| P-MAN X Update #11
- GPS wrangling, interviews, Laura arrives We had tentatively planned to make another trip up to Aimeliik this morning, but got involved in a boring (to some) but instructive lesson in how to standardize all of the settings on our four hand-held GPS devices, and that led to a more technical discussion of potential reasons why the coordinates provided in 1947 by the Graves Registration Service seem to be offset from actual latitude/longitude coordinates as we understand them today. Basically, the GRS people didn't have access to GPS back then - they were simply using maps to orient themselves and to figure out, interpolate, and report the coordinates of places where they found stuff. One problem is that they couldn't be as precise in reading their locations on those maps as we can be with our high-tech GPSs. Another is that the maps may not have been as accurate as today's maps. Another is that maps in those days were based on a different reference system (datum). Basically, this all means that although there's some variation in the error between GRS-reported positions and their actual locations, at least it's roughly systematic and gives us the ability to provide some boundaries for our search when we try to locate and explore one of those positions. So we're still working on both accuracy and standardization. After we got that stuff all worked out, we had lunch. After lunch, we headed up to Ngchesar, just north of Airai, to interview someone about a crash site in Ngeremlengui. As his description of the site grew, we became convinced that he's talking about the Arnett Corsair site where JPAC did a dig in 2005. He had a small amount of what appears to be new information about the extent of the debris field. He also suggested that we interview an elder who also lives in Ngchesar, so we drove down to the little town right down on the ocean and interviewed the elder. At 93, he's sharp but very hard of hearing. His daughter, who went to college in Hawaii, did a great job of interpreting for us. Although the elder had worked as a policeman with the Japanese, he had little new information that could be useful to us. Toward the end of the interview, Grover asked if the "Rubak" (respected elder) had had to learn to speak Japanese as a young man working with them. He replied that he did, but very few people around him today speak Japanese. Grover shifted seats to get close enough to speak loudly enough to be heard by the Rubak, and broke into an extended conversation in Japanese (Grover's mother is Japanese). The Rubak was clearly delighted as they carried on a spirited exchange in a language that he doesn't have much opportunity to practice any more.. The road from Ngchesar village out to the main road is pretty bad, so it took us awhile to get back to town. We had been invited to dinner at the home of Rene and Jane, the owners of Kramer's Cafe. We rushed back to the hotel, dropped our gear, and headed over to that party, less than a block from our hotel. After about an hour it was time to head out to the airport to pick up Laura, whose plane was scheduled to arrive at 8:40. Laura's flight was pretty much on time. We picked her up and swung by the Palasia hotel to say goodbye to Rich Wills, whose JPAC group leaves mid-day tomorrow, then dropped in at Bandidos to introduce Laura to Dave and Margie and to hoist a cold one to celebrate the whole 2008 team's finally being together. Tomorrow's a water day! - Reid |
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