STARBUCK ISLAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1307, 7 October 1872, Page 2

STARBUCK ISLAND.

The following information will prove useful to shipowners or captains who may think of employing their vessels in the guano trade at Starbuck Island .--This island, which was discovered by Captain Byron, R.N., in the early part of the present century, and taken possession of on behalf of the English Government, is of oblong form, extending eight miles east and west, standing about 25 feet above the level of the sea, but from appearances of the coral is gradually rising. It is surrounded by the usual fringing reef of the Pacific Islands, which is flat and dry at low water, extending from 50 to £50 yards from the sandy beach. The island is covered with a low bush, or scrub, and a succulent plant (Messymbra Anthumum). Birds are very numerous, and of every species common tdthe tropics. The guano is deposited in large beds over the western half of the island, of, various depths and richness in phosphate, of which about 7000 tons have been shipped by the present proprietors to the English and Continental markets ; and when Captain Brinsden left there was a force I of sixty natives busily engaged collecting, .and by this time over 3000 tons will be stacked ready for shipment. The mode^ of removal. from the bed is by trollies, which will bring the guano from the workings to the jetty for shipment, propelled by sails, the same wind blowing directly off the island. 'It is then taken alongside in bags by lighters provided by the shippers ; ; these bags are passed on board over stages suspended on the side of the ship, emptied, and then returned on -shore for tKe purpose of re-filling; and under favorable circumstances, one hundred tons per tonß per day can be easily shipped, and with ordinary care in managing a vessel, no danger need be apprehended either in loading or bringing a ship to the mooring buoys, two complete sees of which are laid down off the western end of the island— one set 240 and tbe other. 280 yards from the reef— proved to be thoroughly efficient A beacon in the shape of a tall pyramid, painted white, 25ft in height, has been erected on the north-west , point, and (together with the bouses on the settlement) forms a conspicuous mark for vessels approaching the island.