The mail box in a barrel in Floreana Island.
Photo credit:Mark Anthony Ray/Shutterstock.com
Floreana Island, then known as Charles Island, was one such pit-stop.
Back then, homesick seamen devised a clever method to deliver letters to their families.
More than a century letter, this unusual honor-based postal service is still in operation.
These travelling postmen also drop their own messages for others to pick up.
Photo credit:NH53/Flickr
But there is more to Floreana Island than just the mailbox.
By the time the men returned toEssex, almost the entire island was burning.
There can be no estimate of the destruction resulting from this fire to the animal creation.he wrote.
When the islands resources were exhausted, the shipwrecked sailors set sail again.
Only three decided to stay behind.
An illustration by Rockwell Kent that appeared on a special edition of “Moby-Dick” published in 1930.
For months, seventeen sailors drifted helplessly in lifeboats.
Eventually, they began to consume the bodies of their dead mates so you can stay alive.
Then they drew straws again to decided who would kill that person.
When they were rescued three months later, seven sailors had been consumed.
Herman Melvilles legendary novel,Moby-Dick, is partially inspired by the story ofEssexs encounter with the killer whale.
Their story was widely covered in the press encouraging many others to follow.
Later the same year, the self-described “Baroness” Eloise von Wagner Bosquet arrived.
Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch at their home in Floreana Island.
She carried a whip and a pistol which she liked to point at anyone who displeased her.
She bad-mouthed the other settlers, and sometimes even stole their things.
Then one day in 1934, the Baroness and Philippson disappeared.
The Wittmers and Lorenz claimed the Baroness and Philippson went away to Tahiti with her friends.
He hastily departed to the island of San Cristobal, but his boat disappeared.
His mummified remains were discovered months later washed ashore along with his boat on Marchena Island.
The Baroness and her two lovers.
The strange happenings didnt end there.
This is odd because Ritter was a vegetarian.
She returned back to Germany leaving the Wittmers sole residents of Floreana Island.
Their descendants still own valuable land and business there.
The Wittmer familys hotel is located here.
Dore Strauch and Friedrich Ritter.
Heinz Wittmer, baby Rolf, son Harry, and wife Margaret Wittmer.
The Baroness Eloise von Wagner Bosquet.
Rudolph Lorenz near the barrel post box at Post Office Bay, prior to the Baroness' disappearance.
Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution Archives
