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[Page 53]
1914
took in 1500 tons of coal from the collier "Mallena" which was accompanying us, until we had emptied her. Fanning Island is an atoll or a circle of coral enclosing a lagoon. The accompanying sketch ........ shows approximately the formation of Fanning Island. Cocoanuts, mangoes, breadfruit, & bananas grow well. In the island are several beautiful fresh water lakes, & some quite pretty scenery. The population consists of 20 whites, including 5 white women, the wives of telegraph officials, about 200 blacks, mostly Gilbert Islanders. As one telegraph official remarked "there are five white women & 3 cliques". A steamer calls here from Honilulu once a month with mails & provisions. The sea water here is remarkably clear & blue, but infested with sharks. I noticed one shark near the ship devour a large empty corned beef tin, & he seemed to enjoy it. The cable had now been repaired since the destructive visit of the enemy cruiser "Nurnberg", the cable ship "Iris" having some time previously arrived from New Zealand with new instruments, & she had also recovered the broken cable, so everything was now in working order. There was one thing, however, which did not work & that was the freezing machine. This precious engine had suffered along with the telegraph instruments in the explosion when the Germans blew up the cable station, & had not since been replaced. Our instructions