One That The US

Who Discovered Ocean Is.?

One That The US Missed!

By a Staff Writer

t is perhaps just as well that his mt discovery about the early ory of Ocean Island—that very 'table lump of phosphatic rock near Equator, in the Pacific Islands— • not made 25 years ago by Mr.

E. Maude. Mr. Maude was once igh British Colonial official in the ifc Islands, and now is the head the Research School of Pacific lies at the Australian National versify.

OST books of reference today say that Ocean Island was dis ced in 1804 by the Captain of British ship Ocean, and was •ted by him, and named after the . Consequently, when Britain in led the insignificant bit of land mg her Islands Territories, no one led the point. aturally, when the late Sir Albert > discovered, about 1900, that an Island was simply a vast lump ixtremely valuable fertiliser, quite :w interests examined the title— it seemed to belong to Britain, all t, and ownership was not dial ed. hen, in the middle 30’s, when s-Pacific aviation was develop there was a lively skirmish he rn British and United States in sts concerning the titles to various 11 dry islands in the Central fic and, in accordance with the vn facts of their discovery, some t to Britain and some to USA. two nations, for example, could agree about the ownership of ;on Island (which was coveted as If-way plane stop between Hawaii Fiji) so they agreed on a Con inium—and a Condominium it tins. aw, the tireless Mr. Maude, in :ourse of his research work, has wered something quite interest about Ocean Island. It appears from the records that Ocean d originally was discovered by imerican, Captain Jered Gardner, 501; and it might be possible, on thus uncovered, to base a claim iwnership by the United States. >wever, Ocean Island now is n measurable distance of being ed out. And modern planes now i mighty hops of thousands of ; by-passing those islands. So aps the United States now is no jr interested!