Monday, June 1, 2015

Ready to Launch

TIGHAR's Niku VIII Expedition will soon be underway aboard our faithful expedition ship Nai'a, sailing out of Fiji for a three-week trip to the island. There the team will deploy an ROV to examine previously identified anomalies on the reef face, while divers do systematic sweeps of the divable reef below the location of the famous "Bevington Object" (aka "Nessie"), and a shore party under Gary Quigg's supervision examines the area where Art Carty hypothesizes that Earhart and Noonan might have had their "Camp Zero." Full details on the TIGHAR website.

I'm sorry to not be sailing with Nai'a, but I'll be following close behind aboard Fiji Princess, with TIGHARs including Dawn Johnson, Barb Norris, Tom Roberts, Art and Janis Carty, and Joe Cerniglia, plus some 60 guests of Betchart Expeditions (http://betchartexpeditions.com/). We'll arrive a couple of days before Nai'a sets sail for Fiji, and will follow up on whatever the TIGHAR team has done plus checking a few anomalies identified in aerial and satellite imagery.

Due to a last-minute cancellation, we have one available cabin aboard the Princess; if you'd like to join us, contact Betchart Expeditions via their website. We sail from Fiji on June 19th, returning July 2nd.

Fiji Princess
Posted by at

4 comments:

  1. HBJune 20, 2015 at 10:17 AM

    Tom,

    What is your response to the paper by Cross and Wright , which takes issue with Tighar's reassessment of Dr. Hoodess's bones analysis? Journal of Archeological Science, vol 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 52-59? (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X15300109)

    Same question regarding the paper in Biology Letters by Elliot and Collard (Biol Lett. 2009 Dec 23; 5(6): 849–852.), which suggests that Burns and Jantz used Fordisc in a fundamentally flawed way. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2827999/)

    ReplyDelete
  2. HBJuly 7, 2015 at 10:04 PM

    Tom,

    I am hoping you can clear up another matter. According to the Tighar web site (http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/14_2/14-2Bones.html) the paper by Burns et al. titled 'Amelia Earhart’s Bones and Shoes?' was "prepared...for release" at the December 1998 meeting of the American Anthopological Assosication. What exactly does "prepared for release" mean? Was the paper presented as one might imagine, as an oral presentation or a poster session? If not how was it presented--were copies of the paper simply left on a table for people to take?...some other way?...

    I don't mean to put you on the spot, I imagine "prepared for release" was not your choice of words. But I do think Tighar's followers/donors deserve to clearly understand how this paper was presented, and I'm wondering if they do. I think you are an ethical person and trust that you can clear this small matter up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thomas F KingJuly 9, 2015 at 9:40 AM

    Thanks, Harold. I'm just back from Nikumaroro, so am only now responding. The "prepared for release" language results from the fact that the paper was -- well, prepared to be released at -- and was released at -- the AAA confab, but was not formally presented in a session there. As for the Cross & Wright paper, we've only just seen it -- though when they presented it at a conference a few years ago I asked for a copy and was turned down with the promise -- unfulfilled, in the event -- that I'd get one when it was finalized. Now that it's before us, we'll respond one way or another.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HBJuly 9, 2015 at 3:49 PM

    Tom,

    Welcome back, and thank you for the reply. I envy you your sea legs--mine crept away from me long ago and alas I am now a landlubber.

    Regarding Cross & Wright, and Collard, I think it would be interesting to get Dr. Jantz's thoughts.

    Regards,

    Hal

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)