.

There are 160 full-time students at the Ponapecampus. These together with the enrollment in theextension centets brings the FTE enrollment to fourhundred. About 90 per cent of the students enrolledgo on and earn their degrees at the college, and agoodly portion of the graduates who pursue upperdivision studies do so at Guam.

COLLEGE OF MICRONESIA

The new College of Micronesia, under whichthe Community College operates, was founded inMarch, 1977, with the signing of House B11l 729,Congress of Micronesia, by Acting High Commis-sioner J. Boyd Mackenzie. In doing this the Congressof Micronesia was consolidating all postsecondaryeducational programs in the Trust Territory, andplacing them under a governing Board of Regentscomprised of representatives from each Trust Terri-tory district appointed by the district governors, andtwo at-large appointees named by the High Commis-

sioner. The Congress also separated the administra-tion of the college from the education departmentand placed it directly under the Board of Regents.

The three Micronesian institutional entitiesrvere brought togetlier by this congressional action:(1) the Micronesian Occupat ional Col lege at Koror,(2) the Community College of Micronesia at Ponape,and (3) the Nursing School at Saipan. Their unifica-tion under one administration formed, in effect, acollege system which could help serve the postsecon-dary education needs of the people of Micronesia, aswell as those from other areas, who desire to attend.The Board of Regents is undertaking the preparationof a long-range development plan which includes abuilding program for the main campus at Ponape, andan accreditation bid for the Nursing School at Saipan.The plan is scheduled to be ready for implementationbefore the end of the Trusteeship in 1981. TheBoard has also established an endowment fund, andcontriblrtions are being solicited. The college reliesnow on funds appropriated by the Congress of theFederated States of Micronesia, the Trust Territorygovernment, and various federal programs and grants.

The accreditation of the Community College ofNlicronesia, and a review here of its past development,brings us logically to questions of the future.CCM as a part of the College of Micronesia, takesits place now as the latest addition of higher educa-tion facility, and hence, opportunity, among theother colleges and universities in the Pacific. Howwould one predict the future for higher education inMicronesia? Much of the answer lies outside of theeducators' bailiwick. Essentiallv it will be the peoplein Micronesia who will decide the future. But someimportant issues, at least, can be identified.

Enroliment is perhaps the central issue forhisher education in both Guam and Micronesia. Who

27

will the students be? Where will they come from?How will they be selected? And, perhaps strangely-sounding, how will they attend: full-time or part-time? College students in the islands are not onlypeople who've recently graduated from high school.They are also adults in many stages of personal andintellectual development, and of wide ranges in age.Much re-training and re-education is accomplished atthe college level, and this will be a factor in enroll-ment questions. Competition will occur for scarceclasses, and perhaps even seats!

LOOKING TO THE FUTURT

Will the future college students in Guam andthe Trust Territory come from only the area's fami-liar islands, or will they come also from the Gilberts,Nauru, Tuvalu and elsewhere? Sharing the colleges'facilities can bring in more income and can enrichthe student culture with people from other places.

Can this be managed? And are people willing to seeit done?

The selection of students has always been aclifficult matter and in the future will be even moreso. Higher education costs are rising. Should thecolleges have an open admissions policy-should any-one able to pay be allowed to attend? Or should onlypeople who pass rigid test batteries be admitted?Some educators contend that colleges which are hardto get into are easy to get out of graduate,providedthat all the requirements are reasonably met. On theother hand the same educators will say that thosewhich are easy to get into-open admissions-shouldbe difficult to get out of. They should be, they say,a severe filtration system, imparting solid skills alongthe way.

Whether one attends full or part time is also animportant issue these days. It has economic over-tones. Full-time students ntust forego income-stopor preclude work to attend college. Part-time stu-dents can do both. This may be an economicnecessity in the islands in the future.

With the population in Micronesia growing, thepol ic ies on admissions and enrol lment in col leges wi l lhave to be answered-either carefully or haphazard-ly-in the near future.

In the future where will the money come fromto support colleges? At the present time the cost ofthe Community College of Micronesia is bourne bythe Trust Territory government, Basic EducationalOpportunity Grants-BEOGs-federal programs, theCongress of Micronesia, and some tuition. There arealso some grants from private sources. Most of thecost is carried by the Trust Territory. But this isscheduled to change when the Trusteeship ends in

1981. So is the BEOG port ion which at CCM comesto some thirty per cent of the total cost of operationat the main campus. At $35.00 per credit who wi l lbe able to afford college in Micronesia without someform of continued assistance?

It has been estimated that with present levelsof assistance cut-off, a full three-quarters reductionin higher education attendance both within andoutside of the Trust Territory-will result.

It seems most likely that in the future therewil1 be considerably more cooperation in highereducation in the Micronesian areas than there hasbeen in the past. The University of Guam, theCollege of Micronesia, the Guam Community College,the University of Hawaii, Chaminade University,Western Michigan University, University of SouthernCalifornia, and the Oregon College of Education, areonly a few of the colleges which have been servingthe Micronesian area in recent years. This is clearlytoo many to be a paying proposition for those institu-t ions concemed. Instead of competing, they wi l lhave to cooperate, and at the rate government bud-gets are declining, this will have to begin seriouslyYery soon. soon.

There is much good to be said about coopera-tion overall quality will improve because of it. Theinstitutions which serue the area all have their ownspecial strong points and special capabilities. Andthey can do much more in the way of instructionalcooperation than they presently do.

Crystal ball gazers had better be careful thesedays because these issues in higher education aremany-faceted. Attempting to outline them is perhaps

all one can do. However, as I irave tried to show here,Guam and Micronesia have a rich cultural and educa-tional past. Their future, through cooperation, can

be equally-and more-rich and rewarding.

All photos for this art icle are courtesy of the South Pacif icCommission Publications Bureau.

2B

R,ESOI]E AT SEA

By James A. McDonough, S.J.

EDITOR'S NOTE. The author has done researchin the archives of the Hamburgisches Museum furVolkerkunde, and in the National Archives in Boon.

Dr. Augustin Kramer of the Hamburg SouthSea E,xpedit ion had been trying to get his l -rands on asea god, or at any rate on a certairr magic imagewhich was said to control the spirits of the sea andits storms. Since 1908 Kramer had col lected anenorrnous amount of tools, textiles, utensils andother artifacts in Micronesia, but no one would givehim the sacred object. Finally in 1909 he did acquirea magic image, and this is the story of how it hap-pened. The quotations are from the diary of theexpedi t ion by F. E. Hel lwig. l

"August 25, 1909. t ln the Palau distr ict . lModerately rough sea. At 9 a.m. we [the off icers ofthe Peiho, the expedi t ion's shipl s ighted a sai l ingcanoe and headed for i t , s ince i t was showing distresssignals. At 9:40 a.m. we hove to and hai led thecanoe. The exhaustion of those on board was somanifest that we fel t obl iged to take them and theircanoe on board without delay. To affect this we hadto dismant le the canoe's olat form and i ts structuralelements as wel l as the outr igger, a l l of which westowed on deck. In an hour 's t ime we had everyoneand everything on board and had served food anddr ink to the people. They were seven men, twowomen, and a boy, al l f rom the is land of Mogmog

lsic l .

"They had been returning to their home fromYap, when they were dr iven by Beng Ingwer, thecurrent and a strong northeast wind for f ive daysas far as the is land of Hi laban in Samar, the Phi l ip-pines. From there they had tr ied in vain to sai ld i rect ly to the Palau group. These people had beenenroute for f ive and a hal f months, the last th i r ty-s ix days without s ight ing land. By this t ime theirfood suppl ies had shrunk to three coconuts and abox of meat, and with their increasing weakness theend was in s ight . Wi l l iam IGibbon] , our interpreter,learned from Pol l , the canoe pi lot , that he withtwo other canoes had brouEht Mogomog [s ic] t r i -

1909bute to Yap, a practice which the Government had

forbidden a long t ime past because of frequent loss

of l i fe. We can see how deeply rooted the old cus-

toms and usages are f rom the fact that on a prevlous

occasion this pi lot had been punished for disobeying

the prohibi t ion.

"They valued the rescue of their boat almost

as much as that of their persons. Their joy and grat i -

tude made i t easy for them to give us some of the

dispensable art ic les f rom the canoe, such as rope,yel low dye and mats, as a return for being taken on

board. To Kramer 's special del ight , we were able tosecure a magic sai l ing image, which for some t ime hehad been try ing to obtain wi thout success. l t was adagger- l ike instrument armed with the barb of a st ing-ray, i ts upper end showing a Janus- l ike face. Thecanoe pi lot used the sacred object to charm the spir i tsof sea and storm.

"Further inquiry by Hambruch [an ethnolo-gist on boardl revealed that Pol l , the leader of thethree tr ibute ships. had last s ight of the two othercanoes dur ing a stormy night af ter they had lef t Yap.(These two canoes fortunately reached Palau, wherewe had seen them upon their arr ivql . ) As we men-t ioned before, IPol l 'sJ canoe was dr iven to thePhi l ippines, and there they l ived for three months ina house which they bui l t themselves, welcomed andassisted bv the nat ives in return for the f ish whichthey caught.

"Final ly the west winds began blowing anothey again dared a voyage home. In the Phi l ippinesPol l took on as food suppl ies 800 coconuts, a hal f

sack of r ice, and two jars of meat, for which he had

bartered Mogomog mats, etc. Moreover, indiv iduals

on board apparent ly brought wi th them smal l quan-

t i t ies of food. The weather remained dry, no rainfel l and their two jars of water were soon empty.For twenty days they fought off th irst with sea

.water, unt i l the f i rst ra in fe l l last n ight. I ln a foot-note the author says that th is should prove that you

can dr ink sea-water, but that some wi l l doubt i t andsay that coconut water probably saved them.l Thismorning they had reached the extreme of eat ingcooked Reng, the yel low dye made of g inger roots,which was kept in the boat for the customary bodypaint ing, the pr iv i lege of the pi lot . Pol l had or i -

29

r l,1Itctq

x\

i4\ :w

h,1?riirr''q!

I

This photograph was obtained by the author in Hamburg andV6'lkerkunde.

ginal ly intended to head for the Palau group, and infact he was on the r ight course."

The diary continues with a story by Poll'sassistant. Refell. to the effect that six or seven yearspreviously, his canoe with forty other canoes washit by a typhoon enroute from Mogmog to Uegei(Feis). Only Poll and he and twelve other men sur-vived. They met a Spanish (?) warship which tookthem to Manila. Seven of the fourteen died enroute.A German ship took them to Singapore and then to

30

is reprinted with the permission of Hamburches Museum fi j r

Batavia. There two more died of malaria. Finallya German ship took them to Yap, whence the fivesurvivors travelled by canoe to Mogmog.

These men were great navigators, brave andskillful sailors, but the dangers and hardships theyendured were as extraordinary as their seamanship.

NOTES

1. F. E. Hellwig, "Tagebuch der Expedit ion" in G.

Thilenius, Ergebnisee der Sudsee-Expedit ion, Ham-

burg, 1927 , vol . 1, p. 195-196.

\ \.<\ =eLA<Hli

THE SPORT OF COCKFIGHTINGby Maria Teresa Ar ias, M.M.B.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article provides some back-ground to the sport of cockfighting in other parts ofthe world. The translation was prepared by Mrs.Marjorie G. Driver irom the originai Spanish.

Cockfighting is more than the word "fight" inthe title would indicate. It closely approaches theproportions of a gladiatorial struggle in which theconquering rooster leaves his opponent in a badlybattered state. The weapons in this contest are thesteel spurs and the sharp beak. The fighting rooster isan indomitable bird who permits no rivals in hisdomain. This bird requires specialized training fromthe moment he is born, in time he will develop hisbody musculature and his innate gifts of daring,strength, and agility.

The sport of cockfighting began about 3000B.C. and continues to the present day. It has spread

to all the continents of the world. In some countriesorganizations for the protection of animals have beenable to ban it. There are two kinds of fiehting cocks,the Bankiva and the Sonneratti. Both of these ori.ginate in the cold mountainous regions of Media inancient Babylonia. The sport had spread toMesopotamia and as far as Egypt during the reign ofthe Pharoahs. By 1400 A.D. they had reached China,in all probability ancient Persia was the source forthese birds throughout most of the Asian continent.

Greece showed the greatest interest in andenthusiasm for these fighting cocks as the sportcrossed over to Europe. The bravery of the roostersfrom Tanagra and Rhodes spread abroad, and theGreeks coined a new word to describe their passionfor the sport, alectriomachia. Greeks of all ages andfrom all walks of life raised and trained these birds,feeding them with garlic and onions to increasetheir aggressiveness. The types of birds raised atMelos and Calcis began to rise in prominence. AtAthens there was a law st4ting that cock fights wereto be held yearly and paid for from the Public

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31

Pre-war Guam, Nick Gumataotao and his wife and daughter

Treasury. This was done to commemorate the dis-course of Themistocles prior to the battle of Salamis,who enkindled the fire of valor in the hearts of theGreek people when he spoke of the courage thefighting cocks in the arena. The tetragrans or coinsof the ancient Greek empire had a fighting cock witha palm branch impressed on them.

Rome took the nod from Athens and adoptedthe sport. Spain, France, England, and Belgiumfollowed the lead of Rome. After the conquest ofthe Americas by Spain enthusiasm for cockfightingspread from Canada to the very tip of South America.The love for this sport was carried in the hearts ofthe Spaniards who went to the Philippines although itwas supposed that the Filipinos were already familiarwith these fights through their many commercial con-tacts with China and the continent of Asia. ThePhilippines exported their enthusiasm for their fightsto a large number of the Pacific Islands, the Marianasamong them, where they became very popular withthe islanders. This enthusiasm received added impe-tus during the Spanish Colonial Administration fromthe Viceroyalty of Mexico, a country whose fondnessfor cockfighting is surpassed only by the elegance ofits style.

THE BET AND THE ROOSTER

The rooster full of spirit and the pocket full ofmoney ciune on the scene at the same momentwagering was born. The sport soon became an obses-sion. In England and France the devotees of thesport formed important associations for the purposeof wagering vast amounts of money. The associationswere constantly at odds with the organizations forthe protection of animals, who inflicted penalties onthem. The most renouned place of all for betting oncockfights was the Royal Cockpit of London,locatedon Tufton Street in Westminster district, where thehetting sometimes reached nearly one thousandpounds sterling. Wagering and cockfighting also tookplace in the wood near Boulogre, France, and inmany other cities of Italy and Spain. In Asia, China,Manila (one of the cities where it is most popular),and in other places such as Sumatra and Java largeamounts of money change l-rands over these fights.

In the United States, interest was centeredprimarily in the Southern States where the colonizersowned valuable cockpits and the black slaves wereskilled in breeding the birds for the art of cock fight-ing. The sport was popular both before and after theCivil War, but today it is outlawed. Some clandestinecockfights are held illegally in some places today.

Tlie sport has really taken root with a frenzy inthe countries of Hispanic America. Some twentynations there have cockfights. In Venezuela cock-fighting is a National Sport (Fiesta National\.

I l lustrat ions by the author.

<r#Y

Jd

THE ROOSTER IN ART

The rooster is a bird fround in the Bible and inthe field of Archeology. It is a popular figure inCirrrstian Art. At times it has been depicted betweenSt. Peter and Christ, and other times carved oniunerary monuments of the early Church as a symbolof resurrection. It is a sign of vigilance, of attentionto the moment, of one standing watch. Down in thecatacombs there are drawings of children urging tworoosters to fight, depicting the struggle of Christiansto achieve victory over evil. A feature of Europeanarchitecture was pinacles to which weathervanesadorned with roosters were attached. Roostersappeared in belfreys, on the atms of crucifixes, and inthe towers of cathedrals. It was the custom in theX century to express the biblical injunction "watchand pray" through the symbol of the rooster.

It has been immortalized in art also as a symbolof pride, daring, and fertil ity, and closely associatedwith the European nobles of the Middle Ages whofounded Orders of Chivalry by taking omens withroosters. The rooster was ellgraved on their shieldsof gold and silver and his figr"rre rvas strr-tck on prizes.trophies, medals, and coins. The image of a roosterwas found in an ancient Greek bas-relief on the hel-met on Minerva, as she stood between Mars andMercury.

Cockfights were discovered in frecos foundamid the ruins of Pompey and presewed today in theMuseum of Naples. A stone carving in the StoschCollection shows the God of Love presiding over oneof these fights. Cock fights have been painted onsacred vases. Genard, the famous art historian, seesthese struggles as allegories of athletic contests. TheLouvre has several chalices with this kind of image.

Among the modern painters, Frans Snydersfrom Flanders, has depicted the cockfight in canvasquite often. There are two of these fine paintings inMadrid's Prado Museum, one in a Berlin Museum andanother in a Geneva Museum. The Prado has severalcockfighting paintings, one by Juan Fyt entitled"A Cockfight!" Houde Koter's works on this sametheme are found in the Turin Museum, the VeniceAcademy of Fine Arts, and his most famous paintingon the subject in the Munich Museum.

THE TRAINING OF A ROOSTER

The rooster egg has an incubation period oftwenty one days. After emerging from the shell, thechicken is left with its mother until it is two monthsold. This is the period of time in which the charac-teristics of a good rooster are developed. Onceemancipated from its mother, he is put into a cagecalled machero (from the word macho) where anadult rooster, el padrote (the big father), acts as chief'He does not allow them to fight among themselves,and he keeps them apart lest they fight accidentallyor becanse ol jealousy. He keeps a close watch on al lof the roosters in the cage. After six months they areplaced into individual cages or galleria, the real placefor observation and training. During this period oftime they are fed well, and innoculated againstNewcastle disease, chickenpox, typhus, diptheria andother maladies. Between these innoculations they areshaved or decrested, a term used to denote the re-moval of their combs, beards and sideburns. Manesare trimmed, while they are shaved, groomed and pre-pared for the fight.

Today, Spain ranks as the world's leadingnation in the breeding of these birds. This activity

**fu .J s;_ ,e?

has reached the proportions of an industry, wherethey cultivate two pure breeds: la Inglesia (English),which originated in that country, and the Jerezana,from Jerez de la Frontera in Cadiz, Spain. TheJerezana roosters possess extraordinary strength andbravery along with elegance and unttsual beauty.Some say that enthusiasm for the fight has dimi-nished in Spain somewhat, but the desire to purifythe breed of the rooster continues to grow. ln 1979more than two thousand roosters were exported toHispanic America and by 1980 it is expected thatthis number will reach three thousand.

THE BREEDER: A SPECIAL MAN

The nt of breeding roosters for fightingrequires innate talents and is difficult to learn fromtechnical books. Generally the breeder emergesbecause of his temperament and life-long attachmentto the sport. Not everyone can do it. The breederwill vary depending on the region of his origin.English, Spanish, and Filipino breeders are not allthe same, nor do they use the same techniques. Onething they share in common is their skill in handlingthe birds, which appear to be very bright. There is aclose interaction between the bird and the trainer.He carefully trims the feathers in the proper way toinsure a better chance to win, stays close to the birdwhile in the ring, watches the course of the fighting,and judges the precise moment when to withdraw hisbird before any wounds received might prove fatal.

In Spain this ability to breed roosters is traced

to a mixture of the Celtic and Iberian spirit, whichlong before the time of Christ, gave rise to games andraces between wild bulls for the amusement of all 'As a matter of fact bullfighters and former bull-fighters comprise the highest number of breeders in

Spain. Their zeal approaches addiction. The pro-

vinces of Cadiz and Valencia have the finest cockpits,

and these are found in many places. Manuel Atienza,

a famous picador of the caudrilla of the matadorAngel Teruel, is the owner of a cockpit. So is the

former matador Baldomero Ortega. There are twodozen other owners who select and cultivate roostersof the purest Jerezana breed. Among these are DonManuel Barea Figueroa, who won six titles in theCampeonato de Espana (Spanish Championship),Don Antonio Moreno Becerra, world famous for his

chico moreno and Don Jose Garcia de la Flor, who

died in an air crash while returning from a match

involving his own birds in Columbia.

NOTES ON COCKFIGHTING

Cockfighting as a commercial venture and itsrelated industry is regulated by laws promulgated inthe Boletin Oficial del Estado (Official GovernmentBLr l let in) for the years 1940. 1956,1970, and 1979.The principal importing countries are: Venezuela,Puerto Rico, the French Antilles, Mexico, Columbia,Panama, the Dutch Antilles, the Dominican Republic,and Costa Rica.

One curious detail is that about ninety percentof the birds trained to fight, strike more often withtheir left spur than their right spur. There is a pre-

dominance of left footed birds in the cockfightingprofession.

Spanish Bullfighters are enthusiastic followersof this sport. Among them are Litri, Miguel Mateio,Antonio Jose Galan, as well as the famous breeder offighting bulls, Perez Tabererno. There is a wholedynasty of bullfighters who call themselves El Gallo(the rooster): Fernando G. Ortega, and his first sonRafael, El Galto. iun. (the son of the rooster), who

has shown himself one of the bravest in the history

of bullfighting. His second son, Jose was the famous

Gallito (the little rooster), ot Joselito, who was

killed at the peak of his career by a bull.

Today the sport of cockfighting continues toenjoy prominence in the islands of the Pacific despitewaning interest in Spain. We know that Asia andSpain met in the Philippines. Perhaps in the futurethe history of the game of cockfighting will bewritten and the question of origins and influenceswill be made more clear. Viva El Gallo!

34

Governor Seaton Sehroederby Thomas B. McGrath, S-J.

EDITOR'S NOTE. The documentation on Guam'sAmerican Naval Period ( 1B9B-1950) at theMicronesian Area Research Center is the resultof research supported by a grant from the NationalPark Service.

The future second naval Governor of Guamand later Admiral, Seaton Schroeder, was born inWashington, D.C. toward the middle of the lastcentury to a family in the diplomatic service ofthe tlnited States. His early yearsl were spentin Europe, where he learned to speak French, a

language which became an integral force in his

life. Much of his schooling took place at home

under the direction of tutors. When PresidentLincoln appointed him to the Naval Academy atNewport, Rhode Island, his previous studies weresufficient to place him in second year rather thanthe first year. Though deemed ready for theadvanced work, he acceded to the advice of hisfamily and friends to do the full four yearprogram. Once there the faculty substituted asecond modern language, Spanish, in his pro-gram, since he already had fluency in French.the usual language taught to Midshipmen. Thisproved to be a remote preparation for hiseventual post as an early Govemor of Guam,where for over two centuries Spanish was thelanguage of instruction, government andcommerce.

EARLY NAVAL YEARS

As a young naval officer he participated in ascientific expedition to the Chatam Islands to markthe Solar eclipse of Venus during 1874. TheSwatara was specially fitted out for the task andSchroeder gladly accepted an invitation to serveon board her. In due course the Swatara droppedanchor at Whangora Bay on Whairikauri Island to

begin her phase of the mission. The ship and crew

left the area quite pleased with the results of their

work. After a short stay in New Zealand the

vessel departed for home waters.Some six years later Schroeder took leave

from the Naval Service to participate in a unique

opportunity offered at the time. The Egyptiangovernment had presented a monument to theCity of New York but the task of transportingit remained a formidable obstacle. CaptainGorringe, who took charge of the project,

secured the services of the steamer Dessoug andmade preparations for the passage over the ocean.

Gorringe and Schroeder looked over the monu-ment, an obelisk, and made the decision toremove it in its entirety, pedestal and foundationstones as well. This would mark the first timelhat a complete obelisk had ever been removedfrom Egypt. During the summer of 1880 thedelicate work of removal, transporting, andre-setting the obelisk took place. Today itrests serenely in New York City's CentralPark.

Another talent showed itself a decadelater, while he prepared the Vesuvius in thePhiladelphia yards for its sea trials, he workedtirelessly on the invention of a rapid fire gunwith William Driggs. Schroeder managed thedetails of construction and ballistics, whileDriggs attended to the breech mechanism.The weapon became known as the Driggs-Schroeder Gun and took first place in severalcompetitions. Eventually quite a number werebuilt but by this time he was back into theroutine of sea and shore assignqents. By theend of the Spanish American War navalofficials began to look for a replacement forthe first naval Governor on Guam, CaptainRichard Leary.

ON TO GUAM

He received his appointment to Guam inApril of 1900. The final leg of the journey fromManila to Guam was made aboard the Yosemite-During the journey Schroeder became ill with a

fever and went to sick bay at the direction of the

medical officer. While below deck he noticed

a strange motion of the ship and asked for weatherinformation. From all the signs available, thevessel was heading right into the teeth of atyphoon. He continued to navigate the shiparound the edge of the typhoon from his bunkuntil the Yosemite reached Guam safely. Someadditional days of rest were required before hecould relieve the Governor.

The Governors of Guam in the AmericanNaval Administration had the same powers as

their predecessors in the Spanish Administration'zTheir jurisdiction extended to both civilian andmilitary matters. Captain Leary with the aid ofhis able assistant Lt. Safford ruled the islandduring these first days through a series of GeneralOrders concerning many areas of life includin-gland transfe13, title4 to and useS of land, taxes6,marciageT , public education8, literacy9, public

conduct I 0, legal tender I I , public celebrations

36

of fiestas in honor of village patron saintsl2, andthe exportation of food.l3 Two orders in thisseries were directed to navall4 personnel only.

GOVERNOR OF GUAM

For a period of nearly three weeks the newGovernor, his predecessor and aidel5, along withlocal officials conferred on matters of state.l6Once he felt l ike himself again, he made prepara-tions to bring his family to Guam. From theoutset he indicated his intention to considerhimself first as the Governor 17 of the islandand secondly as the Commanding Officer of theNaval Station. Quickly Schroeder moved tocreate an atmosphere of cooperation with thepopulace through adjustments in the taxproceeduresl8 and by initiating a moreenlightened nolicy l9 toward the celebrationof village patronal feasts.

Before the end of the year the Governorhad decided to handle all naval matters througihhis office as the CommanderJO of the NavalStation. FIis first official action was to appointthe Commanding Officer of the Marines as thePublic Works Officer, since a large portion of themembers of the force would be Marines. Oneof the first projects completed was the IcePlant2l in Agana. Lt. Moritz supen'ised thework for the Navy.

SOME PROBLET'/S

At the start of the next year Schroederfaced a difficult problem wit the Caroline Islanderswho formed a small community on the island. Thepopulation had declined sharply from the original700 in 1866, the year of their arrival, to less than100 at the turn of the century. Tourists from thepassing ships were quick to photograph theseislanders, who retained the style of clothing wornby their ancestors. After reviewing the situationabout requir ing more convent ional styles of c loth-ing for these islanders than those popular inGuam,.some thought this would add to the diffi-cul t iesL/ with consumption and pneumoniaalready prevalent in !\e community. So a decisionwas made to deport/r them to Saipan, where theGerman Administration welcomed them into thework force.

A second problem of a different natureinvolving some men from the Naval Station cameto his attention. He decided24 to take a hardline in solving it. Members of the civilian com-munity did not feel safe in their homes becauseof a spirit of lawlessness, which prevailed on theisland. To meet the situation Governor Schroederissued Naval Station Order No. 4 which had some

repercussions25 both on the island and in themainland. He revoked all l iberty and considerednone innocent until the culprits were caught.Those in authority considered the timesexceptional requiring exceptional measures.26

The new Governor tcok under advisementproblems relating to health, the law, and publiceducation during his first year. Free medicalcare2] was assured at the facilities in Agat andSumay, while Agana residents could see NavalMedical Officers on the same basis. Interestdeveloped in a civilian hospital2S and by Aprilof 1901 some funds were raised locally and amatching amount was donated by the PublicTreasury.29 Eventually this building would benamed in honor of the wife of the Governor,Maria Schroeder, in recog:rition for her effortsto bring it into being. It would take some timebefore matter concerning the law could beresolved. Spanish law and its aftermath weighedheavily on the administration in the early years'

So the Governor appointed Ensign Pressy -a,sthe Judge of the Court of the First Instance30while he sought the power to convene aGeneral Courts Martial in Military Matters.This request was denied because the Governorof Guam did not qualify to convene one as thiswas reserved to the President, the Secretary ofthe Navy and the Commander of a Fleet.3lHis concern for public education expresseditself in making amangements for a qualified32teacher to take up residence on the island, as thehead of the schools. Funds ran out a year later andprivate assistance promised to keep the systemgoing for a while.

Official Business33 interrupted his tenure asGovernor of the island and Schroeder went off toWashington, D.C. in August of 1901, He tookhisfamily to Yokohama34 where they remained untilhe returned35 in November of the same year.Commander Swift served as the interimGovernor.36 He directed his attention to theNaval Station being careful to include the mainroad between Sumay and Agana within itslimits.37 A new department of equipment38 wasestablished by Schroeder after his return and a newnumbering system39 devised for all government

buildings.

NATURAL DISASTERS

Natural disasters in the form of typhoonsand earthquakes have struck the island forcenturies. Shortly after assuming his duties asGovemor a typhoon ripped across the island inNovember of 1900 causing extensive crop damage.Provisions40 were made available to all from thePublic Treasury. The typhoon put a halt to a plan

to build a new dam4l for Agana to alleviate a

Earthquake and typhoon destruction during Schroeder's administrat ion.

chronic water shortage there. High winds and\\'aves drove the Yosemite over the reef, whereits cable parted.42 Later all hands were rescuedby the Justin before she was abandoned to sinkbeneath the waves. Two years later an earth-qr:ake rocked the is land in September, 1902. Thesliocks lasted from two to three minutes. Nodamage was done to the exterior walls of thePalace, but the interircr walls did crumble insome places. The estimates43 for the replacementor repair of bridges and public buildings was inexcess of $50,000 to say nothing of the damageto private44 property. As a gesture of good willand concern the Collier Justin steamed off toSaipan with a medical officer aboard to see ifassistance was needed after the earthquake.Fortunately there were no casualties on Saipanbut the Justin met a becalmed schooner withthe Gennan Governor45 of the Marianas onboard. The Collier took Mr. Fritz aboard andbrought him to Guam.

PRISONERS AND COURTS

The island served as a temporary penalcolony for both Spanish National and Filipinosin past years. The rebellion led by Aguinaldo inthe Philippines against the American Administra-tion prodr"rced another group of prisoners for theisland. They were housed in the Presidio46 atAsan in 1901 under the command of Major Orwig,U.S.V. and later under Marine supervision. Theleader of this group was A. Mabini . a man who wassuffering from a malady and found it diflicult towalk. They experienced no irardships duringtheir stay except the fate of all exiles-not beingable to experience and enjoy the company oftheir friends and the familiar sites of home. Inappreciation for her solicitude the prisoners gaveMrs. Schroeder a present47 , as a remembrance.One prisoner, Pio Barrio48 did succomb to theeffects of a heart ailment during his tmprison-ment. In July of 1902 President TireodoreRoosevelt grant a complete pardon49 andamnesty to all who participated in the rebellionbut required that an oath of allegiance be takenb-v all. Schroeder reported in late August oftlte same year that Mabini and Ricate refused5Oto take the oath prescribed in the amnesty.Eventually they did return to the Philippinesu'ith Mabini taking the oath5l before disem-barking from the ship in Manila.

A further question on prisoners lingered onirom the previous administration. Juan de la CruzPerez had been convicted of the murder of Vicente

Aguaon Quintanilla and then sentenced to death.The Supreme Court of Guam upheld the convic-tion but what appeals were stil l available andwhere to file them remained in doubt. The JudgeAdvocate's Office53 recommended that theGovernor exercise his power to commute thesentence. Governor Sewell in March of 1903commuted54 the sentence to life imprisonmentacting in his capacity as the Judge of the SupremeCourt of Guam.

Lepers left the Pago Bay settlement duringthe period of the interregnum to return to theirhomes. Governor Schroeder arranged for theestabl ishmentS5 of a Leper Colony at Tumon Bay.This flourished for several years until all madethe journey by ship to a new Leper settlementin the Philippines.

Schroeder left the island with a long list ofaccomplishments and with a sense of good feelingboth from and toward the people of Guam. Withina few short years a mountain)o in southernGuam bore his name as a constant reminder ofthis fine man. who served as Guam's secondNaval Goventor.

NOTES

Schroeder, A Hal f of Century of Naval Service

9922> serves as the main source of informationon the years before assuming the Governorshipof Guam.

Most Governors had the t l t le Pol i t ico-Mi l i tar andi t extended to al l the Marianas. They were mainlymen on act ive duty wi th the mi l i tary whose res-ponsibi l i t ies included both mi l i tary and civ i l ianconcerns. A number lef t ' the post in Guam to bepromoted to the rank of General in the course oft ime.

The pr incipal reference in th is paper is the Uni tedStates Nat ional Archives, Record Group 80, no.9351-39 to no.9351-49. Hereafter al l such refer-ences wi l l be indicated by the number only. InGeneral order No. 3 (9351-39-49) consent f rom

the government was required before a transfer or

sale cou ld be effected and a special notice ofJune 23, 1900 abrogated Spanish Property laws.

No. 9351-39-39, General Order No. 15 requiredthat land had to be registered with the Registrarof Land and that the type of use was to be re-ported for tax purposes.

Loc. c i t . , General Order No.7 covers mattersrelat ing to land grants and the placing of theselands into product ion, etc.

3.

4.

5.

39

6

8.

11.

Loc ci t . , General Order No. 1O abol ished theSpanish System of taxat ion on Real Estate andestabl ished several new classes for tax purposes:Class I land within towns and vi l lages (4 pesosper hectare), Class l l - lowlands sui table for crops(30 cents per hectare) , Class l l l -v i rg in forestland sui table for agr icul ture or pasturage (30cents per hectare), Class lV-mesa or uplandssu itable for agricu ltu re ( 5 cents per hectare) ,Class V-marshlands (1 O cents per hectare), andClass Vl-savannah land (5 cents per hectare).General Order No. 16 establ ished a corvee forwork on highways anci br idges. Money would beaccepted in place of labor, but labor was pre-fe rred.

Loc ci t . , General Order No. 5 issued on September

15, 1899 forbade concubinage and required al l in

this status to be marr ied in a c iv i l ceremony or in

a church by November 3, 1899, or suf fer f ine,

imprisonment or both.

Loc. c i t . , General Order No. 12 placed publ ic edu-cat ion in government hands, establ ished thatchildren between B and ' l 4 years of age mustat tend school , and that Engl ish would be thelanguage of instruct ion. l t a lso forbade rel ig iousinstruct ion in the schools.

Loc. c i t . , General Order No. 13 enacted onJanuary 23, 1900 gave al l adul ts s ix months unt i lJuly 1, to learn how to wr i te their names. Theywere further encouraged to learn how to read andspeak Engl ish.

Loc. c i t . , General Orders No. 1, No.2, and No.8deal wi th the sale of l iquor to non-residents andthe need for a l icense to import i t . General OrderNo. 17 required that the government be not i f iedof any deaths and bur ia ls. General Order No. 18forbade oeonaoe General Order No. 19 includeda provis ion against gambl ing and General OrderNo. 21 Prohibi ted cock f ight ing and enacted adress code for Carol in ian men.

Loc. c i t . , General Order No. IB establ ished Mexi-

can Currency as legal tender.

Loc. c i t . , General Order No.4 forbade publ iccelebrat ions for the patron siants of the v i l lages.Hol idays were restr icted to Sundays and legalhol idays. This act ion caused a st i r outs ide theis land. His successor, Schroeder, modif ied th issomewhat by General Order No. 26, which al low-ed publ ic celebrat ion wi th a special permit , thoughthis permit d id not make i t a publ ic hol iday.

Loc. c i t . , General Order No. 6 prohibi ted theexportat ion of meat or vegetables but al lowedthe sale of same to v is i t ing ships wi th a permitbut only enough to reach the next port .

Loc. c i t . , General Order No. 11 is directed atseveral assaul t cases upon Guamanians and GeneralOrder No. l4 establ ished a per iod o{ quarant inef or men away without leave f rom the NavarStat ion. Schroeder would later issue other direc-t ives under the t i t le of Naval Stat ion Orders.

The Safford Papers at MARC contain a let ters igned by several leading ci t izens of Guam anddel ivered to Safford on the day of h is departureQuly 23, 1900)expressing the wish that he becomethe next Governor of Guam or at least remain inpresent capaci ty. They, too, expressed theirresignat ion to the fact that a new Governor wasalready on the is land. In a let ter Safford wroteto his mother (December 10, i899) he indicatedthat Leary would wr i te to the Navy Departmentthat when he (Leary) was transferred Saffordshould not be disturbed because of the excel lentjob he was doing.

The f inal d iscussion on the purchase of Cabrasls land took i . lace dui- ing th is interval wi th Leary,Peciro Duarte, Schroeder, and the owner Antoniot \ ' lar t i nez y Pangel inan.

Schroeder (gZZ.ZqS) explains his mind thatmi l i tary author i ty is ul t imately under c iv i l ianaLrthoflty.

He modif ied the land taxes (General Order No.10) In 9351 39-49, establ ished by his predecessorthrouqh his own General Order No.23, butrequ i red permission be obtained pr ior to occu-pying government land.

He fel l short of making i t a publ ic hol iday as

Leary had done before him with General OrderNo 26 i ! 935' l -39-49.

No. 9351 39-49, Naval Stat ion Order No. 1.

No.9351-126.

Schroeder 11922241).

Nlo.935i-163.

No. 9351-39-49, Naval Stat ion Orders Nos. 4,5, and 6.

15

tJ-

14"

17

18.

19.

20

22.

9.

10.

16

21

23.

24.

40

12.

36.25. While on temporary assignment in Washington,D.C. he responded to cr i t ic ism about his t reatmentof the men in Guam. Schroeder draf ted a reply

@ssl-zza) for the Secretary of the Navv(w. W.Heckptt \ tn P F Shee in which he stated that theMarines did not work between the hours of 9:30a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and outside these hours theydid l ight pol ice work. Digging di tches was doneby hired laborers. The only death among theMarines was due to deler ium tremens. Linter,who made the charges in the press, which causedthe wri t ing of th is let ter for the Secretary of theNavy, was await ing t r ia l in c iv i l court at the t imeon Guam. He was eventual ly convicted but astrong recommendation was made that he andthe others found gui l ty f in ish their sentences of fthe is land.

No. 9351-194 shows that near ly 70 Marines werebrought before the courts. No complaints camefrom the Commanding Off icer of the MarineBarracks or any others on the staf f , though nei therArmy nor Navy men were invest igated. But theOuartermaster Sargent John R iordan of theMarines d id wr i te to the Commandant of theMarine Corps request ing a t ransfer to anotherstat ion because of the impl icat ions of Naval

Stat ion Order No. 4l in 9351-39-49) tnat none arern nocent.

No. 9351-3949, General Order No. 24 stronglyencourages mid-wives to receive addi t ional t ra in-ning at Agana.

Over 1,000 pat ients were t reated in Leary 's ad-m inistrat ion. More than hal f of these pat ientswere seen for a variety of reasons. For completeinformat ion refer to the Beport of SurgeonLeach to Governor of Guam(7 August 18gg to 3jJu lv 1900) in 9351 .

No. 9351-1BB ment ions that a sum of 1800 pesoswas raised from these pledges and the same fromthe island coffers.

No.9351-173.

No.9351-190.

No. 9351- '185 contains a let ter of appointment forMr. Hiat t , as the director of schools on Guam,dated Ju ly 1l , 19a1.

No. 9351-39-49, General Order No. 33.

Schroeder U922:268)

No. 9351-39-49, General Order No. 35.

Aside from declar ing hol idays Labor Day and

Honors to President McKinley upon his death,he restricted activit ies in a 3 kilometer radious

of Government House, including the sale of foodfrom house to house in General Order No. 34,No. 9351-39-49.

No.9351-39-49, Naval Stat ion Order No. 16.

Loc. c i t . , Naval Stat ion Order No. 7.

Loc. c i t . , Naval Stat ion Order No. 7, and i tsrevis ion in Naval Stat ion Order No. 14.

No. 9351-155 indicates that 100 tons were distr i -buted but more was st i l l needed as No.9351-152clear ly shows.

No.9351-152.

Schroeder (922.259).

No.9351-326.

Loc. c i t . , about 100,000 pesos in gold for non-govern ment p roperty damages.

No. 9351-313-340, he returned aboard the Japan-

ese Schooner Chomei Maru No. 1.

No. 9351-39-49, Naval Stat ion Order No. 2.

Schroeder (1522:253).

No.9351-212.

No.9351A-10.

rbid.

He wrote a long defense of oaths to c lar i fy hisposi t ion upon his relurn.

No. 9351-301.

No. 935i-301 , no. -7264-02.

No. 9351-301.

No. 9351-39-49 General Order No. 43.

No. 9351-594 does not give the exact date for thenaming of Mt. Schroeder. But D. L. Dyer men-tions it in his letter to the Assistant Secretary ofthe Navy in October 19, 1905 when a survey partyexper ienced some trouble wi th compass var iat ionson the mountain. This is merely a lead to thesolut ion of the quest iorr . Perhaps more informa-t ion wi l l become avai lable here in the future.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

AA

49.

50.

ct_

52

53

55.

26.

2l

28.

25.

30.

Jt.

32

33.

34.

354T

56

FEDERAL LAND OWNERSHIPON GT]AM

by Michael V. Ziehmn

lnt roduct ion

Land ownership has a major influence onland-use patterns, and these patterns can describesome of the qualities of a society.

"The ways in which human beings l ive on thisearth vary both across t ime and according to culture

and environment. Some manage to exist in f rozen

regions, some have adapted to the rari f ied atmosphereof high al t i tudes. There are those who l ive their l ivesin urbanized, densely populated sett ings whi le othersinhabi t coral atol ls of fewer than one hundred per-

sons. Although for every place man l ives there are anumber of physical givens, such as cl imate, terrain,

soi l fer t i l i ty , and elevat ion, each populat ion developscharacter ist ic ways of ut i l iz ing the land upon which

they l ive. Some societ ies are pr imari ly agrar ian and

devote the major port ion of their land to farming;

others are highly industr ia l ized with much landut i l ized for urban and technological uses; and st i l lothers are f ishing and hunt ing societ ies in whichmost land may be left in i ts natural state" (Jennison-

Nolan 1976: 1 ) .

The purpose of this paper is to acquaintthe reader with land ownership as it currentlypertains to the territory of Guam. The main

emphasis; however, is placed on those lands which

are currently owned by the U.S. Federal Govern-ment.

Guam, which is the largest island within theMarianas, is located in the western Pacific 1500miles east of the Philippines and almost 6000 milesfrom the United States. It's a tropical island with ahigh plateau in its northern section and mountainsin its central and southern sections. Guam's lengthis approxim ately 32 miles and its width varies fromabout 4 miles at its waist, to about 9 miles at itswidest point, thus possessing an area of about 212square miles or 135,680 acres.

42

While the federal and local governmentagencies have measured the island over the years,there is no difinitive source for the exact figures onland ownership as it applies to both, Governmentof Guam (GovGuam) lands and Private lands. Thedata sources vary; however, the estimates in TableI are based upon both, the Bureau of Planningfigures and the Department of Land Managementfigures gn the number of acres for each ownershipcategory and represent the best breakdown availa-ble. Discrepancies exist because of inaccurate orincomplete land records. Moreover, 14 to l5 per-cent of the public domain lands have neither beensurveyed nor registered as of 30 September 1978,and over half of the public domain lands that havebeen surveyed as of the satne date have not beenregistered.

Histor ical Overview ( l 898.1 962)

When the United States seized Guam in1898, the Spanish Crown lands, consisting of over26 percenL of the island became the property ofthe American government. These were generallythe poorer lands, the best being privately ownedsmall holdings (Souder 1971:194).

One of the first acts of the new administra-tion was to forbid the sale or other transfer of landownership without the consent of the Governor.Nevertheless, Japanese merchants acquired some ofthe choicest garden lands during the Americanregime until 1909. when aliens were prohibitedfrom acquiring any further interests in private landfor periods exeeding five years, and U. S. citizenscould acquire only leases for up to fifty yearsand which are renewable for a further fifty (Souderl97l 194). All agreements required governmentapproval.

Although the law prevented people fromlieely disposing of their land, it did not preventthem from losing it. The ineffective Spanish landtar (whicir did not apply to persons of Chamorroancestry) was abol ished and a new tax, varyingwith the type of land and its locaticii in relationto the capital of Agana, was imposed on all landregardless of improvements. The tax was so heavythat some of the largest land-owners turned theiriand over to the government or sold portions oftheir holdings. The poorest families, lacking theresources or ingenuity to pay the land tax, gra-dually lost their land to more industrious relativesor to the government in default of tax. FewGuamanians accumulated land as it was likely tobe a l iabi l i ty unless effect ively used (Souder l97l :te4)

By 1937 the Naval Government of Guamowned over 5 percent of the island. This wasacquired mainly through non-payment of taxes,but also by purchase. In addit ion, the U.S. FederalGovernment owned 30 percent of the is land, most-ly which was taken from the Spanish Crown.

Occupied by the Japanese in 1941 and re-occupied by U.S. forces in July 1944, Guambecame a major military base and 58 percent of theisland was used for military purposes, subject tofuture compensation (Souder l97l :195). Due tothe destruction of records during the Japaneseoccupation and the fact that the local peopleseldom recorded land conveyances or encum-branches, it was difficult to determine whose landthe military had taken. The size of military landrequirements remained high in the period of themiddle and late 1940s.

In 1950, the Government of Guam cameinto existence and large amounts of land previouslycontrolled by the U.S. Navy became public landsof the Territory. Various official estimates con-sidered between 18 and 30 percent of the is land inthe publ ic domain (Karol le 1978: 68). R. K. Cooteestimated that in 1950, 34 percent of the islandbelonged to the U.S. military while 2l percent be-longed to the Government of Guam, with theremaining 45 percent being private lands.

In November 1962, the military held 35percent of the area, the Government of Guam 23percent and private owners 42 percent (Souderl97l: 200).

Current Status of Land Ownership

A current breakdown of Guam,s land bylandowner is provided in Table l; however, itmust be noted that due to incomplete cadastralsurveys and registration, the figures indicatingboth Government of Guam acreage and privateacreage can be used only as estimates. Of the

estimated 25,000 acres of land owned by theGovernment of Guam, only approximately one-half (10,200.94 acres) was registered as of 30September 1978. (See Table 2). By comparingthe percentage of lands owned by the federalgovernment in1962, which was 35 percent, and thecurrent percentage of federally owned lands,which is 32.8 percent, it can be seen that federalland ownership has decreased by approximately2.2 percent. The federal government currentlyowns approximately 44,510 acres of land, whichrepresents almost one-third of the island. Of thatland, the Department of Defense (DOD) ownsalmost 96 percent; with the Navy owning about 50percent, and the Air Force owning about 46percent. The remaining 4 percent of federal landis divided among those non-DOD activities whichinclude the U. S. Coast Guard. the Federal Avia-tion Agency (FAA), the Department of theInterior, and the General Services Administration(GSA). (See Table 3 and Appendix A).

Department of Defense Land Use Plan for Guam

As previously indicated, the U. S. militaryhas a historic interest in Guam. Prior to World WarII, during the latter phases of World War II anduntil 1950, when the U. S. Congress passed the"Organic Act" for Guam, thus establishing a CivicGovernment of Guam, the U. S. administeredthe island. Subsequent to that period of all en-compassing military land control, periodic releaseof military land and facilities to both GovGuamand private development has resulted in the presentpatchwork pattem of residual ownership.

The Department of Defense remains amajor landowner on Guam. The scarcity of landon Guam, the ever increasing population growth,and the desire of Guam's people to become moreself-reliant within the economic realm, make thecontinuing review of military landholdings anecessity.

In Decemberl974, the Deputy Secretary ofDefense requested that ajoint study be undertakenby the Navy and Air Force so as to develop a mid-range Land Use Plan for Guam. A study groupwas formed and the planning effort began in April1975. The study considered the following aspects:(l) Projected Force levels to be stationed on Guamunder normal peacetime conditions; (2) Facilityrequirements to support those Force levels; (3)Current and future uses of all existing DOD con-trolled land; (4) Consolidation or joint-use ofmilitary facilities; and (5) Land needs of theGovernment of Guam (U. S. Navy 1977: A-3,The finished product from this study, which waspublished in December 1977, is known as the Guam43

Land Use Plan. This DOD Plan covers an eight

year time-frame from 1978 through 1985, and is

subject to updat ing every three years.It should be emphasized however, that

the Guam Land Use Plan is a planning tool and not

an implementing document. Recommendationswithin the Plan are not directive in nature' but

rather guidelines to be considered in managing the

real property assets of DOD' The decision on

whether to implement the Plan's recommendationslie with the commanding officer of the activity and

his major claimant. Such decisions would be based

upon the foreseeable mission requirements of that

activity.In addition to providing specific data

pertaining to the actual util ization of DOD con-

trolled lands, the Guam Land Use Plan also

identified parcels of DOD land which are labeled

as "releasable" and parcels of land that the DOD

would like to acquire from either private land-

owners or GovGuam. (See Appendix B)'

Land Release Pol icY

The Guam Land Use Plan ident i f ies 5'180

acres of DOD land which are designated as being

releasable. Among these lands, 249 acres have

been designated as such, in response to known

GovGuam requirements and another 322 acres,

which are currently out-leased to GovGuam, have

been recommended for release. In addition, the

Plan recognizes the eventual release of the Tanguis-

sion Power Plant (8 acres) and the Piti Power

Plant (20 acres); both of which would be released

to the Guam Power Authority. If GovGuam'srequirements for these 599 acres of releasable landfali within the purview of federal laws whichauthorize the disposal of surplus real property to

local governments for such purposes as parks,

recreation areas, schools, airports, and highways'

they may be obtained by GovGuam at a reduced

rate or possibly, free of charge. However, lands

for other purposes not covered by existing legis-

lation can only be acquired by GovGuam on a

value-for-value land exchange or by payment of

fair market value as determined by appraisal' The

remaining releasable land (approximately 4,581

acres) are to be used for exchange for lands re-quired by DOD. Of those releasable lands,

),521 acres can be released only after certainconditions are met (See Table 4-). After

authorized exchanges have been accomplished,the balance of the releasable lands will be dis-posed of througJr General Services Administra-tion procedures (U. S. Navy 1977: E-3).

Land Acquis i t ion Pol icY

Certain land areas impacted by explosive

safety circles, safety areas, radio frequency inter-

ference zones, and electromagnetic radiation

zones (EMR) l ie outside DOD act iv i ty bounda-

ries. Acquisition of explosive safety impacted

lands is not contemplated where the land is

deemed unusable, and land impacted by EMR

zones is not considered to present any significanthazard to the owners and will not be acquired(U. S. Navy 1971: 6). However, 900 acres of

orivate and GovGuam land which lies witl"rin radio

frequency interference zones and airfield clear

zones has been identified as land being appro-pr iate for DOD acquisi t ion (See Table 5.) . I t isproposed that acquisi t ion of these lands be made

itirougtr exchange of releasable lands held by DOD'

In addit ion to the 900 acres, restr ict ive easements

are required on an addit ional 1.285 acres'

Conclu s ion

Land is a limited commodity and is one

of the major factors which has a direct influence

over the future economic growth of Guam. As a

major landowner and employer, the Departmentof Defense plays a decisive role in influencing thisgrowtir and only through careful and continuedassessment of i ts real estate requirements can thepossibility exist whereby additional releasablelands may be identified.

Because of its impact on real estate owner-

ship on Guam, it is important that GovGuamr"ul"* the DOD Plan and develop future plans of

i ts own.In order to provide for both, the continu-

ing growth of Guam, and the public which it serves,it is imperative that GovGuam identify those DODlands which it desires to acquire, and that bothGovGuam and DOD mutually support each otherin the goal of creating a more self-reliant Guam.

44

Literature Cited

Carano, P., and P.C. Sanchez. 1964. A complete history ofGuam. Charles E. Tuttle Co. Tokyo.

Coote, R.K. 1950. A report on the land use condit ions andland problems on Guam. Bureau of Land Management,U.S. Department of the lnter ior;Washington, D.C.:typescript at the Micronesian Area Research Center,Guam.

Guam. Bureau of Planning. 1911 . A summary of major federalagency land holdings in the Territory of Guam. lnGuam; Coastal management program technical reportsvolume 1. Agana.

Guam. Department of Land Management. 1911 . Island of Guamownership map ( l "=4,000m.). Agana.

Jennison-Nolan, J. l9'76. Land use on Guam. M.A. thesis.University of Guam.

Karolle, B.G. 1978. Agriculture, population, and develop-ment in Guam: Some options for the future. Ph.D.dissertation. Michigan State University.

Souder, P.B. 19'71. Land tenure in a fortress. In Crocombe,R. Land tenure in the Pacific. Oxford UniversityPress, Melbourne.

U.S. Department of the Navy. 1977. G:uam land use plan: Aplan for Department of f)efense real estate on Guam.Wastrington, D.C.

4B

FEDERAL LANDOWNERSHIP MAP (GUAM )

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LEGEND

G -, I utltranY LAND

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BASE I ,AP: DEPT, OF LAND MGMT., GOVGUAM M. V. ZIEHMN.I979

PROPOSED MILITARYLAND RELEASES / ACQUlSlrloNS

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Contributors

Maria Teresa Arr ias, M.M.B.spent some years teaching in Japan, and now residesin Madrid, Spain, where she is a member of the Edi-torial Board of Tercer Mundo.

Dirk A. Bal lendorfis the Director of the Micronesian Area ResearchCenter.

Francis X. Hezel , S.J.is the author of Foreign Ships in Micronesia, and theDirector of Xavier High School on Truk, CarolineIslands.

Kenneth R. Mart inis the Director of the Kendal l Whal ine Museum.

James A. McDonough, S.J.is a professor of English at the University of Guam.

Thomas B. McGrath, 5.J.is the Editor of the Guam Recorder.

Saul H. Riesenberghas recently retired from his post as Senior Ethnolo-grst at tlie Smithsonian Institution in Washinston.D.C.

Marjor ie G. Dr iveris a research specialistResearch Center and the

at the Micronesian AreaDirector of Translations.

who earned a degreehis tour of duty on

Michael V. Ziehmanis an officer in the Marine Corps,at the University of Guam, duringthe is land.

SOMEFRIENDSONTRUKPhotos by Thomas B. McGrath, S.J.

Children, Sopou Vil lage, Uman Island, Truk State, F. S. M.

Nebubos Dock, Moen Island, Truk State, F. S. M.

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Two Children.

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All Children, Sopou Vil lage, Uman Island, Truk State, F. S. M.

, Netutu Vi l lage, Tol Island, Truk State, F. S. M.

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BACK COVER: View of L ik iep Atot l taken bvT. McGrath.