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Pearl & Hermes Reef in eList Hawaii Directory

The discovery of pearl oysters in the lagoon of Pearl and Hermes Reef, by Captain William Greig Anderson in 1927, did more to put this lonely atoll on the map of the Hawaiian archipelago than any other event during the 105 previous years of its history. Bill Anderson was the skipper of the Lanikai, an auxiliary schooner engaged in catching fish for the Hawaiian Tuna Packers. His finding a large bed of a species of pearl oyster which has been named Pinctada galtsoffi opened up a new but short-lived industry for the Territory. A new concern, the Hawaiian Sea Products Co., Ltd., was quickly organised. They purchased the Lanikai. With permission of the Governor of Hawaii they erected several buildings on one of the small islets in the lagoon,and with the help of Filipino divers they gathered several tons of pearl shells. These were brought to Honolulu, about 1,100 miles away, and sold to manufacturers of pearl buttons in San Francisco and New York.

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