Josh King's overview to Avvo teammates of the "Nikumaroro hypothesis" for Amelia Earhart's disappearance, and his 2017 trip to Niku to look for evidence.

1. Presented by
The Search for Amelia Earhart:
Expedition to Nikumaroro

2. TIGHAR
•“The International Group for Historic Aircraft
Recovery”
•Small non-profit organization based in Oxford,
Pennsylvania
•Supported by private donations
•Missions: historic aircraft preservation and
pursuit of aviation mysteries
•Website: tighar.org
•Earhart Search Project is a major priority

3. National Geographic Sponsored

4. Lae, New Guinea
Howland Isl.
Earhart’s World Flight: Circle the globe at its widest

5. Amelia Earhart,
Fred Noonan,
and the
Lockheed
Electra 10E
Went missing
July 2, 1937
over the Pacific
Ocean

6. JULY 2, 1937
-- 0646: “About 100 miles out…”
-- 0741: “We are on you but cannot see you…flying at 1000 feet…”
-- 0804: “We cannot hear you…” (AE unable to get RDF directions)
-- 0843: “We are on the line 157-337… flying north and south”
Tiny Howland is in this photo,
taken at 1000 ft.
Howland: 1 x 2 miles, 15 ft. high

7. WHAT HAPPENED? THREE THEORIES
•Crashed and Sank
•Captured by the Japanese
•Landed on Nikumaroro

8. Post-Loss Messages
• Over 180 receptions
• 84% recorded by
professionals
• Vast majority in
central Pacific
• Many in first three
days, then rapidly
taper off
• RDF points to Phoenix
Islands

9. History Channel claims this pic
shows AE+FN + plane

10. Japanese blogger found this pic in 30 minutes on-line
– from 5 Oct 1935 – 2 yrs before the crash

11. Howland
Baker
Kanton
(Canton)
Phoenix
Islands
McKean
Nikumaroro
From Lae
337 degrees
157 degrees
Equator
Howland
Baker
Kanton
(Canton)
Phoenix
Islands
McKean
Nikumaroro
337 degrees
157 degrees
Equator
7:40 am: “Must be on you but cannot see you”
8:43 am: “We are on the line 157 337”
The Line of Position

12. Where is Nikumaroro?

13. Kiribati (“keer e bas”) is both huge and tiny
Seattle Boston
2750 miles across
Land area size: 313 sq. mi.; only 5 x area of DC
Total area size: 1.35 million sq. mi.; 5 x area of Texas!
Population: only 115,000

23. History of Nikumaroro
 Some evidence of prehistoric occupation
 Brief episode of coconut planting 1890s
 Shipwreck (SS Norwich City) 1929
 1938-63: The “PISS”
 Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme
 Undertaken by Western Pacific High
Commission (UK)
 Colonies on Nikumaroro, Manra, Orona

24. Emily Sikuli
Reports wreckage of airplane
on Nutiran reef edge
Wreckage described as
long, skinny steel object
with something on end
Daughter of village
Carpenter. Left island
In 1941, never returned

26. Forensic Photointerpretation:
October 1937 Eric Bevington Photo

28. High-resolution
Scan of original
Bevington Photo
Consistent with:
Long skinny
steel thing
with something
on end
Landing gear of
Lockheed Electra

29. Limit of ROV Operations
Chasing the Anecdotes:
Seeking the airplane

32. The Seven
Site
Colonial
Village
“Ritiati”
Primary Archaeological
Research Locations

33. The Colonial Village – Ritiati or Karaka
1939-1963
U.S. Navy Photo: 1944

35. Aircraft parts from village
(Collected 1989-2015)

36. Gerald B. Gallagher
Administrator, Phoenix Islands
Settlement Scheme
Arrived Nikumaroro 9/40
Died on Nikumaroro 9/41
9/40 reported bones
Historical Documentation

38. Working
party
found
human
skull
More bones
found
Woman’s shoe
Sextant box
“Slight chance”
may be Earhart

39. Found at
southeast
corner
Fire, bird,
turtle bones
Working
party
buried
skull
Bones
disturbed,
damaged by
Coconut
Crabs

40. The Bones
► Gallagher 1940:
▪ 13 bones, with remains of fire, bird and turtle bones, sextant
box, Benedictine bottle, shoe parts
▪ Skull buried by finders, to be excavated
► January 1941: Gallagher sends to Fiji
► Dr. David Hoodless analysis:
▪ Adult European male
► 1941: Being held by Dr. Hoodless for government at
Hospital

41. The Bones - 2
►1998: Hoodless notes found in Colonial files
▪ Measurements of cranial characteristics as
indicators of sex
▪ Measurements of limb bones as indicators of
stature
►Re-analyzed by forensic anthropologists
Burns and Jantz
►Consistent with adult female, northern
European ethnicity, 5’7”-5’9”
►Updated analysis in progress

43. Evidence at the “Seven Site” on Niku
1. Freckle crème jar, US; AE used such crème
2. 1930s era women’s compact
3. Pocket knife, US, broken apart
4. Human bone found by TIGHAR
5. Human bones found in 1940
6. 1400 fish bones & uneaten fish heads
7. Melted glass bottles and 11 fire features
8. Clam shells for catching water
9. US-made zipper
10. Glass shards used as knives
11. Forensic dog alerts
12. Sextant box w/ # close to Noonan

44. New Artifacts

49. So….
►Seven Site matches location of bones
discovery
►Forensic dogs “alerted” at site
►Fires, animal bones indicate camping
►Some bones, melted bottles suggest
castaway
►Some artifacts suggest a woman
►Artifacts are consistent with late 1930s,
U.S. origin

50. We think what happened is…

51. Wreckage
tossed up on
reef by storms
•Safe landing on reef flat
•Messages sent.
Some wreckage
drifts south
along reef
face
AE (and/or FN?)
camps for
some time
and
succumbs
Arrive along LOP in late morning
AE, FN(?) work way
southeast (looking for
water?)
Rising tides 5-6 days
later take plane over
reef edge

52. The End