The following passage is adapted from an essay on twentieth-century marine biology:
In December 1952, fourteen years after the first identified coelacanth was preserved in South Africa, a second specimen was caught off the island of Anjouan in the Comoros archipelago. Captain Eric Hunt, a schooner trader who had distributed leaflets offering a reward for the fish, recognized the unusual fins and immediately preserved the specimen in formalin. Hunt then sent an urgent telegram to South African ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith in Grahamstown. Upon receiving the message, Smith recognized that the fish needed to be inspected before decomposition ruined its internal organs. He appealed directly to South African Prime Minister D. F. Malan, requesting an official military aircraft to bypass commercial flight delays. Prime Minister Malan authorized a Dakota military transport plane for the urgent mission. Smith boarded the aircraft, flew to Anjouan, and personally verified that the specimen was indeed a coelacanth. Finally, Smith loaded the preserved fish onto the plane and returned to South Africa to conduct a detailed scientific dissection.
Based on the explicit details provided in the passage, arrange the following events in the exact chronological sequence in which they occurred.
- 1Captain Eric Hunt preserved the newly caught fish specimen in formalin.
- 2J. L. B. Smith received an urgent telegram regarding the catch at Grahamstown.
- 3Prime Minister D. F. Malan authorized a Dakota military transport plane for the retrieval mission.
- 4J. L. B. Smith personally verified the specimen's identity on the island of Anjouan.