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Kosrae

SRC’s has had a long-standing involvement with preservation of submerged sites in Micronesia. The services of the SRC have been requested by the administrations of different islands since 1981 for a number of field projects on submerged sites. Also, the team has conducted training programs for the Historic Preservation Officers (HPOs) of various islands, particularly the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

Kosrae was the first island state to request help of SRC in 1981—assistance was coordinated through the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the office of the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). SRC (then SCRU) was asked to conduct underwater investigations to confirm the identity of a shipwreck that had been originally discovered years earlier by the members of a Scripps Institution survey vessel doing recreational dives.

SRC confirmed the identity of the wreck as Leonora, one of the more symbolically significant historic-era properties in Kosrae. At the time of its loss it was captained by Bully Hayes, a notorious blackbirder and rogue who had been immortalized in contemporary accounts and in the writings of James Michener. Leonora was anchored in Utwa Harbor in 1874 when a storm blew up and sank the ship before it could be moved to safe anchorage.

The Sleeping Lady on the Kosrae coast line
SRC divers shooting photomosaic of Leonora, 1981 An SRC team returned to Kosrae in 1992 to conduct a training course in underwater archeology for representatives of FSM and to address concerns raised by Teddy John (FSM HPO) and Berlin Sigrah (Kosrae State HPO) about potential damage to submerged resources from increased visitation and improper anchoring. SRC led the Micronesian team in documenting several sites around the island including a largely intact 1800s whaler. The team also helped develop a submerged cultural resources management plan for the island.

  • May-June 1992 – SRC worked in Kosrae on a number of submerged sites including an early whaler and WWII sites—also assisted with developing management plans for underwater resources. Project director was Dan Lenihan and SRC personnel included Larry Murphy, Larry Nordby, Jim Bradford and John Brooks.

  • January-February 1981 – Shipwreck mapping and documentation project in Kosrae on the wreck of Bully Hayes’ ship Leonora (1874).

    References:

  • Carrell, Toni L., Editor, 1991, Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment of Micronesia. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 10. National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM.

  • Lenihan, Daniel J., 2002, Chapters 9 and 19 in Submerged: Adventures of America’s Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team. Newmarket Press.

  • Delgado, James P., Editor, 1997, Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology (entry for Leonora), Yale University Press.

  • Russell, Scott, Editor, 1982, Of Wooden Ships and Iron Men: An Historical and Archaeological Survey of the Brig Leonora. Micronesian Archaeological Survey Report number 15, Office of the High Commissioner, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Saipan, CM.

    (The majority of this report [pages 4-67] is a verbatim presentation of the SRC [then SCRU] report entitled The Utwa Harbor Wreck Site: A Shipwreck Evaluation and Management Report by Daniel J. Lenihan, Toni Carrell and Larry Murphy, 1981, National Park Service, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit.)

SRC diver examining a the cockpit of an airplane
Related Links
Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology