Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-05

results of my observations. there WAS
great delight among Lola Montez and
her party at the notion of having dis
covered an entirely new island In the
Pacific. They all went ashore. with con-
siderable ceremony. and celebrated the
event with a feast. In compliment to
myself they christened the place De
Greayes Island
I'VE camped upon the island for two
days. the party amusing themselves In
fishing and hunting, while I explored the
place as far as possible with an eye to
the commercial value of it's products. |
do not believe that | completely traversed
the ground, however. Digging beneath
the surface of the deposits of guano dis
closed valuable specimens of phosphates,
in which the place seemed very rich.
While we We're there the weather was
perfect. and it was an easy matter TO
correctly measure the latitude ard longi-
tude. Unfortunately, | cannot now re-
call the exact figures, and / lost my notes
a long time ago. l can only say, as told
Capt. Iawless of the steamship Aus
tralia, plying between Tahiti and San
Francisco. that the island lies somewhere
between the 133th and 18th degrees of
west longitude and the 10th and l7th
degrees of north latitude. Lola Montez's
schooner. the General Wolford, eventually
returned to Melbourne"
From the latter place Capt. De Greaves
emba rked for the Fiji Islands, where he
first made the acquaintance of Capt
IawIess. In 1878 Capt. De Greaves was
made special agent by Sir Arthur Cor
don, the British high commissioner or
the South Sea Islands. to go TO Homo
lulu to investigate the "blackbirding
which had been going on for Il number
of years past. About eighteen years
ago. when Lawless' ship, the Australia,
was stopping at the Hawaiian port on
her VOYAGE from San Francisco. DE
Greaves met his former friend of Fiji.
TO LawleSs he mentioned the lost island,
and the former became interested in re-
discovering it. SO persistent was the
conversation of the two upon the sub
iect that others heard of the mysterious
island, and, like Lawless, took more than
a mere superficial interest in the story of
De GreaveS. To such an extent, indeed,
was this the case that w. c. Peacock, a
capitalist of Honolulu. equipped and
sent out a couple of expeditions in search
of the lost island. Interest in the mat
ter reached San Francisco, where one
Mr.. MCGEE, a capitalist of vast wealth.,
also initiated several voyages In search
of the elusive bit of land, but the latter
failed in every instance, to materialiZe
to the senses of the chagrined nayigators.
1t is also stated that number of pri-
yate searches were made by Sanguine
and adventurous individuals for the
island.
Persistent representations having been
made to the photographic office of the
existence of this and other islands. the
u. S. S. Albatross was, in September,
1899, sent to make a brief search Sound
ings were made along the 136th degree
of west longitude at intervals OF about
five miles. A depth varying from 2,766 to
3,0sS fathoms was reported. No indica-
tons of De Greaves Island, or trace of its
existence in that vicinity. were secured
by this government expedition, any more
than by the later and more extensive
cruise of the Tacoma in 1904.
On one of the voyages of the Australia
from Tahiti to San Francisco, however.
in March. 1902, Capt. Lawless reported
what he afterward stated he believed to
be Indications tending to show the exist
ence of De Greaves Island These signs
and tokens consisted principally of two
patches of discolored water. about 100
feet square each. which Lawless took to
be shoal water. denoting the presence of
a ridge in this locality. They were re-
ported as lying in 9S degrees So minutes