The ship's anchors, trypots and other parts have been lying amid
the coral heads and patches of sand for more than 170
years—never found in part because Kure is so frightening to
shipping that most folks try to stay clear. (Image: A trypot
from the Gledstanes lies on the sea floor at Kure Atoll. Trypots
are the massive iron containers in which whale blubber was
boiled down to oil. Credit: Papahānaumokuākea Marine National
Monument.) The island has a long list of shipwrecks to its
credit, including the Gledstanes, the whaler Parker in 1842, the
1870 wreck of the USS Saginaw, the 1886 wreck of the Dunottar
Castle and a series of fishing and other boats. The other
islands of the archipelago are also sites of numerous
shipwrecks. Pearl and Hermes Atoll is named for two whalers that
went aground and ended their careers there. A marine archaeology
crew aboard the NOAA ship Hi'ialakai was specifically looking
for evidence of the Gledstanes earlier this week, because they
knew it had wrecked on this island. The work