BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Norie Atlas and the Guano Trade

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Norie Atlas and the Guano Trade:

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Description of Pictures: The Norie Atlas and the Guano Trade
February 17, 2016 – January 4, 2017
This display will highlight John Norie's unique Marine Atlas, a large bound book of sea charts dating to the early 19th century, within the historical context of the guano and nitrate trades, in which many of the swiftest and strongest American square-rigged sailing ships were employed in the mid-19th century. The Atlas will be augmented by images and models of American clipper ships; pamphlets of the Pacific Guano Company of Woods Hole, Massachusetts; nitrate voyage track charts acquired from a member of the International Association of Cape Horners; and associated materials.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIAHGU_160222_008.JPG: The Norie Marine Atlas & The Guano Trade In the mid-19th century, mariners' charts linked the world's richest fertilizer to some of America's earliest overseas territorial claims. The 1826 Marine Atlas on display is the world's only known example in a public collection. The volume contains forty charts, documents detailing the world's waters and coastlines. Updated to 1828, the Marine Atlas represents the pinnacle of the chart-maker's art, in a time when paper charts were the globe's principal way-finding tools. Two of the charts for the South American coast contain handwritten notations relating to the Pacific islands seabird guano trade. The mining and trade of these valuable bird droppings, used as fertilizer to enrich the soil in farmers' fields, inaugurated America's earliest significant land claims beyond the continent.
2. SIAHGU_160222_022.JPG: Chincha Islands Guanay Cormorants, 1907 This picture of the densely packed guanay cormorants at South Chincha Island, Peru, was published by the U.S. National Museum in 1920 by a fisheries scientist. Today, the U.S. National Museum is better known as the Smithsonian Institution.
3. SIAHGU_160222_024.JPG: Extracting the Chincha Islands Guano, 1865 The vertical channels were cut into the surface of "The Great Heap" of seabird guano by miners pickaxing the solidified droppings from the mound.
4. SIAHGU_160222_031.JPG: Chinese Guano Miners, 1865 The remarkable height of the guano deposit is shown by the figures of the indentured Chinese miners. After South American prisoners and slaves and Hawaiian workers were no longer available, as many as ninety thousand Chinese men were brought in to work the Chincha deposits.
5. SIAHGU_160222_034.JPG: Land Transport for the Guano, 1865 Once the guano was pickaxed from the ground, it was shoveled into carts on rails and transported to the edge of the steep cliffs for transfer to the boats below.
6. SIAHGU_160222_038.JPG: Down the Shoot, 1865 Wheelbarrows of guano were dumped into the wooden "shoot" (chute) at the top of the cliff, from which it slid down into lighters (small craft). The cliffs were too steep for the large ships to approach safely, so the lighters transported the loose guano out to the vessels anchored offshore.
7. SIAHGU_160222_043.JPG: Waiting for Guano at the Chincha Islands, 1865 In the heyday of the guano trade, up to three hundred ships per year visited the Chincha Islands and waited offshore to load. The ships with exposed waterlines have already discharged their ballast and are ready to load. When the loading started, all inside doors and windows were closed and tightly covered with canvas to prevent the toxic dust from filling a ship's crew spaces. Loading crews were limited to twenty-minute shifts in the cargo holds, and the rest of the crew climbed to the tops of the masts to breathe fresh air.
8. SIAHGU_160222_047.JPG: The U.S. Navy and Guano The U.S. Navy defended our citizens' claims to remote guano islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. After the Guano Islands Act was passed, the United States had to defend its citizens' interests. That task fell to the Pacific Squadron of the U.S. Navy, which enforced citizens' claims and safeguarded their presence on remote guano islands. In August 1857, the twenty-two-gun warship USS St. Mary's, under Commander Charles Davis, visited New Nantucket and Jarvis islands in the remote Pacific Ocean. The ship collected guano samples that were sent back to the Smithsonian for analysis. USS St. Mary's, 1919
9. SIAHGU_160222_053.JPG: Clipper Ship Black Warrior, Late 1850s The clipper ship Black Warrior was built in Maine in 1853 and purchased by a Baltimore shipping company. It made guano voyages to Peru in 1855 and 1857. It also sailed to China twice in the late 1850s; this oil portrait of the ship at Hong Kong was painted by an unknown Chinese artist on one of those voyages.
10. SIAHGU_160222_060.JPG: The Guano Islands Act of 1856 For the sake of seabird droppings, a powerful fertilizer, the U.S. Congress authorized our nation's earliest significant expansion beyond the continent. By the 1840s, the remarkable properties of Peruvian seabird guano were widely recognized, as farmers claimed that using the fertilizer increased their crop yields up to three times. American farmers demanded the nitrate-rich fertilizer from Congress to restore their worn-out fields' soil balance and increase production. In his 1850 State of the Union address, President Millard Fillmore said that guano from Peru was so valuable that the U.S. government should "employ all the means properly in its power" to get it. The resulting Guano Islands Act stated that any guano islands unclaimed or unoccupied by others could be claimed and mined, and the guano delivered to the United States at a low price for the benefit of its citizens. This act authorized our nation's earliest significant annexations of lands beyond the continent. Even today, the United States retains ownership of several remote Pacific and Caribbean islands first claimed for their guano. Facsimile of original 1856 Guano Islands Act
11. SIAHGU_160222_074.JPG: Fertilizer Sample Kit from Baltimore, Around 1900 Fertilizer sample kits like this one allowed salespersons to illustrate and discuss the merits of different fertilizers to farmers in the 19th century. Baltimore was the largest guano port in the United States on account of its excellent port, transportation connections, and strong agricultural interests in the Chesapeake Bay region.
12. SIAHGU_160222_081.JPG: Guano Books and Pamphlets, Late 19th Century Guano was so important to the agricultural community worldwide that scholars, journalists and other writers published a variety of articles and books on the subject.
13. SIAHGU_160222_098.JPG: John W. Norie (1772-1843) John Norie's early 19th century navigating charts were among the world's most beautiful and accurate renderings of the world's waterways. John William Norie worked in a London shop selling navigation books, supplies, nautical charts, and instruments. A hydrographer, or scientist of waterways, he taught navigation as early as 1797. In that same year, his employer, William Heather, published the first Marine Atlas, a large bound volume of charts covering the world. Norie also published books on shipbuilding and practical navigation. When Heather died in 1812, Norie and a partner bought his business, renaming it J. W. Norie & Co. Among his prestigious clients were the British Admiralty and the East India Company, but his best customers were commercial sailors. Although Norie died in 1843, his influential book Norie's Nautical Tables remained in print as recently as 2007. [the sign says "in print until 1991."]
14. SIAHGU_160222_102.JPG: The Norie Marine Atlas, Around 1856 The first plate in the Norie Marine Atlas displays the entire world as known in the mid-1820s. At the time, the global coastlines were pretty well known and charted, but the interiors of many of the larger land masses remained to be explored.
15. SIAHGU_160222_126.JPG: The Smithsonian and Guano The Smithsonian's first two Secretaries were involved in analyzing and promoting seabird guano as an agricultural fertilizer. In March 1858, U.S. Navy Secretary Isaac Toucey asked the Smithsonian's first Secretary Joseph Henry to analyze samples of seabird guano from the Pacific New Nantucket and Jarvis islands. Three months later, he reported to Toucey that "the deposits submitted to examination do not possess the peculiar characteristics of Peruvian guano . . . and are not equal to it in value." The second Smithsonian Secretary Spencer Baird also was involved in the guano business through his work at the port of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He was interested in mixing nutrient-rich meal from abundant menhaden fish with the rapidly depleting Pacific guano to extend its supply. In 1875 he urged the Pacific Guano Company of Woods Hole to exhibit its products at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial. Facsimile of SI Secretary Joseph Henry 1858 Smithsonian Institution Washington, May 28, 1858 Hon I. Toucey Secretary of the Navy Sir, In accordance with the request contained in your letter of Mar 8th 1858, that we would cause to be analyzed samples of the soil or deposites of the New Nantucket and Jarvis islands in the Pacific Ocean, we employed two chemists in whose knowledge and practical skill we have full confidence, to make the investigations required in the laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. The report which I have the honor herewith to transmit, contains a brief account of the results which they have obtained, which we trust will be sufficient for the purposes of the Department. Should any further information be required, we will endeavor to furnish it. From this report it will be seen that the deposits submitted to examination do not possess the peculiar characteristics of Peruvian guano, although of the same origin, and are not equal to it in value. In some cases they might be considered as valuable as bone dust, but not generally. They differ from the latter in being almost entirely deficient in nitrogeneous matter, and therefore their importance for agricultural purposes depends upon their mineral ingredients, which are of a valuable character, being the same as the inorganic matter of bones. The want of nitrogeneous matter however renders a strict comparison between them and bone-dust impossible I have the honor to be very respectfully your obed't serv't Joseph Henry Secretary S.I.
16. SIAHGU_160222_135.JPG: Smithsonian Institution Washington, May 28, 1858 Hon I. Toucey Secretary of the Navy Sir, In accordance with the request contained in your letter of Mar 8th 1858, that we would cause to be analyzed samples of the soil or deposites of the New Nantucket and Jarvis islands in the Pacific Ocean, we employed two chemists in whose knowledge and practical skill we have full confidence, to make the investigations required in the laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. The report which I have the honor herewith to transmit, contains a brief account of the results which they have obtained, which we trust will be sufficient for the purposes of the Department. Should any further information be required, we will endeavor to furnish it.
17. SIAHGU_160222_138.JPG: From this report it will be seen that the deposits submitted to examination do not possess the peculiar characteristics of Peruvian guano, although of the same origin, and are not equal to it in value. In some cases they might be considered as valuable as bone dust, but not generally. They differ from the latter in being almost entirely deficient in nitrogeneous matter, and therefore their importance for agricultural purposes depends upon their mineral ingredients, which are of a valuable character, being the same as the inorganic matter of bones. The want of nitrogeneous matter however renders a strict comparison between them and bone-dust impossible I have the honor to be very respectfully your obed't serv't Joseph Henry Secretary S.I.
18. SIAHGU_160222_143.JPG: The Search for Guano The discovery of Peruvian island seabird guano as a potent agricultural fertilizer started a rush to find more in the Pacific and Caribbean. Shortly after the Guano Islands Act passed in 1856, the United States and other nations claimed dozens of islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. None of the guano found ever matched the quality of the nitrate-rich variety from Peru's Chincha Islands. The Pacific and Caribbean guano did, however, contain quantities of other minerals like phosphate and potassium that were useful for agricultural fertilizer. Once islands claimed under the act were mined out, most were abandoned, or their rights were sold to other parties hoping to get rich quick. A few are still "unincorporated and unorganized territories" of the United States. Pacific Islands 1. Enderbury Island 2. McKean Island 3. Howland Island 4. Baker Island 5. Canton Island 6. Phoenix Islands 7. Dangerous Islands 8. Swains Atoll 9. Flint Island 10. Caroline Island 11. Maidens Island 12. Jarvis Island 13. Christmas Atoll 14. Starbuck Island 15. Fanning Island 16. Palmyra Island 17. Kingman Reef 18. Johnston Atoll 19. Clipperton Island Atlantic Islands 1. Arenas Keys 2. Alacranes Island 3. Swan Islands 4. Serranilla Keys 5. Quita Sue�o Island 6. Roncador Island 7. Serra�a Key 8. Petrel Island 9. Morant Keys 10. Navassa Island 11. Alta Vela Island 12. Aves Island 13. Verd Key
19. SIAHGU_160222_151.JPG: Navigation Charts, accurate timepieces, and instruments for calculating the noontime angle of the sun were needed to safely navigate the globe. Before modern electronic navigation tools such as GPS, there were two types of navigation. The first was dead reckoning, in which a vessel's position was estimated by observing local winds, currents, vessel speed, and direction. This worked best for coastal shipping, where sight of land could help determine location. The more accurate celestial navigation used the positions of certain stars to calculate a ship's precise position, using charts and an instrument to measure sun angles over the horizon. An accurate timepiece to determine exact noontime for sights also was needed, along with elaborate mathematical tables to calculate the precise position on the globe. Norie Octant, 19th Century John Norie sold navigating instruments in his shop. Inscribed "NORIE LONDON" and made of ebony, ivory and brass, this octant was used to take noontime sun sightings for determining a ship's position. The instrument's name derives from its arc enclosing one-eighth of a circle.
20. SIAHGU_160222_159.JPG: The Atlas This unique volume of sea charts presents the known world in the 1820s artistically and accurately. Maps present information on land masses, while charts are for navigating the world's waterways. John Norie's employer, William Heather, began selling a Marine Atlas of charts in 1797; it went through several editions over the years. The forty charts in this volume were dated with additions to 1828. The sizeable book, a double elephant folio volume, was bound around 1856 in New York, according to information on the binder's ticket on the inside front cover. This is the seventh edition. Extensive staining and multiple tears indicate heavy use, especially at the back of the volume in South Pacific and South American charts. Of the forty charts in the book, only two contain handwritten notations and both relate to the seabird guano trade off the coast of Peru. Other clues indicate that the volume may have been owned by a guano shipping company in New York.
21. SIAHGU_160222_162.JPG: Handwritten Notations & Ship Locations,1868 The names and navigational positions of guano transport ships, together with other information, were written on the last two charts in the bound volume. Some of the information, including ship names that might help identify the Atlas's owner, was lost in the chart fold. The handwriting is very difficult to read, which also makes
22. SIAHGU_160222_169.JPG: Norie Marine Atlas Binder Ticket, around 1856 The double elephant Norie Marine Atlas was bound around 1856 in New York, according to the binder's ticket on the inside of the front cover. Research in the Manhattan city directory indicated the address on the ticket was for a newer location, information that allowed for accurate dating of the volume.
23. SIAHGU_160222_183.JPG: Bottle of Guano Art, Around 1880 Believed to have been made by Chinese miners from different-colored seabird guanos, this intricate example commemorates a 1880s visit by the Searsport, Maine-owned ship Henrietta for a cargo of guano. By the time of its single guano voyage to Peru, the islands were almost mined out.
24. SIAHGU_160222_190.JPG: Guano Australis, Late 19th Century Guano's properties were so respected that it was made into a homeopathic medicine for human consumption. It was suggested for use in 1854 for "violent headache as from a band band around head. Itching of nostrils, back, thighs, genitals. Symptoms like hay-fever."
25. SIAHGU_160222_194.JPG: Mounted South American Guanay Cormorant, 1976 The guanay cormorant was once called "the most valuable bird in the world." Cormorants and other guano-producing seabirds on South America's Pacific coast bred on small offshore islands, where they faced no natural predators. Loan from National Museum of Natural History, Division of Birds Swan Island Guano. Around 1900 Swan Island was one of a group of three tiny guano islands in the northwestern Caribbean off Honduras. The island group was sold and resold multiple times in the 19th century on account of the seabird guano's high phosphate content.
26. SIAHGU_160222_200.JPG: After the Guano Ran Out Nitrate and phosphate mines were discovered on land around the same time that the guano islands were depleted Peruvian guano from the Chincha Islands was the gold standard for natural fertilizers. Nearly two hundred feet deep in the early 1840s, it was mined out by the late 1870s. However, by the mid-19th century, inland nitrate and phosphate mines had been discovered in Peru and Chile, as well as in North America and Europe. These finds permitted blending of the various minerals for balanced synthetic fertilizers. Some of these mines remain in use today. Today, the United States retains ownership of several remote Pacific and Caribbean islands first claimed in the mid-19th century for the guano trade.
27. SIAHGU_160222_204.JPG: The Guano Trade The guano trade began on three tiny Peruvian islands in the Pacific, and their product reached farmers' fields around the world. The Great Heap, 1865 From Alexander Gardner, Rays of Sunlight from South America The three tiny Chincha Islands lie off the southern coast of Peru. For millennia, they served as home for seabirds. The birds fed and bred in the rich waters packed with fish and absent of predators, allowing their droppings to accumulate to a depth of up to 200 feet. The dry weather and cool ocean currents there maintained the guano's nitrate-rich quality. In the early 19th century, farmers and chemists worldwide claimed that Chincha Islands guano was the world's finest fertilizer. Hundreds of British, German, and American ships purchased it from the Peruvian government for their own agriculture, waiting offshore up to eight months to load the precious cargo. These nations' ships also sought, claimed, and mined other guano islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. Although they recognized the practices weren't sustainable, they continued to harvest the guano. By the late 1870s, nearly all of the Chincha Islands guano was gone, and the seabird habitat was ruined by the mining operations.
28. SIAHGU_160222_212.JPG: Nitrate Voyage Track Chart, 1914 The German "Flying P" line of merchant sailing ships made dozens of voyages from Hamburg, Germany, to the nitrate mines of Chile. Nitrates were used both for fertilizer and for gunpowder. This chart tracks the final voyage of the German nitrate ship Potosi. When it arrived at Valparaiso, Chile, the vessel was detained for the duration of World War I. The crew disabled the ship to prevent its use by the Allies and it never sailed again.
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