The sea bird guao business was first begun on Navassa in 1857 by the discovery of it's amazing guano (fertilizer - said to be the best in the Caribbean) by Peter Duncan of Baltimore who in turn, conveyed his interest to his boss, the rich Edward O. Cooper also of Baltimore, Maryland. At this time in history, Congress had just passed the Guano Act and it allowed (and still does) for any American to go to deserted sea bird guano islands and mine the guano to their hearts content and ship it back to farmers across America (big business today for organic farmers). Ultimately, there were over 80 U.S. guano islands stretched out around the globe and they included Howland, Baker, Jarvis, Johnston, Palmyra, Serranilla Banks, Bajo Nueva, Serranna Banks and many more.

In 1857, Mr. Cooper supplied a $50,000 performance bond to President Bucannan (as required by law) and two years later the President proclaimed that Navassa now "appertained" to the U.S. The word appertain is an ambiguous word but means "loosly belonging to or temporary ownership." To cite the Guano Act (found in U.S. Code Title 48, Section 1411-1419), it reads something like this:

"Whenever any American citizen discovers a deposit of guano on any island rock or key and not under the jurisdiction of any other government and not occupied by citizens of any other government, a the descretion of the President, he can say that the island appertains to America."

The Guano Act goes on to discuss the required filing of an affidavit and bond and discusses issues such as the President sending troops to protect the guano miners should they be threatened by other governments or pirates.............

Many of the guano islands were bought and sold. Not just the mining rights but actual real estate ownership. One such man was James Jennett of Baltimore. He made his living discovering guano islands and then selling the guano rights as well as the islands themselves. One of those islands was Serranilla Banks which we will discuss later in this site.

Much of the information contained in this historical account comes from two and a half years of research on my part and others such as the late Jimmy Skaggs, professor of economics at Witchita State University in Kansas. He died two years ago and he was a great person I am told. Research included: the National Archives in D.C., family records, newspaper accounts and othe sources. We have found Mr. Cooper's will dated 1863 in which he gives his brig the "Romance", his guano mining rights and the island of Navassa to his wife Mary. The following year she and her son Edward K. Cooper formed, with many rich residents of Maryland, N.Y. Penn. and Rhode Island, the Navassa Phosphate Company. Together they raised $300,000 from the new investors to enlarge the guano mining operations at Navassa and Serranilla Banks. Navassa was the primary guano island in the West Indies. It measured 2 miles long and around 1 mile in width and was solid guano!

The first guano miners to work the guano deposits (dried sea bird droppings) were convicts from Baltimore. Cooper's overseers once reportedly shot several inmates there to retain control. A year or so later, black slaves were put into service on Navassa. Even after the Civil War the blacks were treated as slaves. Documents prove that they were harassed, beaten and even killed if they complained about the poor living and working conditions. Many times they didn't have enough food and went to work hungry. When they needed to buy clothes or other necessities, they were forced to buy from the island company store at inflated prices. The longer they worked there, the more they became in debt. Each man had to sign a contract which stated that he must stay at Navassa for at least 1.5 years before he could go home. When their time was up, if they couldn't pay their way home to the States, they simply were not allowed to leave. Many were tortured and even killed and place in unmarked graves.

The company built over thirty structures to include: a chapel, a 4-cell jail, a torture facility, a drying house for the guano, superintendants quarters, houses and many outhouses. The population on Navassa averaged 180 black and some American Indian workers and around 30-60 whites who supervised the operations. The island was actually a small town but without a governor or consitution. Jimmy Skaggs newly published book, "The Great Guano Rush" devotes an entire chapter on Navassa and the atrocities committed there. Through various court documents acquired by researchers such as Dennis Lanahan of Baltimore, Gene Bechtel and others, we find an account of what happened in 1889 and it mirrors the film by Speilberg called "Amistad."

Each black worker was forced to mine 1.5 tons each per day at a salary of 50 cents per day! If they slowed up or complained, they were beaten or threatened with death. Mind you, this is AFTER the Civil War and on U.S. soil. Having enough of their mistreatment and threats, many of the workers rioted and attacked the white masters.

The workers hacked off the arms, legs and heads of some of the whites. Others had their heads bashed in with crowbars and axes. It was a bloody scene and it lasted over one hour. At the end of the battle, some 15 whites were dead and others injured. The island was earning it's reputation of "Devils Island."

In the end, one or two U.S. warships and some smaller ships, including the brig "Romance", gathered up the people and bodies and took them back to Baltimore. According to Coast Guard records and a magazine story published long ago, a small boy was left behind as he hid in the bushes. He belonged to one of the black men. He was left alone to fend for himself on this deserted lonely island some 700 miles from the shore of America.

On Feb. 20, 1889, "in a spectacle never before witnessed in a Baltimore Circuit court before Judges Bond and Morris," forty blacks and one lone Indian were tried for murder and some were sentenced to death by handing. Only one was hanged. The case was appealed and the black foundation called "The Brotherhood of Liberty" circulated petitions around Baltimore pleading for the men's lives and rights. The first black attorney ever to appear before the U.S. Supreme court defended the blacks. He was able to convince the justices that his clients should not be hanged. He had their sentences reduced to life. Navassa Phosphate's attorney, Thomas M. Lanahan, denied that any blacks or other workers at Navassa were mistreated. This of course was a lie of the highest proportions. As a direct order from the President of the United States, and in his State of the Union address to Congress, he advocated a governor be placed on Navassa and other guano islands so as to protect the rights of the workers. The governor who was appointed was James Woodward of Baltimore and it is his great grandson, sixty year old Gerry Patnode of Baltimore, that I purchased the island from in August of 1998. More about that later.

In 1900 the Navassa Phosphate Company sold the island and its assets to some men in Baltimore but that sale was set aside by a judge in N.Y. when a shareholder, General Horatio King, complained to the court that the island was worth over $500,000 and not the $25,000 the company sold it for. The company went out of business, legally, in 1924.

In 1914 the government tried to buy the island but in the end, the sale never materialized. The following year the Dept. of Commerce decided to write Mr. Woodward to tell him (we have that letter) that they were not going to buy the island but that they were going to build a lighthouse there.

In 1916, the U.S. built the lighthouse and hacienda on Navassa to protect the many ships which were coming and going to Panama to build the canal. The island was a navigational hazard. That same year the night shift lighthouse keeper kept hearing what he claimed to be voodoo chants coming from the interior and it literally drove him mad. The keeper went out into the night and killed the voodoo man and when he returned, he was naked and covered with blood. Turns out there is a good possibility that the man killed was none other than the little boy who was left behind and who grew to be a man! The keeper was taken away to a mental hospital in Maryland. In 1923 a very strong hurricane blew the roof off the caretakers hacienda and the following year the light became automated.

On August 29, 1996, the Coast Guard formally abandoned, for all time, the lighthouse and the island. That's when I came onto the scene. At first I was informed by the Coast Guard out of Miami that I could lease the island for a $1 per year if I agreed in writing that I would repair the old buildings. I wrote them a letter saying I accepted their offer. I love history and jumped at the chance to do something good on the island and i also wanted a place where my company could search for and salvage shipwrecks without governmental interferrance. That was not to be the case.

I was informed by Coast Guard Commander Geo. Stephanos with the Civil Engineering Unit in Miami that he would not honor the agreement and that he was going to sell the island to the highest bidder such as Donald Trump who might want it for a casino. Rather than backing away, I chose to fight. I contacted the G.S.A. in D.C. who are responsible for selling off America's goods; including islands. Mr. Butterworth, the Asst. Director there told me he could give me the island and that he had "broad powers to do so." I said, "so give it to me." He did not. Instead he told me to find out if America had a deed to the island. There was no deed because America did not own it.

I knew there must be treasure at Navassa. It never dawned on me that some of the treasure would be guano. I did some checking and found out that sea bird guano is selling today for around $4.50 per pound. I also found out that Navassa is solid guano. Estimates placed the retail value at around $2 billion! Now I must admit that most people will walk on by a pile of bird crap but not me. I found out that the Guano Act was alive and well and that I could file a guano claim. Turns out I was the first American in 100 years to file a guano claim. When I filed the claim and required affidavit with the Secretary of State and the Bond with President Bill Clinton, it started a war. So what else is new?

After trying to get my elected officials like Senator Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Congressman Duncan Hunter to assist me in having my guano claim recognized, and after receiving responses such as, "sue America," I sued! I did all the legal paperwork myself because I could not for the life of me find an attorney, anywhere in America, to handle my case. At the same time I sued America and named defendants Bill Clinton and Bruce Babbitt. Mr. Babbitt, our Secretary of the Interior, decided he and his agency would take over my island. Babbitt initiated some funny restrictions about the island which prevented the Ham Operators of America from going there. Over the past 40 years or so, these adventursome radio operators enjoyed going to Navassa and doing their broadcasts. Some of the men are attornies, doctors, engineers, construction workers and so on. Babbitt's orders made everyone mad.

As a result of many newspaper articles, an heir of James Woodward came forward. His name was Gerry Patnode and he sold me Navassa for $2.5 million. I also have acquired declarations and guano rights as well as real estate ownership rights from a number of direct descendants of the former shareholders of the Navassa Phosophate company.

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