As yet another afficionado of the San Juan Islands, I would like to
add these comments about the history of Viti Rocks and nearby Vendovi
Island.

Incidentally, Google Earth also shows them to be in Whatcom County. However,
I'd trust the opinions of Jerry Broadus and Clarice Clark on this one as
they are professional surveyors.

*Viti Rocks* were named by members of the Wilkes Expedition (likely by
Wilkes himself) in the summer of 1841, along with places like Bainbridge
Island, Anderson Island, Blakely Island and even Mt. Constitution.

*Viti Rocks* were named in honor of *Viti Levu*, the main island in the
Fijian Archipelago and the location of the capitol, Suva.

Nearby *Vendovi Island*, slightly to the south, has an even more interesting
and related history which I am quoting from *Washington State Place
Names*by Doug Brokenshire (p. 241).

"Of the many islands in Puget Sound, this one [Vendovi] is probably one of
the least known. It lies at the entrance to Bellingham Bay and is named
after a Fijian chieftain named Vendovi. Commodore Charles Wilkes, USN,
captured Vendovi while the Wilkes globe-circling expedition was exploring
the Fiji Islands in 1840. The Fijians at this time practiced cannabalism
and Vendovi, one of the islands' leading chieftains, probably participated
in this practice. However, Commodore Wilkes chose to punish Vendovi because,
as he learned from the natives soon after anchoring in these islands, Chief
Vendovi had murdered all of the American crew members of an American sailing
ship named the *Charles Daggett* eight years prior to Wilkes arrival here
when the *Daggett* was anchored off Vendovi's island headquarters.

At the time (1841) when Wilkes applied Vendovi's name to this Bellingham Bay
island, the Fijian chieftain was being held a captive aboard Wilkes'
flagship, the USS Vincennes, and was being taken by Wilkes back to the
United States to be tried for the murder of the whaling ship
*Daggett's*captain and crew. At this time Chief Vendovi, though a
prisoner, was still
regally defiant. Before his arrest by Wilkes, he had been one of the most
powerful of all Fijian chieftains, and possessed fifty wives and slaves as
members of his retinue. Chief Vendovi died of pneumonia in 1842, three days
after the Wilkes expedition reached New York City.

[Other texts state that Vendovi became a favorite member of the crew during
the voyage. All were saddened by his death]

Also while Wilkes was visiting the Fiji Islands, in 1841, he burned down a
native village on Malolo Island because he suspected that members of this
village had stolen one of the USS Vincennes boats. It was probably in
revenge for this act that these villagers, several days later, killed
Commodore Wilkes' teen-age nephew, Wilkes Henry by name. On the eve of the
expedition's start in the States, in 1838, Wilkes' sister had begged her
brother to allow the boy, her son, to go on the globe-circling trip. Young
Henry was killed by the natives while beaching his boat to sightsee on one
of the nearby islands. In honor of the young lad, Wilkes applied the
name *Henry
Island* in 1841 to another small island in Puget Sound [NW of San Juan
Island]. Henry Island is also the name of a small atoll in the Fiji Islands
where Henry lies buried."

Having worked on peregrines in both archipelagos, I found this connection
simply too much fun to ignore.

Bud Anderson
Falcon Research Group
Box 248
Bow, WA 98232
(360) 757-1911
falconresearch at gmail.com
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