 In 1825, Admiral George Byron, the 7th Baron Byron arrived, commanding the HMS Blonde, to return the remains of Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu after their deaths in England of Measles. While on Oahu, he would map the Pearl River (known today as Pearl Harbor). The ship's naturalist, Andrew Bloxam, spent time on Ford Island hunting rabbits and wild ducks; its surveyor, Lieutenant Charles Robert Malden, called it Rabbits Island. In 1826, Hiram Paulding became the first American naval officer to visit the island. Marín's ownership claim to the island was cloudy; Hawaiians generally refused to recognize land ownership by foreigners. Kamehameha II believed that the island had been loaned to Marín and by the 1850s the island was split between Kamehameha IV — who purchased 214 acres (87 ha) — and High Chiefess Kekauōnohi, granddaughter of Kamehameha I, who was awarded 147 acres (59 ha) in the Great Māhele. On August 28, 1865, the island was bought at public auction for $ 1,040 by James I. Dowsett, who sold it to Caroline Jackson for $ 1 on December 28.
